If you’re considering picking up a new skill or hobby, there has never been a better time to start.
With thousands of online courses available, you can learn an entirely new job from the comfort of your home. Maybe you’re an influencer who wants to learn how to run your own business or an inspiring online business owner who needs to build a website, there is an online course out there for you.
But with so many platform options, how do you decide which to choose?
Today, we will be looking at two major competitors, Skillshare and Masterclass, so you can decide which course platform is best for you.
Skillshare VS. Masterclass – Online Courses For Digital Creators
Skillshare is an American online learning community that was founded in 2010. The courses range from entrepreneurship, to design, technology, and more.
As of 2021, Skillshare has discounted the ability to take free courses, meaning you have to subscribe to a premium plan to access their courses.
Some notable instructors include Yuko Shimizu, Paula Scher, and Gary Vaynerchuk.
How much does Skillshare cost?
As mentioned above, you are no longer able to access courses without paying for a premium subscription. That means before you even look at the classes available, you need to pick a plan, though they are currently offering a one-month free trial for their individual plan.
You can choose between an individual plan or a team plan. If you have a company or business and have multiple team members who need to be taking these courses, you can be offered a monthly rate at a discounted price of $159 for the entire year.
Otherwise, your individual rate will be $13.75 a month.
Taking Your Courses
Once you’ve signed up, you can start to browse courses and add them to your cart.
Skillshare divides its courses into these categories:
Advertising
Business
Design
Entrepreneurship
Fashion and style
Film and video
Food and drink
Gaming
Music
Photography
Social media
Technology
Writing and publishing
One of the great things about Skillshare is the affordable monthly price and once you pay, you gain access to their entire catalog of courses. This is over 30,000 courses to choose from.
Classes will vary by how long they could take you to complete, as well as how valuable the class will be to you. Some courses you can finish in 30 minutes, and others could take weeks or even months. It’s important to read reviews to learn if this course is the right option for you.
When you finish a course, you will be asked to recommend the course to either beginner, intermediate, advanced, or for all levels. Pay attention to this rating, as you want to make sure you can complete the course at your current skill level.
All courses will be video-based and will give you a hands-on project to complete when you’re done. You can then share this project with the rest of the class, as well as the entire Skillshare community who will give you feedback.
There are discussion forms, workshop communities, and multiple forms of communication with both instructors and other students so you can collaborate with like-minded individuals.
Teaching on Skillshare
Think you got what it takes to become the teacher instead of the student? You can sign up to become a teacher on Skillshare.
Some Skillshare teachers can make over $100,000 a year. However, this is obviously dependent on how many students are taking your course.
The rate for instructors is $0.05 to $0.10 per minute watched. That means promoting your class and using marketing tools will be your best bet. You should make sure your course is SEO-friendly, meaning it will appear in all Google searches, and that you appear as a knowledgeable teacher. The more known your social media presence, the better.
Anyone can create a course, so if you’re a beginner, Skillshare even offers some tips and tricks for you.
Masterclass is an American online education platform that was founded in 2014. Students from all over can pay for courses filmed by pre-recorded instructors, many of whom are notable figures.
Classes cover a range of topics, not just digital projects like Skillshare. These topics include cooking, painting, and sport, but will also include courses such as HTML design. There are over 180 classes to choose from.
Some notable teachers have been Tony Hawk, Hillary Clinton, Bob Iger, James Cameron, and more.
How much does Masterclass cost?
There are a few plans to choose from when you are joining Masterclass. Individual, Duo, and Family.
The individual plan allows you to have one account and one device and is $15 a month. The one downside of this plan is that you cannot download courses for offline viewing. It is their most popular plan.
The duo plan is $20 a month, which comes with 1 account where you can view your courses on 2 devices. This is where you can download courses for offline viewing.
The family plan, which is only $23 a month, allows you to watch on up to 6 devices. This is the best value plan.
You gain access to all courses available in Masterclass’s catalog, regardless of the plan you choose.
How does Masterclass Work?
Although the course load is smaller than Skillshare, many argue that Masterclass pays for quality over quantity. This means that while you have fewer courses to go through, they are taught by some of the best professionals in the world, and Masterclass is regarded very highly.
You will be asked to take a short quiz when you sign up so they can find the best course for you.
When you finish the quiz, you will be showed the courses that are best suited to you, though you can pick from all the courses available.
Each lesson is only 15 minutes, so anyone can squeeze a lesson in, even on a busy day.
When picking a course, you should always watch the preview and read the reviews to make sure the course is something you’re interested in. You can even view a sample of what the course will be like.
The sample is usually a short 1 to 2-minute video clip where the instructor will explain what the course is about and what you will learn.
You can also see the full length of the class and how long it will take you to complete it.
Unlike Skillshare, these teachers are not going to interact with you. Most courses are pre-recorded, and there is no direct feedback from instructors.
However, Masterclass has recently started its new program Sessions, which works in a similar way to Skillshare.
Sessions allows you to work side by side with the community and your instructor to receive feedback on your work. Sessions is included in your plan, which means you don’t have to pay extra for this feature.
There are currently only a few of these classes available, including ones with Mindy Weiss and Petra Collins.
Feedback from your community, especially while you’re working on a new skill set, is very important, so take advantage of these courses while you can.
Which online course platform will you choose?
Both platforms are well-known in the community and offer great resources. While Masterclass has more notable teachers, you don’t get as much of a classroom feel as you do with Skillshare. However, Skillshare lets anyone become a teacher, so your courses will vary in value.
