Masterclass vs Great Courses: Detailed Comparison 2025

As online learning becomes a go-to choice for those looking to acquire new skills, it’s important to choose the right platform from the many available.

MasterClass and The Great Courses recently rebranded as Wondrium, are among the notable options in online education. While they may not have the broad reach of platforms like Skillshare, Coursera, or Udemy, they stand out for their rich and diverse educational content.

Both are acclaimed for their high-quality academic materials, making them solid options for a wide range of online courses.

This article aims to compare Masterclass vs Great Courses, offering insights to help you determine which platform better suits your educational needs. Let’s uncover what each platform uniquely brings to the table!

What Is Masterclass?

Founded in 2014, MasterClass is a learning platform with more than 180 courses today in 2024.

MasterClass is a well-known online learning platform that has developed a reputation for its celebrity instructors. Among the celebrities that have delivered MasterClass lessons are:

• Serena Williams
• Samuel L. Jackson
• Natalie Portman
• Penn & Teller
• Martin Scorsese
• Margaret Atwood
• Gordon Ramsay
• Ringo Starr
• Anna Wintour
• Neil Gaiman

These celebrities are not just famous but are also experts in their field. As a result, these lessons are filled with useful information and tips.

As you may have guessed from this list of celebrity instructors, MasterClass teaches a wide range of classes. They cover subjects such as cooking, economics, sports, writing, fashion, music, and politics.

What Are The Great Courses/ Wondrium?

Formed in 1990, The Great Courses is one of the oldest online learning platforms on the market. Because of its longevity, The Great Courses has developed a positive reputation in the academic community.

This platform focuses on academic subjects, which are taught in the form of videos and audio. The classes are taught by leading academics in their field.

As of 2024, The Great Courses was rebranded as Wondrium. Though the site still exists through its old name, which is arguably more recognizable, the Great Courses is now called Wondrium. Therefore, we will use both names in our review.

MasterClass VS The Great Courses

Now that you know a little bit about both of these online learning platforms, it’s time to explore which of them is better.

To make this decision, we have picked some of the qualities that are most important when considering a learning platform. This includes:

• Price
• Course content
• Instructor quality
• Number of courses
• Quality of classes
• User reviews

By using these factors, we compared MasterClass and The Great Courses to discover which is the better platform.

Price

Enrolling in different online courses can become quite expensive. You can end up spending a fortune on different courses. Therefore, it’s a good idea to set aside a budget for your classes.

While some online learning platforms will charge different prices for each course, others will merely have a subscription fee for users to pay.

MasterClass has a selection of different membership plans. This allows you to adjust how many people can use the account. You can also choose whether you wish to pay monthly or have an annual membership. 

These memberships come with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Therefore, you can receive a refund if you are not satisfied with the services provided by MasterClass.

You can buy individual courses through MasterClass, though this can be expensive if you wish to take multiple lessons. Additionally, there is a membership option that allows you to access all classes.

In comparison, Wondrium, formerly known as The Great Classes, has monthly, quarterly, and annual membership plans. The course price start at $14.95

This is a great feature because it gives the user increased flexibility, allowing them to pay in a convenient manner.

Each of Wondrium’s membership plans has a 14-day free trial. This way, you can try out the platform without having to commit to it.

If you are not happy with these services, you can cancel your membership without wasting any money!

Our verdict: both MasterClass and The Great Classes are affordable platforms. However, we prefer the membership plans for The Great Courses/ Wondrium. It’s so much more convenient and flexible for students.

Course Content

When choosing a learning platform, you must consider what content is taught. This is because every platform will focus on different areas. Even platforms with a broad range of subjects will focus more on some areas than others.

MasterClass has a decent range of classes. Among the subjects that are best suited to this platform are photography, cooking, business, writing, music, acting, and sports.

As you can see, this is an impressive selection of courses.

Meanwhile, The Great Courses/ Wondrium specializes in practically everything. This includes literature, history, religion, economics, language, science, fitness, math, music, and travel.

Our verdict: In terms of the class content, it’s difficult to say which of these sites is best. After all, they both cover a wide range of subjects. 

We would have to give a slight edge to The Great Courses. Its selection of content is so diverse, meaning that there’s something for everyone.

When deciding whether The Great Courses or MasterClass is better for you, it’s recommended that you think about the type of content that you are most interested in.

Instructor Quality

Students need to find courses that have dynamic and intelligent instructors. These instructors should be experts in whatever field they are teaching.

As mentioned, MasterClass has an impressive range of instructors. When undertaking these lessons, you won’t just experience the thrill of being taught by a celebrity instructor.

You will also receive tons of knowledge from someone who intimately knows the industry.

Not only this, but most of these celebrities make incredible instructors. 

In contrast, The Great Courses/ Wondrium are not taught by celebrities. However, they are still led by prominent academic figures. 

Consequently, you are still taught by knowledgeable academics. Many of these academics are from leading universities. Therefore, the instructor quality is high.

Our verdict: MasterClass and Wondrium both have incredible instructors, who are knowledgeable and passionate about the things that they teach. 

In terms of which is better, MasterClass has a slight advantage. This platform has become recognizable thanks to celebrity instructors.

Though these instructors are not always better than the ones on Wondrium, this is an advantage for many students.

Number Of Courses

In many cases, the higher the number of courses the better. This is because you will have a more diverse range of courses to choose from.

Masterclass has more than 150 courses. Though this number is increasingly growing, this figure is quite low compared to many other online learning platforms.

In comparison, Wondrium has over 700 courses, with more constantly added. This impressive number of courses may explain why Wondrium covers such a large range of subjects.

Our verdict: This one is easy; Wondrium is the clear winner. It is home to significantly more classes than MasterClass, meaning that students can learn about lots of different subjects. Moreover, this means that Wondrium is better value for money.

Quality Of Classes

As you can imagine, the quality of the classes is crucial to the success of a learning platform. If the classes are of poor quality, this will mean that a service is not worthwhile. 

Generally, we enjoyed the MasterClass classes. They tended to be quite short, lasting between 10 and 20 minutes. This was sufficient time to absorb information but not too long that the class became boring.

The downside of MasterClass is that these instructors have merely filmed videos. Therefore, there is no interactive element to the class.

Plus, it’s not as though you can email these celebrities if you have any questions about the content. 

On the other hand, the quality of the Wondrium classes varies. While some classes are amazing, others are of poorer quality. Therefore, it can be a little hit-and-miss.

Our verdict: MasterClass tends to be a little more consistent when it comes to the quality of the classes. Meanwhile, the quality of Wondrium classes can vary.

User Reviews

Reviews are a great way of seeing what users thought of a service. If a platform receives bad reviews, it’s not worth investing in it.

Both platforms have received positive feedback. However, MasterClass tends to receive poorer reviews than The Great Course. 

Interestingly, MasterClass tends to receive more reviews in general than The Great Course/ Wondrium. This is likely just because it is a more well-known platform. As a result, this will have an impact on the reviews.

Our verdict: as mentioned, Wondrium tends to be better reviewed than MasterClass. So if you want to use an online learning platform that is well-liked by its users, it might be the better option.

Which Is Better?

Though we found both platforms to be beneficial from an educational perspective, our favorite was Wondrium/ The Great Courses. 

This is because it offered a larger number of courses, allowing students to learn a wider selection of lessons. Plus, the payment options are more flexible.

Yet, one cannot overlook the exceptional quality of the MasterClass lessons.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for an amazing online learning platform so that you can develop new skills and learn new information, MasterClass and Wondrium are outstanding options. While we prefer Wondrium, MasterClass still delivers exceptional courses. 

Therefore, you can use either service to enhance your online learning experience!