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AI Automation Society Alternative: Stride AI Academy
Looking for an AI Automation Society alternative? A side-by-side of focus, price, live calls, stack and sales training, from both communities' public pages.
If you want an AI Automation Society alternative, Stride AI Academy is a paid Skool community with four courses (automation, Claude Code and Codex coding, client operations in StrideOps, and a sales process), weekly live calls and plans from $97 a month. The table below compares both on public facts.
Side-by-side
Every fact about AI Automation Society (AIS) and AI Automation Society Plus (AIS+) below comes from their public Skool pages, read logged out on October 15, 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom. Where a fact wasn't public, the cell says so.
| AI Automation Society (free) | AI Automation Society Plus | Stride AI Academy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform | Skool | Skool | Skool |
| Price | Free | $129/month | $97, $197 or $297/month; yearly plans with 2 months free |
| Members (as shown on Skool) | 471.3k | 3.4k | About 1.2K |
| Focus | Building with AI: Claude Code skills, GitHub repos, guides, an "AI operating system" framework | Running an AI automation business: business model, Claude Code from beginner up, portfolio, first client, scaling | Building AI automations and AI-coded tools, then selling and delivering them to clients |
| Courses | Free downloads and a 7-day challenge (build a Claude Code executive assistant, earn a certification) | Courses with step-by-step instructions; the client and scaling sections unlock after 30 and 90 days | Four courses: Stride AI Automation, Stride AI Coding, Stride AI Operations, Stride AI Sales Process |
| Live calls | Not stated on the public page | Weekly Q&As | Weekly live calls on every plan; a weekly implementation lab on Premium; a monthly hot-seat call on VIP |
| Stack named | Claude Code, GitHub, 100+ n8n templates | Claude Code | Claude Code, Codex, MCP, GitHub, Vercel, Supabase, StrideOps |
| Sales training | Not stated | "Get your first client" section and a business model ("AI partner model") | Stride AI Sales Process: outreach, scripts and offer structure from Executive Stride, Josh Pocock's AI agency (400+ clients) |
| Software included | Not stated | Not stated | StrideOps (CRM, pipelines, voice agents, AI follow-up): a trial on Standard, the Operator plan on Premium |
| Events | Not stated | 3 online conferences and 1 annual event per year | Not listed on the site |
| Support | Community | Unlimited tech support; job opportunities | Community, weekly calls, template vault |
| Refund policy (public) | Free | Annual: refund within 7 days. Monthly: all sales final | See the Skool page at checkout |
How they differ
AIS is free and very large. If you're early and want to learn by downloading templates and following a challenge, a free community with hundreds of thousands of members is a reasonable place to start. Stride AI Academy's paid plans start at $97 a month, and its 200+ guides are free.
AIS+ and Stride both teach the business side. AIS+ describes a business model, a Claude Code track, a portfolio and a first-client section. Stride splits the same ground into four courses, and two of them have no direct match on the AIS+ page: Stride AI Operations (running clients' CRM, pipelines and voice agents in StrideOps) and Stride AI Sales Process.
The stacks overlap on Claude Code. Both teach Claude Code. AIS lists n8n templates among its downloads. Stride teaches Claude Code alongside Codex, and deploys with GitHub, Vercel and Supabase (Stride AI Coding).
Price. AIS+ is $129 a month. Stride's Standard plan is $97 a month and Premium is $197 a month. Premium is the Stride plan that adds the agency course, client acquisition playbooks, the weekly implementation lab and the StrideOps Operator plan.
Which one fits you
Pick AIS if you want to start free and learn by following templates and a structured challenge.
Pick AIS+ if you want its business model and its events (online conferences and an annual event), and the $129 monthly price works for you.
Pick Stride AI Academy if you want building, coding, client operations and sales in one place, weekly live calls on every plan, and StrideOps included to run client work.
Plenty of people are in more than one community. Look at the public pages of each before you pay, and check the refund terms.
Sources
Read on October 15, 2026, logged out:
- AI Automation Society, Skool about page: https://www.skool.com/ai-automation-society/about
- AI Automation Society Plus, Skool about page: https://www.skool.com/ai-automation-society-plus/about
- Stride AI Academy: this site's homepage, courses and pricing
Member counts and prices change. If something here is out of date, the source pages are the authority.
FAQ
Is Stride AI Academy affiliated with AI Automation Society?
No. They're separate communities run by different people. This page compares them using public information only.
Which is cheaper?
AI Automation Society is free. Between the paid communities, Stride AI Academy's Standard plan is $97 a month and AI Automation Society Plus is $129 a month, as shown on their Skool pages on October 15, 2026.
Do both have live calls?
AI Automation Society Plus lists weekly Q&As. Stride AI Academy has weekly live calls on every plan, with an implementation lab on Premium and a hot-seat call on VIP.
Do I need to code for either?
Neither public page asks for a coding background. Stride's AI Coding course is written for non-programmers.
Does either promise income?
Stride AI Academy doesn't promise any income. What you earn depends on your skills, your market, the work you put in and plenty outside anyone's control.