MasterClass vs Mindvalley: Who Takes the Lead?

Are you a learner looking for motivational content that won’t break the bank? Or maybe you’re considering a life or career change and need that extra inspiration from your online learning experience. I get it – I’ve been there too. The 2 platforms that come straight to mind are Mindvalley and MasterClass. I’ve carefully crafted this article on these two popular platforms so you can see their similarities as well as their differences, and find out which one comes out on top?

MasterClass Vs Mindvalley Side by Side

Select a platform to compare:

E-Learning Platforms

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MasterClass BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.7

Learn From VIP Instructors

$10 USD a month (billed annually)

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Mindvalley BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.6

Best for Personal Growth

$49 USD a month

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BBC Maestro SkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.3

Celebrity Instructors

£79 ($89)

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Skillshare BBC MaestroUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.5

Best For Creative Courses

$29 USD a month

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Udemy BBC MaestroSkillshareTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.3

Variety of Courses

$12.99 USD

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Treehouse BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

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Best For Free Trial

$25 USD a month

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CreativeLive BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

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Best For Live Classes

$29 USD a month

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Brilliant BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

3.5

Best for STEM topics

$24.99 USD a month

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LinkedIn Learning BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

3.8

Self Paced Learning

$39.99 USD a month

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Udacity BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.6

Best For Career Services

$249 USD a month

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Codecademy BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

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Best For Coding Courses

$29.99 USD a month

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Pluralsight BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyDataCampedXCoursera

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Best For Tech Skills

$29 USD a month

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DataCamp BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightedXCoursera

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Best For Data Skills

$39 USD a month

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edX BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampCoursera

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Best for Verified Certificates

$50 USD

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Coursera BBC MaestroSkillshareUdemyTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

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Accredited Certificates

$9.99 USD

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Round 1: User Popularity

Let’s kick off this Mindvalley vs. MasterClass comparison by diving into their popularity among users. To get a clear picture, I pulled some data on how often these platforms are searched on Google over the past two years. Check out the results below—it really tells the story.

MasterClass is the clear winner here, boasting more than double the search interest compared to Mindvalley. This higher level of interest suggests that more users are curious about what MasterClass has to offer.

In addition to search trends, I’ve combined my personal experience with user reviews. Both MasterClass and Mindvalley have high satisfaction rates.

MasterClass stands out, with a majority of users giving it 5 stars. One reviewer noted, “I have been impressed by the range and quality of the classes and sessions available.” Mindvalley also shines, with 75% of users awarding it 5 stars. A user shared, “I really enjoyed the programs at my own pace, with the option to revisit or start over.”

While Mindvalley has excellent feedback, MasterClass’s broader interest and higher search popularity give it the edge in this first round.

Round 2: Pricing & Refunds

When it comes to spending money, it’s always wise to consider: What am I getting for my money and is it really worth it?

As mentioned above, Mindvalley has 100+ quests along with meditations, trainings and a buzzing online community that helps you to reach your self-improvement goals and share your experience as well as learn from others. The foundation of support gained from the Mindvalley community plays a significant role for many quest takers wanting to improve their lives. The video content is short form—each video is 15–20 minutes in duration, and the idea is that quest takers seeking healing and or transformation, watch and participate every day. All that being said, their monthly price tag is $49 and the annual fee is, $399. There are some free live courses that you can explore to help you decide, along with a 15-day refund policy. In the case you sign up for a membership plan and change your mind, you know you’ve got the refund policy to fall back on.

When it comes to MasterClass pricing, it offers slightly more cost-effective options than Mindvalley, with 3 subscription plans; starting with the Standard for $120, the Plus priced at $180 and the Premium for $240. The only catch is all of these plans are an annual payment, there is no monthly option. Which for some may be too much of a commitment, so make sure you consider this before signing up. On the bright side, MasterClass offers a money-back guarantee. If during the first 30 days, you can change your mind, you are entitled to a full refund. Not bad, right?

I’ve created a pricing table below to help you compare the two platforms side by side. I hope it provides a clear visual comparison of all the platform’s pricing features.

Round 3: Categories & Classes

Mindvalley is a platform dedicated to self growth and improvement, it covers the following categories; Body, Mind, Soul, Relationships, Career, Entrepreneurship. MasterClass is far more diverse, dabbling into nearly every topic under the sun. Its courses are divided into the following categories; Acting & Performing Arts, Film & TV, Music, Writing, Community & Government, Art & Design, Games & Digital Media, Food & Drink, Business & Entrepreneurship, Health & Wellness, Science & Technology, Sports & Athletics and Outdoor Adventures & Events.

