Side-project builder
$/mo
Proving it works. Out-of-pocket costs near zero. Revenue-share and free tiers win.
After every fee layer, across 8 community-first platforms.
At 50 × $20/mo you might think you’re netting $1,000. Actual take-home on Patreon Standard (post-Aug 2025) is $856. $144/mo invisible.
Tap one, then edit the numbers. Everything below updates live.
Proving it works. Out-of-pocket costs near zero. Revenue-share and free tiers win.
Past hobby, not yet full-time. Flat-rate platforms start to beat revenue-share.
Platform costs are your largest fixed expense. Every 1% of take-rate = $720/yr.
Per-seat gets dangerous. Flat-rate + own Stripe. Roll-your-own may pencil out.
Platform migrations cost you 20–30% of your members in lost re-onboarding. A creator who switches from Whop to Skool after hitting 200 members typically loses $1,200+/mo in revenue they never recover.
The real question: which platform will I still be on in 24 months?
Every platform’s pricing is pulled from the official page and cross-checked against a reference customer invoice where we can get one. Fee percentages include platform take-rate, payment processor, and App Store tax when signups happen on mobile. No marketing fluff. No “starting from” asterisks.
Numbers for Skool, Circle, Mighty Networks, Heartbeat, and Whop reflect current public pricing as of April 2026. Hivebrite & Bettermode have enterprise-only tiers and are flagged accordingly. If you spot a gap, tell us.
Send it in via our contact page and we’ll update within 72 hours, then email you personally when the fix is live.
Most creators compare platforms on one number: the headline take-rate. The actual cost of running a paid community is four layers deep. Three of those layers stay invisible until your first payout lands short.
The calculator above stacks all four. That’s why the net numbers look smaller than what the platforms themselves advertise.
Once you know which model a platform runs, you can predict roughly where it becomes cheaper or more expensive than the alternatives. The shape of the cost matters more than the number attached to it.
You pay rent. They don't care about your revenue.
Best once you clear ~30 paying members. Your effective take-rate drops every time you grow. Downside: you're paying whether or not you have any paying members this month.
They eat with you. Forever.
Easy to start. No monthly bill when you're small. Problem: your cost scales linearly with success. At 1,000 members, that 5% is a full-time employee you didn't hire.
Pay per head. Predictable, punishing at scale.
Tidy math for finance teams. Nightmare when you're cheap. Paying $2/member on a $5/member community is a 40% tax. Works when ARPU is $30+.
Zero cost. Zero billing. You bolt on Stripe.
Actual out-of-pocket is ~$0. But retention tools, analytics, and churn prevention are on you. Great for communities-as-loss-leaders. Painful as a revenue stream.
Because we show our work. Every cost line is broken down and every platform is sourced from its official pricing page. If you spot something off, we fix it in 72 hours and email you when it's live.
Affiliate disclosure: ProveWorth earns a commission when readers sign up for Skool through this tool. No other platform compensates us. This calculator is a planning tool and does not constitute financial advice. Pricing reflects current public rates and changes without notice.
Financial Advisory: This calculator is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, financial, accounting, or legal advice. Results are estimates based on the inputs you provide. The affiliate commission input (when enabled) models a creator-paid cost. It is optional, set by you, and does not represent a platform-imposed fee.
Accuracy: Every fee number in this tool is cross-checked against the platform’s own pricing page and help documentation. No guarantee, express or implied, is given regarding reliability, completeness, or timeliness. Pricing changes without notice. Individual results may vary due to annual discounts, custom enterprise deals, chargebacks, international card fees, or circumstances not accounted for here. If you spot an error, let us know via our contact page and we’ll update within 72 hours.
Professional Advice: You are strongly encouraged to consult a qualified tax professional or financial advisor before making platform decisions based on these results. Use of this tool is entirely at your own risk.
Affiliation: ProveWorth is an affiliate of Skool and receives a referral commission when readers sign up for Skool through this tool. We accept no other platform affiliate revenue. References to Circle, Mighty Networks, Bettermode, Heartbeat, Whop, Hivebrite, Geneva, and all other platforms are editorial and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to those platforms or their subsidiaries. All platform names and logos are trademarks of their respective owners.