David Adler is an entrepreneur and freelance blog post writer who enjoys writing about business, entrepreneurship, travel and the influencer marketing space.
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If you’re considering picking up a new skill or hobby, there has never been a better time to start.
With thousands of online courses available, you can learn an entirely new job from the comfort of your home. Maybe you’re an influencer who wants to learn how to run your own business or an inspiring online business owner who needs to build a website, there is an online course out there for you.
But with so many platform options, how do you decide which to choose?
Today, we will be looking at two major competitors, Skillshare and Masterclass, so you can decide which course platform is best for you.
Skillshare VS. Masterclass – Online Courses For Digital Creators
Skillshare
What is Skillshare?
Skillshare is an American online learning community that was founded in 2010. The courses range from entrepreneurship, to design, technology, and more.
As of 2021, Skillshare has discounted the ability to take free courses, meaning you have to subscribe to a premium plan to access their courses.
Some notable instructors include Yuko Shimizu, Paula Scher, and Gary Vaynerchuk.
How much does Skillshare cost?
As mentioned above, you are no longer able to access courses without paying for a premium subscription. That means before you even look at the classes available, you need to pick a plan, though they are currently offering a one-month free trial for their individual plan.
You can choose between an individual plan or a team plan. If you have a company or business and have multiple team members who need to be taking these courses, you can be offered a monthly rate at a discounted price of $159 for the entire year.
Otherwise, your individual rate will be $13.75 a month.
Taking Your Courses
Once you’ve signed up, you can start to browse courses and add them to your cart.
Skillshare divides its courses into these categories:
One of the great things about Skillshare is the affordable monthly price and once you pay, you gain access to their entire catalog of courses. This is over 30,000 courses to choose from.
Classes will vary by how long they could take you to complete, as well as how valuable the class will be to you. Some courses you can finish in 30 minutes, and others could take weeks or even months. It’s important to read reviews to learn if this course is the right option for you.
When you finish a course, you will be asked to recommend the course to either beginner, intermediate, advanced, or for all levels. Pay attention to this rating, as you want to make sure you can complete the course at your current skill level.
All courses will be video-based and will give you a hands-on project to complete when you’re done. You can then share this project with the rest of the class, as well as the entire Skillshare community who will give you feedback.
There are discussion forms, workshop communities, and multiple forms of communication with both instructors and other students so you can collaborate with like-minded individuals.
Teaching on Skillshare
Think you got what it takes to become the teacher instead of the student? You can sign up to become a teacher on Skillshare.
Some Skillshare teachers can make over $100,000 a year. However, this is obviously dependent on how many students are taking your course.
The rate for instructors is $0.05 to $0.10 per minute watched. That means promoting your class and using marketing tools will be your best bet. You should make sure your course is SEO-friendly, meaning it will appear in all Google searches, and that you appear as a knowledgeable teacher. The more known your social media presence, the better.
Anyone can create a course, so if you’re a beginner, Skillshare even offers some tips and tricks for you.
Masterclass
What is Masterclass?
Masterclass is an American online education platform that was founded in 2014. Students from all over can pay for courses filmed by pre-recorded instructors, many of whom are notable figures.
Classes cover a range of topics, not just digital projects like Skillshare. These topics include cooking, painting, and sport, but will also include courses such as HTML design. There are over 180 classes to choose from.
Some notable teachers have been Tony Hawk, Hillary Clinton, Bob Iger, James Cameron, and more.
How much does Masterclass cost?
There are a few plans to choose from when you are joining Masterclass. Individual, Duo, and Family.
The individual plan allows you to have one account and one device and is $15 a month. The one downside of this plan is that you cannot download courses for offline viewing. It is their most popular plan.
The duo plan is $20 a month, which comes with 1 account where you can view your courses on 2 devices. This is where you can download courses for offline viewing.
The family plan, which is only $23 a month, allows you to watch on up to 6 devices. This is the best value plan.
You gain access to all courses available in Masterclass’s catalog, regardless of the plan you choose.
How does Masterclass Work?
Although the course load is smaller than Skillshare, many argue that Masterclass pays for quality over quantity. This means that while you have fewer courses to go through, they are taught by some of the best professionals in the world, and Masterclass is regarded very highly.
You will be asked to take a short quiz when you sign up so they can find the best course for you.
When you finish the quiz, you will be showed the courses that are best suited to you, though you can pick from all the courses available.
Each lesson is only 15 minutes, so anyone can squeeze a lesson in, even on a busy day.
When picking a course, you should always watch the preview and read the reviews to make sure the course is something you’re interested in. You can even view a sample of what the course will be like.
The sample is usually a short 1 to 2-minute video clip where the instructor will explain what the course is about and what you will learn.
You can also see the full length of the class and how long it will take you to complete it.
Unlike Skillshare, these teachers are not going to interact with you. Most courses are pre-recorded, and there is no direct feedback from instructors.
However, Masterclass has recently started its new program Sessions, which works in a similar way to Skillshare.
Sessions allows you to work side by side with the community and your instructor to receive feedback on your work. Sessions is included in your plan, which means you don’t have to pay extra for this feature.
There are currently only a few of these classes available, including ones with Mindy Weiss and Petra Collins.
Feedback from your community, especially while you’re working on a new skill set, is very important, so take advantage of these courses while you can.
Which online course platform will you choose?
Both platforms are well-known in the community and offer great resources. While Masterclass has more notable teachers, you don’t get as much of a classroom feel as you do with Skillshare. However, Skillshare lets anyone become a teacher, so your courses will vary in value.