MasterClass Vs Coursera: Who Comes Out On Top?

There are a bunch of reasons on why you might find yourself reading up on elearning platforms. Whether it’s for a personal hobby or brushing up your professional skills for a career change? You’re reading this comparison article as you’re probably weighing up these two incredibly popular platforms — MasterClass and Coursera—and maybe even checking out their respective alternatives.

It’s likely you’re deciding if either is worth your investment, fits your budget or meets your personal or professional goals. I have decided to dive a little deeper into both platforms, comparing them side by side. Lets get into it!

MasterClass Vs Coursera Side by Side

Select a platform to compare:

E-Learning Platforms

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MasterClass BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

4.7

Learn From VIP Instructors

$10 USD a month (billed annually)

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Coursera BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

4.8

Accredited Certificates

$9.99 USD

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BBC Maestro SkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

4.3

Celebrity Instructors

£79 ($89)

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Skillshare BBC MaestroUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

4.5

Best For Creative Courses

$29 USD a month

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Udemy BBC MaestroSkillshareTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

4.3

Variety of Courses

$12.99 USD

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Treehouse BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

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Best For Free Trial

$25 USD a month

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CreativeLive BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

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Best For Live Classes

$29 USD a month

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Brilliant BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

3.5

Best for STEM topics

$24.99 USD a month

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LinkedIn Learning BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

3.8

Self Paced Learning

$39.99 USD a month

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Udacity BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

4.6

Best For Career Services

$249 USD a month

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Mindvalley BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

4.6

Best for Personal Growth

$49 USD a month

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Codecademy BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyPluralsightDataCampedX

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Best For Coding Courses

$29.99 USD a month

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Pluralsight BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyDataCampedX

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Best For Tech Skills

$29 USD a month

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DataCamp BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightedX

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Best For Data Skills

$39 USD a month

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edX BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCamp

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Best for Verified Certificates

$50 USD

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Round 1: User Popularity

Let’s dive into the popularity of MasterClass and Coursera to kick off this comparison. To get a clear picture, I looked at Google search trends over the past two years. The results tell an interesting story.

Coursera emerges as the clear winner, with more than double the search interest compared to MasterClass. This higher level of interest indicates that more users are curious about what Coursera offers.

Alongside search trends, I’ve also considered my personal experience of using both these platforms for many years now.

Coursera, with over 142+ million learners, has a mix of reviews. It’s only natural that not everyone will be satisfied. However, many five-star reviewers praise the quality of courses, value for money, and the availability of free learning experiences.

MasterClass, on the other hand, shines with many five-star ratings. One reviewer praised the platform saying, “MasterClass is amazing! The instructors are top experts, and the lessons are both inspiring and practical.”

While MasterClass has received glowing feedback, Coursera’s higher search volume gives it an edge in this first round.

Round 2: MasterClass vs Coursera Pricing

Being that these two platforms are very different, kind of like apples to oranges, each one has its own pricing features that make sense for what is offered. So, let’s take a closer look at what you get and for what price.

MasterClass pricing is very straightforward: offering only annual subscription plans. Starting with the Standard plan for $120, giving you unlimited access to 200+ classes, which can be used on just 1 device. If you are looking to share the MasterClass membership with someone else, you can opt for the Plus annual subscription plan costing $180, giving you access with 2 devices and the option to download for offline viewing. Finally, the Premium plan is for 6 devices, priced at $240 yearly. In case you aren’t sure about committing for a year, MasterClass has a generous 30-day money-back guarantee, so you’re covered. I have used the money-back guarantee myself when I tried out MasterClass a few years back, and I can confirm that I got a full refund with the money back in my account within 5 days.

Coursera has a few more pricing options, due to its variety of learning programs. As mentioned in my summary, Coursera has 2,000+ courses that are completely free. On top of that, Coursera gives the option to audit the majority of it 7,000+ courses, in other words, learn for free, the free option does come with its limitations. But if you change your mind, you can upgrade to the paid version and get access to all graded assignments and warm an accredited certificate. If you’re looking to polish up on professional skills, you can choose from the Guided Projects starting at $9.99 or Specializations starting at $49 a month.

If you have a bigger budget, the MasterTrack Certificates start at $2,000 and can take up to 7 months to complete, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees that start at $9,000 and take the usual 2-4 years to complete. Last but not least, Coursera Plus is a very budget friendly subscription plan for either $59/month or $399/yearly. To sum up, Ciursera has something for everyone’s budget and goals. Its 14-day refund policy is available in case you change your mind.

