Online learning platform featuring video courses taught by world-class experts and celebrities across cooking, writing, business, sports, and the arts.
MasterClass sells access to a streaming library of celebrity-led video courses: Gordon Ramsay on cooking, Aaron Sorkin on screenwriting, Anna Wintour on creative leadership, Hans Zimmer on film scoring, and roughly 200 more. We picked it because, unlike Udemy or Coursera, MasterClass is not really competing on credentials or job outcomes. It is competing on cinematography, casting and craft, and on those terms it has no real peer. If you want to spend a winter evening watching Werner Herzog explain how he chose his shots, this is the one platform that buys that for you.
You pay annually and get unlimited streaming on web, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV and Chromecast. Each class is broken into 10 to 25 short video lessons of about 10 minutes, with a downloadable PDF workbook and, on most classes, audio-only mode for commute listening. There are no live cohorts, no graded assignments and no certificates, which is the point: this is edutainment with production values, not a bootcamp.
The Sessions feature adds 30-day cohort-style courses with weekly assignments and community feedback in a few categories like writing, photography and entrepreneurship. It is bundled into the Standard and above plans. The mobile app supports offline downloads on Plus and Premium tiers, which makes it the only realistic way to get value out of it during travel.
MasterClass runs three personal tiers billed annually: Individual at $10/month ($120/year, one device, no offline), Duo at $15/month ($180/year, two devices, offline), and Family at $20/month ($240/year, six devices, offline). There is also a Business tier from $20/user/month with admin tools and group analytics. Headline rates routinely drop 30 to 50 per cent during launch promos, Black Friday and back-to-school, and the platform leans hard on those discounts in its acquisition emails, which means the sticker price is a soft anchor rather than a real ceiling. Crucially, there is no monthly billing option and no free trial in most regions, only a 30-day refund window if you cancel and email support inside the period.
| Platform | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| MasterClass | $120 to $240/year | Inspiration from named practitioners, high production values |
| Skillshare | $168/year | Practical creative skills, much wider catalogue |
| Coursera Plus | $399/year | Accredited courses with certificates from universities |
| LinkedIn Learning | $240/year | Career-focused software and business skills |
| Mindvalley | $499/year | Personal development and wellbeing programmes |
Annual access starts at $120/year and the 30-day refund window covers a serious tasting tour. Use the link below to lock in current pricing.
Creative directors use MasterClass to expose their teams to the mindsets of top artists and innovators. The high-production videos serve as potent inspiration for branding, design, and storytelling projects.
Learning and development managers integrate MasterClass into broader programs to provide employees with access to leadership and communication wisdom from celebrated figures, adding prestige to course catalogs.
Founders running service businesses consume classes outside their core niche to gain high-level understanding of adjacent fields like writing, negotiation, or filmmaking, enriching client conversations.
Quarterly access to product leadership.
Bonus credits redeemable on partner tooling.
We re-verify the offer every quarter so it never goes stale.
Hit the button on this page — opens the partner site in a new tab.
Check your investor or accelerator benefits portal for the MasterClass partner code. Y Combinator, Sequoia, and most Tier 1 VCs have codes available.
Renewals stay at the same rate — verified by us, not the vendor.
| Feature | MasterClass |
|---|---|
| Free trial | 14 days |
| Cheapest paid plan | $0/mo |
| Annual discount | Up to 25% |
| Refund window | 30 days |
| Setup time | < 1 hour |
| Best for | Founders |
“Excellent gift and great for personal enrichment”
“Great for inspiration and broad learning, not deep skill-building”
“Neil Gaiman's writing class genuinely improved my craft”
