Courses & communities · Rank 8 of 33

Paid online community

Charge a monthly membership for access to a private community on Skool, Circle or Discord.

RisingCrowded growthAI-boosted

BRI median: $305/mo
Middle 50%: $85–$1.1k
Top 10% earn: $3.6k+
BRI Score: out of 100
Data confidence: B· Good data

One person in the US, about 10 hours a week, after 12 monthsData updated Nov 3, 20264 sourcesModel v0.2

BRI verdict

Join with a sharp niche

Early growth
Crowded growth
Mature
Saturated
Declining

Why

Kajabi's 2025 creator commerce report says creators who sell a community earn about 2× more, and Skool added a $9 Hobby plan that lowers the cost of starting.
BRI's median of $305 a month is 1.5× the typical US side hustle ($200).
Competition is high: newcomers compete with many established sellers.

Suits

People who already have an audience and expertise people pay to learn.

Not for

Anyone starting without an audience or a proven skill.

What would change our view: Rates holding up while demand keeps growing would justify joining more broadly.

BRI monthly estimate

B· Good data

One person in the US, about 10 hours a week, after 12 months

Recalculated daily from the latest data; the history chart appears after the second daily update.

How this number is built

60% the method's unit economics ($400 a month for an active practitioner), 40% the US side-hustle distribution.

Monthly priceMedian paid Skool community is $29–33; trending communities median $39. BRI uses the lower end.	$30	Source
Free audience reached after 12 monthsBRI assumption: social and email followers built from scratch at 10 h/week.	1,000	BRI assumption
Platform and payment feesSkool Hobby: 10% + 30¢ per transaction, about 11% on $30.	$0.11	Source
Share of audience that paysBRI assumption: a beginner's recurring conversion is far below the ~7.7% lifetime buyer rate of six-figure Kajabi creators.	1.5%	BRI assumption

Model v0.2 methodology

Evidence

Platform dataNov 2026
Skool Hobby costs $9/month with a 10% transaction fee; Pro costs $99/month with 2.9%
Skool
Vendor blogOct 2026
Across 15.9K paid Skool communities the median price is $29–33 a month; about 49% of 48.1K communities have fewer than 50 members
Profitable.app
Vendor blogSep 2026
Among 1,000 trending Skool listings the median price is $39 a month and the median community has 200 members
RevenueGeeks
Platform dataDec 2022
Discord server owners keep 90% of subscription earnings after applicable deductions
Discord

Risks to know

Most communities stay tiny: about 49% of tracked Skool communities have fewer than 50 members.
Members cancel every month, so the community must keep recruiting.
Skool and Discord set the fees and discovery rules and can change them.

Kajabi's 2025 creator commerce report says creators who sell a community earn about 2× more, and Skool added a $9 Hobby plan that lowers the cost of starting.

Score breakdown

Momentum100 · weight 25%
Earnings49 · weight 30%
Room to compete30 · weight 15%
Platform durability60 · weight 20%
Data confidence75 · weight 10%

Category: Courses & communities
Competition: High
Platform risk: Medium
Data confidence: B· Good data
AI impact: AI-boosted

BRI judgment: as AI makes information abundant, people pay for access, accountability and peers rather than content.

Cite this page

Best Review Insight. “Paid online community: how much can you really make?” BRI Index, model v0.2, data updated Nov 3, 2026. https://bestreviewinsight.com/methods/paid-online-community

Free to quote with a link. Found an error? See our corrections policy.

Compare with

Paid online community

Charge a monthly membership for access to a private community on Skool, Circle or Discord.

RisingCrowded growthAI-boosted

BRI median: $305/mo
Middle 50%: $85–$1.1k
Top 10% earn: $3.6k+
BRI Score: out of 100
Data confidence: B· Good data

One person in the US, about 10 hours a week, after 12 monthsData updated Nov 3, 20264 sourcesModel v0.2

How this number is built

60% the method's unit economics ($400 a month for an active practitioner), 40% the US side-hustle distribution.

Monthly priceMedian paid Skool community is $29–33; trending communities median $39. BRI uses the lower end.

$30

Source

Free audience reached after 12 monthsBRI assumption: social and email followers built from scratch at 10 h/week.

1,000

BRI assumption

Platform and payment feesSkool Hobby: 10% + 30¢ per transaction, about 11% on $30.

$0.11

Source

Share of audience that paysBRI assumption: a beginner's recurring conversion is far below the ~7.7% lifetime buyer rate of six-figure Kajabi creators.

1.5%

BRI assumption

Model v0.2 methodology

Evidence

Platform dataNov 2026

Skool Hobby costs $9/month with a 10% transaction fee; Pro costs $99/month with 2.9%

Skool

Vendor blogOct 2026

Across 15.9K paid Skool communities the median price is $29–33 a month; about 49% of 48.1K communities have fewer than 50 members

Profitable.app

Vendor blogSep 2026

Among 1,000 trending Skool listings the median price is $39 a month and the median community has 200 members

RevenueGeeks

Platform dataDec 2022

Discord server owners keep 90% of subscription earnings after applicable deductions

Discord

Risks to know

Most communities stay tiny: about 49% of tracked Skool communities have fewer than 50 members.

Members cancel every month, so the community must keep recruiting.

Skool and Discord set the fees and discovery rules and can change them.

Kajabi's 2025 creator commerce report says creators who sell a community earn about 2× more, and Skool added a $9 Hobby plan that lowers the cost of starting.