Skillshare vs Udemy

In this day and age, you don’t have to head down to your nearest college to take a specialist class when looking to acquire new skills. Online course providers can offer everything you need at the click of a button – allowing you to take classes in your own time, with experts from all over the world.

Two of the most well-known are Skillshare and Udemy, each offering a whole host of courses with discounts and offers available year-round. Though both of these offer a variety of courses, covering a range of topics, there are some key differences that you should be aware of before you sign up to be their latest pupil. We’ve compared each side-by-side to discover which is the best option for you.

Which is the cheapest?

Well, that depends on how you prefer to pay, as both operate on different systems. Skillshare utilises a subscription model – in that you pay a flat fee each month and in return, you gain access to all of its classes, across the board. As for Udemy, you pay for each individual class that you want to take.

Let’s start with Skillshare. You don’t actually need to pay anything if you don’t want to, as the site has a host of free classes to take advantage of. All you need to do is sign up with your email address and then watch away. However, take this with a pinch of salt – as the majority of classes that are ‘free’ only include the first lesson of the course and nothing else. You’ll need to sign up for Skillshare Premium to unlock the rest.

The premium version costs either US$17 per month on a rolling subscription or US$110 for the year (which works out to US$9 per month). Skillshare regularly offers a deal that gives new users the first two months for free, either with discount codes or as an offer available directly on the official website.

Once you’re a premium member, you get access to all the content on the site. If you’re a cash-strapped student or have a specific skill, then you could also apply for a Skillshare scholarship.

Udemy also offers free courses and you can access all the lessons within these – though the subjects are slightly limited. The more premium courses differ widely in terms of price – from a little as US$14.5 (going even lower during sales), all the way up to US$260. Some courses are shown as being discounted by hundreds of pounds but many are ‘discounted’ all-year-round, so you may not be getting the huge savings that you think you are.