1v1 Pricing Showdown
Heartbeat vs Skool
Side-by-side pricing breakdown for Community Platforms decision-makers
Prices in USD, verified from the United States. Regional pricing may vary.
When choosing between Heartbeat and Skool for your community platforms stack, the right answer depends on three things: your budget, the specific features you actually use day-to-day, and your tolerance for renewal-price increases. Below we lay out the prices each vendor advertises today (verified against their live pricing pages), the plan limits that decide whether they'll fit your team, and the features that differ between them.
Heartbeat starts at $40/mo; Skool starts at $7.5/mo. The cheaper headline price isn't always the cheaper total cost — renewal pricing, per-user fees, and overage charges can shift the math. Use the plan-by-plan tables below to model your actual spend.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| unlimited channels | All plans | — |
| unlimited admins | All plans | — |
| unlimited document storage | All plans | — |
| custom domain | All plans | — |
| events | All plans | — |
| direct messaging | All plans | — |
| mobile apps | All plans (Heartbeat-branded) | — |
| branded mobile app | Scale only | — |
| automation workflows | 5 Build / Unlimited Grow+ | — |
| native video | 50 hrs Grow / 200 hrs Scale | — |
| white label emails | Grow+ | — |
| api access | Grow+ | — |
| auto responder | Grow+ | — |
| advanced analytics | Scale only | — |
| zapier zoom integrations | All plans | — |
| 25000 plus businesses | Customer base size | — |
| stripe standard fee on top | 2.9% + 30¢ Stripe processing added to Heartbeat transaction fee | — |
| unlimited everything | — | Members + courses + videos + live calls — both tiers |
| transaction fees | — | 10% Hobby / 2.9% Pro |
| custom url | — | Both tiers |
| affiliate program | — | Both tiers — built-in affiliate tracking |
| simplicity focus | — | Designed for creators focused on content not platform management |
| no member caps | — | Unlimited on all tiers — no member count billing |
| no storage caps | — | Unlimited videos and content |
| annual billing 2 months free | — | 16.7% effective discount |
Affiliate links — you pay the same price
Dive Deeper
About the community platforms category
Online community platforms in 2026 split by purpose. 'Creator/course business communities' (Circle $89-199+/month, Mighty Networks $79-354/month, Skool $9-99/month): community + courses + events for creators monetizing audience. 'Team/creator hybrid' (Heartbeat $40-766/month annual): features similar to Circle but positioned for both creators + SaaS customer communities. 'Open forum/discussion' (Discourse $0-500+/month hosted): category leader for technical communities, product forums, knowledge bases. Transaction fees are the critical pricing lever: Skool Hobby 10% / Pro 2.9% (vs Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 standard), Circle 2% Professional / 1% Business / 0.5% Plus, Mighty Networks 2% Launch / 1% Scale / 0.5% Growth, Heartbeat 5% Build / 2.5% Grow / 1.25% Scale. For a community generating $10,000/month in paid memberships, transaction fees range $125-1,000/month on top of subscription cost. Skool's 'all plans unlimited members/courses/videos/live calls' simplicity wins for creators wanting to focus on content. Circle dominates SMB community management with best enterprise features at Plus tier. Mighty Networks has distinctive 'host' metric (people who can add content) vs pure members. Heartbeat offers branded mobile app at Scale tier unique at category. Discourse is category standard for technical/product forums with open-source self-host option.
How to choose between community platforms options
First: what type of community? Creator monetizing audience (courses + membership + community): Skool $99/month Pro (simplest, 2.9% transaction fee) or Circle Professional $89/month (2% transaction fee + richer features). Course creator with video streaming needs: Mighty Networks Launch $79/month (20 streaming hours for 100 viewers). Team or SaaS customer community with integrations: Heartbeat Build $40/month annual or Circle Professional $89/month with integrations. Technical/product forum with discussions: Discourse Pro $100/month or self-host free. Second: transaction volume matters? High volume ($10K+/month paid memberships): Circle Plus custom (0.5% fees), Mighty Growth $354/month (0.5% fees), Skool Pro $99/month (2.9% — high vs competitors at same volume). Low volume (<$2,000/month): any tier reasonable. Third: branded mobile app? Mighty Pro custom (white-label app) or Circle Plus (optional branded apps) or Heartbeat Scale $766/month annual. Fourth: open source optionality? Discourse offers self-hosted free (Ruby on Rails open-source project) — genuine escape hatch from hosted pricing. Other vendors are proprietary. Fifth: member count? Heartbeat tiers cap: Build 350 members, Grow 5,000, Scale unlimited. Other platforms generally unlimited on all tiers but transaction fees + storage matter. Sixth: live streaming + video? Mighty Networks has dedicated streaming hours (20-40/month) + viewer limits (100-1,000). Circle includes live streams with courses. Skool has unlimited live calls. Heartbeat has native video 50-200 hrs (Grow-Scale). Discourse focuses on text forums not video. Seventh: AI agents / automation? Circle Plus custom pricing includes AI Agents. Mighty Pro has custom automations. Heartbeat Grow+ has unlimited workflows. Eighth: email capability? Heartbeat includes white-label emails at Grow+. Circle offers Email Hub add-on starting $99/month for 10,000 contacts. Mighty integrates with Kit (ConvertKit) at Scale+.
Building Your Business Stack?
Decision-makers comparing tools often need more than one category. Here are related comparisons:
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Heartbeat cheaper than Skool?
- Skool is cheaper starting at $7.5/mo. Heartbeat starts at $40/mo and Skool at $7.5/mo.
- Which is better, Heartbeat or Skool?
- Skool scores 9.2/10 compared to Heartbeat's 8.6/10 in our analysis. Skool ranks higher on features and value, but Heartbeat may suit specific use cases — see the feature comparison above.
- Is Heartbeat cheaper than Skool for a team of 5?
- For a team of 5, Heartbeat costs $40/mo (flat rate) and Skool costs $7.5/mo (flat rate). Skool is the cheaper option at this team size.
- Are there other community platforms alternatives besides Heartbeat and Skool?
- Yes. Our [Community Platforms pricing comparison](/pricing/community-platforms/) page covers all major providers with daily-verified prices. You can also see the [cheapest community platforms](/pricing/community-platforms/cheapest/) for budget-focused options.