Skool Alternatives: 5 Best Platforms In 2025 For Community Builders And Creators

Skool Alternatives: 5 Best Platforms In 2025 For Community Builders And Creators

So if you’re a coach, creator, or digital entrepreneur, you’ve probably heard about Skool — the all-in-one platform for building free and recurring paid communities and running online programmes. It’s clean, simple, and powerful. But the thing is, Skool isn’t accessible to users in Africa and some regions without a VPN. That alone knocks out a huge segment of creators who are actively building global audiences from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, and beyond.

Not to mention, Skool’s pricing model ($99/month for pro features) can feel out of reach if you’re just starting out or running multiple income streams. There’s no free plan, limited branding control, and the platform doesn’t allow custom integrations unless you fork out more cash for third-party tools.

So, what’s the solution?

In this article, we’ve rounded up the top 5 Skool alternatives in 2025. These platforms let you create a monetizable community space, sell courses or event tickets, engage your audience, and grow your brand without a VPN or unnecessary monthly fees.

Even if you’re a creator or a coach looking for more flexibility, one of these tools will fit your goals. And yes, we’re starting with Selfany, the only platform built with digital entrepreneurs in mind.

Let’s get into it.

5 Best Alternatives To Skool In 2025

1. Selfany

2. Circle

3. Mighty Networks

4. Kajabi

5. Thinkific

ALTERNATIVE NO 1. Selfany – The Best Skool Alternative For Creators, Coaches & Communities In Africa and Beyond

If you're looking for a Skool alternative that actually works in Africa and anywhere in the world without needing a VPN or stress, Selfany is the top choice in 2025. Designed specifically for digital entrepreneurs, content creators, coaches, community owners, and small business owners, Selfany makes creating your own branded community easy, without any stress or monthly fees that burn a hole in your pocket.

Selfany Features and Benefits

Unlike Skool, which is often restricted in certain African regions, Selfany is accessible from anywhere — no VPNs, payment gateway issues, or restrictions.

With Selfany, you can:

• Create a free or paid community in minutes

• Get your community discovered across the globe with the Selfany community discovery page

• Engage members through chat and content feeds (like a private group or forum)

• Sell digital products, courses, services like coaching or consulting, and event tickets right from Selfany’s structured classroom feature in the community tab

• Create landing pages using the Lauren landing page builder feature on Selfany

• Accept payments in Naira, USD, and 135+ currencies using local and global gateways

• Set multiple membership pricing options 

• Send updates and announcements to members of your community

• Get instant payouts — no 14-day waits or account freezes

 Explore Selfany’s Dashboard Tabs

Here’s what each section offers when you’re managing your community on Selfany:

This structure makes managing your communities feel organized, flexible, and user-first. Everything is designed to keep things simple and intuitive, whether you're building a community, selling products, or tracking growth. All-in-one tool — everything you need to build community and make money online. 

Feature Comparison: Selfany vs Skool

Traditional vs New-Age Community Platforms: Why Selfany Is The Best Platform

Most traditional online business models rely on these outdated methods:

• Sell Courses

• Sell PDFs

• Run Programmes

• Offer 1:1 Coaching

• Build Membership

These models require complex integrations, multiple tools, and a lot of manual effort, and let’s face it: They don’t scale well for the modern digital entrepreneur, especially in Africa.

That’s where Selfany helps out creators.

Selfany is a new and fun way to create online spaces.
Join creators and coaches closing seven figures monthly using community-driven spaces instead of clunky tools and old-school funnels.

With Selfany, you’re not stuck selling just one product or service type. You can build a full ecosystem, community, coaching, products, event ticketing, and more — in one place, accessible without a VPN.

Need help setting up your Selfany community? Read our step-by-step support guide here
Want to sell event tickets or host paid workshops? Here’s how to start on Selfany

Made for African Creators (and Beyond)

While platforms like Skool cater mostly to U.S.-based audiences and pricing tiers, Selfany levels the playing field for African entrepreneurs. Whether you’re launching a new membership, selling your first eBook, or building a fan community around your podcast, Selfany gives you tools that are affordable, scalable, and accessible from Day 1. Sign up for free on Selfany today!

ALTERNATIVE NO 2. Circle 

If you’re looking for a more polished user experience than Skool, Circle is one of the top Skool alternatives for creators and coaches in 2025. It combines community, courses, and events in one place, kind of like an upgraded, more flexible version of Skool.

But here’s the catch for African users: international pricing and payment limitations still apply.

Why People Like Circle

Circle is known for its clean interface, customizable spaces, and strong course creation tools. If you're building a paid membership program or an academy, it allows you to:

• Set up structured lesson paths

• Host live events and AMAs

• Moderate private or public spaces

• Integrate Zoom and Slack

Circle’s Limitations (Especially for African Users)

• No local payment options — you’ll need Stripe or PayPal

• Monthly pricing starts at $49 — expensive for beginners.

• No native eBook, template, or ticket sales setup

• May still require VPN access depending on the country

Circle Vs Selfany

If you’re just starting out and don’t want to deal with foreign billing issues or VPNs, Selfany is the better Circle alternative for African creators in 2025.

