This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Kalob Taulien

Top 5 websites to learn just about anything

Learning shouldn't stop after high school or college.

Whether you're looking to change careers or just learn something new to fight your boredom, there are a lot of great online platforms that can help you learn new and exciting subjects.

In this article I'm listing the top 5 learning websites and have broken them down into categories.

Best Selection: Udemy
Best Price: Arbington
Best Celebrity: Masterclass
Best University Courses: Coursera
Best Short Creatives: Skillshare

Udemy

https://www.udemy.com/

Udemy is a super popular learning website that says they have over 150,000 courses to choose from. That's why they've earned the "best selection" title in this article.
Now, I did an audit, and found that over 50,000 classes don't even have one student. So take that 150k with a grain of salt.

But you'll still find tonnes of high end teachers and courses, ranging from Angela Yu to Colte Steele and Kalob Taulien (that's me!).

Classes range in price from $20-$200, but frankly not a single person on the web has bought a course from Udemy for $200 in the last 5 years. Don't be fooled by the higher prices, this is just a marketing tactic to make you feel like you're getting a better deal - it's called price anchoring, and it makes Udemy feel like Groupon.

Udemy will discount their courses down to $10-$15 every couple of weeks so just wait for that deal or lookup coupon codes by Googling "Udemy Coupon"

Pros:

• You can learn just about anything on Udemy
• It's quite affordable if you just take a handful of courses
• 30 day money back guarantee on every class
• Certificates included

Cons:

• Must buy individual classes and their pricing seems like a scheme
• Incredibly toxic for the teachers

Arbington

https://arbington.com/

Arbington.com is a new learning platform that has nearly 2,000 classes for a great price (if you subscribe).
They have hundreds of courses ranging from coding and design to watercolor painting, business growth and much more.

The quality from what I could see was mostly great, too, we were pleased to see they have a standard for quality.

By the looks of it plenty of top teachers from other platforms that I recognized have started moving over to Arbington. So that's a good sign.

Are you interested in learning how to code? Arbington.com is the best place for this. $15/month gives you access to over 200 web development courses. If this were Udemy, that would cost over $2,000.

Classes are all priced at $19.97 so you always know what you're going to be paying for, which is a tad higher than Udemy's discounted prices. But there's also a subscription plan for $15/month that gets you access to every course.
Overall, Arbington earned the best price award in this article for having the best price with the best quality and selection.

Pros:

• They include a subscription for $15/month to access over 1700 classes with a 14 day free trial
• Classes can be individually purchased with a 30 day money back guarantee
• It's very affordable
• Certificates included

Cons:

• You can subscribe OR buy individual classes which feels a bit confusing at first

Skillshare

https://www.skillshare.com/

Skillshare has the best short creative classes. If you're looking for a tonne of painting, drawing or doodling classes this is the platform for you.

They say they have over 27,000 classes however a quick audit showed us that's not the real number, it's closer to 19,000. But still, that's A LOT of content and that's why they've earned the Best Short Creative award in this article. They are well known for their super short courses (as short as 10 minutes) so you can power through a dozen classes in a single day if you wanted to.

They are completely subscription based so you can watch as many classes as you want.

The quality is pretty good too! Makes sense since artistic people love creating high quality content.

However they seem to promote their famous teachers more and more, making them feel more like MasterClass and less like a supportive community of creatives. And they have hundreds of "staff picks" which tells us they favor certain teachers and rank others lower, which feels a bit unfair in a marketplace.

Pros:

• Huge selection of courses
• Affordable

Cons:

• Pricing seems to change based on the country you're in
• They'll randomly delete thousands of courses which could include a class that you enrolled in and are enjoying
• Support is non-existent
• No certificates

Coursera

https://www.coursera.org/

If you are looking for university classes to take online, Coursera is the place for you! It's a bit pricier than other learning websites, but you're also getting top-notch education from university teachers.

There's A LOT to learn, and the classes are all amazing. I've taken a number of classes from Coursera and was never unhappy about it. And was even happy to buy the certificate at the end.

If you're looking for university credits, however, check out Outlier.org - I haven't tried Outlier but they look truly amazing.

Most courses come in the form of a cohort, so you start and end on certain dates (not self-paced). Usually that's a good thing, but the courses I've taken never felt like there was a real community or cohort - just deadlines.

Pros:

• Highest quality education on the internet.

Cons:

• Less affordable but it's a fair tradeoff for the quality of content you're buying
• If you want a certificate you must pay for it

MasterClass

https://www.masterclass.com/

MasterClass is in a category of its own. I call it "edutainment" - short for education/entertainment.

You'll be learning from famous people. From cooking to guitar playing and film making. You can even learn from Bill Clinton now!

The videos you'll be watching are expertly crafted as if HBO were producing them.

What's cool is you get to spend time with someone who is famous, and possibly someone you look up to.

Starting at $20/month (and going as high as $30/month) you get access to quite a few classes. It's not thousands of classes, but you'll still be impressed with their selection and the instructors you get to work with.

Classes are short, though, being roughly 4 hours long. If you're learning something hard, like guitar from Tom Morello, 4 hours won't feel like enough.

Pros:

• Learn from people who actually DO it and have made it
• Affordable

Cons:

• The classes are shorter than expected
• No certificates

Depending on what you're looking for, there's a type of learning website for you.

If you're looking to get the best bang for your buck, Arbington.com is the way to go. If you want ultra high quality education then Coursera is definitely the best route. And if you want a hybrid of education and entertainment, MasterClass is probably what you're looking for.

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Kalob Taulien