Coursera vs. Skillshare - complete comparison

Overview

Description	Coursera Coursera is an online learning platform that offers courses from top universities and organizations worldwide, like Yale or Stanford. They also offer fully digital Bachelors and Master’s degrees.	Skillshare Skillshare is an online learning platform with a focus on creative & business skills, ranging from fine art to productivity and everything in between! Today, Skillshare has more than 8000 teachers teaching 35,000+ classes.
Types of courses	Coursera INDIVIDUAL LEARNING Regular courses Self-paced courses for individual learning and skill development. The courses itself are typically free, with certification being offered as a paid addon. $50 - $150 USDIncluded in subscription Self-paced MASTERS DEGREE Master's Degree Full master's degree programs offered in partnership with universities. $10000 - $60000 USD Full-time BACHELORS DEGREE Bachelor's Degree Full bachelor's degree programs offered in partnership with universities. $10000 - $80000 USD Full-time PARTIAL MASTERS MasterTrack Certificates Master's degree-level courses with a path to credit $2000 - $10000 USD 4-6 months INDIVIDUAL LEARNING Professional Certificates Job-relevant training programs, from universities and corporations. FreeIncluded in subscription 3-6 months	Skillshare INDIVIDUAL LEARNING Skillshare classes Thousands of self-paced classes, all included in the Skillshare subscription. Free Self-paced COHORT BASED 1-on-1 sessions 1-on-1 sessions with top instructors from Skillshare. $50 - $300 USD 1 - 2 hours COHORT BASED Live sessions Live classes with some of Skillshare's top teachers. Free 1 - 2 hours
Subscription plans	Coursera PERSONAL Coursera Plus Access to a selection of 7,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs $35 - 55 USD per month	Skillshare PERSONAL Skillshare Premium Access to all Skillshare classes $15 - 25 USD per month
Pros & cons	Coursera Pros Wide range of courses Courses from top universities Professional certificates from top companies like salesforce & Google Degree programs are cheaper compared to on-campus degrees Cons Rather expensive subscription Confusing offering, because of all of the different types of courses they provide	Skillshare Pros Large course catalog Affordable subscription plans Cons Limited free courses Not much that much learning support Some users report problems getting a refund

General information

Type	Course Marketplace	Course Marketplace
Number of courses	7000+	28000+
Popularity	Very popular	Popular
Available categories	3D & AnimationAccounting & BookkeepingAffiliate MarketingAppleArchitectural DesignArts & CraftsBeauty & MakeupBrandingBusiness Analytics & IntelligenceBusiness Law	3D & AnimationAccounting & BookkeepingAffiliate MarketingArchitectural DesignArts & CraftsBeauty & MakeupBrandingBusiness Analytics & IntelligenceBusiness LawBusiness Strategy
Available languages	EnglishMandarin ChineseSpanishFrenchRussianPortugueseGermanJapaneseKoreanItalian	EnglishSpanishFrenchGermanPortuguese

Evaluation

Full score	8.8 10	8.3 10

Individual scores

Course quality

LowHigh

Course catalog

Less satisfiedVery satisfied

Affordability

More expensiveHigher value

Career value

Low valueHigh value

Customer support

BadGood

Usability

BadGood

Features

Support options	Email Phone Chat Community Knowledge base Learning support Career support	Email Phone Chat Community Knowledge base Learning support Career support
Available apps	Ios Android	Ios Android

Company

Company name	Coursera Inc.	Skillshare, Inc.
Company size	Large	Large
Founded in	2012	2010
Headquarters	United States 🇺🇸	United States 🇺🇸
Founders	Andrew Ng, Daphne Koller	Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Malcolm Ong, Aaron Schwartz
External reviews	App Store 4.8126900 reviews Play Store 4.8267000 reviews Trustpilot 1.7528 reviews	App Store 4.823100 reviews Play Store 4.157000 reviews Trustpilot 1.21621 reviews

Our opinion

Summary

Coursera

Coursera offers a great range of online learning products, which means that almost anyone can find a fitting course on their platform. We particularly like the huge catalog of free courses they offer, where you only need to pay if you want the optional certification. They also offer full degrees, which makes them one of only a few providers that offer Bachelor's and Master’s degrees online. While their overall offering might be a bit confusing sometimes, we can fully recommend Coursera for all students looking to obtain career-relevant skills.

Skillshare

Skillshare offers a large catalog of courses on both career and hobby-related topics. We particularly like that you can get access to every course on the platform with just one, affordable subscription. You can also book one-on-one sessions with instructors, which is a bit pricey, but a super unique offering that no other online learning platform currently offers. We can therefore recommend Skillshare to anyone trying to learn digital & creative skills, especially if a subscription sounds better than buying individual courses.