How are the classes structured?

MasterClass courses vary in duration, each class consists of 10-20 video lessons, each around 10 minutes long, averagely totaling around four hours. All encompass excellent production quality along with a “famous teacher” at the centre of the class, who is an expert in their topic. Its classes incorporate entertaining video content which is highly engaging and a pleasure to watch.

Mindvalley courses, or quests rather, are designed to become part of your daily practice, but in small increments of roughly 20 minutes a day. The quests, practiced daily, can take around 30–50 days to complete and each daily session involves a video lesson and a practice task. Many of Its quests are taught by famous faces or experts in their fields. You can be left reassured that its teachers are the best in their profession or practice.

Most Popular Mindvalley and MasterClass Classes

MasterClass truly stocks its digital shelf with so much diversity that my personal top 5 could have nothing in common with my friends’. But their website shares which courses are currently popular, and some of them have been named frequently by myself and other websites and forums. So here’s the most objective top 5 course list on MasterClass:

1. Annie Leibovitz Teaches Photography
2. Gordon Ramsay Teaches Cooking
3. Aaron Sorkin Teaches Screenwriting
4. Neil Gaiman Teaches The Art of Storytelling
5. Werner Herzog teaches filmmaking

Choosing a Mindvalley quest is also a very personal decision. This is especially so due to the nature of the courses it offers—personal growth and development surely means different things for different people. That being said, there are dozens of quests that seem to attract more people. Here are the top five that hit the mark across the board:

1. Speak & Inspire
2. Conscious Uncoupling
3. Duality
4. Silva Ultramind
5. Awaken the Species

These top 5s may not be in your scope of interest, so luckily both platforms have courses organized into categories giving you the possibility to check out courses based on a general interest. Additionally, MasterClass and Mindvalley offer a quiz for you to reach clarity on what your interests are and what courses match—MasterClass’ quiz is rather simple yet available without signing up first.

And while Mindvalley does offer diverse course categories, its topics are geared towards self-growth, healing and development in the body, mind and spirit realms. MasterClass is less specialized in that sense and the course categories are far more diverse, including life skills, hobbies, career skills and self-improvement.

Round 4: Certificates

Both of these platforms are notorious for providing users with satisfactory results. It’s no wonder both are incredibly popular among the online learning world. But they don’t quite quench the thirst of learners seeking academic recognition or career advancement that require certifications or degrees.

Mindvalley does, however, offer Coaching Certification programs for learners eager to become a Life Coach, Business Coach, Nutrition Coach, etc. Mindvalley, being as reputable as it is, I’m sure their certificates are valued globally. However, there is no accreditation process beyond the Mindvalley seal of approval. This is to say, you can earn a certificate by completing one of their Coaching programs, but said certificate isn’t controlled nor awarded by any external institution.

Round 5: Instructors

Mindvalley and MasterClass both have leading experts in their respective fields on their rosters. But if you’ve never had previous experience with mind-body-soul wellness and growth, you might not have heard of the likes of Dr. Michael Breus, Emily Fletcher or Mahatria. They are incredibly talented individuals, like all of the instructors at Mindvalley, but most likely not common household names. Nonetheless, they are great at what they do.

MasterClass ups the ante by offering a celebrity packed lineup. But they’re not just famous in the entertainment industry, like the Mindvalley teachers, they are leading experts in the specific subjects. Think Amy Poehler, Samuel Jackson, Niel Degrass Tyson and Martha Stewart. They’re famous, entertaining and truly good at what they do.

This is a hard call but again, just at face value, MasterClass takes another win for donning both celebrity and talent.

Round 6: Customer Support

You’d hope that all good customer service nowadays includes call, email and live chat? Sadly, that’s not always the case.

Mindvalley provides a customer support from Monday to Friday from 7am to 7pm. Its support consists of a chat on its main support page, which claims to typically answer in 48 hours. Similarly, MasterClass offers a live chat support available from 8am to 5pm PST and a phone support from 7am to 4pm PST. Sadly, that’s quite limited for their customers living in Europe and Asia time zones.

Whilst checking out the contact support phone number on MasterClass (along with the Chatbot and email), however, on Mindvalley, the only detail I couldn’t find easily was the phone number. The other ways to contact—live chat, messenger, WhatsApp, etc—were all very easily located on the website. And once you are a Mindvalley member, you also get an even better customer experience as you’re assigned an account manager to take you through your learning journey. That’s impressive!

