Overview: subscription vs ownership
Skillshare and Udemy solve the same problem in opposite ways. Skillshare is a subscription — about £14 a month or £84 a year for unlimited access to its entire catalogue. Udemy sells courses individually for a real price of roughly £12–£15, which you then keep for life. Neither has an editorial floor on quality, so we rate them close together: Skillshare 3.8/5, Udemy 3.7/5.
Cost: it depends how much you watch
The maths is simple. A single Skillshare month costs about the same as one Udemy course. If you'll work through several courses, the subscription is far better value. If you only want one or two specific courses, buying them on Udemy is cheaper — and you keep them. Note Udemy's inflated "original prices" are permanently discounted; the real price is the £12–£15 sale figure.
What happens when you stop paying
This is the decisive practical difference. Cancel Skillshare and your access ends — including any class you were part-way through. With Udemy, every course you've bought stays in your library indefinitely, regardless of whether you buy anything else. If you like to return to a course as your skills improve, ownership matters.
Quality and catalogue
Both rely on open publishing, so quality is inconsistent and the star rating alone isn't reliable — read the reviews. Skillshare's catalogue breadth is its real strength: almost every craft is represented at multiple levels, which makes it excellent for exploration. Udemy is wider still but craft isn't its core focus, so the depth ceiling is lower. For genuinely professional, deep instruction, Domestika beats both — see Domestika vs Udemy if quality is your priority.
The verdict
Pick Skillshare if you're still exploring and want to sample many crafts cheaply, and you'll actually use the subscription. Pick Udemy if you know the one course you want, prefer to own it outright, and value the 30-day refund. Either works as an affordable entry point before investing in an in-person workshop.