Skillshare Reviews

Skillshare sports over 35,000 on-demand courses for all things creative. With classes ranging from writing and video editing to effective work management, the platform can be great for hobbyists and business-minded creatives.

With so much content, finding the one that caters to your needs could be overwhelming. Not with Skillshare, though. The platform provides tailored course recommendations by considering your main interests. Even better, there are also detailed learning paths available, which suggest a series of hand-picked classes focused on a particular skill.

Skillshare classes are generally up to 2-hour video lessons broken down into shorter clips that go between 20 seconds and 10 minutes. Although courses are mainly conducted in English, users can turn on semi-accurate, AI-translated subtitles in Portuguese, German, French, and Spanish.

All videos are transcribed for students who prefer reading the course material. But if more help is needed, extra learning materials like reading lists and files may also be provided by teachers.

For those who enjoy learner-centered interaction, the ‘Discussion’ section is the perfect way to reach out, ask questions, share ideas, and get valuable feedback from fellow students and instructors.

It’s worth mentioning that the platform gamifies the learning experience by rewarding active students with badges. While simple, these small achievements are perfect for making learning more fun.

Skillshare is intuitive and easy to use. Classes are organized according to interests, categorized based on type, and ranked by difficulty. This way, students can easily find courses catered to their interests and just at the right level for them.

The platform also has a handy search function to find courses quickly and effectively. However, it’s essential to be specific to weed out irrelevant courses. For example, simply typing ‘rock’ won’t be enough if you want to learn rock guitar, as you’ll also get hits about rock art.

Skillshare classes are conducted by any teacher who wants to apply – no prior teaching experience or degree is required. However, this doesn’t mean everyone and their cousin get to be an instructor on the platform.

Skillshare has several approval stages in place to ensure its courses are relevant and of high quality. Off the bat, everyone who clicks on the ‘Become a Teacher’ button needs to answer a questionnaire and upload a sample teaching video. Only after the Skillshare team approves them can instructors upload their teaching materials.

Moreover, although classes are immediately made available on the platform, Skillshare still ensures that each video meets company standards and teaching guidelines within 72 hours of being uploaded. If a course violates Skillshare’s terms, it gets suspended right away. Last but not least, any teacher that commits three violations within a 6-month period is banned from the platform.

Of course, student ratings are also excellent for checking which courses are worth your time. Knowing this, Skillshare provides payment bonuses to teachers who get positive reviews – fostering a focus on quality and engagement across the teacher community.

Unfortunately, this business move means that Skillshare’s courses aren’t accredited, and you won’t get a certificate for completing them.

While there’s no desktop app, Skillshare’s classes are available in a pocket-size version via the software’s mobile app for Android and iOS. The app lets users check out every class on the go and even continue the ones started on the web app.

Other than offering the platform’s core features, students can download lessons to learn offline. This is especially useful for saving mobile data or when you can’t get cell reception.

Skillshare only offers two annual subscriptions: one for personal use and another one for teams. Although the membership fees are reasonable, the exact prices only appear when you start the sign-up process.

On the flip side, there’s a 7-day free trial, which Best Reviews readers can extend to 30 days by using our affiliate link. Since there’s no free version, students need to get a paid account afterward, which costs $13.75 per month ($165 in total).

At $13.25 per user per month, the Teams plan is slightly cheaper. Students with a Teams plan get the exact same perks as those subscribed to Skillshare for personal use. However, with businesses in mind, Skillshare also provides an admin dashboard for seat management and activity reports for monitoring who is completing lessons.

It’s possible to make some money with Skillshare. The company has a generous referral program, where users earn a $15 one-time payment via bank transfer for every successful referral. Plus, the company offers a 14-day money-back guarantee, which ensures an additional risk-free period after the free trial ends.

Getting in touch with Skillshare’s customer service is straightforward. The company’s agents are available 24/7 via email and ticket system. Businesses on a Teams subscription also get dedicated email addresses.

Even though there isn’t a direct phone line, Skillshare is available via live chat on workdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (ET). The chat window is also a great way to find answers quickly, as it can direct you to the detailed FAQ sections as soon as you type in a question.

But Skillshare is also active on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. If you need more help, it’s worth checking out the company’s YouTube channel to watch informative videos on various creative topics.

What’s more, the company runs a blog about a wide variety of topics like the folk art of various countries, software recommendations, and Skillshare team interviews.