Are you looking for solid Skillshare alternatives, researching their competitors to find an online course platform that will help you with help you learn and develop new personal and professional skills?
In recent years, online learning has gained considerable traction worldwide. Connecting learners and instructors worldwide on a common platform is an innovative and effective way to exchange ideas, swap skill sets, and encourage one another to learn and grow. Dynamic brainstorming and synergistic learning are ancillary benefits of this novel way of learning.
With the explosive growth in online course platforms due to the recent growth in demand, some major websites like Skillshare have established themselves as top market leaders. Of course, there are also several new “new-to-the-scene,” fast-evolving, and fast-growing innovative platforms.
Although Skillshare is a go-to platform for many, there might be a better fit for some. We reviewed several online course platform market leaders to share available alternatives.
Read on for our in-depth look at some of the best Skillshare competitors we think are worth considering.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost for you, we might get a commission if you click the link and purchase.
What is Skillshare?
Skillshare
Skillshare is the ultimate website for learning just about anything imaginable. You can explore 30,000+ online classes across countless categories, from business to hobbies and more.
Skillshare is a top-quality online learning platform that boasts a huge selection of courses aimed at helping creatives, professionals, and hobbyists build new skills.
Offering over 34,000 different courses taught by over 11,000 instructors, you can shop around for the perfect course and the perfect instructor match. You don’t have to commit to months of study, and with each instructor offering a creative and different way of learning, you can be sure to find one that presents the course content in a way that helps you learn best. Instructors develop their learning content, such as PowerPoints or other creative ways of presenting the course material.
This platform is a great fit for anyone who wants to get started on their learning journey without wanting to commit to a traditional 4-year degree program.
Skillshare partners with subject-matter-experts to create course content on topics such as creative arts, business development, or even photo, video, and animation.
Whether you want to foster your creative side, develop a new skill, explore a new hobby, or get serious about that Etsy business you have been thinking about, Skillshare has a course for you.
Skillshare offers a one-month free trial, and after that, it’s about $165 a year for an annual membership.
Our Skillshare review has much more info on all the intricacies of the online learning platform.
Drawbacks to Skillshare
While Skillshare offers solid courses to its users, there is always room for improvement, even for a great company like Skillshare.
Depending on which Skillshare courses you choose, some user-created courses are less high-quality than others. Skillshare could mitigate this by having a consistent quality control and review protocol or a basic course quality checklist that each course content developer must follow.
Furthermore, only some classes come with a certificate of completion, although the company is working on launching a Badges feature. For achievement-driven learners, this is especially important, as it gives you a sense of completion, accomplishment, and even bragging rights.
To see how Skillshare stacks up with other online course platform alternatives that offer additional perks, check out our alternate options below.
What are the Best Alternatives to Skillshare?
Here are 7 other websites like Skillshare that also offer online courses but have their own differentiators that may make them more suitable to your particular needs…
1. Masterclass
MasterClass
With MasterClass, you can learn from some of the world's most recognized experts and celebrities. Classes include business, cooking, photography, acting, design, and so much more.
As an established online course platform brand, Masterclass is synonymous with excellence in online education.
With over 180 online classes from world-class talent, you can access the best in their industry: individuals like Mariah Carey, Bill Clinton, Gordon Ramsay, and Samuel L. Jackson share their expertise and experience with everyday people.
Masterclass gives you access to these star performers, top politicians, business people, and even world-class chefs (think Wolfgang Puck and others) so that you can glean from their success and not only emulate greatness and professionalism but truly explore what it takes to be indirectly mentored by people who “made it.”
All of the courses are delivered with concise, well-produced video lessons that let you quickly absorb information from the best in the world.
The courses are very affordable, with three different monthly plans, from Individual Plan at $15/month to Family Plan at $23/month-which allows you to stream courses on up to 6 devices at a time. This makes for a great family learning experience. All of these plans are billed annually
If you want to learn more before you sign up, check out our full Masterclass review.
Click here to get started now.
2. Coursera
Coursera Plus
Coursera Plus gives you unlimited access to over 7,000 courses from the world's top universities and organizations.
Whether you are looking for personal development courses, individual professional education content, or a business looking for an online platform to facilitate their continued professional development corporately for their employees, Coursera might be the right online course platform for you.
