Skool’s best parts, on a site you own. Free.
Skool is the easiest community to join and the hardest to leave. MemBuild Community is a free WordPress plugin with the same one-screen shape, on a site you own.
Danica LouweUpdated 6 min readStay on Skool if its Discovery page is sending you members. Pick MemBuild Community if you already have an audience and want your own domain and brand, with no cut of your payments. Only names and emails export from Skool, so the rest gets rebuilt.
Who each one is for
The easiest community to join, on Skool’s platform.
For a creator who wants to be live today, likes that every Skool community looks the same, and gets a meaningful share of new members from Skool’s Discovery page and Growth Boost.
The Skool parts members like, on a site you own.
For a membership that already has an audience, wants its community on its own domain with its own brand, and would rather not give up a cut of every payment.
What you get, and what you pay for it.
MemBuild Community leads on price, your brand and your data. Skool leads on one thing: bringing you new members.
Stay on Skool if Discovery is feeding you.
We mean it. Some communities should not leave, and the ones that should not are the ones Skool is sending members to.
Discovery and Growth Boost
A marketplace inside the platform that sends you members, and ads Skool runs on your behalf. Nothing on WordPress replaces that. If it is a large share of your growth, leaving is a marketing decision first.
Live in an afternoon, zero upkeep
No hosting, no updates, no plugins. If you do not have a site and do not want one, Skool is the honest answer.
The network effect
Members who already have a Skool account join yours in two clicks, and see your community next to the others they are in. Familiarity is a feature.
Skool Games and the Hormozi halo
If your audience is in that world, the monthly contest and the brand association are real acquisition. Ours is a plugin; it does not come with an audience.
Move if you want to own the room.
We built MemBuild Community for owners who liked Skool’s shape and did not like the rent, the lookalike brand, or the export that only gives back names.
Keep more of every payment
On $10k a month, Skool’s fee is about $12,000 a year on Hobby or $3,480 on Pro, plus the plan. Your own processor still charges its fee, so run this on your numbers.
Your domain, your brand, your email
The community lives at yoursite.com/community in your colours, with your login page and your menu. Members are on your list, not Skool’s.
Skool’s shape, plus stories, reels and group chats
The same one-screen shape, up to nine levels and a leaderboard, an events calendar, and the formats members already use elsewhere.
Leave any time, with your data
GPL, CSV exports of members, posts, comments, progress, points and files, and messages encrypted on your own server.
Names and emails come with you. The rest is rebuilt, quickly.
A Skool community is simple, which is what makes the rebuild short. The full version is in our Skool to WordPress guide; the shape is this.
- 1
Export members from Skool
Names and emails as a CSV. That is all Skool gives you, so also screenshot your level thresholds and course structure.
- 2
Install MemBuild Community, name the levels
On your WordPress site, at /community. Name up to nine levels and what each unlocks. Pick your colours and logo.
- 3
Rebuild the classroom
Modules and lessons on both sides, so the structure carries over. Lock courses behind a level or a member group.
- 4
Payments on your own account
A membership plugin with your Stripe or PayPal; access follows the role it sets. Subscriptions move at each member’s next renewal so nobody pays twice.
- 5
Import members, announce the reset, run both for a cycle
The plugin imports the CSV and can send the welcome email with a password link; everyone starts at level one; Skool stays open until the last renewal has moved.
A first look inside Skool.
Our first look around Skool from a free account, and why we think it’s so easy to use. Recorded in September 2025, before we’d set up a community of our own, so it doesn’t cover the owner’s side or prices.
Questions owners ask
Is this actually free, or free with a catch?
Free, GPL, no member cap, no fee on payments. You pay for your WordPress hosting, which you already do. Premium add-ons will be paid extras later; the community on this page stays free.
What do I lose by leaving Skool?
Discovery. Skool’s marketplace and Growth Boost send members to you from inside Skool; a WordPress site has no equivalent. If a large share of your new members come from Discovery, read our Skool to WordPress guide before you decide, because the honest answer may be stay.
Can I move my members, posts and courses?
Members, yes: Skool exports names and emails as a CSV. Import in the plugin reads that file, matches the columns and can send a welcome email. Posts and progress do not export from Skool. Courses are modules and lessons on both sides, so the structure carries over.
Will my members get the same feel?
That was the brief. One screen with the feed, the classroom and the leaderboard; levels earned by posting, helping and finishing; joining with a first name, email and password. Plus stories, reels and group chats, which Skool does not have.
How do members pay me?
Through your own Stripe or PayPal, via FluentCart’s built-in checkout or a membership plugin. Access follows what you sell. You keep everything minus processing, instead of Skool’s 10% or 2.9% plus the monthly plan.
