A paid community around an online course should do a different job from the course itself. The course delivers the curriculum. The community gives people accountability, feedback, relationships and a reason to keep showing up.
That distinction matters because buyers often start in the wrong place. They compare platforms before deciding what members are paying for, then end up with either an empty forum or a busy group that does not support the course result.
The useful question is simple: what will members achieve together that they would struggle to achieve alone? Answer that first, then choose the packaging, pricing and platform that fit the promise.
For most course businesses, the shortlist falls into three patterns. Skool fits if you want a simple paid course community. Mighty Networks fits if the community experience is the product. Kajabi fits if the community sits inside a broader course-selling business with website, checkout, email and automations. Each has a catch, so the right choice depends on how you plan to run the offer.
Sell the outcome, not access to a group
People rarely pay for “access to a community” for long. They pay because the group helps them finish the course, get feedback, stay accountable, solve problems with peers or build an identity around the work.
That means the member promise should be specific. A useful format is: join to achieve X with Y support over Z timeframe. For example, “finish your first sales page in 30 days with weekly reviews and peer accountability” is stronger than “join our marketing community”.
The upside of a specific promise is that pricing and onboarding become easier. The downside is that it narrows the audience, which can feel uncomfortable if you are used to selling a broad course.
That narrowing is usually a good trade. A paid course community for new coaches, B2B sales teams or fitness instructors should have different rituals, language and support. If the same promise could suit everyone, it is probably too vague.
Decide what members receive every week or month before choosing software. That could be office hours, implementation threads, assignment reviews, monthly clinics, challenges, live Q&A or accountability check-ins.
Content still matters, but it should support momentum rather than replace facilitation. Adding more lessons is easier than helping people apply them, but members usually renew because the application work keeps happening.
Choose the model before the platform
There are three common ways to build a paid community around a course. The first is course-first: the course is the main product, and the community helps students complete it.
Course-first works if the curriculum already sells and the main problem is follow-through. The limitation is that the community can become a support queue unless you design peer interaction and repeatable weekly prompts.
The second model is community-first. Here, events, discussions, member contribution and relationships are the product, while courses act as structured resources inside the community.
Community-first works if members learn from each other as much as from the lessons. The catch is that facilitation becomes the business, so you need regular events, introductions, prompts and moderation.
The third model is an all-in-one course business. The community is one part of a wider system that includes courses, landing pages, checkout, email, offers and automations.
This is cleaner operationally if you are selling multiple products and want one customer record across the business. The downside is cost and complexity, especially if you only need a paid group and a few lessons.
Match the platform to that operating model. Skool suits simple execution, Mighty Networks suits community-led learning, and Kajabi suits a bigger creator business. That does not change EverythingLMS’ fixed ranking, where Kajabi remains the top-ranked all-in-one option.
Price the offer and do the fee maths
The common pricing models are one-time access, a recurring subscription, a payment plan, freemium access, paid tiers and cohort-based access. Each can work, but each creates a different support burden.
Bundle the course and community if the community is essential to getting the result. This makes the offer easier to explain, but it also means members may expect support for as long as they have access.
Sell the community separately if the course can stand alone and the ongoing value is accountability or advanced support. This creates recurring revenue, but churn becomes visible every month.
Freemium can work if the free area feeds a paid path. The catch is that free members often have lower intent, so you need a clear upgrade reason and a way to avoid serving everyone equally.
Paid tiers can separate beginners from advanced members. They also add operational complexity because each tier needs a clear difference in access, support or outcomes.
Do the margin maths before you set the price. Include the platform subscription, platform transaction fees, payment processing, refunds, app-store fees where relevant, and the cost of live facilitation.
For example, a £49/month membership can look healthy until weekly calls, refunds and card fees are included. A higher price with fewer members may be easier to support than a low price that needs constant moderation.
Be careful with fee language. Platform transaction fees and payment processing fees are separate in many systems, and treating them as one number can make margins look better than they are.
Pick the platform that matches the job
Skool is the simplest fit if you want a paid group with courses and community in one place, and you do not need a full marketing suite. EverythingLMS records Skool at $99/month, and Skool advertises unlimited members, courses, videos and live calls on its Pro plan.
The catch is transaction cost. Skool’s payments FAQ lists Pro transactions at 2.9% + $0.30 up to $899 USD and 3.9% + $0.30 above $900 USD, while Hobby transactions are 10% + $0.30. It also says transaction fees are non-refundable.
Skool supports free, subscription-based, freemium, tiered and one-time payment groups. That flexibility is useful if you want to test packaging, but newer pricing structures still need careful setup and member communication.
Mighty Networks is the better fit if the community experience is central. It is built around spaces, events, member interaction and community-led learning, which suits memberships and cohort-based education.
EverythingLMS records Mighty Networks from $41, and Mighty advertises a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. The limitation is that trials run on the Growth Plan, and choosing a lower plan later may remove features you tested.
Mighty’s pricing table lists transaction fees of 2% on Launch, 1% on Scale and 0.5% on Mighty Pro. Card processing is additional, and its help centre says it is typically 2.5%–5%. iOS purchases use Apple In-App Purchases with a 15% Apple fee and no additional Mighty transaction fee.
Kajabi is the right fit if the paid community is part of a larger course business. EverythingLMS records Kajabi from $89, and it combines course delivery, community, website, checkout, payments, email, offers and automations.
The trade-off is that Kajabi is more platform than a simple community needs. Its Starter plan includes 1 product, 250 contacts, 1 website, 1 community and 2 admin users, so growing businesses should check limits before committing.
Kajabi Payments fees also need separating from third-party provider fees. Its pricing page lists Kajabi Payments at 2.9% + $0.30 on Starter and Basic, 2.8% + $0.30 on Growth and 2.7% + $0.30 on Pro. Third-party payment provider fees, excluding PayPal and Kajabi Payments, are extra where listed.
Kajabi’s trial lasts 14 days with no extensions. During setup, the locked trial features matter: bulk contact importing, custom email domain setup, site-wide email template editing and certain automation actions are restricted.
Launch small, then build retention rituals
Start with a founding-member offer rather than a fully built community. A smaller first group gives you feedback on the promise, onboarding and weekly rhythm before you promote widely.
A practical launch sequence is simple. Validate the promise, invite first members, onboard them personally, run a live kickoff, release the first course module or implementation path, then set the weekly cadence.
The onboarding path should tell members exactly what to do first. Use a welcome post, a start-here lesson, an intro thread, a first action, the next live event and a clear success milestone.
Do not launch into an empty room. Seed useful prompts, quick wins, case studies and member introductions before broader promotion, otherwise the first buyers may feel they joined too early.
Retention comes from repeated value, not constant content drops. Useful rituals include weekly office hours, monthly challenges, assignment reviews, hot seats, wins threads, member spotlights and implementation check-ins.
Tie those rituals to course progress. Create module completion threads, accountability partners, live Q&A for the current lesson and review posts for assignments that matter.
Make facilitation visible. Tag members into relevant conversations, introduce people with shared goals, post recaps after calls and remind members of the next step.
Then measure the parts that show health. Track introductions, start-here completion, first-call attendance, first posts, lesson completion, event attendance, repeat logins, cancellation reasons and support load.
Track financial health with the same discipline. Gross revenue is useful, but platform fees, processing fees, refunds, app-store fees and facilitator time decide whether the community is worth running.
If you want the fastest simple setup, choose Skool. If member interaction and events are the product, choose Mighty Networks. If the community belongs inside a larger course business with email, checkout and automations, choose Kajabi.