Short answer: SkillGild costs less ($6.99 a month or $49 a year, against Skillry's $9.99 and $79) and its free skills each come with 25 runs a month. Its skills run hosted tools, such as validators, that stay on SkillGild's servers. Skillry.dev has a much larger creative catalog, hands you the complete skill folder to keep, and sells a one-time lifetime plan. Pick SkillGild for price and hosted tools; pick Skillry for catalog size and owning the files.
We publish SkillGild, so read this as a comparison from one side. Every Skillry fact below comes from its public pages, checked on 4 October 2026 and linked where it is used. We don't claim a measured winner on output quality or speed.
SkillGild vs Skillry at a glance
| SkillGild | Skillry.dev | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $6.99 | $9.99 |
| Yearly price | $49 ($4.08 a month) | $79 ($6.58 a month) |
| Other plans | $18.99 every 3 months | $169 one-time lifetime |
| Free tier | Free skills with 25 runs a month each, no card | Free skills marked on the catalog; sign-in required |
| Catalog | A growing catalog of hosted skills | About 410 skill listings |
| What you install | A small wrapper; tools run hosted | The complete skill folder |
| Private part | Server tool code and prompt pipelines | None stated; you receive the files |
| Install | Build the Go CLI, sign in, register MCP | Install prompt, CLI (Node.js 22+) or ZIP |
| Agents with guides | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and more |
| Refunds | Double charges, failed activation, billing errors | "Payments are non-refundable" |
| Affiliate program | 25% of the first 10 payments, then 10% for as long as they pay | 40% for the first 12 months |
Skillry's prices come from its pricing page, its catalog count from its public sitemap, and its install steps from its installation guide. SkillGild's prices are the US dollar list prices on our pricing page, outside India.
Pricing: SkillGild costs less on every recurring plan
SkillGild's monthly plan is $3 cheaper than Skillry's, 30% less. On yearly billing the gap is $30 a year, 38% less: $49 against $79. Over two years, the difference adds up.
| Two years of Pro | SkillGild | Skillry |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly plan × 24 | $167.76 | $239.76 |
| Yearly plan × 2 | $98 | $158 |
| Lifetime, paid once | No lifetime plan | $169 |
Skillry's $169 lifetime plan is the one place it can cost less over time: it breaks even with SkillGild's yearly plan after about three and a half years. Skillry calls it a founding price that rises as its library grows.
Two more cost differences matter before you pay anything:
- Free use. Most SkillGild skills are free, each with 25 runs a month, and no card is needed. Skillry also lists free skills, and asks you to sign in before installing them.
- Refunds. SkillGild's refund policy refunds double charges, payments whose Pro access didn't activate, and charges made in error. Skillry's pricing page states that payments are non-refundable.
Price per month isn't the whole value. Skillry's subscription covers every Premium skill in a much larger catalog. SkillGild's Pro plan covers its Pro skills, each with a monthly session allowance, and its catalog is still growing. Compare what you'd actually use, not only the headline price. Model subscriptions, external APIs and local renderers can add costs on either service.
How each one delivers a skill
This is the real design difference, and it decides more than the price does.
Skillry delivers files. Its installation guide describes three routes: paste an install prompt into your agent, use the Skillry CLI (macOS or Windows, Node.js 22 or later), or download a ZIP and copy the folder in. You end up with the full skill folder, scripts and references included, in the place your agent reads skills from.
SkillGild delivers a connection. The CLI installs a small wrapper that tells your agent what the skill does and how to call it, then signs you in. When your agent uses the skill, it calls hosted tools over MCP. A hybrid session hands the agent a guide it can read, while tool code, such as a contrast validator or a render check, runs on SkillGild. A prompt pipeline runs its private prompt on the service. The run modes document both.
What that means in practice:
- With Skillry you own a copy. You can read, edit and keep every file, and nothing depends on Skillry once it's installed, apart from any services the skill itself calls.
- With SkillGild the hosted part stays current and private. Tools improve without a reinstall, and a creator's server code isn't handed out. In exchange, the skill depends on the service and your monthly allowance.
Neither model is better for every task. If you want to adapt a skill's files, Skillry's model fits. If the valuable part is a server-side check or pipeline, SkillGild's does.
Catalog: size against hosted tools
Skillry is the bigger catalog by far. Its sitemap lists about 410 skill pages, weighted toward creative work: web pages, images, presentations and video, each with output previews. Its marketplace describes skills as curated and reviewed in-house.
SkillGild's catalog is newer and growing, with hosted skills across design, video, research plotting and development. Its free skills carry an open license (MIT or Apache 2.0), shown on each skill's page:
- Taste Skill for frontend design briefs
- Brag, HyperFrames and Lyric Music Video for video
- Academic Plotting, which checks chart colors against contrast targets with a hosted validator
- Logo Design and LiveCanvas
If you need a specific creative style today, Skillry is more likely to have it. If one of SkillGild's skills covers your task, its hosted tools are the reason to choose it. The plotting guide shows a recorded production run with the validator's actual results.
Setup
Skillry is quicker to start: paste an install prompt, run its CLI, or copy a folder.
SkillGild currently asks for more: build the Go CLI from source, sign in through your browser, then register the MCP server with your agent. Prebuilt installers are planned. The Claude Code setup guide walks through it, and the install guide covers Codex, Cursor and Gemini CLI.
Affiliate programs compared
Both services pay affiliates a recurring commission, but on very different terms. Skillry's terms come from its affiliate page; SkillGild's from its affiliate program page.
| SkillGild | Skillry.dev | |
|---|---|---|
| Commission | 25% of the first 10 payments, then 10% | 40% of payments |
| How long it lasts | For as long as the customer pays | 12 months from the first purchase; "not a lifetime commission" |
| Joining | Automatic: every account is an affiliate account | Separate sign-up and enrollment on a PromoteKit portal |
| Tracking | Your link holds your code in the visitor's browser until sign-up, with no expiry; people can also enter your code by hand | PromoteKit link tracking; blocked cookies can affect attribution |
| Dashboard | On the affiliate page, in your SkillGild account | PromoteKit dashboard |
| Payouts | Requested from your account once your balance reaches $20; paid by PayPal, bank transfer or UPI after a 30-day refund hold | Handled manually; contact Skillry for arrangements |
| What your audience pays | $6.99 a month or $49 a year | $9.99 a month or $79 a year |
Per customer, Skillry pays more for the first few years: 40% of a higher price adds up quickly, then stops after 12 months. SkillGild's commission is smaller per payment but never stops, so it suits audiences who stay. It also needs no separate portal, and because someone you refer can type your code in by hand, a blocked cookie or a different device doesn't lose you the referral. A lower price can also be an easier recommendation to make.
SkillGild credits commission automatically when a referred member's Pro payment is verified, holds it for 30 days in case of a refund, and pays it out on request from the affiliate page.
Which should you choose?
Choose SkillGild if price matters, you want free monthly runs before paying, or your task benefits from hosted validators and pipelines whose code stays private. It's also the one with refunds when billing goes wrong.
Choose Skillry.dev if you want the widest creative catalog, need to own and edit the skill files, or prefer one lifetime payment.
Either way, start with one small task, check the files and dependencies it produces, then decide. If you're still comparing options, read our AI agent skill marketplace comparison or SkillGild vs Agensi.
How we compared
We read each service's public pricing, installation, catalog and affiliate pages on 4 October 2026, counted Skillry's skill pages from its public sitemap, and took SkillGild's details from its live pricing and catalog. Skillry.ai is a separate company; this article covers Skillry.dev only. Prices and terms change, so check both pricing pages before you buy.
Originally published at skillgild.dev.
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