Best Udemy alternatives: Learn new skills online

Udemy is one of the biggest and most popular online learning platforms there is, but it doesn’t have everything. If you’re looking for more specialized courses, you may need to look into a few Udemy alternatives.

As a self-proclaimed eLearning junkie (and former instructional designer), I’ve spent a lot of time searching for online classes. I’ve boiled down that knowledge into this quick guide to the best Udemy alternatives that are worth trying out!

In a hurry? Try Domestika for creative courses, LinkedIn Learning for professional classes, and Skillshare for pretty much everything else.

Now, let’s get to the full list!

Affiliate disclosure: Articles on Tiny Workshops may contain affiliate links.

---

Best Udemy alternatives

---

1. Domestika

First up is Domestika, which is the best Udemy alternative for courses related to anything creative.

In fact, its creative course catalog is even better than Udemy’s.

What makes Domestika special is that it uses an in-house production crew to curate all of its courses. Paired with a qualified teacher, this means that course quality is incredibly high across the entire platform.

Learn more: What is Domestika? Is it worth it?

In comparison to Udemy, there are fewer courses on Domestika and a smaller range of subject matters to explore.

Here’s the full list of categories:

• Illustration
• Marketing & Business
• Photography & Video
• Craft
• Design
• 3D & Animation
• Architecture & Spaces
• Technology
• Calligraphy & Typography

Like Udemy, it uses a one-time purchase model, so you don’t have to worry about any subscription fees. Once you buy a course, it’s yours to keep —forever!

Courses are also very reasonably priced considering their prime quality, with frequent sales bringing classes down to about $10 apiece. There are also course bundles available that make these even cheaper.

The platform also offers an alternative subscription option called Domestika Plus. This gives you once course per month to keep forever, plus a few other benefits like completion certificates. You can choose between monthly (~$11) or yearly (~$90) payments: paying yearly will pay off if you intend to learn on an ongoing basis.

Now for the downside: most courses are in Spanish with subtitles. However, there’s an evergrowing catalog of English-language courses available since the platform has skyrocketed in recent years and is currently one of the most popular virtual classrooms for creatives internationally.  

Read also: 15 best Domestika courses in English (plus 5 in Spanish)

Personally, I’ve encountered tons of talented artists and teachers from around the world to follow that I otherwise never would have heard of!

Register a free account below to start browsing creative courses you can start today.

2. LinkedIn Learning

It’s possible that you’ve never heard of LinkedIn Learning, but I can almost guarantee its former name rings a bell: Lynda.

Lynda was acquired by LinkedIn back in 2015 (a year before LinkedIn itself was acquired by Microsoft), and rebranded to LinkedIn Learning in 2017.

As you can imagine, the main focus of LinkedIn Learning courses is job-related skills. Courses also offer completion certificates, which you can add directly to your LinkedIn profile to improve visibility among potential employers.

Granted, this isn’t exactly accredited certification, which is provided on some of the other Udemy alternatives listed.

But it isn’t all about jobs. There are plenty of creative courses as well, although most do fall into the Business and Technology categories.

In total, there are more than 17,000 courses, all of which are unlocked with a single subscription fee. It’s fairly pricey at $39.99 a month, or $19.99 a month if you subscribe annually.

That said, the courses are professionally produced and will help you improve a variety of soft and hard skills to get you thriving in the workforce. There’s also a 30-day free trial, which you can start right away by clicking below.

3. Skillshare

If you’ve spent any amount of time looking for Udemy alternatives or online courses in general, odds are you’ve encountered Skillshare.

For a while the platform was synonymous with online learning, for better or worse. Since it relies entirely on user-created courses, early on there was a lot of junk that cheapened the whole experience.

Thankfully, Skillshare upped its vetting processes and is considered one of the most popular platforms around today.

Learn more: What is Skillshare? Is it worth it?

What’s great about Skillshare is the sheer volume of classes available. It doesn’t match Udemy’s 180,000+ (spoiler: no one does), but there are nearly 30,000 classes available.

Topics are also varied, with everything from macrame to programming to foreign languages included. No matter what your interests are, you’re sure to find countless classes you’ll enjoy.

