Whop's 3% fee is the lowest in paid-community land
Skool takes ~$99/mo flat + Stripe fees. Circle starts $89/mo but charges per-member on higher plans. Patreon takes 8–12%. Whop's 3% platform fee plus standard Stripe processing (~3.4% blended) means ~6.4% of gross goes to fees — the cheapest structure for communities over $2K MRR. Below $500 MRR the flat-fee platforms actually cost more per dollar collected.
Churn is the number that determines whether you have a business
A $49/mo community with 5% monthly churn has an average member lifetime of 20 months = $980 LTV. Same community at 15% churn = 6.7 months = $328 LTV. Third of the revenue for the same acquisition cost. Every retention lever (weekly live calls, member wins channel, cohort onboarding, annual plans, milestone rewards) is worth more than any acquisition tactic once you're past $2K MRR.
Annual plans are the retention cheat code
Members on annual plans churn at roughly 1/4 the rate of monthly members (locked in for 12 months, high sunk-cost bias at renewal). Standard structure: 2 months free (pay 10, get 12). Push annual on day 30 of a monthly member's lifecycle when perceived value is highest. Communities that get above 40% annual mix see effective blended churn drop below 4%.
What kills a paid community
Founder posting less after month 3 (members joined for you, not the Discord). No structured weekly rhythm (calls, drops, prompts). Free-loading via alt accounts (require ID verification for high-ticket tiers). Discord/Telegram admin drama (moderators as members = conflict). Selling to your list too aggressively (community becomes an upsell funnel, engagement dies). Fix these before adding acquisition spend.
Related guides
Long-form playbooks on the same topic, written by the RevenueLab editorial team.
YouTube RPM by Niche in 2026: What Creators Actually Earn per 1,000 Views
A breakdown of typical YouTube RPM ranges across 12 niches — from finance and B2B SaaS at the top to gaming and entertainment at the bottom — and the levers that move them.
Read the guideYouTube Shorts Monetization in 2026: How the Ad-Revenue Pool Actually Works
How the Shorts revenue-share pool is calculated, what RPMs creators are actually seeing, and where Shorts fit alongside long-form for serious channel revenue.
Read the guideNewsletter Monetization in 2026: Paid Subs vs Sponsorships vs Both
How paid newsletters actually pencil — conversion rates from free to paid, churn assumptions, and when sponsorship-led models out-earn subscription-led ones.
Read the guideFAQ
How much does Whop actually take?
3% platform fee plus standard payment processing (Stripe ~2.9% + $0.30, higher for international cards). Total blended fee load is ~6.4% of gross. No listing fees, no monthly minimums.
What's a healthy monthly churn for a paid Discord?
5–10% for skill/learning communities, 10–15% for entertainment/hobby, 12–20% for trading/signals (high-emotion niches always churn hot). Under 4% is world-class.
Should I price monthly, annual, or lifetime?
Both monthly and annual. Monthly reduces the buying friction; annual is the retention lock. Skip lifetime — you commit to servicing a member forever for one payment, which caps your LTV.
How do I calculate LTV for a Whop community?
LTV = ARPU ÷ monthly churn rate. $49 ARPU with 8% churn = $612 LTV. If your CAC is under 30% of LTV ($183 in that example), scale acquisition. Above 50%, fix churn first.
Do refunds hurt my metrics?
Yes — refunds are subtracted from gross before fees, and they signal onboarding-fit issues. Healthy refund rate is 2–6%. Above 8% means either your marketing overpromises or your first-7-days experience is broken. Fix onboarding before scaling ads.
Is Whop better than Skool or Circle?
Depends on size and stack. Skool for course + community bundles under $2K MRR (flat fee). Circle for polished branded community feel. Whop for pure paid access at scale — lowest fees past $2K MRR, best for Discord/Telegram-native creators.
Can I sell one-time products through Whop too?
Yes — Whop supports one-time digital products, memberships, licenses, and even software resells. Same 3% fee. Bundle a one-time onboarding kit ($99–299) with your subscription to lift ARPU without touching the recurring price.
How much can a solo creator realistically make on Whop?
Realistic solo caps: $10–30K MRR with a focused niche and 8–12% monthly churn. Above that requires either a co-founder for community management or a moderator team. Top solo Whop communities sit around $50–100K MRR — outliers.
How this calculator is built
Independently maintained
Written by Sam Doshi and the RevenueLab editorial team. We don't sell the data feeds this tool is built on.
Sourced from primary data
Benchmarks come from public AdSense / Stripe / IRS disclosures and reader-submitted data — never third-party "$X per view" claims. Full methodology.
Last reviewed
July 2026. We re-check every figure on the platform on a rolling quarterly cycle.
Editorial standards
See our editorial policy and disclaimer. Results are estimates, not advice.