Coursera offers online Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in many relevant disciplines, such as cybersecurity or public health. In fact, Coursera is top-ranked when it comes to online education alternatives to brick-and-mortar colleges, as they partner with universities such as Arizona State University or the University of Michigan to deliver top-notch learning content to students worldwide. Coursera has over 150 university partners and offers 24/7 online support, so you are never alone.
If you don’t want to commit to a full online degree, you can choose individual courses to work toward your degree completion; this is designed for full-time working individuals or those who simply want to take their time but still desire to pursue continued education.
For those who simply want to sharpen their professional skills or seek a career change without putting their life on hold, Coursera offers University Certificates in areas such as accounting or leadership and management. These courses take anywhere from 6 weeks to 10 months to complete.
The cost of Coursera classes is much lower than attending the traditional brick-and-mortar college campus. You can audit any of their classes for free, but if you want to earn a certificate for completing the course, you’ll have to enroll with a small fee.
Click here to try Coursera now.
3. LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning offers over 18,000 online courses in a wide range of subjects, and it's a great platform for professionals looking to gain valuable new skills.
LinkedIn Learning taps into the established brand platform of LinkedIn and expands its mission and influence. Offering over 18,000 courses, this online learning platform targets working professionals and those who seek employment and want to be more marketable, as well as those who pursue continued professional education and those who are maybe toying with the idea of a career change.
Whether you are looking for the latest IT trends or want to grow your freelance business in copywriting or software development, LinkedIn Learning offers courses to help you in those areas.
To get started, you can try LinkedIn Learning for free for 30 days, with paid plans starting at only $19.99/month when billed annually or $39.99 if you’re paying month-to-month. This is an affordable and worthwhile investment into growing yourself as a professional, building your portfolio, and making your continued professional development a priority.
If you want to learn more about LinkedIn Learning, we have done the homework for you and reviewed it thoroughly.
Check out our LinkedIn Learning review to decide whether it’s a good Skillshare alternative for your needs.
Click here to try LinkedIn Learning free for one month.
4. CreativeLive
CreativeLive
CreativeLive is a great place to learn new skills in creative fields. With a large selection of classes, it's easy to find something that fits your interests and needs. Whether you want to learn photography, design, or songwriting, CreativeLive has the perfect class for you.
CreativeLive offers live courses for anyone looking to foster their creative side. Having instant access to other artists and creators who share their talents on this platform, you can collaborate with fellow artists or learn from those who have honed their artistic craft.
Going beyond just arts, other topics, such as the “Money & Life” courses, help you work on other skills that can help you monetize your creations or help you find your creative voice and build your influence platform online. If you are looking for ways to grow your Etsy or Shopify account or even build your online storefront, some of the courses can help you with that, as well.
Don’t worry if you can’t attend the live sessions when they are streamed: you can download recorded sessions for offline learning at your convenience. With CreativeLive pricing starting at only $13/month, the platform offers a great way to encourage and grow creativity in your life.
Click here to get started with CreativeLive.
5. Udemy
Udemy
With over 185,000 online video courses available, you can learn just about anything on Udemy. Transform your life by gaining new skills and knowledge from the comfort of your home.
Udemy is one of the top online course platforms on the market today. As one of the first, and therefore most-established online learning websites, Udemy has been around since 2010 and has proven itself as a quality alternative to stick-and-bricks education institutions.
Its innovative course design process has been streamlined so that Udemy can offer over 185,000 courses today on many different subjects, from yoga to 3D animation. Udemy is a great fit for younger learners, as well as adult students alike, providing high-quality educational content to every student.
When it comes to pricing, you can get started at $14.99/course during their special enrollment period. Businesses can partner with Udemy for their enterprise employee learning by enrolling in their Udemy Business program, with access to over 19,000 courses, for $199.99/month. This is a great solution that is utilized by many large corporations and small businesses alike in order to simplify their continued education for their business to maximize their staffing talent potential.
To read more, check out our Udemy review with extensive notes on the platform, its pricing, and course options.
Click here to get started with Udemy.
6. edX
edX | Free Online Courses by Harvard, MIT, & more | edX
edX is an online learning platform offering courses from some of the world's most prestigious universities and organizations on a vast array of subjects.
Since 2012, edX has been delivering online courses to its clients. Since then, over 42 million students have enrolled in their classes and programs.
Today, edX offers over 3,600 courses in different areas, such as product management, coding, and digital marketing.
