Skillshare Costs: What are your options?

If you are someone with a creative flair, then most likely you have heard of Skillshare. This online learning community is very popular among designers, photographers, chefs and artists. According to its own data, this platform seems to have over 8 million users and offers more than 35,000+ classes.

You probably still have a bunch of questions about its costs, like: How much is Skillshare? Will you be able to refund your Skillshare account if you aren’t happy with the premium version of it? Is Skillshare worth it?

Let me help you out and explain all there is to know about Skillshare’s prices and memberships.

Skillshare Costs Overview

Skillshare offers a free trial with its premium plan for individual users. Its premium plan membership has only one option that it is billed annually at $167.88 (working out at $13.99 a month). Skillshare for Teams costs $159 per user, per year, and is designed for a team or organization of any size. Skillshare does offer a refund policy on its annual premium memberships, so if you do change your mind you have 14 days to request your refund after the charge has been processed.

Is Skillshare Free?

Skillshare used to offer a bunch of its classes for free with a free plan, but as of September 2021, it has transited away from the free class experience and now all students must have an active free trial or paid membership to login and explore classes.

To create an account with Skillshare you can click on Sign Up and add a valid email address or use your facebook, Google or Apple account (see image below).

Skillshare Sign up

Once you are signed up, you will need to add your card details, but you won’t be charged anything until your free trial ends. This may leave you a little apprehensive to sign up. I get it, but if your intention isn’t to continue with a paid premium plan, you are free to cancel at anytime. Plus, Skillshare will send you an email 7 days before your trial ends to remind you.

Once you are all signed up with your free trial, you will have access to the Skillshare platform and can start exploring its classes and what it has to offer.

Skillshare Premium Membership

So, you are probably asking yourself, what do I actually get with the Premium membership?

Skillshare Premium Free Trial

Firstly, you will be able to enjoy the premium membership with a free trial and this will give you full access to its library of classes 35,000+ on a variety of creative topics like Animation, Graphic Design, Photography and much more. You can choose to sign up for either the annual or the monthly membership plan.

On top of that, you will be able to enjoy the following with Skillshare Premium;

• Creative Community: Get support and feedback on real, hands-on projects
• Offline Access: Download classes to your smart device with the Skillshare app
• No Ads: Watch your classes with no interruptions
• Supports Teachers: Funds the royalty pool that pays teachers each month
• Perks: Discounts on exciting creative resources, services and benefits

Skillshare Perks discount for premium users

The Skillshare premium membership gives you exclusive discounts to your favorite creative services like Adobe and Squarespace starting at $14 monthly for its annual subscription.

> Try out Skillshare Premium here

Skillshare Teams Plan

Like many other elearning platforms, Skillshare offers a plan for businesses and teams, which gives unlimited access to its 35,000+ classes. The plan is designed for a team or business of any size and each user will have a personalized experience.

Skillshare For Teams Package

The Skillshare For Teams Package is designed to help you and your team build hard and soft creative skills, if your team grows, you can add users to your account, plus you can reassign seats if someone in your team leaves. Skillshare for Teams costs $159 USD per user, per year and are billed annually, there is no monthly option.

On top of that, the Skillshare for Teams offers:

• Unlimited access to 35,000+ classes
• Easy-to-use admin capabilities
• A personalized experience for each user
• Casting, offline, and mobile capabilities
• Detailed reporting and analytics

> Try out Skillshare For Teams here

Corporate Gift Cards

A corporate gift card of a Skillshare Membership offers something a little different for your customers. Not only can they be customized, but they are easy to set up and can be redeemed at anytime of year.

Skillshare Corporate Gift Cards

You will need to Contact Sales and specify what you are looking for, and they will be in touch with a customized pricing plan.

Skillshare Chroma Courses

Skillshare has recently introduced four-week, immersive small group courses called ChromaCourse. The idea of it is to give of small group of learners access to exclusive content from expert teachers with live Q&As that are personalized feedback on your assignments.

Anyone can enroll on a Chroma Course, you don’t need to be a Skillshare member. All you need is access to Slack and Zoom, so you can participate in the live sessions. New Chroma Courses are launched each month and if you find the course you would like to join is full, there is the option to join the waiting list. You can purchase a Chroma Course with a debit or credit card, and then you will receive confirmation of purchase in your email.

> Check out Chroma Courses here

Accepted Payment Methods & Currencies

Skillshare accepts credit or debit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover) plus PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay and SEPA are all available.

