Choosing the right platform for your online community can feel overwhelming.
You’re looking for a place where your members can connect, learn, and grow, but with so many options, how do you decide?
Two popular choices are Skool and Swarm.
Both offer ways to build and manage communities but have different strengths.
This post will compare Skool vs Swarm, helping you decide which platform best suits your needs in 2025.
Overview
We’ve spent considerable time exploring Skool and Swarm, examining their features, interfaces, and community management tools.
Our hands-on testing, including creating sample communities and simulating user interactions, allows us to clearly compare their strengths and weaknesses.
This overview will give you a snapshot of what each platform offers.
Skool offers a streamlined platform for building online courses and fostering thriving communities. Try it now!
Pricing: 14-day free trial available. Paid plan Starts at $99/month
Key Features:
- Simple Course Creation
- Built-in Community
- Gamification
Over 500 businesses have already chosen Swarm to boost engagement. Click here to learn more and start your free trial today!
Pricing: Free trial available. Paid plan Starts at $39/month
Key Features:
- Gamification
- Integrations
- Analytics
What is Skool
Skool is a platform designed to help creators build thriving online communities.
It’s all about bringing people together to learn, connect, and support each other.
Think of it as a digital clubhouse where you can host discussions, run events, and offer exclusive content.
It’s a user-friendly platform that makes community management a breeze.
Also, explore our favorite Skool alternatives…
Our Take
It excels at building engaged communities and offers excellent value for its price. However, it loses a few points due to its slightly limited course customization and fewer marketing integrations than other platforms. If community is your top priority, Skool is worth checking out.
Key Benefits
Kajabi’s biggest strength is its comprehensive suite of tools.
They’ve helped over 75 million customers turn their passions into profitable businesses.
You get everything you need to create, market, and sell your digital products.
- All-in-one solution: No need for separate website, email, and course platforms.
- Built-in marketing tools: Create funnels, automations, and email campaigns right inside Kajabi.
- No transaction fees: You keep 100% of your earnings on all plans (minus payment processor fees).
- 24/7 support: Get help whenever you need it with their customer support team.
- Mobile apps: Members can access your content and community on the go.
Pricing
- Hobby: $9/month
- Pro: $99/month.
Pros
Cons
What is Swarm
Swarm is a platform designed to help businesses build and manage online communities.
It focuses on engagement and offers tools to help you track progress and measure success.
It’s a platform geared towards creating active and involved communities.
Also, explore our favorite swarm alternatives…
Our Take
Ready to explore if Swarm is the right fit for your community? Over 500 businesses have already chosen Swarm to boost engagement. Click here to learn more and start your free trial today!
Key Benefits
- Gamification: Swarm heavily emphasizes gamification. Think points, badges, and leaderboards to motivate your members. This boosts participation.
- Integrations: Swarm often integrates with other business tools. This can streamline your workflow.
- Analytics: Swarm provides data and insights into your community’s activity. This helps you understand what’s working and what’s not.
Pricing
Swarm’s pricing usually starts at a certain monthly price point.
They often offer different tiers with varying features and member limits. It’s best to check their website for the most up-to-date pricing details.
- Novice: $39/month
- Pro: $79/month
- Expert:$149/month
Pros
Cons
Feature Comparison
Skool vs Swarm Feature Comparison This comparison contrasts Skool, the ultimate community building platform, with Swarm, the critically acclaimed mini series, focusing on platform features versus narrative elements and themes.
1. Core Purpose and Intent
- Skool: A dedicated platform market solution focused on online education and the successful community goal of building your own community, often replacing a facebook group or other platforms.
- Swarm: A narrative series intended for the audience to watch, revolving around the dark story and obsession of the lead character, dre, often described as the best show.
2. Content Format and Delivery
- Skool: Designed to host unlimited courses and educational content, featuring native video hosting for course material, allowing users to add as many courses as needed for a robust learning experience.
- Swarm: Delivered as narrative video content across multiple episodes (a mini series), available to watch on prime video, showcasing the acting of dominique fishback and chloe bailey.
3. Revenue Model and Cost
- Skool: Skool pricing offers access through a monthly fee, typically after a 14 day free trial, aiming to provide a comprehensive solution without hidden fees for course creators.
