Pros & Cons
-
- Celebrity instructors
- Supremely high production values in videos
- Well-designed course structures
- Great breadth of topics
-
- Year filmed not shown on courses
- Lacks accredited classes
MasterClass Specs
| Some Celebrity Instructors |
If you were to draw a Venn diagram displaying the best TED Talks ideas and the high-quality production value from the best television programs of the past decade, the overlap would be MasterClass. The online learning service features video lectures and demonstrations from top talent across various fields. It's simultaneously binge-worthy, educational, and thought-provoking. The production values alone leave you wondering, "How is this so good?" As a result, MasterClass is an Editors' Choice winner for online learning services.
Plans and Prices: 3 Tiers of Education and Insight
MasterClass has three plan types: Standard ($120 per year), Plus ($180 per year), and Premium ($240 per year). All plans require full payment for the year up front. There are no monthly options, which is a bummer. That said, MasterClass used to start at $180 per year, and the current lower prices put MasterClass more in line with the cost of more mainstream video streaming services. There is no free trial, but a 30-day money-back guarantee is available. If you know someone who already subscribes to MasterClass, you can ask them if they have any 14-day guest passes to share with you. However, you still must enter credit or debit card information to use them.
Standard gives you access to all of MasterClass's content without restriction. The limitations are that you can only stream MasterClass on one device at a time, and you must stream the lessons because you cannot download videos to watch offline. The standard option is the best choice if you plan to watch MasterClass videos using an internet connection.
The Plus tier lets you download videos, and you can watch videos on two devices at a time—so effectively, two people can share one account. The Premium plan is similar to Plus, but you can watch on up to six devices simultaneously.
(Credit: MasterClass/PCMag)Other similar, non-degree learning courses are priced all over the map. LinkedIn Learning costs a minimum of $39.99 per month, though you can sometimes access it for free through a public library. Skillshare's pricing has fluctuated over the years, but it has settled at $167.88 per year. Khan Academy, a nonprofit organization that accepts donations, is 100% free. Rival services that offer more practical skills training, such as Coursera, Udacity, and Udemy, provide some courses for free, while others cost anywhere from $40 to $400 per month.
New in MasterClass: Certificates and On Call (AI)
Since PCMag's last MasterClass review, the service has added two new features: MasterClass Certificates and MasterClass On Call.
MasterClass Certificates is a new course created in partnership with other institutions. Only one is available as of this writing: Leadership and Decision-Making Under Pressure, produced in collaboration with the Navy SEAL Foundation. We were able to get a sneak peek of the next one: Breakthrough Innovation Strategy, made in partnership with The Moonshot Factory (Google's innovation lab). Other courses in this series, coming soon, include Lead With AI (in partnership with Microsoft) and Scaling AI Strategy (Nvidia).
The videos are professionally produced and cleanly scripted. Experts share their knowledge. Key takeaway ideas are bulleted at the end of each video. Core concepts are repeated. These videos are exceptional and live up to the expectations set by MasterClass.
(Credit: MasterClass/PCMag)One difference, however, is that Certificates uses video much less than the classic courses. Instead, you get more reading material, interactive quizzes, and written exercises. You complete exercises in a PDF workbook, but some require you to enter answers into a text field on the website and submit them to an AI that grades them. The AI uses a visible grading rubric. And the results are disappointing.
Satisfying the rubric takes little more than repeating keywords used in the questions. In other words, it's incredibly easy to bullshit and pass. Moreover, any executive or business leader who answers these questions sincerely could be feeding the AI sensitive, private, or classified information about their business. The questions require detailed examples of work, specifying that you must provide the name of your project. In short, most professionals will rightfully skip these sections, even though skipping them means you won't "pass" and therefore you won't receive credit for the course. "Credit" here really means proof that you finished the course, as MasterClass is not an accredited institution.
MasterClass needs to do a little more work on Certificates or abandon the extra components and stick to the videos, which do live up to expectations. There are valuable lessons to learn, but the AI aspect gets in the way.
The other new component is MasterClass On Call, which you must pay for separately ($15 per month or $95 per year). As of this writing, it is still in beta. On Call is an AI app you interact with for advice, and it mimics the voice of one of a few selected MasterClass presenters. We spent about an hour and a half with Chris Voss's AI, during which time he hallucinated a book and an author. Then, in a new session, he stated that he could not provide any information on books and suggested we research our questions in Publishers Weekly. Given the additional cost and the fact that no AI can generate original thoughts, we recommend skipping On Call for now.