To sum up, MasterClass has 3 annual plans all priced below $250, and no free classes or trials. Whereas, Coursera has a variety of courses and price tags, so it’s likely there is something that fits everyone’s budget.

Round 3: MasterClass vs Coursera Categories

One glance at MasterClass’ category list, and you’ll notice a soft skill trend rather than academic oriented courses. Its courses are organized into the following 13 categories: Writing, Sports & Athletics, Science & Technology, Outdoor Adventures & Events, Music, Health & Wellness, Games & Digital Media, Food & Drink, Film & TV, Community & Government, Business & Entrepreneurship, Art & Design, Acting & Performing Arts.

Coursera’s course catalog is oriented towards academic and career topics, professional certificates and Degrees. The Topics section contains the following categories: Arts & Humanities, Physical Science & Engineering, Social Science, Math & Logic, Health, Language Learning, Information Technology, Personal Development, Computer Science, Business, and Data Science.

All of MasterClass classes are structured in the same way, consisting of around 20 video lessons, each lesson is around 10 minutes in duration, there are some exceptions, of course. All classes come with a downloadable workbook, which is a helpful learning aid.

On Coursera, the course structure varies depending on what you’re studying. Coursera courses are usually 4–12 hours in length and have graded assignments and or tests to measure learning and encourage practice. Coursera Guided Projects are 1–2 hours and are designed to help students learn a new skill. Coursera Specializations take 1–3 months to complete, while Professional Certificates require 4–7 months to finish. MasterTracks also take 4–7 months, but have different outcomes and pricing. These various programs can have sometimes 6 to 10 modules and with a minimum study time of 3–10 hours per week. It depends on the program, but all are self-paced.

MasterClass regularly updates its classes, adding new ones to its course catalog. A handful of its most popular classes are: Annie Lebiotvitz teaches photography, Gordon Ramsay teaches cooking and Aaron Sorkin teaches screenwriting. If you’d like to read in more detail about the most popular MasterClass, check out our latest article.

When it comes to Coursera it has such a wide variety of courses, specializations and degrees, it’s hard to pick just a small handful of its top courses. After considering my own experience and the feedback of other learners, the following courses come out on top: Supervised Machine Learning, The Science of Well-Being and Getting Started with the Power BI Desktop. In case you’d like to read further on Courseras top courses, head over to our most popular Coursera courses article.

All in all, Coursera’s 7,000 course catalog gives it the upper hand in this category.

Round 4: MasterClass Vs Coursera Certificates

Upon completing a course, it’s normal that you’ll want something to show for that time dedicated. Some people taking courses do so for their own self growth, but plenty more go through the learning process in order to upskill and improve professionally. Taking a course and earning a certificate of completion can be important to you, so this category is relevant—albeit short and sweet.

Masterclass’ offerings can help to some extent with refining skills or giving an informative introduction, but upon completing its classes, there won’t be a certificate to follow. On the other end of the spectrum is Coursera which provides certificates of completion, and even full on bachelor and master degrees. All, if not most, of what Coursera offers is accredited by a university, institute or some highly regarded company like Google or IBM. This is to say all of its certificates hold quite a bit of value professionally.

It’s safe to say, in this category, Coursera wins this round hands down

Round 5: Instructors

When I want to learn something new, a defining factor in which class I go with is whether the instructor has the expertise and teaching ability to guide me through the learning process. MasterClass truly wows its subscribers with courses taught by A-listers. Its instructors are iconic industry experts. I have to say, being able to learn from world-famous talent makes the MasterClass subscription worth it for me.

Coursera is also loaded with industry experts and outstanding professors. However, most people won’t have heard of its instructors as commonly as the renowned professionals sharing their wisdom on MasterClass. This may or may not be important to you as a learner, but for some, learning from the biggest names out there is so enticing, it creates a deeper connection to what you’re learning.

MasterClass wins this round and gets a point on the board.

Round 6: Customer Support

Having timely support when confronted with technical difficulties, billing issues or unresolved doubts should be a priority for any company. Good customer support is essential for the success of any business, that is no different when it comes to an online learning platform.

MasterClass boasts 24/7 customer support, when reading through other customer reviews and from my own experience, it can take its support team 24–48 hours to respond. Most customer support is provided via email and, depending on the situation, solutions can take a few minutes to several days.

Similarly, Coursera offers its learners help via email, although it encourages learners to use the help center as a first point of call. Email support is available for issues that may need greater assistance. And for learners that have paid for courses or Coursera Plus, there is a Live Chat available with office hours. On top of that, additional learner support is available on its community forums, where you can ask your peers doubts and questions you have and need help with.

