# Discourse vs Skool

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-vs-skool/325854>\
**Category:** Comparison\
**Created:** [September 10, 2024, 2:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-vs-skool/325854 "2024-09-10T14:26:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 9

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**Author:** ![piffy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/piffy/32/254198_2.png) [@piffy](https://meta.discourse.org/u/piffy)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-vs-skool/325854/9 "2024-09-10T17:12:05Z")

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> [@MarcP](#):
>
> - No self-hosting
> - Option to make your community within Skool paid or private

I think this is the reason. A quick browse reveals that most of these “communities” are basically paid advice channels or “courses” for influencer-type people. This is a really popular method for generating income especially in the influencer/guru space.

So the fact that it has no barrier to spin one up monetize it are the primary features. In this way, it’s driven from the top down - influencers bringing people to the platform. In contrast, Discourse definitely feels more like a platform meant for grassroots communities built from the ground up. Similarly, these individual Skool pages feel like something meant to last a few months to a year, whereas a Discourse site feels like something meant to grow over a decade or more.

I think the different intention behind both platforms make it hard to do a direct comparison. But if Discourse did want to take some of this influencer marketshare, the top three priorities I would point to are 1) make it effortless to spin up a community 2) more monetization features and 3) more themes that make it look less like an old fashion forum

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