Unlike Udemy, Skillshare relies on a yearly subscription model. In order to access courses, a fee of ~$150 will be required: the equivalent of roughly $13 a month.

If you love taking lots of courses on many different subjects, Skillshare is the best Udemy alternative for you. Click below to start your free, one-month trial before cracking open your wallet.

4. MasterClass

MasterClass is one of the most interesting Udemy alternatives because it takes a very unique approach to online courses.

Each and every course on the platform is taught by a well-known and respected professional, many of whom are also celebrities.

For example, you can get acting tips from Natalie Portman, cooking advice from Gordon Ramsay, or storytelling guidance from Neil Gaiman.

Every instructor is truly at the top of their game, and every course is impeccably produced.

That said, the actual number of courses is fairly limited. You’re paying for quality over quantity.

Speaking of paying, there’s only one payment option available, and it’s an annual subscription running a little under $200. That’s expensive for most online learners, but MasterClass does offer a certain celebrity value that no other platform can match.

That said, if you’re looking for Udemy alternatives that are completely different, this is it! Click below to learn more.

5. PluralSight Skills

Next up is one of the best Udemy alternatives for tech professionals: PluralSight. The platform is most famous for its enterprise plans, but there is also an attractive plan for individuals called PluralSight Skills.

Unlike the Udemy alternatives above, you won’t find creative options here. It’s all about IT skills.

Courses cover topics like machine learning, AI, IT security, software development, and much more. This makes it the ideal one-stop-shop for IT professionals looking to jumpstart their careers.

Production values are also excellent, with easy-to-follow courses and lots of exercises to work through.

Instead of pricing courses individually, the entire catalog is available for a single subscription fee. It isn’t cheap, but if it can land you a job or promotion, it’s more than worth the cost!

The cheapest fee is $26 a month, although you can save more than 10% by signing up for the annual plan at $275 per year. There’s also a premium plan costing $410 a year that includes practice exams for IT certifications.

Learn more and start your free trial by clicking below.

6. Coursera

If what you’re looking for is a more robust Udemy alternative that acts as a kind of online university, Coursera is a fantastic option.

Started by two Stanford professors back in 2012, it offers MOOCs (massive open online courses) tied to real universities around the globe.

Courses generally follow a similar format to real university courses, with anywhere from four to twelve weeks of content. Each course offers lectures, homework, quizzes, and sometimes, a final exam.

Even better, many of these courses are free for everyone.

That said, if you want certification (or even a full bachelor’s or master’s degree) you’ll have to pay up. Pricing is much cheaper than an onsite university but still pricey compared to most Udemy alternatives. There are some financial aid options available to help soften the blow.

For the truly dedicated learners out there, there’s also a subscription program called Coursera Plus. It offers access to more than 7,000 courses (and completion certificates) for $399 a year.

That’s expensive, but in many ways it replaces far more expensive in-person continued education. Learn more about Coursera below.

7. Udacity

Next up for Udemy alternatives is a platform similar to Coursera. But if Coursera is imitating a university, Udacity is more like a highly specialized trade school.

Through its hyper-focused Nanodegree programs, you can gain in-depth knowledge of a specific topic in just a few months — or even weeks.

These topics are fairly limited compared to other Udemy alternatives, and they mostly cover tech-related topics like data science, programming, and cloud computing. Don’t expect any creative skills here.

Typically you pay for courses by the month, so finishing them more quickly can save you some money.

If you want to see what it’s all about before paying, there are a few hundred free courses on Udacity, as well. Click the link below to start browsing right away.

8. edX

I’d like to include just one more university-like suggestion before moving to smaller options, and that’s edX.

In reality, edX offers something quite similar to the two Udemy alternatives above, with complete online courses tied to more than 160 universities around the globe.

Many of these offer university credit for much less than a traditional university. There are even full master’s degrees that can be completed entirely through edX online!

You also have the option to take most courses for free, although you’ll have to pay a fee to obtain a certificate.

Enrollment typically starts on a fixed date, but there is some flexibility for deadlines. Courses usually run for a few weeks and require less than 10 hours a week of commitment from students.