ALTERNATIVE NO 3. Mighty Networks 

Mighty Networks has been around for a while and has built a solid reputation as a robust Skool alternative. It lets you host courses, community chats, events, and memberships in one branded space. But like Skool and Circle, its tools are still built with U.S.-centric creators in mind.

So while it's powerful, it doesn't quite work out of the box for creators in places like Nigeria, Ghana, or Kenya.

What Mighty Does Well

• Clean mobile app for members

• Custom domains and branding

• Detailed course structure and drip scheduling

• Gamified community features (badges, milestones, etc.)

The Walls: Where It Fails Creators Especially in Africa

• Stripe-only payments — no local payment options

• Limited visibility for creators outside North America

• Expensive: starts at $41/month and goes higher fast

• No support for selling digital products like templates or PDFs

Even worse? Payouts can get delayed, especially for creators in Africa without U.S.-based financial accounts.

Mighty Networks Vs Selfany

If you’re a creator looking for a community-focused platform that actually works where you live, Selfany wins — no VPNs, no payment stress, and no monthly fees.

ALTERNATIVE NO 4. Kajabi 

Kajabi has long been hailed as the go-to for “serious” course creators and coaches. It offers courses, landing pages, email marketing, podcast hosting, and even automation flows. But the thing is:

Kajabi is premium, U.S.-centric, and heavily Stripe-dependent.

If you’re in Africa and not ready to drop at least $89/month, you can’t access Stripe. Kajabi is a non-starter.

Kajabi Pros

• Advanced funnels and automation

• Professional landing page builder

• Built-in podcasting tools

• Great for scaling 6–7 figure coaching businesses

Kajabi Cons (Especially for African Users)

• Expensive, no true free plan

• Doesn’t support local currencies or mobile money

• Stripe or PayPal only (good luck if you're outside their list)

• Too complex for creators just starting out

• Not optimized for selling simple products like ebooks or guides

Kajabi works if you already have a big audience, U.S. clients, and a Stripe account. But if you're trying to grow from the ground up, especially from Africa, you'll be locked out before you even log in.

Kajabi Vs Selfany

You shouldn’t need a U.S. bank account to launch a digital business. With Selfany, creators in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and beyond can start building, no hacks or VPNs required.

ALTERNATIVE NO 5. Thinkific 

Thinkific is a solid player in the online course space, offering creators a clean interface to build structured courses. But if you're looking for community and monetization in one place, Thinkific might leave you juggling tools.

It lets you sell courses and create memberships, but its "community" features feel more like forums than actual engagement spaces. Plus, like Kajabi and Skool, you’ll hit a wall if you’re based in Africa.

Thinkific Pros

• Easy-to-use course builder

• Drip schedules, quizzes, completion tracking

• App marketplace for extensions

• Decent free plan to test things out

Thinkific Cons (Especially for African Creators)

• No integrated support for African payment methods

• Stripe/PayPal only

• Community tools are very basic

• Limited design flexibility

• Doesn’t support quick sales of non-course products (ebooks, templates, etc.)

Thinkific vs Selfany

While Thinkific serves course-focused businesses, it lacks flexibility for creators who want to build a community-first brand. It’s also not as inclusive or intuitive for those outside North America.

Selfany flips that model, helping African creators start with what they already have (an ebook, a community, an audience) and not forcing them to become course engineers overnight.

Skool is sleek, no doubt. But let’s be honest, if you’re based in Africa, it’s practically a closed door. The VPN workaround? Not ideal. The Stripe-only payment system? Limiting. The pricing? Not friendly if you're just starting out.

If you're serious about building a paid community, selling digital products, hosting classes, or growing your brand without stress or global barriers, Selfany is the platform designed with you in mind.

Skool Alternatives Ranked

How Selfany Compares To Shopify, Selar, Nestuge, and Other Creator Platforms

While platforms like Shopify, Selar, and Nestuge serve digital creators and sellers in their own ways, they aren’t built for community. Shopify is great for eCommerce storefronts, but it lacks built-in tools for paid memberships or content engagement. You’ll need plugins for everything — from email to digital downloads, and monthly fees stack up fast.

Selar supports digital product sales and accepts African payments, but doesn't offer features like community hosting, event ticketing, or landing page builders out of the box. Plus, there’s limited customization if you want to create a full creator ecosystem.

Nestuge leans into digital downloads and monetization tools, especially for creators in Nigeria, but doesn’t offer all-in-one tools for managing a fanbase, courses, or real-time engagement in one dashboard.

That’s where Selfany betters other platforms hands down.

Selfany isn’t just for selling products; it’s built to help creators build entire businesses. From community spaces and event ticketing to landing pages, product shops, coaching offers, and instant payouts, it’s all in one place. No plugins. No monthly stress. Digital creators need more than a sales link; they need full control, flexibility, and tools that work from anywhere. Selfany brings everything together in one clean dashboard, so you can run your community, sell, and grow — no monthly fees, no juggling multiple platforms

So, before you force a platform to fit your goals, choose one that was built for your reality, not just one that looks pretty on a demo video. With Selfany, you get the freedom to sell, teach, host, and grow — all from one place that finally puts African creators first.

If you're ready to build a global, engaged community without restrictions, Selfany is where you start.