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+ courses (they call them classes).

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?

These may be questions you are looking to answer. Let me help you out and explain to you Skillshare’s prices.

Skillshare Costs: An Overview

Skillshare offers a free trial with its premium plan for individual users. Its premium plan membership is billed annually at $167.88 working out at $13.99 a month. Skillshare for Teams are made up of 3 different plans, Starter, Enterprise and Revive. The Starter is $139 per user, per year and best for (2 to 20 students). The Enterprise is great for larger teams (of 20+) and the 3rd plan the Revive is for (50+ or more) each of these plans are custom priced.

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. 

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 $12 monthly for its annual subscription.

Skillshare Teams Plan

As some other elearning platforms do, Skillshare also has specific plans for businesses and teams, so you all can keep on developing existing skills or learn new ones.

There are three packages available for organizations, the Starter, the Enterprise and the Revive plan. But before going into what each of them offers, let me tell you that you won’t be able to refund these.

Skillshare teams plans

Starter Plan

The Starter plan is very similar to the individual Skillshare plans as you’ll be able to see the classes offline and watch live classes and workshops, and you’ll be granted unlimited access to 35,000+ classes. The Starter plan costs $139 per user, per year, and is best for teams of 2 – 20 users who are looking to upskill and uplevel.

On top of that, the Starter plan also offers:

• Easy-to-use admin capabilities
• Feedback from teachers and community
• Casting, offline, and mobile capabilities
• Project-based courses

> Try out the Starter Plan here

Enterprise Plan

The Enterprise plan is great for teams of 20+ users who are looking for learning and development platform with access to a custom success manager, engaging reporting, custom workshops and more. You will need to contact sales for a custom pricing for the Enterprise plan.

Besides the Starter plan features, the Enterprise plan includes:

• Curated wellness offerings
• Custom & private digital workshops
• Private community groups for your team
• Team & User engagement reports

> Try out the Enterprise Plan here

Revive Plan

The Revive Plan is designed for teams of 50+ users or more who are looking to provide a perk for team members. You will need to contact sales for a custom pricing for the Revive plan.

The Revive plan includes:

• Curated wellness lists & offerings
• Onboarding & engagement support
• Reporting & analytics 2x per year
• Custom workshops available

> Try out the Revive Plan 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, and they will be in touch with a customized pricing plan.

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, so you can most likely pay for your annual or monthly subscription with your local currency. Check out the table below to see the prices for the most popular currencies.

Scholarships

Skillshare offers a selection of Scholarships that give eligible applicants unlimited access to a Skillshare membership for one year. Skillshare normally partners with benefactors who help to fund the scholarships.

> Check out available Scholarships at Skillshare

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 account you’ll need to find the ‘Payment’ section under your ‘Accounts Settings’ and then cancel the membership account.

Please be warned that once you cancel your account you’ll lose access to classes and all premium features.

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.

Note: Please, be aware that there aren’t any refunds available for the Teams plans.

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 will set you back $167.88 giving you full access to the full library of classes, the community and offline viewing.

If you are a business or team you can check out one of the 3 team plans. The first plan starts at $139 per user, per year – a minimum of 2 users required. The other packages are a little more comprehensive and for larger teams, which you will need to contact Skillshare for to get a custom quote.

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.

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

Review Updates:

23/09/21 Skillshare Costs

12/07/21 Skillshare for free & Premium membership

Catherine Cooke

Hey. I am Catherine and have been working as a freelancer for many years now and I believe that you are in charge of your own destiny. If learning a new skill or having a career change is something you want to do, then there is no better time than the present. If you have a question please feel free to ask me anything or leave me a comment.