Skillshare is available in many currencies, which you can pay for with an annual subscription in in your local currency. Check out the table below to see the prices for the most popular currencies.

Skillshare for Schools

Skillshare offers special and discounted pricing for high school and higher education institutions who are looking to purchase 20 seats or more. These special packages will give young students the opportunity to switch traditional textbook learning to the full library of courses on categories like graphic design, leadership, web development and much more.

If you are interested in discussing plans and discounts for your school or University, then you can contact Skillshare for a free consultation to find out more.

Scholarships

Skillshare offers a selection of Scholarships that give eligible applicants a discount or access to a Skillshare membership for one year.  It is currently offering a selection of scholarships from 50% off a one-year membership for College and University students to furloughed workers in the UK.

The application process seems really straightforward. All you need is your name, email and explaining why you are eligible for the Scholarship

> Check out Skillshare Scholarships here

Financial Aid

There are a couple of ways in which Skillshare makes the resources available to those with financial needs:

• Every student that has a valid .edu email address will have a 50% discount on the Skillshare Premium cost.
• The One for One Skillshare policy means that for each premium subscriber they donate a free membership to those in need of financial help.

To apply for a Skillshare scholarship you’ll need to follow these steps:

1. Create a free Skillshare account
2. Submit the scholarship form and explain how you will use what you’ll learn at Skillshare. Submit a summary of your financial situation.
3. Wait for the Skillshare confirmation
4. If approved enjoy access to Skillshare for 1 year for free

If you’d like to help someone with limited financial resources by giving them access to Skillshare, you can become a benefactor to sponsor students.

How To Cancel Skillshare

You’ll be able to cancel your Skillshare premium membership at any time. To cancel your membership, you’ll need to follow a few easy steps.

1. Click on Account Settings

2. Then select Payments

3. Finally, click on Cancel Membership

Once you click on Cancel Membership, you will instantly lose access to the premium membership (including all the classes and access). If you cancel before the end of your free trial, you won’t be charged anything.

Skillshare Cancel Membership

Skillshare Refunds

Skillshare only offers refunds on the annual Premium membership payments. To get your full refund, you must contact Skillshare within 7 days after the charge has been processed, and it can take up to 14 business days to receive your refund. Sadly, they do not offer refunds if you choose the monthly membership (e.g paying month to month).

Skillshare Premium Start Your Free Month

If you click Start your free month (see image above) for the Skillshare Premium you are agreeing to be charged after that 1 month finished. If you do decide to cancel before the 1 month has finished you won’t be charged.

If you purchase Skillshare via a third party (e.g. Google Play or Apple), you’ll have to contact them in order to request a refund or cancellations – Skillshare won’t be able to help you here.

Skillshare Costs: Last Thoughts

Alright, we’ve reviewed Skillshare costs, and we’ve seen that:

1. It’s reasonably priced for the content you have access to
2. The Skillshare prices and plans are easy to digest

This popular platform is focused on improving or learning new (creative) skills and if you are an individual you get to try out the free trial before committing to the annual premium membership. The premium membership plan costs $167.88 annually and gives you full access to the 35,000+ classes, the community and offline viewing.

> Try out Skillshare Premium here

If you are a business or team, you can check out Skillshare Teams Plan. It costs $159 per user, per year and is designed for a team or business of any size.

If a more comprehensive review on Skillshare is what you are looking for, then give it a read here. I hope you have a clearer understanding of what the different Skillshare costs are and which plan you should choose.

> Check out Skillshare Team Plans

Please leave a comment below if you have any questions, and I’ll do my best to help you out.

Article Updates:

09/03/23 – Skillshare Teams Plan

02/05/22 – Prices update

28/03/22 – Skillshare Chroma Courses

20/03/22 – Skillshare for Schools

02/03/22 – Skillshare Annual Cost

30/11/21 – Skillshare Scholarships

19/11/21 – How to Cancel Skillshare

21/10/21 – Skillshare Premium Plan & Team Plans

23/09/21 – Skillshare Costs

12/07/21- Skillshare for free & Premium membership

Catherine Cooke

Hey. I am Catherine and I have been working as a freelancer for many years now. In 2005, I graduated from a BA honours in Art & Design from BCU and then went onto complete a Master’s Degree in Teaching from UEL. The skills I gained from learning and teaching have led me to create Upskillwise, a place for learners like myself to find the best possible resources and courses to train and upskill themselves, either personally or professionally. If you have a question, please feel free to ask me anything or leave me a comment.