What sets edX apart from its competitors is the collaboration piece — edX partners with over 160 top universities, such as The Boston University and The University of Texas at Austin, to bring you high-quality education presented by instructors who are passionate about teaching.
Over 400,000 individuals are on edX daily to grow and learn.
Because of this, edX is the go-to platform for many schools and businesses, as well: a micro-school can use edX courses to facilitate a small study group on a specific subject, either to supplement core study subjects or as an elective.
Businesses can tap into the edX learning library to find a course to invest in their top-talent employees or to foster their corporate culture in a specific way, for example, by having every IT team member take a course in project management.
If you’d like to find out more about what this course platform is like and what it has to offer to you, check out our edX review.
7. Pluralsight
Pluralsight
Pluralsight helps organizations and individuals build valuable tech skills through its engaging online courses.
Pluralsight started in 2004 as an online classroom alternative to traditional education. Since 2011, the company has experienced exponential growth due to the explosive increase in online learning. As an established online course platform, Pluralsight can offer high-quality content courses to its students.
Targeted mainly towards individuals seeking to learn and grow in the field of technology and emerging innovation, Pluralsight offers technology-specific skill courses, such as IT management, cybersecurity, or software development, to help anyone be more effective in the workplace.
To get started, you can try Pluralsight for free for 10 days; after the free trial period, you can select from either the standard ($29/month) or the premium plan ($45/month). The unique thing about Pluralsight is that it offers different learning paths based on your skill starting point and learning goals.
In addition, Pluralsight partners with companies like CISCO and Microsoft to offer certification prep courses that help you advance professionally.
Employers who look for high-tech position talent often prefer candidates with these certifications. Pluralsight also offers peer prep support and community to ensure you don’t feel alone and receive the support to succeed.
Check out our Pluralsight review for more info or click here to try Pluralsight free for 10 days.
What to Look for in a Skillshare Alternative
Although Skillshare is a well-established online course platform, those shopping around for the best online course websites might want to consider the following things when comparing Skillshare with its competitors:
- Course selection: Depending on the online course platform you decide to partner with to reach your learning goals, make sure you check out their course content inventory first. Each online course platform has a different selection of courses. Some have thousands of courses to choose from, with searchable course libraries. In contrast, others provide you with a pre-defined learning path to follow, with individual courses as learning stepping stones akin to a traditional education path.
- Content presentation: Regarding course content presentation, each platform has different tools to engage the learner. While some platforms offer live classes with an interactive component, others present instructional videos you can access at your convenience. Some courses also provide you with learning materials that you can access afterward for reference and personal review as a refresher if needed.
- Learning goal clarity: Your learning style and personality will play a big role in deciding which online course platform is a good fit for you. With the goal of successful learning, you want to ensure that you stay engaged and encouraged as you learn. While some individuals do well with a-la-carte small “bite-size” courses that give them a sense of accomplishment each time they finish a course, others might prefer a clear path toward a bigger end goal, with support along the way. Some platforms offer “mini-degrees” to do just that.
- Support: It can be daunting to start a new thing, especially when learning a new skill or signing up for a class to improve your trade. That is why online course platforms offer basic tech support to their subscribers to make sure you don’t feel alone. In addition, some online course companies offer peer-to-peer support in interactive forums where you can engage with other students who share your learning goals. This way, you will have the encouragement and motivation to keep going.
- Pricing: For many, pricing can be a huge deciding factor when committing to a purchase. This is why most online course providers offer a free trial period so that you can see if the company is a match for you. This reduces your risk of committing to something you might regret, and it communicates confidence in the online course companies in their product. They want to ensure that their clients are satisfied and that quality or technical challenges do not distract from your learning experience. Each online course platform has a different pricing structure. However, they are fairly similar: from individual course selection to unlimited monthly access by subscription, you can find a plan that works for you. Most subscriptions are very affordable, ranging anywhere from $13-$45 per month, which is close to the cost of a TV streaming subscription.
A Final Word on Skillshare Alternatives
With so many Skillshare competitors out there to choose from, it’s important to look at the differences between them while considering your own personal needs and preferences.
Each platform has its own style, pricing structure, and type of content available. That said, each one provides a great learning experience for people of all skill levels – from beginners to experienced professionals.
Regardless of which platform you choose, make sure that it caters to your specific needs and interests, and don’t forget that most of these sites offer free trials or money-back guarantees, so test some out before committing.
Have any questions about our guide to the best alternatives to Skillshare? Let us know by commenting below.
