Udemy vs Skillshare [2022]: Comparison & Review - Online Course How (2024)

Udemy and Skillshare are both popular online learning platforms. Which is the better choice for you? This post will provide a side by side comparison to help you decide for yourself.

Both Skillshare and Udemy offer thousands of online courses. The main difference between the two-course platforms is their cost structure. On Udemy you will pay for each individual course. On Skillshare, you pay a monthly or annual subscription to unlock complete access to all courses on the platform.

In this post, I'll discuss the pros and cons of Udemy and Skillshare, how much each cost, what types of courses are offered, and more.

1. Overview – Udemy vs Skillshare

Both Udemy and Skillshare are online course websites. They bring together students and instructors and tend to focus on the transfer of practical skills, as opposed to more academic knowledge.

Whatever subject you'd like to learn about, there are likely courses on both of these platforms that can connect you with an expert to learn from.

Both platforms offer thousands of courses on topics like business, photography, music, cooking, writing, technology, and more.

With university and college courses becoming more and more expensive, platforms like Udemy and Skillshare offer cheaper alternatives to traditional education.

Instead of paying thousands of dollars and spending years of your time learning about a subject, online course platforms like Udemy and Skillshare enable you to gain the knowledge you need at a fraction of the time and cost.

Particularly for entrepreneurs who just need to learn specific skills to succeed in business, and don't necessarily care about receiving a diploma or degree to put on their resume.

Both Udemy and Skillshare allow students to work through course content at their own pace and pick and choose individual courses that they're interested in.

Either platform will empower you as a student to make your own choices, learn about your passion, and potentially improve your career prospects.

One big feature that Skillshare has that Udemy lacks is offline access to classes. So if you're often on the go without access to wifi or cell signal, you can still access your course material and learn while you're on the go.

2. Udemy vs Skillshare Costs

One of the main differences between Udemy and Skillshare are how they're structured in terms of cost.

When you want to take a course on Udemy, you have to pay for each individual course. Once you buy a course, you've got lifetime access to it. Courses on Udemy range from $10 to $150 or more.

However, courses frequently go on sale. So if you want a week or two, you can probably get a big discount on any course that you're thinking about buying.

Skillshare is a bit different. You pay a flat monthly subscription fee in order to get access to every course available on their platform. A subscription either costs $15 per month, or $8.25 per month if you pay for a full year all at once.

If you're someone who wants to be constantly learning new things, then Skillshare offers exceptional value.

You don't have to think about whether you want to spend money on a course or not, because you've already paid for your subscription.

You can just log in and take as many classes as you want, whenever you want, without having to worry about the price.

On Skillshare, you can just start watching a course to see if it's something you'd be interested in. If it is, you can keep watching. If not, you can just move on to another course.

If you pay for an annual subscription to Skillshare, you also unlock discounts for other services like Squarespace, Shutterstock, or Adobe Premiere Pro.

Just looking to take one or two courses?

Then Udemy will likely work out cheaper for you, particularly if you only buy courses while they're on sale. But if you want to be constantly learning new things and taking more courses, then Skillshare will offer more value for your money.

Skillshare has an equally impressive catalogue of courses, with more than 23,000 currently being offered. Its courses also cover a wide variety of categories such as creative, business, lifestyle, and technology.

If there's a skill you want to learn or a subject you want to know more about, either platform is likely to have the course that you're looking for.

In general, the biggest difference between course offerings of the two platforms is length. Skillshare classes can be as limited as 10 minutes, whereas, on Udemy, 30 minutes is the minimum course length.

Both platforms also offer courses that are several hours long. But in general, Udemy tends to go a bit more in-depth into course materials, whereas Skillshare tends to offer classes that are shorter and more to the point.

4. Course Examples

Here is a random selection of courses from each platform, to get a better idea of some of their offerings.

• Mastering Illustrator: 10 Tips and Tricks to Speed Up Your Workflow
• Creative Writing: Crafting Personal Essays With Impact
• Going Freelance: Building and Branding Your Own Business
• Going Viral: Write, Film, and Make Content People Share
• Ink Drawing Techniques: Brush, Nib, and Pen Style
• Presentation Essentials: How to Share Ideas That Inspire People
• Fundamentals of DSLR Photography
• Customizing Type with Draplin: Creating Wordmarks That Work

• The Ultimate Guide to Game Development with Unity 2019
• JavaScript: Understanding the Weird Parts
• Ultimate AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate 2019
• The Business Intelligence Analyst Course 2019
• Cooper Crash Course: Design Thinking in 3 Steps
• The Complete Presentation and Public Speaking/Speech Course
• Neuroplasticity: How To Rewire Your Brain
• Ultimate Google Ads / AdWords Course 2018 - Profit With PPC!
• Photography Masterclass: A Complete Guide to Photography

Instructors on both Udemy and Skillshare are people just like you.

Anyone can sign up and start producing courses of their own. Respective experts in their field bring their experiences to each platform to offer lessons to others.

While most teachers on both Udemy and Skillshare don't necessarily have credentials such as a Ph.D. that you'd expect from a university professor, most of them have valuable real-life experience with the subjects they're teaching about.

The downside to platforms where anyone can become an instructor is that course quality can vary dramatically.

On Skillshare this is less of an issue because of their subscription model. If you don't like a particular course or find it valuable, you can just move on.

Whereas if you buy a course that you aren't satisfied with on Udemy, you've paid for it individually.

Luckily Udemy offers 30-day refunds on all of their courses if you aren't satisfied. If you're constantly requesting refunds though, your account may be subject to suspension or termination.

Whether you're looking to take a course on Udemy or Skillshare, I'd recommend taking a look at the course ratings, reviews, and a number of students who have already purchased the course.