The MasterClass Difference: A-Listers and Pristine Quality
MasterClass has two defining characteristics that set it apart from any other online learning system. First is the talent. MasterClass recruits A-listers as its instructors, and the best of them create an awe-inspiring lineup.
Similar Products
Our Current Picks for The Best Online Learning Services for 2026
Second, the classes are supremely high quality in both production value and course composition. You can tell that the team at MasterClass spends significant time working with instructors to create an outline and sequence for each course, so you, the learner, receive the right information at the right time. In other words, concepts build on one another. When Christina Aguilera teaches you how to use different microphones while singing, you can hear every example she makes with the mics without losing your grasp on her normal speaking voice when she's explaining what she's doing.
What's Inside: Big Ideas Across a Range of Topics
Inside MasterClass are 11 categories:
- Acting and Performing Arts
- Art and Design
- Business and Entrepreneurship
- Community and Government
- Film and TV
- Food and Drink
- Games and Digital Media
- Health and Wellness
- Music
- Outdoor Adventures and Events
- Science and Technology
MasterClass recruits some of the best people in their fields to teach courses. Many teachers are household names. For example, Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, James Patterson, and several other bestselling writers offer writing classes. Kevin Hart and Steve Martin have courses on comedy. Steph Curry teaches basketball. Robin Roberts teaches communication, and so on.
The Setup: Great Interface, Short Videos, Progress Tracking
When you start a course, you can read an overview of everything it contains, including the number of videos and any supplemental materials. You see a breakdown of the videos, each with a title and description.
How long are the videos? The run times appear on thumbnails of the video inside the course. What you don't see is what year the course was filmed, which would be nice to know.
(Credit: MasterClass/PCMag)Most lessons are 6 to 20 minutes long, and most courses consist of at least 18 lessons, although the duration varies. Some courses also include bonus content, such as David Lynch explaining Transcendental Meditation for 17 minutes, using diagrams he draws with a Sharpie. He's David Lynch, so I suppose he gets to do that.
As you watch, you can take notes in a notes field next to the video player. MasterClass saves your progress every time you start a course. You can also make a list of saved courses that you want to go through.
The Experience: Inspiration or Skills-Based Lessons
Over the years, I've watched a lot of MasterClass courses. Some are straightforward skills-based courses, and others (often the older ones) are more philosophical and inspirational in nature. I watched Penn and Teller teach the art of magic while also driving home the importance of storytelling and the meaning of truth. I paid attention to Judy Blume's story creation process while absorbing lessons about sticking to your guns when an editor or an agent wants to make a change that you, as an author, disagree with. I took notes as Shonda Rhimes explained how to write interesting and useful auxiliary characters. The topics are varied, and the insight and reflection you get from these A-listers is rich.
Some courses are more about the teacher than the content. Alice Waters, for example, teaches home cooking, but spends most of her time sharing her philosophy of food and life. She insists on filming in her home kitchen. She brings her daughter in for a few segments. They discuss eating seasonally and share stories about the different dishware and cookware in their home. You learn a lot of the "why" behind cooking. Why choose this ingredient? Why pair these flavors? It's a bit slow at times, so I opted to dial up the video playback to 1.5x speed. If there had been a 1.25 speed (Skillshare has that, MasterClass does not), I might have used it more, as Waters speaks slowly and easily gets sidetracked, or she takes 20 minutes to wash lettuce.
(Credit: MasterClass/PCMag)In addition to speeding up playback, you can enable closed captioning or subtitles in multiple languages. The English captioning appears to be automatically generated and not reviewed by humans, as I noticed several minor errors. That said, it's comparable with the captioning quality I see elsewhere.
MasterClass Shortcuts: Curation for Inspiration
If you don't want to watch the same person on the same topic for hours on end, you can turn to curated Playlists. They're selected videos from different presenters that share a similar theme. Each Playlist has a name that highlights its theme, such as "A Healthy Amount of Risk," "Dialogue for Screen and Stage," "Leadership," and "Understanding Ingredients."
The playlists are fantastic, as they let the MasterClass editors compile some of the best moments from the various courses. Plus, they are much shorter than a full course. They also may lead you to get interested in a course that might not have captured your attention when browsing through the MasterClass content in other ways.