Udemy vs Skillshare: Which One Is Right for You?

When I set out to improve my graphic design skills, two platforms kept popping up—Udemy and Skillshare. But which one was right for me? Should I go for a one-time purchase, explore free Udemy courses, or dive into Skillshare’s subscription model? And how do you even choose the right Skillshare class with so many options?

To clear up the confusion, I’ve put together this Udemy vs. Skillshare comparison. I’ll break down pricing, course quality, and the overall experience—so you can find the best platform, or even an alternative that fits your learning style. Let’s dive in!

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Compare Udemy vs Skillshare Side By Side

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E-Learning Platforms

Overall Rating ?

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Ease of Use ?

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Available Platforms

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Free Courses

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Udemy BBC MaestroTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMasterClassMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.3

Variety of Courses

$12.99 USD

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Skillshare BBC MaestroTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMasterClassMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.5

Best For Creative Courses

$29 USD a month

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BBC Maestro TreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMasterClassMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.3

Celebrity Instructors

£79 ($89)

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Best For Free Trial

$25 USD a month

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CreativeLive BBC MaestroTreehouseBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMasterClassMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

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Best For Live Classes

$29 USD a month

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3.5

Best for STEM topics

$24.99 USD a month

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LinkedIn Learning BBC MaestroTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantUdacityMasterClassMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

3.8

Self Paced Learning

$39.99 USD a month

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Udacity BBC MaestroTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningMasterClassMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.6

Best For Career Services

$249 USD a month

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MasterClass BBC MaestroTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.7

Learn From VIP Instructors

$10 USD a month (billed annually)

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Mindvalley BBC MaestroTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMasterClassCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

4.6

Best for Personal Growth

$49 USD a month

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Codecademy BBC MaestroTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMasterClassMindvalleyPluralsightDataCampedXCoursera

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Best For Coding Courses

$29.99 USD a month

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Pluralsight BBC MaestroTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMasterClassMindvalleyCodecademyDataCampedXCoursera

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Best For Tech Skills

$29 USD a month

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DataCamp BBC MaestroTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMasterClassMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightedXCoursera

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Best For Data Skills

$39 USD a month

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edX BBC MaestroTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMasterClassMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampCoursera

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Best for Verified Certificates

$50 USD

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Coursera BBC MaestroTreehouseCreativeLiveBrilliantLinkedIn LearningUdacityMasterClassMindvalleyCodecademyPluralsightDataCampedX

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Accredited Certificates

$9.99 USD

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Round 1: User Popularity

As you can see in the Google Trends screenshot below, when it comes to popularity, there’s one clear winner: Udemy

Udemy is the biggest and one of the most popular online learning platforms on the market. Udemy has grown to have 57+ million learners and offers 210,000+ courses in 75 languages available. Its wide variety of categories means there is something for everyone.

Skillshare’s numbers seem very humble when compared to Udemy’s. Skillshare has grown quite a bit since it was first founded in 2010: it has over 25,000+ classes and more than 600K+ members – not bad if you think they target a smaller niche (creatives and entrepreneurs).

Round 2: Udemy Vs Skillshare Pricing

Probably the most important category is the pricing, it’s great if a platform comes with all the blows and whistles, but if you are not able to afford it won’t be useful for you.

Both Udemy and Skillshare offer different pricing models, so let me explain to you how much they are.

Udemy’s individual courses start at $9.99 per course, or if you prefer to pay for a monthly subscription plan which will gives you access to 11,000+ courses, then its personal plan is your answer. It will set you back $20.00 a month and can be billed monthly or annually. Udemy regularly offers discounts on its individual courses, so best take advantage of these offers. On top of that, a 30-day refund policy is available if you change your mind.

Skillshare on the other hand, only offers subscription plans which can be paid for monthly or annually. The annual fee is $99 and works out cheaper long term if you take full advantage of the membership, but if you only want to commit for a month then the monthly plan for $29 makes the most sense. Be mindful that Skillshare does offer a full refund, but you must contact them 7 days after signing up for the free trial.

As Udemy gives you the option to purchase a course individually as well as its subscription plan, the point will have to go to them.

Round 3: Courses & Programs

If you’re trying to decide between Udemy and Skillshare, one of the biggest factors is how easily you can find the right course. With hundreds of thousands of options, a well-organized library and useful filters make a big difference.

Skillshare focuses heavily on creative fields like graphic design, photography, writing, and illustration, making it ideal for artistic learners. It organizes its courses into 16 categories, including Business, Lifestyle, and Productivity, with filters for course duration, free vs. paid classes, and when a course was created. Plus, its “Recommended Classes” section highlights standout courses.

