Skool is the best platform for a paid community in 2026. Skool puts discussion, courses, a calendar and live calls in one group for $9 a month plus 10% + $0.30 per payment, which leaves about $861 of $1,000, and its Discovery directory can send you members you never reached yourself. The trade is ownership, because Skool runs the billing and documents no member email export. If your community already lives on Discord, sell access through Fourthwall instead.
How we picked
We ranked five platforms by how well each one runs a community people pay to join, not by the overall score on its review. We weighed where members talk, what you can charge for, what you keep from 100 US card payments of $10 and whether the member list leaves with you. Every number here comes from our platform reviews, and our scoring method explains the overall scores beside each pick.
| Platform and plan | Monthly plan | Fees | Keep of $1,000 | Who runs the billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fourthwall memberships | $0 | 5% plus 2.9% + $0.30 | $891 | Fourthwall |
| Skool Hobby | $9 | 10% + $0.30, processing included | $861 | Skool |
| Discord, desktop subscriptions | $0 | 6%, then 10% of the rest | $846 | Discord, paid out via Stripe |
| Podia Mover | $49 | 5% plus Stripe | $842 | Your Stripe or PayPal account |
| Skool Pro | $99 | 2.9% + $0.30 | $842 | Skool |
| Patreon standard plan | $0 | 10% plus 2.9% + $0.30 | $841 | Patreon |
These figures are arithmetic on each platform’s published fees as of October 2026. Podia’s figure comes from one-time sales.
Why is Skool the best platform for paid communities?
Skool ranks first because the community is the product, even though its overall score of 5.9 trails Fourthwall at 6.2 and Patreon and Podia at 6.0. Those three score higher on ownership. Skool scores highest of the five on discovery, because its public Discovery directory ranks groups by growth, engagement and retention, and it builds courses, a calendar and live calls into the group itself.
Hobby costs $9 a month and takes 10% + $0.30 per payment, with card processing included and Skool handling sales tax and VAT as merchant of record. Pro costs $99 a month and takes 2.9% + $0.30, and it becomes the cheaper plan once a community earns about $1,268 a month. Both plans allow unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls. Members earn points from likes and climb nine levels, and you can lock courses until they reach a set level.
Watch two settings. Growth Boost is on by default and takes 30% of every payment from members Skool brings you, and you can switch it off under Settings, then Discovery. Taking payments off Skool counts against your Discovery ranking. Skool pays out weekly on Wednesdays through a Stripe Express account it sets up, and you cannot connect your own Stripe account.
How do you charge for Discord access outside the US?
Fourthwall is the way we would charge for a Discord community, because its memberships can include Discord channel access and it pays creators well beyond the US. Fourthwall takes 5% of membership revenue plus 2.9% + $0.30 per US card, with no monthly fee, so 100 payments of $10 leave $891.
Fourthwall memberships can also include members-only video, audio, polls and private RSS feeds. Members get a branded mobile web app installed from the browser, so no Apple or Google fee applies. Order exports include each customer’s email, and Fourthwall acts as merchant of record for sales tax. The weak spot is cash flow. Fourthwall pays once a month, by the 3rd business day, with a $25 minimum and a manual site review before the first payout.
Should you charge for your Discord server with Server Subscriptions?
Discord Server Subscriptions make sense only for US creators whose community already talks on their server. Discord takes a 6% processing fee on desktop payments and then 10% of the rest, so $1,000 in $10 subscriptions leaves $846.
You can sell 1 to 3 tiers, lock specific channels or the whole server, add premium emoji and offer free trials. Discord’s requirements include owning the server, being 18 or older, using two-factor authentication, running a Community server and having a US bank account and US ID. Discord says the feature will not expand outside the US. Payouts arrive monthly through Stripe within 45 days of the month’s end, with $100 needed for the first one and $25 after that.
Discord scores 3.8 overall, and we still rank it above Patreon and Podia for community builders. Members pay without leaving the app where they already talk, and the desktop take beats Patreon’s by $5 per $1,000. The cost is control. Discord gives you no member email export, iOS buyers pay Apple’s fee on top of your price and the Android app does not sell subscriptions at all.
Is Patreon good for running a community?
Patreon suits communities built around content you publish, such as videos, podcasts or posts. Patreon’s 10% fee covers paid tiers, chats, polls and comments, free memberships and up to 100 hours of video uploads a month once you have a paying fan. New creators keep about $841 of every $1,000 in $10 payments.
Free members join with just a name and email, which gives you a funnel into paid tiers, and you can export member emails as a CSV. The catch is that members’ saved cards stay with Patreon, so moving the community elsewhere means everyone subscribes again. Our best membership platforms list covers Patreon’s membership side in more detail.
Is Podia worth it for a community with courses?
Podia is worth it when the community supports courses or downloads you sell on your own site. Podia includes community spaces, a website, a blog and a custom domain on every plan, and community members are unlimited on all of them. Mover allows 25 community spaces, Shaker 100 and Earthquaker unlimited.
Mover costs $49 a month and takes 5% per sale, which leaves about $842 of $1,000, and Shaker at $99 takes 0%. Recurring community subscriptions run through your own Stripe account. Podia ranks last here because the community is one product among several and you pay $49 a month after the 14-day trial before anyone joins. Course-first creators should also read our best platforms for educators.
How to choose a community platform
Decide where members will talk, then who should hold the billing. These rules come from the published fees above.
- Pick Skool if the community is the product and you want help finding members.
- Pick Fourthwall if your members chat on Discord, or you live outside the US, and you want their emails.
- Pick Discord Server Subscriptions if you are in the US and want members to pay without leaving Discord.
- Pick Patreon if the community grows out of videos, posts or podcasts you already publish.
- Pick Podia if courses and downloads come first and the community supports them.
Skip Kajabi if a community is all you sell, because its $179 Basic plan includes only one community alongside course and email tools you may never open. Ownership is the choice hardest to reverse. Skool and Discord document no member email export, while Fourthwall and Patreon let you take the list with you.