- Swarm: The swarm cost is tied to the subscription fee of the streaming service (prime video) where the episodes and entire series can be accessed and watched.
4. Community and Engagement Tools
- Skool: Skool offers robust community feature tools like group discussions, interactive discussions, and a skool calendar feature to schedule events for the active community members.
- Swarm: Engagement centers on the story and characters, generating intense social media discussions and fan bases, where fans talk and obsess over the show’s stories and themes.
5. Platform Architecture and Experience
- Skool: Skool’s interface is an intuitive platform, boasting a user friendly interface and a single search box to discover communities and course material for a seamless learning experience.
- Swarm: The experience is consuming film and video on the screen, where the character dre’s actions and emotions unfold across the season, prompting audience discussion about the story.
6. Advanced Automation and Integration
- Skool: Supports zapier integration and features an integrated email marketing system, enabling course creators and teams to achieve complete control over their project management.
- Swarm: The series uses the power of actual events and real-world elements (like the serial killer angle or actual persons like janine nabers and billie eilish) to make the story more engaging.
7. Thematic Content and Emotion
- Skool: Aims to foster a vibrant community through group discussions, sharing ideas, and personal interests, focusing on positive community building and educational content.
- Swarm: Explores darker themes like deep obsession, following the character dre as a fan, driven by intense emotions and the sense that her idol is dead, often involving shocking scenes like the strip club.
8. Key Figures and Creators
- Skool: Associated with well-known course creators and entrepreneurs like sam ovens, who champions the platform as a game changer in the online course platform market.
- Swarm: Created and executive produced by donald glover, featuring lead character dominique fishback and co-star chloe bailey, showcasing high-level acting and film production.
9. Content Catalog and Scalability
- Skool: Allows for unlimited courses and focuses on native video hosting for educational content, making it highly scalable for coaching programs and as many courses as needed.
- Swarm: Is a fixed mini series of episodes, meant to be watched, and while the series itself is complete, its cultural impact generates endless content on other platforms (social media).
10. Platform Access and Mobility
- Skool: Provides a dedicated skool mobile app alongside the browser-based platform, offering instant access to rich member profiles and the full learning experience.
- Swarm: Access requires a streaming subscription (prime video) and can be watched via mobile apps, or a larger screen, allowing the audience to watch every episode of the series.
11. Industry Positioning and Reviews
- Skool: Positioned as the ultimate community building platform, aiming to be a better choice than facebook groups and mighty networks, garnering positive skool review from new members and course creators.
- Swarm: A critically praised film production, receiving a swarm review as one of the best show entries in the modern series landscape, solidifying its place in the world of movies and dead serious storytelling about black women.
What to Look For When Choosing a Community Platform?
Beyond the features already discussed, here are some additional key considerations:
- Ease of Use: Is the platform easy to navigate for both admins and members? A clunky interface can hinder adoption.
- Scalability: Can the platform grow with your community? Consider member limits, storage, and bandwidth.
- Support: Is there adequate documentation, tutorials, and responsive customer support?
- Security: Does the platform offer robust security measures to protect your community data?
- Community Culture: Does the platform’s design and features align with the type of community you want to build?
- Moderation Tools: Does the platform provide tools to help you manage and moderate your community effectively?
- Accessibility: Is the platform accessible to all users, including those with disabilities?
- Analytics & Reporting: Does the platform provide insights into community activity and member behavior?
- Trial Period: Is a free trial or demo available to test the platform before committing?
Final Verdict
Choosing between Skool and Swarm depends heavily on your specific needs.
If your primary goal is to host online courses, sell memberships, and create a structured learning environment, Skool is the clear winner.
Its robust course hosting features and monetization options make it ideal for creators.
However, if your focus is on building a highly engaged community with lots of interaction and gamification.
Swarm’s strengths in this area make it a compelling choice.
Ultimately, both platforms offer valuable tools.
Our hands-on testing and analysis, as detailed in this comparison, have led us to favor Skool for those prioritizing course creation and structured learning, while Swarm shines for those prioritizing gamified community engagement.
