Is Skillshare Worth it? Price, Honest Review 2021 & Features
I have been using Skillshare for 4 years now. Trust me I had the same question while I was signing up — Is Skillshare worth it?
It was just a startup back then with very few courses available. But I have seen it growing in front of my eyes.
Now, Skillshare has more than 25000+ classes in its catalog and it is growing every day. Currently, they are even offering 2 Weeks of Free Trial. (Previously they were offering 2 months — Sorry You’re Late!)
Now, I know you have the same dilemma about whether to go for Skillshare Premium or not. In this article, I will cover all the points which would make it really easy for you to decide.
What is Skillshare?
Skillshare is an online learning and education platform. It allows students to choose from the catalog of 25000+ Courses. People often refer to it as Netflix of learning.
As you can select movies on Netflix, here you choose courses, skills to learn from.
However, Skillshare is a paid platform (We will talk about the pricing in the next section). It covers various topics — almost covering everything.
The best part is they are not salesy like other platforms where teachers can promote their classes to be on top.
In Skillshare, you see what you’re interested in as they treat all the teachers equally.
They have 5 million student base, learning and growing every day.
They also have some of the famous personalities as instructors including Guy Kawasaki, Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin, Young Guru among with others
Skillshare Pricing/Cost
Now, this is the section you are were waiting for.
Unlike other online learning platforms, Skillshare works on the subscription model. On other platforms, you pay for courses individually.
If you’re a keen learner, you actually spend a lot if you buy individual courses. Whereas, at Skillshare you are free to watch any video out of all 25000+ videos available.
In fact, you can choose 2 Weeks of Free Trial which gives you complete access and learning experience at Skillshare. If you don’t wish to continue with the paid plan, you can switch back to Free Plan during the trial.
There are 3 types of Accounts you can have with Skillshare:
1. Free Account
Yes, the have free account option and free courses too! Just Sign-Up with your Email, Facebook, or Google and access over 1000 Free courses.
You can check the free classes on the footer of the Skillshare website.
2. Premium account
This is where you get access to all the 25000+ classes. You can get your 2 Weeks of Free Trial and get hands-on. After the trial period, you can select either of 2 plans (As of April 2020):
- Monthly Plan — $8.00/Month (Cost of 2 Pizzas)
- Yearly Plan — $2/Month which is billed at $24/Year (Cost of 4 Pizzas)
You Decide.
3. Team Plan
If you’re a company and want Skillshare Subscription for your team, you can ethically do that by contacting them for Team Plan which costs $99 Per User Per Year.
Is Skillshare a scam?
Not at all. Skillshare is a legit business started in 2010 by Michael Karnjanaprakorn and Malcolm Ong. They have been up and running for 10 years.
By now, the platform has 8000+ instructors who have created 26,000+ classes that have attracted a membership base of 8 million+ students.
Bad words spread fast. Skillshare has 4.5 Stars rating at Trustpilot. I went through the negative reviews and found that most of the users have complained about being charged after 2 weeks. Well, that how it works right?
You get 2 weeks of the free trial, when it ends, you’re charged as per the plan you selected during sign up.
Most of the people don’t know that they can cancel the subscription before 2 weeks. Your premium account will be still active till the end of 2 weeks but you won’t be charged at all.
If you want to play safe, add a reminder on your phone to cancel the subscription a week before. Or, cancel the subscription just after signing up in account settings.
In case, you wish to continue, all you have to do is subscribe again.
How to use Skillshare Premium for free?
There’s no “Hack” to get Skillshare classes for free. You will have to and you should take their subscription.
You can start your subscription here for free for 2 weeks.
Once you are about to complete your 2 weeks, you can use Skillshare for free without paying them by their referral program.
If you refer one friend of yours they get 2 weeks of free premium and your subscription is extended by a month for free.
So basically, if you refer 10 friends of yours, you can easily use Skillshare for free for 1 Year.
Skillshare for Jobseekers
Job seeking can be a tedious task, especially if you don’t acquire new skills with the time. This is where Skillshare can come to rescue.
You can learn a new skill and add it up in the Skills section of your resume. Not only that helps to fill the gaps in your resume, but it also impresses interviewers too.
Even if Skillshare doesn’t provide a certificate of any kind, you will gain a lot of knowledge to answer the interviewer’s questions.
But, if you’re thinking how can you afford the plan, here are the 2 Weeks Free Plan.
Skillshare for Entrepreneurs
I’m an Entrepreneur myself an I’ve learned 100s of things ranging from Digital Marketing, Business Analytics, Leadership, and Management. During the startup, it is not possible to hire someone for every post.
Skillshare is the place to look upon. Need a business analyst? Take up a course. Want to create your Business Website? Take up the course. It is easy.
Learning Platform & Experience
Trust me, I love Skillshare’s User Interface.
In fact, their new dark theme has just made it awesome. The platform is easy to use and easy to navigate. As mentioned earlier, Skillshare treats all their teachers equally which means you’re not being upsold by anyone.
They also have workshops and communities where you can take part and engage yourself more with the platform.
All the courses have Discussions, Reviews, Projects, and Resources Tab which gives you more clarity of the class before enrolling.
You can download and watch offline videos on their app. Oh, did I mention they have an awesome app too?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What can we learn at Skillshare?
Well, you can learn almost anything from Skillshare. Right from your Professional Development to Hobbies and lifestyle. You name it, they have it.
Can you cancel Skillshare after free trial?
Yes, the membership comes with 0 commitment with no questions asked. You can cancel it right after signing up. Your trial membership will still continue till the end of 2 weeks but you won’t be charged at the end.
Why do I have to provide my payment details if I’m signing up for a free trial?
You are just authorising Skillshare to deduct the payment after 2 weeks. It won’t make sense if they ask you to fill the payment details again after 2 weeks. It is to save yours as well as their time. If you’re too scared, cancel the subscription and you’ll be fine. Later, you can continue the subscription if you like Skillshare during the trial period.
Is Skillshare actually good?
The quality of the course is good. Many Skillshare courses are taught by professionals and quality is the biggest factor in Skillshare.
Does Skillshare give certificates?
No, they don’t provide a certificate of any kind. It’s just a knowledge-sharing platform.
Is Skillshare worth it? Final Thoughts
Sure it is. In fact, it is not limited to College students, Professionals, or Job-Seekers. I believe everyone should be a part of Skillshare.
I know to take 25000+ classes is practically impossible but If you use it even for 1 hour every day, you will see the positivity around. I would say it is more than the worth of its price.
Skillshare is a growing e-learning platform with 1000s of students joining every day and 100s of classes being uploaded.
They are creating their own economy as well as a community between students and teachers. I’m sure that Skillshare is going to be on the top when e-learning platforms are concerned.
In this review, I’ve covered very basically and main focus points. I may have missed up a lot of things. Which you can comment down below.
This is an independent review that receives compensation from the companies whose products I have mentioned. There are external links on this to this post that are “affiliate links” which are are links that have a special tracking code.
This means that I may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you purchase something through these links. I test each product thoroughly and give high marks to only the very best. This site is independently owned and the opinions expressed here are my own.
Originally published at https://learnremotely.online on April 24, 2020.