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 27,000+ 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.
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Skillshare Costs: An Overview
Skillshare monthly cost is $19 if you pay month by month, or $99 if you decide to pay for a full year – yearly payments come out at $8.25 a month. The Skillshare plans for Teams are $99 per year for (3 to 49 students), larger teams will get a custom Skillshare pricing and more features (e.g. onboarding and consultations).
Skillshare offers a lot of classes for free, you will also have access to the community where you’ll be able to interact with other students. So yes, Skillshare offers about 10% of its total classes free of cost, not too bad right?
Free Classes Skillshare
Unlike other elearning platforms, Skillshare makes it easy for you to find its free classes, as it has a dedicated filter (and page) where all the available complementary classes are shown.
However, I have the personal impression that its free classes are not always the most advanced ones, and at times a bit outdated (not always) – but hey, they are free.
Skillshare Premium Plan
Alright, if you opt-in for the premium Skillshare plan, you’ll be able to access the whole Skillshare course library with over 27,000+ classes (courses). On top of that, you get a couple of perks:
You are allowed to follow the classes offline
No ads will be shown
Get exclusive discounts from partners like Adobe, Shutterstock or Squarespace
Skillshare discounts for premium users
Additionally, with your premium Skillshare account, you’ll be able to support the community of instructors and teachers.
If initially you aren’t convinced about signing up to Skillshare Premium, you can try it for free for 14 days to get a taste of the platform, this will give you access to the full library of its classes.
Skillshare Premium Free Trial
You can try out Skillshare Premium 14 day free trial, by clicking here. Within that 14-day free period you will be able to cancel at anytime and won’t be charged anything.
Skillshare Teams Plan
As some other elearning platforms do, Skillshare also has a specific plan for businesses and teams, so you all can keep on developing existing skills or learn new ones.
There are two packages available for organizations, the Starter and the Enterprise plan. But before going into what each of them offers, let me tell you that you won’t be able to refund these.
Organizations like Vice, Virgin TV or Staples are clients of Skillshare and provide their employees with access to this library.
Skillshare teams tiers
Starter Package
The Starter plan is very similar to the individual Skillshare plans as you’ll be able to see the classes offline, and you’ll be granted access to all the resources (courses) available at this elearning platform for creatives.
On top of that, the Starter plan also offers:
Admin capabilities to manage all the users
Teacher feedback
Access to a student community
Team management features
The price for the Starter plan is $99 per year and user, and it’s not possible to pay for it on a monthly basis. Additionally, you’ll need a minimum of 3 users and a maximum of 49 to be able to access this offer.
Enterprise Package
This Skillshare plan is good for teams of 20 users (or more) and you’ll need a custom quote to find out how much it will work out as.
It’s suitable for larger organizations as it’s pricier and has some unique perks for larger teams. Besides the Starter plan features, your organization will also get:
Dedicated account and success manager to help you track progress
Integrations with other tools (e.g. via API or LMS)
Custom 1-on-1 onboarding
Private community groups for your team
Accepted Payment Methods & Currencies
You can use either a credit card or PayPal to pay for your Skillshare premium account. They have a program that if you refer friends (and he or she subscribes to Skillshare), you’ll be awarded free months of Skillshare premium access.
Skillshare is available in many currencies, so you can most likely pay for your annual or monthly subscription with your local currency. Check out the table below to see the prices for the most popular currencies.
Yearly Plan
Monthly Plan
US Dollars ($)
$8.25 a month
$19
Pounds (£)
£7
£14.50
Euros (€)
€8 a month
€16 a month
Canadian Dollars (CA$)
CA$11.75 a month
CA$25 a month
Skillshare Gift Cards
With Skillshare you’ll be able to buy a gift card for a loved one. You can decide between giving 3, 6 or 12 months subscription, and by the way, the gift cards never expire.
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:
Submit the scholarship form and explain how you will use what you’ll learn at Skillshare. Submit a summary of your financial situation.
Wait for the Skillshare confirmation
If approved enjoy access to Skillshare for 1 year for free
The scholarships are awarded at the beginning of each month, you’ll receive an email from Skillshare if selected. Be aware that you’ll need to be over 13 years old to apply for a scholarship at Skillshare.
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 the premium classes, materials and you won’t be able to watch classes offline anymore.
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 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 14 Day Free Trial
If you click Start Your 14 Day Free Trial(see image above) for the Skillshare Premium you are agreeing to be charged after that 14 days has finished either for the monthly or yearly charge. If you do decide to cancel before the 14 days finished you won’t be charged anything.
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:
It’s not very expensive
The Skillshare prices and plans are easy to digest
This popular platform to improve or learn new (creative) skills will make you choose between an annual or a monthly membership. If you choose the yearly subscription, you’ll be given a big discount (over 50%), but be ready to pay the full amount ($99) upfront. Note that there’s a 14 day free trial on the Premium membership and Skillshare reguarly has different discounts and offers.
But institutions and businesses have tailored versions (the Team’s plan) of Skillshare to provide access to the platform for their employees. These packages start at $99 per year and user – a minimum of 3 users required.
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.
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.