On the flip side, both platforms had similar user complaints—slow response times and difficulties with subscriptions. But, Coursera’s live chat and community forums are nice additional avenues for students to find solutions and support. For this reason, Coursera wins this category.

Round 7: User Interface

Both Coursera and MasterClass have user-friendly, intuitive interfaces. Signing up on MasterClass is a breeze. However, the platform doesn’t allow for much exploring without registering (and paying) first. It’s a drawback in my book, but at least you have the 30-day money-back guarantee option just in case. Coursera registration is also quite straightforward and gives you the option to login with your Facebook, Google or Apple account, making future logins easy-peasy. I sometimes find the free/audit button for a course isn’t always intuitive to find other learners noted the same issue.

Wanting to search for a specific category or niche? Thankfully, both platforms have helpful filter systems to narrow down your search. On MasterClass, there is a quiz upon sign-up that sorts out a list of recommended classes based on your interests. And thereafter, there is also a sorting tool which allows users to select categories and format. Coursera has so much to offer that it’s no wonder it has an even more sophisticated filter system—from language to subject and level to course/program type—users easily narrow down the search results to find exactly what they’re looking for.

MasterClass and Coursera keep the bar high with seamless navigation within a class, between courses and on different devices. Both have systems that display content simply and practically. Learners are able to view video lessons and take notes on the same screen and skip, rewatch and move between classes quite easily.

It’s a tough call on which platform wins in this category, so rather than split hairs, I’ll give them both a point.

Round 8: Community

When approaching the idea of learning/studying remotely, fears of too much isolation and the lack of interaction and sharing in the experience are normal and legitimate. Both platforms must have had this in mind because they provide an online community for fellow learners to have that peer-to-peer experience and support which is often missing in online learning environments.

Within each class, MasterClass includes a discussion board where members taking the same class can share questions, answers, feedback, and engage in further discussion on the subject. Having a discussion board was very helpful for me to not feel overwhelmed in the learning process. If I had not quite understood a concept or was having trouble applying it, then I could just go on the discussion board and reach out to my fellow peers within the course.

Coursera meets the mark and then some by also providing discussion boards available in each course. As well, it also includes the option to have assignments peer-reviewed for many courses. Able to get feedback from other students to help you navigate through wobbly feet and unfamiliarity with your coursework can mean a greater chance of academic success. It’s definitely a nice bonus! On top of that, Coursera expands the community experience from course specific discussion boards to online groups and communities that are studying similar subjects and or completing the same MasterTrack or Certificate program. This gives the newbies a chance to mingle with the more senior level students and fosters a sense of network and connection between remote learners.

And since Coursera goes the extra mile, it wins this round.

Round 9: Best For Teams & Businesses

Talent acquisition and employee retention have been fluent topics for several years now and even more widespread post COVID pandemic—remote work leads to talent able to reach greater heights as physical distance is no longer a factor. Companies have had to step up their game and add more to their employee benefits package. Access to platforms like MasterClass and Coursera surely adds value to a company’s list of perks all the while promoting employee growth and development.

MasterClass at Work is its business version available for companies and teams to offer access to their employees. This version has more professional development oriented content but can be equally resourceful for both parties. MasterClass at Work has some additional features like group learning, progress tracking and admin controls, giving businesses more team enhancing tools.

Coursera offers Coursera for Business, its Teams and Business version. Companies can give their employees the opportunity to upskill via Coursera’s extensive course catalog. Depending on the team size, Coursera for Business provides customizable learning from over 5,000 courses, as well as skill metrics to make sure employees are getting what they and the company need.

Again, Coursera raises the bar higher than MasterClass in this category.

Bonus Round: Alternatives

BBC Maestro

Celebrity Instructors

4.3

Read review Visit BBC Maestro

DataCamp

Best For Data Skills

4.5

Read review Visit DataCamp

edX

Best for Verified Certificates

4.2

Read review Visit edX

Final thoughts: MasterClass Vs Coursera

Coursera was the winner in this comparison, but not everyone will need/want what it has to offer. Hey, MasterClass could even be a more suitable choice for some. And, you might even find yourself subscribing to both, as their unique offerings can be resourceful. The criteria I have used to weigh which platform is better doesn’t mean it’s better for you or better for everyone. Both of these platforms are superb within their niche of e-learning platforms. That being said, Coursera definitely takes online learning to a level hardly matched. I hope you gathered helpful insights from this article and happy learning