Udemy, on the other hand, offers a broader range of topics, covering IT & Software, Business, Marketing, and Personal Development, among others. It features 13 main categories with dozens of subcategories and provides more advanced filters—you can search by skill level, student ratings, language, course duration, and available resources like quizzes and assignments.

In terms of volume, Udemy’s catalogue is massive, with over 250,000 courses and thousands of free options, compared to Skillshare’s 30,000+ creative-focused courses.

Both platforms maintain quality standards, but Skillshare stands out with its internally produced courses from brands like Adobe, Moz, and Mailchimp, offering an extra layer of credibility.

Udemy, on the other hand, offers a broader range of topics, covering IT & Software, Business, Marketing, and Personal Development, among others. It features 13 main categories with dozens of subcategories and provides more advanced filters—you can search by skill level, student ratings, language, course duration, and available resources like quizzes and assignments.

In terms of volume, Udemy’s catalogue is massive, with over 250,000 courses and thousands of free options, compared to Skillshare’s 30,000+ creative-focused courses.

Both platforms maintain quality standards, but Skillshare stands out with its internally produced courses from brands like Adobe, Moz, and Mailchimp, offering an extra layer of credibility.

Free Courses

A common question I get is: which platform is better for free courses?

Udemy offers around 600 free courses, but with limitations—no certificates, no instructor Q&A, and fewer interactive features. Still, it’s a great way to try out the platform without spending a dime.

Skillshare, on the other hand, no longer provides free courses but offers a 1-month free trial of its premium plan, granting full access to 25,000+ classes. While it’s not entirely free, it allows you to experience the full learning experience before deciding to subscribe.

Available Languages

Skillshare primarily caters to an English-speaking audience, with only a few language-learning courses available in Spanish, German, or French. Finding courses in other subjects outside English are rare.

Udemy, however, supports multiple languages and even allows filtering courses by language. Many popular courses also come with subtitles in Spanish, German, French, and more, making learning more accessible for a global audience.

Round 4: Udemy Vs Skillshare Certificates

Certificates are good to make your CV more appealing or to hang them on your office, they can help you get a better job or a juicy promotion. However, they have to be issued by a credible institution.

Once you complete an Udemy course, you’ll be able to print a completion certificate. However, Udemy is not an accredited institution, so there’s no real formal value for you. Note that free courses don’t include completion certificates.

Skillshare doesn’t provide a certificate after you complete a course, fair enough.

Round 5: Instructors

Udemy is open to anyone who is willing to put in a huge effort to create a course, of course, you have to meet some requirements, and you can’t just put together a poor quality 10-minute course about a topic. But yes, if you are willing to put the effort and create a course, you’ll be able to sell it on Udemy. Udemy itself creates its own courses (known as Udemy official courses) that are produced by the Udemy Instructor team.

And with Skillshare it is the same case. This elearning platform is open to anyone who is eager to teach a course. Like Udemy, Skillshare also produces some of its own courses (known as Skillshare Originals), and they team up with very successful professionals and companies to push some amazing classes.

For example, you can find a beginner SEO course taught by Rand Fishkin, one of the most important SEO experts in the world – equivalent to having Michael Jordan teaching you basketball fundamentals.

Both Skillshare and Udemy have a way for students to communicate and interact with each other. Having a narrower range of topics and working on a subscription model, I think benefits Skillshare here and its community is a bit more engaged.

Round 6: Customer Support

Alright, one thing that we all get frustrated with is slow support and bad customer care, right?

Udemy has a well-organized knowledge base with tutorials and guides on how its platform works, it’s also easy to find the information you need about the prices and terms of use.

It’s not easy to contact Udemy with your questions, you can try contacting Udemy’s support via email at support@udemy.com or pestering them on social media.

On the other hand, Skillshare’s knowledge base is a bit more rudimentary, and sometimes I found its support articles a bit thin (not detailed enough). However, reaching out to their support is easy (by email at help@skillshare.com) and I always had a good experience with them – support seems slower when you have a free account, but hey, it’s free.

Round 7: User Interface

Alright, we all want easy to follow and intuitive interfaces and straightforward workflows, so let’s find out which one provides the easiest to use system. Shall we?

Registration

The registration process at Udemy is very simple To create an account you’ll only need your name, email and set a password. After that, you’ll only need to confirm the email that they send you.

Skillshare works similarly.  You can create your account by simply adding an email account and a password. On top of that, you are also allowed to create an account using your Gmail or Facebook account.

