We consider price, course selection, production quality, and more to help you decide which of these top online learning sites is a better place to study.
$180 for 1-Year Standard Plan at MasterClass
40% off 12-Month Premium Plan +1 Month Free at Skillshare
Online learning service MasterClass lures you in with its A-list instructors, then hooks you with thoughtful material and exceptional production values.
Skillshare's videos teach you creative life and work skills, from running an online business to cooking at home. It's a compelling way to indulge your brain at a low price.
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Apples are better than oranges. I kid: The entire point of the expression “comparing apples to oranges” is that you can’t directly compare the two. Sure, they’re both fruits, but they serve different purposes. Apples are better for making cider; oranges are better for juicing and mixing with champagne or vodka. I suppose you could also eat them.
My point is that comparing Skillshare and MasterClass directly is difficult, and a more fruitful exercise would be to point out how they’re different and under which conditions you might choose one over the other. Yes, they both nominally offer online classes, but the two companies use the word “class” in different ways. And they’re both very good at what they do. They’re both Editors’ Choice winners among online learning services. But what they’re trying to do is quite different.
I’d compare Skillshare to a local community college. It’s a great place to stop by and learn something new, especially if you’re looking for practical skills.
MasterClass, meanwhile, is more like a prestigious guest lecture series hosted by a university. You’ll learn a little about how to do something, sure, but the focus is almost most on why you might want to do it—the philosophy behind the thing.
MasterClass has a collection of brilliantly presented classes taught by renowned leaders in every field. But that doesn’t mean it’s better than Skillshare in every way. There are specific reasons you might spend money on one or the other. Let’s take a closer look.
MasterClass costs a lot more than Skillshare. Cost and value are not necessarily the same thing, however.
Skillshare offers a free version with a limited selection of courses. Over the years that PCMag has reviewed Skillshare, prices for the paid version have changed frequently. As of this writing, a Premium membership costs $29.88 per year. There’s also a 30-day free trial of the Premium version but you have to add your payment information to get it.
MasterClass does not offer a free version. MasterClass membership starts at $180 per year for the Individual plan, which can run on a single device with no offline support. MasterClass Duo supports two devices with offline support and costs $240 a year. A Family plan works on eight devices and costs $276 per year. Note that all billing is annual—there’s no option to pay month-to-month. There is no free version of MasterClass, but you can get a free trial if someone with a MasterClass account sends you a special link. That trial still requires payment details, however. There are some free live classes, but they really don’t represent the quality or tone of the paid courses.
Winner: Skillshare
Skillshare focuses on teaching skills, with a real focus on the creative space. It includes everything from graphic design to animation to creative writing. Skillshare also touches on skills related to building and maintaining businesses in the creative world, with classes on topics such as how to run an Etsy store.
Skillshare does create some courses in-house, generally labeled Skillshare Originals. Those courses tend to have celebrity(ish) instructors and high production qualities. The bulk of the courses offered on Skillshare, however, are uploaded by independent instructors. They vary more in quality.
Classes on Skillshare tend to be about an hour long or less, split into shorter chunks. You can complete these classes at your own pace, generally stopping to work on exercises, or you could watch an entire course from start to finish on your lunch break.
MasterClass, meanwhile, is less directly focused on specific skills. The instructors are all A-listers in their fields, and some are household names. A lot of the value is hearing these celebrities talk about their individual workflow and philosophy. You learn some tips along the way, and some courses might even give you assignments. The focus, though, is watching or listening to someone who is the best in the world at something demonstrate those skills and give you tips.
MasterClass courses are much longer than Skillshare’s. A 20-hour MasterClass isn’t unheard of, though they’re broken up into sections and the site makes it easy to keep track of where you left off. It usually makes sense to complete a course over multiple days or weeks.
Winner: Tie. These two services are trying to do completely different things, and each does a good job.
You’ll be forgiven if, after watching a commercial for MasterClass, you thought you’d get feedback on your songwriting from Saint Vincent or on your stand up comedy routine from Steve Martin. The truth is you won’t interact with any of the “instructors” on this service—you’ll mostly just watch them.
Still, the videos aren’t everything. Every MasterClass course offers a PDF ebook that summarizes a lot of the points made in the course, and in some cases even supplements it. The booklets can be 50 pages long. Some of the courses encourage you to practice a skill, and a few even have worksheets. You can keep these supplemental materials after your subscription expires, giving you something to reference years later if you keep it around.
Skillshare is more scattershot. Some courses offer supplemental downloadable materials. Some offer projects to work on and upload. The idea is that your “classmates,” meaning anyone else who happens to be taking the class at the time, will comment and give you feedback. In some cases, the teacher might even comment, though in practice it’s rare. It all amounts to more interaction than MasterClass offers, but that’s not saying much.
It’s hard to pick a clear leader here. If you want a polished summary of the videos you watched, MasterClass is better. If you’re hoping for projects to work on as you learn a skill, Skillshare courses might be a better fit.
Winner: Tie
Skillshare videos vary wildly in video quality. The worst user-submitted courses are clearly shot at the instructor’s desk using a webcam. The best courses have a much higher level of polish than that, particularly the Skillshare Originals.
But even the best Skillshare videos don’t come close to MasterClass courses, all of which are extremely well produced. It’s hard to make 20 hours of someone talking interesting. You have to do a lot of pre-production planning, in addition to post-production editing, to make it work. MasterClass courses pull off this feat, which must cost a fortune.
This isn’t to say that Skillshare’s quality is bad. It’s just that MasterClass’ is spectacular.
Winner: MasterClass
MasterClass and Skillshare both work in your browser if you’re on a computer, and they both offer mobile apps. The mobile versions of both apps make it easy to download videos for offline watching, assuming your subscription offers that. Skillshare has a button for downloading an entire course to your mobile device, whereas MasterClass only offers the feature for individual videos.
MasterClass also offers apps for every major smart TV platform. Skillshare doesn’t have dedicated smart TV apps, but you can use Chromecast or Airplay on your mobile device to send the videos over to your television. The MasterClass website and apps are very clean, making it easy to find what you’re looking for. Skillshare is a little more cluttered and a little harder to navigate. It’s close, but I’m giving MasterClass the edge in this category.
Winner: MasterClass
MasterClass wins, but it isn’t a blowout! MasterClass takes two categories: Production Quality and How to Watch. Skillshare won just one category: Price. The other three categories were ties because in many ways it’s impossible to directly compare these two services. They’re simply trying to do different things.
If you want to learn a specific skill, start with Skillshare. If you want to see some of the best lecture-style courses ever created, taught by world famous instructors, go straight to MasterClass. But you really can’t go wrong with either, if you actually take the time to complete the courses.
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Justin Pot believes technology is a tool, not a way of life. He writes tutorials and essays that inform and entertain. He loves beer, technology, nature, and people, not necessarily in that order. Learn more at JustinPot.com.
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