It’s safe to say, Mindvalley takes the trophy in this round.

Round 7: User Interface

Registration

Both Mindvalley and MasterClass make it easy for you to register, with an easy-to-find subscribe button. When you click on ‘Sign Up’ for MasterClass it will take you to a short quiz asking you, ‘What brings you to MasterClass today?’, you can choose to skip it if you prefer. You’ll need to select your preferred annual membership plan, then add your email or sign up with Google or Facebook. Then you’re taken through to the payment section, where you can select to pay with a credit card or PayPal. The registration process is super seamless and intuitive.

Over at Mindvalley you can create an account by adding your name, email and creating a password or use Google, Facebook or Apple to create your account. Mindvalley grants yo a free account, but you won’t be able to access any of its quests, you’ll then need to choose either a monthly or annual membership plan.

Filter System

Both platforms have an intuitive filter system to help you find the course or program that interests you the most. In my opinion, MasterClass does a much better job at helping you narrow down your search for a specific class. You can select a category and then narrow down your search, by choosing a subcategory.

Mindvalley just allows you to select the category you’re interested in, but there isn’t a way of narrowing down your search to view subcategories, which isn’t the most helpful, especially if you aren’t 100% sure of what you’re after. Personally, I prefer the filter system of MasterClass and its layout felt more familiar to me.

Navigating the platform

I found the MasterClass platform much more intuitive to move around, I’m not sure if that’s because it reminds me of Netflix or Apple, and I’m so familiar with the layout of these streaming services. Saying that, I still was able to find my way around the Mindvalley platform, but at times it didn’t come naturally to move forwards and backwards through the platform.

Round 8: Community

MasterClass isn’t best known for having an active community, the learning experience is for those wanting to get inspired and motivated by their favorite celebrity which highly engaging content. If community is what you’re after, then MasterClass isn’t the way to go.

Mindvalley, on the other hand, is fully equipped with a buzzing hive mind community that gives anyone completing a chosen quest some support and company along the way. Mindvalley’s community can be accessed via social media pages, forums and even live events. Imagine that? Being able to take a quest to grow, heal, improve and connect and possibly cultivate lifelong bonds with others on similar paths is normally a rarity among e-learning platforms. Mindvalley is the stand-out platform, for this round.

Round 9: Teams & Businesses

Remote working has given employees much more flexibility for working from home, this has led to many companies looking for ways to upskill their employees with online learning platforms. It’s no wonder that both MasterClass and Mindvalley offer team and company plans to help improve employees’ skills and engagement.

Both platforms offer custom priced plans for teams and businesses, depending on the needs of the specific company. Mindvalley’s quests promote happier and healthier individuals. This is a definite bonus for companies, as happier, healthier employees tend to suffer less burnout and sustain more productive workflows. Whilst MasterClass classes are motivating and inspiring, so it’s a really hard one to say which is best for an employee and a business, so for that reason, I will have to give a point to both.

Bonus Round: Alternatives

BBC Maestro

Celebrity Instructors

4.3

Read review Visit BBC Maestro

Skillshare

Best For Creative Courses

4.5

Read review Visit Skillshare

Coursera

Accredited Certificates

4.8

Read review Visit Coursera

Final thoughts: MasterClass vs Mindvalley

Both of these platforms have greatness to offer but, with some clear differences, one may be more or less suitable. Mindvalley can help individuals transform into their best selves and bring those on similar quests together to help each other. However, if you’re hoping for courses that don’t just focus on self-improvement, wellness and growth, then Mindvalley isn’t an ideal choice. And if you’re on a budget, it’s possible the $49/month or $399/year will be a tough call or even a no-go. MasterClass could be an ideal choice for folks seeking inspirational and entertaining video content starting at $120 annually (working out at $10 a month), but the type of learning is limited to audience based and I wouldn’t recommend it for true upskilling nor for self-improvement.

MasterClass is the clear winner of this comparison based on its pricing, categories, instructors and user interface. If you’d like to read about MasterClass in more detail, you can check out our detailed review.

What is most important is that after reading this write-up, you’re hopefully able to ascertain which combination of criteria is most relevant and then decide if MasterClass or Mindvalley or maybe another online learning platform is the best for you.

There’s a lot to consider when choosing an online learning community, so if you still have some questions, please leave a comment below, and I’ll do my best to help you.