Skool Pricing vs Communi (2025): Best Community & Course Platform Comparison, Fees, Alternatives, and Net Take-Home Case Study
Skool vs Communi (2025): The Complete 5-Year Math for Creators — Fees, Per-Community Pricing, Secure Video & Net Take-Home
Choosing the best community platform and the best course platform isn’t just about feature checklists. It’s about how the money flows over time. I dug deep into Skool and Communi because they represent two very different pricing philosophies: Skool is beloved for its community UX but charges per community, while Communi focuses on unlimited groups/courses and no platform commission so margins compound as you grow. This long-form, data-first guide is built to help you avoid silent cost traps, optimize for take-home, and confidently start — even when budget is tight.
Below you’ll find SEO-friendly, reader-first explanations, clear tables, and linked references. If you’ve been searching for “Skool pricing 2025,” “Skool vs Communi comparison,” “best community platform for creators,” or “best course platform with secure video,” this is designed to answer those questions without fluff.
Tl;dr for busy creators: If you want the best community platform profile for long-run margins, Communi + Bunny (lifetime or $99/mo) keeps each additional sale more profitable because there’s no platform commission. If you want Skool’s ecosystem, go Skool Pro when you start selling — the 2.9% + $0.30 processor-like fee beats the Hobby plan’s 10% commission at scale. Both can work; the math shows when each wins.
What we compared — and why creators miss the real costs
A common mistake when hunting for the best course platform or best community platform is to only compare headline subscription prices or shiny features. The real story comes from how fees scale with your sales and how product structure (like per-community billing) quietly increases fixed costs as you expand. I analyzed two archetypes that keep showing up in creator conversations:
Platforms in scope
- Skool — Hobby ($9/mo + 10% fee), Pro ($99/mo + 2.9% + $0.30/txn). Pricing · Payments FAQ
- Communi — Lifetime ($495 one-time modeled) or $99/mo, no platform commission. (Confirm live offer page.)
- Bunny Stream — Secure video layer (token links, hotlink protection, optional DRM). Media Cage · Security · Token auth · Hotlinking
Why people mis-estimate costs
- Per-community billing: Skool charges per community. If you run a free funnel group + a paid group (a common growth pattern), you pay for two.
- Commission vs processor fees: Percentage cuts like 10% look fine at 100 orders, but at 1,000 orders they’re brutal. Flat fees that felt heavy in Year-1 fade by Year-4.
- Video security economics: Public embeds are easy but risky for paid catalogs. Bunny adds practical security for a cost that’s typically a rounding error of gross revenue.
If you care about maximizing net take-home and ranking for searches like Skool alternative, best community platform for courses, or course hosting platform comparison 2025, look beyond monthly price tags and run the multi-year math. That’s exactly what we do below.
Assumptions & modeling notes (USD)
To keep the comparison fair and repeatable, we model a realistic creator journey that ramps slowly and avoids hype. The goal is to reflect how most of us start: lean budgets, limited time, and a community that grows only after consistent value.
5-year volume & AOV
- Orders: 100 → 250 → 500 → 1,000 → 2,000
- Average order value (AOV): $109 across years to remove extra variables
- We apply processor-like fees (2.9% + $0.30) to Communi and Skool Pro. For Skool Hobby, the 10% platform cut is used as published.
Video hosting & security
- Communi supports video by link. For paid courses, we recommend Bunny Stream so playback uses signed URLs and referrer locks with optional DRM.
- Modeled Bunny cost: ~0.10% of gross. Real costs depend on watch-time & geographies (CDN egress), but the order of magnitude is usually tiny.
Multiple communities? This matters more than people think. Skool bills per community. If your strategy needs a free top-of-funnel group, paid cohort group, and pop-up challenge group, your fixed cost multiplies. Communi is unlimited groups & courses at the same platform price (lifetime or $99/mo).
Competitor pricing screenshots (what they actually show)
Year-by-year USD results (clean tables you can sanity-check)
These tables keep AOV at $109 and scale orders carefully to mimic a typical creator journey from “testing the waters” to a stable business. We show gross revenue, subtract static fees, commissions/processing, and (for Communi) secure video hosting via Bunny. The rightmost column is the net take-home before your taxes and ad spend. If you’re comparing the best community platform for margins, watch what happens to per-sale commissions as order volume climbs.
