Skip to content
Guides

Learn the craft of the paid community.

Practical, honest playbooks for coaches who charge for what they know: launching, pricing, choosing a platform, and getting paid.

Start

How to start a paid community in an afternoon

The honest playbook: pick one promise, seed a little content (not thirty posts), set a price, and invite the audience you already have. A worked example from 800 followers to first paying members.

9 min readRead
Price

How much should you charge for your membership?

Pricing psychology for coaches: anchor to the transformation, dodge the $9 trap, and see what $29 versus $49 actually does to lifetime value, with real churn math you can run yourself.

10 min readRead
Compare

The best Skool alternatives in 2026 (honest comparison)

We make one of the platforms on this list and we say so in the first line. Six real alternatives, who each is genuinely best for, how the pricing works, and what you give up with each.

11 min readRead
Sell

How to sell coaching packages online (without the awkward invoice dance)

Productize the offer, put a signed agreement in front of the money, offer installments, and send one link. Then move finished clients into a community so the revenue keeps recurring.

9 min readRead
Grow

Email automation for coaches: the three sequences that actually matter

Skip the 40-email funnel. A welcome sequence, a lead-magnet sequence, and a win-back: what goes in each email, when to send it, and the worked math from 90 leads a month to real recurring revenue.

10 min readRead
Compare

The best Kajabi alternatives in 2026 (an honest list)

We make one of them and we say so up top. Six real Kajabi alternatives, who each is genuinely for, how the pricing model actually works, and what you trade away, so you stop paying suite prices for tools you never touch.

11 min readRead
Compare

The best Circle alternatives in 2026 (honest comparison)

Circle is polished, and it charges a platform fee on every member payment. Here are six honest alternatives, disclosed vendor and all, with who each suits and what a fee-free home actually saves you.

10 min readRead
Compare

The best Mighty Networks alternatives in 2026

If Mighty feels like more platform than your community needs, here is the honest field. Six alternatives, who each is best for, how they charge, and where a simpler fee-free home wins, from the people who make one of them.

10 min readRead
Compare

The best Patreon alternatives for creators in 2026

Patreon takes a percentage of everything you earn, forever. Six alternatives that charge a flat price (or nothing) instead, who each is for, and what you give up leaving the feed behind. Disclosed: we make one of them.

10 min readRead
Price

Skool pricing explained: what the $9 and $99 plans really cost

Skool is $9 or $99 a month, and the real bill is the transaction fee: 10% per payment on Hobby versus roughly card-processing rates on Pro. The break-even math, what each plan includes, and where the costs hide. Verified July 2026.

8 min readRead
Price

Kajabi pricing explained: every plan, fee, and catch

Kajabi runs $179 to $499 a month after the 2025 price increases, and the famous 0% fee has an asterisk. What each tier actually includes, what happened to Kickstarter, and the questions to ask before you commit. Verified July 2026.

9 min readRead
Price

Circle pricing explained: plans, transaction fees, and add-ons

Circle is $89 to $219 a month plus a 1-2% cut of every member payment, and the add-ons are where budgets quietly grow. The full 2026 cost picture, tier by tier, with the math on what the fee costs you at scale. Verified July 2026.

8 min readRead
Price

Mighty Networks pricing explained: Launch, Scale, and Growth

Mighty Networks runs $95 to $354 a month and still takes 0.5-2% of every sale on top. What the 2025 plan rename changed, what each tier unlocks, and how the stacked fees compare to a flat-price home. Verified July 2026.

8 min readRead
Price

Patreon fees explained: how much Patreon really takes

New creators pay Patreon 10% of everything, and processing pushes the real cost to 12-15% of gross. The full fee stack (platform, processing, currency, the iOS 30%), the legacy-plan exception, and when a flat price wins. Verified July 2026.

8 min readRead
Price

Teachable pricing explained: plans, fees, and the 2025 reshuffle

Teachable runs $29 to $139 a month on annual billing, and the entry plan takes 7.5% of every sale on top. What the June 2025 restructure changed, where the student caps bite, and the revenue level where Starter stops being the cheap option. Verified July 2026.

9 min readRead
Price

Podia pricing explained: Mover, Shaker, and Earthquaker

Podia starts at $42 a month, and the entry plan takes 5% of every sale. The bigger surprise is email: even the $150 tier includes just 1,000 subscribers. The full 2026 cost picture, tier by tier. Verified July 2026.

8 min readRead
Price

Whop pricing and fees explained: what Whop actually takes

Whop has no monthly fee, which makes it look free until you read the per-transaction stack: 2.7% + $0.30 processing, a 3% platform fee on app-gated products, and payout fees on the way out. What it really costs. Verified July 2026.

8 min readRead
Price

ClickFunnels pricing explained: every plan and what 2025 changed

ClickFunnels runs $97 to $297 a month, with a $5,997-a-year top tier. It takes 0% of your sales, and the real cost is the limit cliffs: the June 2025 restructure moved caps down into pricier tiers. Verified July 2026.

9 min readRead
Price

Stan Store pricing explained: Creator vs Creator Pro

Stan Store is $29 or $99 a month with a genuine 0% platform fee, so the real question is what the $70 gap buys. Short answer: email marketing, funnels, and upsells are all Pro-only. Plus the fees Stan's 100% claim leaves out. Verified July 2026.

8 min readRead
Price

GoHighLevel pricing explained: the plan is not the bill

GoHighLevel is $97, $297, or $497 a month, and the subscription only buys access. SMS, email, calls, and AI bill separately from a wallet that auto-recharges. The usage math nobody shows you. Verified July 2026.

10 min readRead
Opinion

Platform fees are a tax on growth (and you pay the most when you win)

A percentage cut of your member payments is not a fee, it is a tax that grows every time your community does. The case for a flat subscription and your own Stripe account, with the crossover math on a real community.

9 min readRead
Opinion

Own your audience, don't rent it from a marketplace

A discovery marketplace owns the relationship, the data, and the off switch. Your domain and your email list are the only assets you keep when a platform changes the rules. Why renting your community is the most expensive free thing you can do.

8 min readRead
Opinion

Community first, not course first: why the room beats the curriculum

Course completion rates are dismal and everyone in the industry knows it. Retention lives in the room, not the lesson list. Why a community with courses inside it outlasts a course with a comments box bolted on.

9 min readRead

Reading is good. Launching is better.

Nearly everything in these guides works on Drry's free plan (automations need Creator). Start this afternoon, no card, and keep 100% of what your members pay you.

Start free