Taking this extra step should help you to avoid wasting your time or money on low-quality courses.

6. Accreditation & Certificates (How Do Udemy or Skillshare Look on Your Resume or CV?)

Neither Udemy or Skillshare are academically accredited institutions.

Udemy offers completion certificates for all courses completed on its platform.

However, most companies won't value the skills you've learned through the platform the same way they would a university degree, so their value is questionable.

Skillshare doesn't offer any kind of certificates. The only proof you have that you've completed courses on the platform are any projects you completed in the process and the skills that you picked up along the way.

For that reason, neither Udemy or Skillshare is very good if you're looking for extra items to add to your CV or resume.

There are other online course providers that are likely a better fit if certification and credentials are the main part of what you're looking for.

Both platforms are best suited for people who are mostly interested in gaining skills and real-world results.

So either can be great if you're an entrepreneur wanting to learn new skills to improve your business, or if you're just wanting to learn a new skill like computer programming as a hobby.

Either Skillshare or Udemy will help you learn practical new skills and information at a fraction of the cost or time investment of a traditional university or other educational institution.

7. Time Commitment

Both Udemy and Skillshare require minimal time commitments.

With Udemy, once you purchase a course, you've got lifetime access to the material and can work through it at your own pace.

With Skillshare you need to pay a monthly subscription to access material, so there's a bit more pressure. But courses are short and unlikely to take you more than a month to complete anyway.

Skillshare courses can be as little as 10 minutes long. On Udemy, the minimum is 30 minutes.

The majority of courses on either platform are usually a few hours long at most. So either way, you aren't committed to spending weeks or months learning about any given topic.

Just because lessons are short doesn't mean they lack quality.

Courses on either platform tend to provide you with the best of the best information.

They give you the essential must-know information and tend to cut out all of the extra fluff or academic theory that you may not need to know about.

Both platforms are all about efficiently teaching you a new skill.

8. Summary of Pros & Cons For Each

Here are the pros and cons you should consider for both platforms before deciding which one to go with.

9. Udemy & Skillshare Alternatives

As mentioned, neither Udemy nor Skillshare offer any kind of accredited certification, and in this regard, it's why these 2 platforms are probably the most similar to one another than the other e-learning platforms that are currently out there.

However, if you're looking for an online course platform that offers accredited certificates or credentials that you can put on your resume, then I'd consider looking into Coursera or edX as alternative platform.

Both of these offer more of an academic learning approach. Although the course cost and time commitments also reflect that.

-> You can read my comparison of Udemy vs Coursera to understand the differences between these 2 popular e-learning platforms

-> or check out my guide and comparison of Coursera vs edX here

If you're not so bothered by official accreditation but are looking for a high-quality course on a topic in the IT or tech industry, then you should also check out Pluralsight or Udacity or Lynda.

All 3 of these platforms offer a range or career-focused courses with some degree of accreditation, though it isn't from universities.

-> Compare Udemy vs Pluralsight here
-> Compare Udemy vs Udacity here
-> CompareUdemy vs Lynda
-> Read about the top 11 Sites like Udemy here

If you're still feeling unsure which e-learning site is best for you, or just want a general overview of the options and features to look out for, then read my Complete Guide To Online Learning or see this post on the top Udemy alternatives for online learning.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you make more money on Skillshare or Udemy?

Typically, you can expect to make more money on Udemy than Skillshare. It does depend on how many of your courses are taken and how many views your videos have. But generally, we see people make more money on Udemy.

However, you do need to pay, and there is far more competition on Udemy. There is a larger community, but their external partnerships with companies mean more people can compete to get students signing up for your courses.

You can still make money from Skillshare, but it can be harder to sell your course to more people as the pool is smaller. You will also have to pay for Skillshare as part of a subscription, which can eat into your profits.

While both companies offer you the chance to make money, usually we notice higher profits for those using Udemy than Skillshare.

Can you sell the same course on Udemy and Skillshare?

Whether you can sell the same course on Udemy and Skillshare does depend. When you sell a course on Udemy, you give them a license to resell your content. There are two types of licenses on Udemy, an exclusive and non-exclusive license.

The license that you have will depend on whether you can sell your course on another site or not. You will need a non-exclusive license that gives you the legal right to sell your content on another platform, such as Skillshare.

Skillshare doesn’t seem to have the same rules, but be sure to check before sharing your work.

The license you have on Udemy depends on if you are part of their Udemy for Business program or not. If you are, you will have an exclusive license, meaning your work can only be shared on Udemy.

You can opt-out of Udemy for Business and get a non-exclusive license, allowing you to share your course on another platform.

Conclusion

Udemy and Skillshare are both excellent online course platforms that are each great in their own right.

Since they're so inexpensive compared to other forms of education, deciding between them doesn't need to be an all or nothing decision.

You might want to have a Skillshare subscription, but then also purchase individual courses on Udemy when you see something offered that more fits your requirements, especially if they're on sale (see here for more info on Udemy sales).

Skillshare is a bit better suited to creatives. So if you're looking to brush up on your current creative skills or learn some new ones, I would start off on Skillshare. The platform's classes tend to focus more on hands-on creative projects.

I'd recommend Udemy instead if you only plan to take one or two courses on a particular topic, and don't necessarily consider yourself a "lifelong learner" or someone who wants to be constantly taking new courses.

In that case, it might work out cheaper to just individually purchase the courses you're interested in when they're on sale, instead of paying for an ongoing subscription.

-> Check out my list of the top 10 Best Udemy Courses here

The same is also true if you're someone who wants to take a lot of time to work through course material at your own pace.

But at the end of the day, both Udemy vs Skillshare are awesome platforms that I would highly recommend, and you can't really go wrong with either one.