We encourage you to carefully consider your priorities and even try out free trials (if available) before making your final decision.
More of Skool
Here’s a brief comparison of Skool against the listed alternatives:
- Skool vs Circle: Skool integrates community with gamified courses, while Circle focuses primarily on customizable community building.
- Skool vs Teachable: Skool blends community with courses and gamification; Teachable centers on course creation with community as an add-on.
- Skool vs GoHighLevel: Skool is for community/courses with gamification; GoHighLevel is a broad marketing automation platform, including community features.
- Skool vs MightyNetworks: Skool emphasizes gamification within its community/course structure; MightyNetworks offers a wider range of content, event, and community options.
- Skool vs Bettermode: Skool offers integrated courses and gamification; Bettermode provides deeper customization for branded community experiences.
- Skool vs Thinkific: Skool combines community, courses, and gamification; Thinkific is primarily a course platform with community features.
- Skool vs LearnWorlds: Skool adds gamification to community and courses; LearnWorlds focuses on interactive online courses with integrated communities.
- Skool vs Swarm: Skool integrates courses and gamification with the community; Swarm focuses on structured, interest-based community interactions.
- Skool vs Disco: Skool includes gamified courses and community; Disco specializes in cohort-based learning and learning communities.
- Skool vs Kajabi: Skool is focused on community and courses with gamification, while Kajabi is an all-in-one business platform that includes courses, marketing, and community.
- Skool vs Wylo: Skool provides a platform for creators with courses and gamification; Wylo connects people through interest-based community discovery and interaction.
- Skool vs Whop: Skool offers a creator platform with gamified communities and courses; Whop is a marketplace and platform for selling access to communities and digital goods.
More of Swarm
Here is Swarm compared with alternatives:
- Swarm vs Skool: Swarm emphasizes structured communities; Skool blends community with gamified courses.
- Swarm vs Circle: Swarm focuses on structured groups; Circle provides flexible community customization.
- Swarm vs Teachable: Swarm also offers a one-stop shop where coaches/creators can sell courses, memberships and digital products; Teachable prioritizes courses with community features.
- Swarm vs GoHighLevel: Swarm is a community platform; GoHighLevel is an expansive marketing suite with a community.
- Swarm vs MightyNetworks: Swarm builds structured communities; Mighty Networks combines community, courses, and content broadly.
- Swarm vs Bettermode: Swarm offers a community structure; Bettermode provides extensive branding and customization options.
- Swarm vs Thinkific: Swarm builds structured communities; Thinkific is centered on course creation with community support.
- Swarm vs LearnWorlds: Swarm focuses on community structure; LearnWorlds is dedicated to interactive learning communities within courses.
- Swarm vs Disco: Swarm facilitates general structured communities; Disco is built specifically for cohort-based learning communities.
- Swarm vs Kajabi: Swarm is a community tool; Kajabi is an all-in-one platform that integrates community with business tools.
- Swarm vs Wylo: Swarm facilitates structured communities; Wylo connects individuals through interest-based communities.
- Swarm vs Whop: Swarm builds structured communities; Whop serves as a marketplace for accessing various communities and products.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Skool better than Swarm for selling online courses?
Yes, Skool is generally considered superior for selling online courses due to its dedicated course hosting features, allowing for structured learning and easy content organization. Swarm is more geared towards general community engagement.
Does Swarm offer a free plan?
Swarm may offer a free trial or limited free plan, but their core offerings are typically based on paid subscriptions. Check their website for the most up-to-date information on pricing and free options.
Which platform is easier to use, Skool or Swarm?
Both platforms aim for user-friendliness, but Skool often gets praise for its intuitive interface, particularly for managing courses. Swarm’s gamification features can add a layer of complexity for some users.
Can I integrate other tools with Skool and Swarm?
Yes, both platforms offer integrations with various tools, though the specifics vary. It’s essential to check whether they integrate with the tools you currently use before making a decision.
Which platform is better for building a highly engaged community?
Swarm’s emphasis on gamification, with points, badges, and leaderboards, makes it a strong choice for boosting community engagement and interaction. Skool also offers engagement features, but Swarm’s approach is more focused on gamified interaction.
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