A Skool alternative you own: OpenEscool vs Skool

This page is for creators who run, or plan to run, more than one community; for creators in India who want members to pay with UPI; and for anyone who wants their community on their own brand instead of a marketplace.

At a glance

Skool prices and features are from Skool's public pricing page and help centre at the time of writing (November 2026) and may change. Skool is a trademark of its owner. OpenEscool is an independent open-source project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Skool.

What's the same

If you know Skool, you already know how OpenEscool works:

• Community feed with categories, pinned posts, likes, comments, photos and GIFs.
• Classroom with courses, modules and lessons, progress tracking, and courses that unlock at a level.
• Calendar with one-off and weekly events, shown in each member's time zone, with reminders.
• Points, levels and leaderboards (7-day, 30-day and all-time).
• About page with a gallery, plus ratings and reviews from members.
• Email a post to all members and weekly or daily digests.

What's different

Unlimited communities for one server bill

Skool gives each group its own plan. OpenEscool runs every community you create from one install, so a free group, a paid group and a course-only group cost the same as one. Members of one community never see the others unless you list them on your Discover page.

No platform fee on sales

Members pay you through your own Stripe or Razorpay account. You pay the processor's normal fee and nothing else. To be fair: Stripe's standard card rate is close to Skool Pro's 2.9% + 30¢, so against Pro the real saving is the $99 a month per group. Against Hobby, it's mostly the 10% fee.

Your domain, your brand, your Discover page

The whole platform runs on your domain with your site name and logo. Your home page can open one community, or show your own Discover page with only the communities you pick.

UPI for Indian members

INR plans go through Razorpay, so members in India can pay with UPI, Indian cards, netbanking or wallets. Other currencies go through Stripe. How UPI payments work.

SEO switches and team-only chat

Choose whether search engines index the site, each community and each post. Members can message you and your team, but not each other, which keeps spam and poaching out.

Where Skool is better

An honest list, because it matters for your decision:

• No setup. Skool is hosted. OpenEscool needs a VPS and about 30 minutes of copy and paste.
• No server to look after. With OpenEscool, backups and updates are your job (updates are one command).
• Mobile apps. Skool has native apps. OpenEscool is a responsive website that works in mobile browsers.
• Discovery audience. Skool's Discovery page can send you new members. OpenEscool only lists your own communities.

What 12 months costs

Platform cost only, before card fees, with a $10 a month VPS:

Monthly billing at the time of writing; Skool's yearly billing is a little cheaper. See the full 12-month cost breakdown with revenue scenarios.

Moving from Skool

1. Install OpenEscool on a VPS and set your name, logo and email. Install guide.
2. Recreate your courses: modules, lessons, videos (YouTube, Vimeo, Loom or uploaded files) and resources.
3. Set up plans in Revenue: monthly, yearly or one-time, in your currency.
4. Invite members with a link to your community's About page. Existing members keep access if you switch a community from free to paid.