Year-1 • Getting started: 100 orders ($10,900 gross)
Lean year, limited cash. This is where low fixed costs feel important, but percentage fees quietly set you up for pain later.
| Platform / Plan | Gross | Static fees | Comm/Processor | Hosting (Bunny) | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communi Lifetime | $10,900.00 | $495.00 | $346.10 | $10.90 | $10,048.00 |
| Communi $99/mo | $10,900.00 | $1,188.00 | $346.10 | $10.90 | $9,355.00 |
| Skool Hobby ($9) | $10,900.00 | $108.00 | $1,090.00 | $0.00 | $9,702.00 |
| Skool Pro ($99) | $10,900.00 | $1,188.00 | $346.10 | $0.00 | $9,365.90 |
Year-2 • Momentum: 250 orders ($27,250 gross)
Orders pick up. You feel the compounding effect of percentage-based fees vs processor-like fees or no platform cut.
| Platform / Plan | Gross | Static fees | Comm/Processor | Hosting (Bunny) | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communi Lifetime | $27,250.00 | $0.00 | $865.25 | $27.25 | $26,357.50 |
| Communi $99/mo | $27,250.00 | $1,188.00 | $865.25 | $27.25 | $25,169.50 |
| Skool Hobby ($9) | $27,250.00 | $108.00 | $2,725.00 | $0.00 | $24,417.00 |
| Skool Pro ($99) | $27,250.00 | $1,188.00 | $865.25 | $0.00 | $25,196.75 |
Year-3 • PMF: 500 orders ($54,500 gross)
You’ve found your offer. Notice how the 10% on Hobby has become a real tax. The best community platform now is the one that protects your margins.
| Platform / Plan | Gross | Static fees | Comm/Processor | Hosting (Bunny) | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communi Lifetime | $54,500.00 | $0.00 | $1,730.50 | $54.50 | $52,715.00 |
| Communi $99/mo | $54,500.00 | $1,188.00 | $1,730.50 | $54.50 | $51,527.00 |
| Skool Hobby ($9) | $54,500.00 | $108.00 | $5,450.00 | $0.00 | $48,942.00 |
| Skool Pro ($99) | $54,500.00 | $1,188.00 | $1,730.50 | $0.00 | $51,581.50 |
Year-4 • Scale: 1,000 orders ($109,000 gross)
At scale, fixed fees become noise while percentage cuts stay loud. This is where creators often regret early choices.
| Platform / Plan | Gross | Static fees | Comm/Processor | Hosting (Bunny) | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communi Lifetime | $109,000.00 | $0.00 | $3,461.00 | $109.00 | $105,430.00 |
| Communi $99/mo | $109,000.00 | $1,188.00 | $3,461.00 | $109.00 | $104,242.00 |
| Skool Hobby ($9) | $109,000.00 | $108.00 | $10,900.00 | $0.00 | $97,992.00 |
| Skool Pro ($99) | $109,000.00 | $1,188.00 | $3,461.00 | $0.00 | $104,351.00 |
Year-5 • Durable business: 2,000 orders ($218,000 gross)
A mature year. If you chose a platform that taxes each sale heavily, that choice compounds against you. This is where “best platform” means “best net.”
| Platform / Plan | Gross | Static fees | Comm/Processor | Hosting (Bunny) | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communi Lifetime | $218,000.00 | $0.00 | $6,922.00 | $218.00 | $210,860.00 |
| Communi $99/mo | $218,000.00 | $1,188.00 | $6,922.00 | $218.00 | $209,672.00 |
| Skool Hobby ($9) | $218,000.00 | $108.00 | $21,800.00 | $0.00 | $196,092.00 |
| Skool Pro ($99) | $218,000.00 | $1,188.00 | $6,922.00 | $0.00 | $209,890.00 |
Total gross across 5 years
$419,650
5-year “fees only” (platform + commissions + hosting)
- Communi Lifetime: $13,867.50
- Communi $99/mo: $19,643.50
- Skool Hobby: $31,741.00
- Skool Pro: $19,386.75
This is why long-run creators often prefer no platform commission or processor-like fees over a flat percentage on every sale.