Course quality, as you might expect from the world’s top universities, is excellent. However, some courses are a bit out of date, and support is limited — especially for free users.

edX is a great Udemy alternative if you enjoy learning online but want something that can lead more directly to a degree or certification. That said, courses will be less “fun” and more educational in the traditional sense.

9. CreativeLive

Now let’s get away from university-style courses and back to Udemy alternatives for creatives with CreativeLive.

CreativeLive isn’t one of the most well-known platforms out there, but it does exactly what it says on the box.

All of its courses focus on creative endeavors, ranging from arts & crafts and photography to design software, and even small business entrepreneurship. They’re typically recorded in front of a live studio audience, giving them a strong lecture vibe.

In other words, it’s the perfect platform for people who want to give their creative careers a big push, whether that means starting a new creative business or just picking up some new skills.

Courses can be purchased individually to watch whenever best suited, or you can gain unlimited access to nearly 2,000 courses with a Creator Pass subscription.

This costs $39 a month. However, I’d recommend committing to a full year, which works out to just $15 a month.

But that’s not all. Select courses are streamed live 24 hours a day for free —hence the term “live” in the title.

Click below to register a free account and see what’s live right now!

10. Creativebug

As we start reaching the last of the Udemy alternatives I’ll highlight a few more creative options, this time focused more on crafts.

Creativebug is an online learning platform filled with creative projects for crafts like printmaking, knitting, papercraft, crochet, cooking, and more.

They’re taught by well-known members of each community, many of which are famous on Instagram or other social media platforms.

Learn more: What is Creativebug? Is it worth it?

In terms of content, they really do cover all the latest trends. If you’ve seen a cool project trending on social media, odds are there’s a course for it on Creativebug.

Courses range from 10 minutes to a few hours, with a lot of variation between topics. Sometimes it’s a deep dive into a new craft, and other times it’s a “Quick class” that covers a single project in just a few minutes.

I’m usually wary of ongoing subscriptions, but in this case it’s so cheap that it’s easy to recommend. The cheapest plan runs for less than $8 a month and includes everything on the platform (1000+ classes, patterns, and more).

Bump that up to $10 a month (or less if you commit to a year) and you get an exclusive discount at JOANN, plus the option to keep one course per month forever — even if you cancel your subscription.

That makes it by far the most affordable Udemy alternative on the list.

If you’re not sure, there’s currently an unbeatable 60-day free trial that you can take advantage of at the link below.

11. Craftsy

Much like Creativebug, Craftsy is somewhat of a haven for anyone looking to explore the craft world, especially having to do with needlecraft-related creative hobbies such as sewing, quilting, knitting, and more.

However, Craftsy does offer more than just this line of content: you can find tons of top-quality classes covering topics such as woodworking, papercrafts, and even cooking and baking!

One of the highlights of the platform is its layout. Although straightforward in design, it’s an advantage if you’re looking to simplify your search. Courses are easy to find and organized under five major themes: Fabric Crafts, Yarn Crafts, Food, Art, and Living. Sweet and simple!

Each section leads to an extensive library featuring all kinds of topic-related lessons. For example, the platform has a lot of content focused specifically on mastering essential craft supplies and tools, and around technique and skill-building.

Read also: 100+ creative hobbies to try and how to get started

Needlecrafters and textile artists will also benefit from the additional resources made available on the platform: there’s an entire section solely dedicated to downloadable patterns for crocheting, knitting, quilting, and sewing.

In addition to patterns, you can also access recipes for baking, cooking, and cake decorating ventures — the platform is really impressive in this regard.

Payment options are also enticing since you won’t have to commit to a membership. Instead, you can purchase classes individually and keep them forever! Prices tend to vary widely, though, so expect to see everything from 5-buck courses to lessons costing up to $70.

On the other hand, you can sign up for a Premium subscription. If you’re planning on using the platform like there’s no tomorrow, we’d recommend this alternative since it’s so cheap at only $8 a month ($80 per year).

---

That’s it for the best Udemy alternatives! Do you have any more recommendations? Drop them in the comments below!