Backend & Design

Once you log in at Udemy you’ll realize that an effort has been made to keep the interface intuitive and well-designed. I like how easy it is to create your own ‘Collection’ of courses organized using the same topics (e.g. programming, design, etc.).

The actual course interface is also very smartly designed. Besides the usual video player options (playback speed, video quality, subtitle management, etc.), you also can add a note to a certain moment of a video (see image below).

It’s also very convenient how the course lessons are organized in the right-hand sidebar (above image). It provides easy access to each chapter and lesson of the course. You can also tick or untick each lesson to keep track of your progress.

Access Udemy using your favourite internet browser on laptops and desktops, or download the iOS or Android app to watch courses on the go.

Skillshare also offers a way to create course lists to keep your resources organized and adding notes to your courses. I would say that its design is good, but maybe not as modern-looking as Udemy’s (not a big issue though).

The Skillshare’s video player isn’t as advanced as Udemy’s, it lacks some options like being able to set up the video quality or managing captions. The course sidebar with the lessons is also a more simple version of Udemy’s.

As with Udemy, Skillshare is available for desktops and laptops using a browser, and via apps for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android devices. You won’t be able to watch courses offline with the free version.

Round 8: Best for Businesses

Elearning platforms are a great way to have your team or company improving skills and learning new drills, especially for fast-changing industries such as marketing or development.

Skillshare offers a Team plan that gives employees unlimited access to 25,000+ courses. The plan is designed for teams of any size, and costs $159 per user annually.

Udemy offers 3 different business plans. The Team plan is for 5 – 20 users, costing $360 a year per user. Then there is the Enterprise plan for more than 21 users which is custom priced and finally the Leadership Development Program, again custom priced.

Round 9: Customer Reviews

To provide a comprehensive view for this Udemy Vs Skillshare review, I took a look at what customers are sharing on Trustpilot, one of the most popular review sites. That way, we get to hear what a wider range of users think of these two online learning platforms.

The Udemy review comes from 1,173 users and the Skillshare review has been left by 1,499 customers. Skillshare has nearly 50% of its customers leaving a 5-star rating, many complimenting is affordability, good customer service and free trial. “I’ve had a great experience so far and found plenty of quality courses. The price is relatively cheap…” a happy 5-star customer said.

It left me curious to explore what issues Udemy users were having, with nearly 40% leaving a 1-star review. Many complained about bad customer service, billing issues and bad user experience. “Udemy has no way to contact their instructors and their customer service is horrendous” an unhappy 1-star customer said.

Bonus Round: Udemy Vs Skillshare Alternatives

There are a bunch of cases in which Udemy and Skillshare aren’t good matches. For example, you need accredited certificates, or when you are looking for career advice and help to write your CV.

So let me mention a couple of alternatives you should consider:

Coursera

Coursera is one of the most prestigious online learning platforms, that has partnered with 300+ top Universities and Organizations to create its courses and learning programs. If you are looking to earn a verified certificate, Coursera maybe your answer.

Coursera offers thousands of courses for free, but if you want a certificate you’ll have to purchase a paid version. Coursera has several types of learning options, its Guided Projects start at $9.99 USD and its Degree Programs start at $9,000 USD.

edX

Similarly to Coursera, edX offers courses from leading universities like Harvard, The University of Texas, MIT or Berkeley. You’ll be able to earn accredited certificates too for industries such as business, computer science, engineering or humanities.

There are several free courses, but if you’d like to get a certificate from edX, you’ll need to pay for the course ($50 to $300 depending on the course).

Udacity

Udacity doesn’t offer as many courses as Udemy or Skillshare, but it creates its own resources partnering with leading companies for all their courses (e.g. Google, Mercedes or Nvidia). The list of topics they cover is also limited (mainly business and technology), but the areas are almost Sci-fi (from AI to autonomous driving).

Udacity career advice

There are also a bunch of free courses (about 200). It groups its courses into Nanodegrees, a bundle of 4 to 10 subjects that will let you deepen in a topic. Career advice is also offered and its certificates, even if they are not accredited, certificates are taken seriously by many companies.

However, it won’t be cheap, a Nanodegree will cost you between $700 to $2,000 depending on its duration.

Final thoughts: Udemy vs Skillshare

Alright, after this long and detailed comparison, I hope it has helped you choose the right platform for you. To conclude, I have highlighted each platform’s strengths and weaknesses.

Udemy Pros

Udemy Cons

Visit Udemy

Read Udemy review

Skillshare Pros

Skillshare Cons

Visit Skillshare