Bunny share (Communi)
~0.10% of gross in this model (~$419.65 over five years). For a paid catalog, the security-per-dollar ratio is excellent.
Sensitivity: two Skool communities (free funnel + paid)
Many “best community platform” threads recommend a free public group for reach and a private paid group for depth. With Skool’s per-community billing, that means two subscriptions. The math below shows Year-4 impact:
| Platform / Plan | Gross | Static fees | Comm/Processor | Hosting | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skool Hobby (2 groups) | $109,000.00 | $216.00 | $10,900.00 | $0.00 | $97,884.00 |
| Skool Pro (2 groups) | $109,000.00 | $2,376.00 | $3,461.00 | $0.00 | $103,163.00 |
Communi’s platform cost doesn’t change with more groups. That’s a simple, powerful lever when you’re building multiple cohorts and pop-up launches.
Secure video that doesn’t kill your margins (Bunny Stream)
Why security matters for paid lessons
If your catalog is premium, “unlisted YouTube” isn’t enough. Anyone can share a link. With Bunny Stream you can require signed URLs that expire, lock playback to your domain with hotlink protection, and apply optional DRM (Media Cage) for the highest-value modules. No platform fully stops all screen recording (that’s a hardware reality), but these controls significantly reduce casual sharing and mass ripping.
- Signed URLs / token auth — docs
- Hotlink protection — guide
- Stream security — overview
- Media Cage DRM — feature
In our 5-year model, Bunny is ~0.10% of gross. Costs follow watch-time and geography, not your price tag — that’s why it remains tiny even as you scale.
Try Bunny (free start)
Spin up a test space for your course and try token auth + hotlink protection fast.
Disclosure: If you sign up with this link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Takeaways & decision logic (how to choose the best platform for you)
- Short run vs long run: Skool Hobby’s $9/mo feels perfect in Year-1 when cash is tight. But that 10% takes a painful bite as orders grow. If you’re sold on Skool, move to Pro when selling starts.
- Unlimited strategy: If your roadmap includes multiple cohorts, challenges, and a free community funnel, Communi keeps cost simple: one platform price, unlimited groups and courses, no platform commission.
- Security, not paranoia: Use Bunny to raise the bar: signed URLs, hotlink locks, optional DRM. It’s the most cost-effective security upgrade I’ve found for the best course platform setup.
- Net take-home is the KPI: Revenue feels good. Net funds your next hire, ads, and product. Removing per-sale taxes on your growth is the biggest compounding lever.
FAQ
Is Skool better than Communi?
They serve slightly different priorities. If you want Skool’s community UX and accept per-community billing + processor-like fees, Skool Pro is the sustainable track. If you want to maximize margins with unlimited communities/courses and no platform commission, Communi is compelling for the long run.
Is Communi usable before native uploads?
Yes. Communi embeds by link. Point those links to Bunny Stream with token auth and hotlink locks for practical security now. If native uploads arrive later, keep Bunny or mix approaches.
Can I fully stop screen recording?
No platform can, across every device. Your goal is to reduce casual copying and make large-scale theft hard. Bunny’s signed URLs, hotlink locks, and optional DRM do exactly that.
What if I outgrow this stack?
If you scale into enterprise territory, great problem. Negotiate direct terms or add specialized tools. The point is to keep more dollars early — when every dollar funds your next leap.
References
- Skool pricing — official page
- Skool payments FAQ — official help
- Skool fee note (2.9% + $0.30) — Educate with Skool
- Bunny Stream security — overview
- Bunny token auth — docs
- Bunny hotlink protection — guide
- Bunny Media Cage DRM — feature
Communi pricing used here (lifetime $495; $99/mo) is modeled from current messaging and may vary by offer window. Confirm the live page before purchase.
Important disclaimer
This is an independent, educational case study built from public documentation and realistic operating assumptions. It is not financial, legal, or tax advice, nor a guarantee of outcomes. Pricing, fees, and features can change without notice. Always verify final details on each platform’s official pricing and help pages, and consult your advisors for decisions affecting your business.
I’m not affiliated with Skool. Some links to Communi and Bunny are affiliate links — if you buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Your platform choice, results, and business outcomes are entirely your responsibility. This post aims to inform, not to prescribe.
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