Skillshare's free trial is the number one reason people end up paying for a membership they never intended to keep. The trial requires a credit card, runs for 7 days, and quietly converts to an annual charge of around $168 USD (~$270 AUD) if you forget to cancel. If that sounds familiar, here's how to stop it.
How to cancel (website)
- Log in at skillshare.com
- Click your profile picture (top right) and select Account Settings
- Select Membership & Payments from the left menu
- Click Cancel membership
- Follow through the confirmation steps
Skillshare will ask why you're leaving and may offer a discounted rate. Click through it. The whole process takes about 90 seconds.
Subscribed through Apple (iPhone/iPad)
- Open Settings on your device, tap your name, then Subscriptions
- Find Skillshare and tap Cancel Subscription
Subscribed through Google Play (Android)
- Open the Google Play Store app
- Tap your profile icon > Payments & subscriptions > Subscriptions
- Find Skillshare and tap Cancel subscription
If you signed up via an app store, you must cancel through that app store. The Skillshare website won't show a cancel option.
You keep access to classes until the end of your current billing period. After that, you lose access to all class videos, offline downloads, and downloadable materials from teachers. Your account stays active, so your class projects and discussion posts are preserved. You can rejoin at any time.
Current pricing
Skillshare bills in USD. There is no monthly plan for individual users.
| Plan | Price (USD) | AUD approx. |
|---|---|---|
| Annual | $168 USD/yr ($14/mo) | ~$270 AUD/yr |
| Free trial | 7 days free, then annual | $0 (then ~$270) |
That single annual price point is part of the problem. There's no cheap monthly option to test the waters. You either commit for a year or cancel before the trial ends.
The free trial trap
Skillshare's 7-day free trial requires a credit card upfront and auto-converts to a full annual charge ($168 USD) the moment the trial expires. There's no warning email the day before. They send a renewal reminder 30 days before annual renewals, but the initial trial-to-paid conversion gets no such courtesy. BBB and consumer complaint sites are full of people who forgot to cancel and got hit with the full year's fee.
Skillshare's refund policy is strict: if you signed up on a 7-day free trial, you have 48 hours after being charged to request a refund by contacting support. After that window, no refunds on renewals. For trials longer than 14 days (promotional offers), no refunds at all.
If you're starting a free trial: Set a calendar reminder for day 6. Don't rely on Skillshare to remind you.
Is Skillshare worth keeping?
Skillshare is focused on creative skills: illustration, graphic design, photography, video editing, writing, and similar. The classes are short (15-60 minutes), project-based, and taught by working professionals rather than university lecturers.
It's genuinely good if you're an active creative learner who watches multiple classes per month. But if you took one course and haven't opened the app since, you're paying $14/month for nothing.
There's no free tier. Once you cancel, you lose access to everything.
Free alternatives
If you're cancelling because the cost doesn't match your usage, these cover similar ground at no cost:
- YouTube has thousands of free tutorials on illustration, design, photography, and video editing from the same types of creators who teach on Skillshare
- Canva Design School (designschool.canva.com) offers free courses on graphic design and branding
- Adobe Tutorials (helpx.adobe.com) if you're already paying for Creative Cloud
- Domestika often runs sales with individual classes for $5-10, so you only pay for what you actually watch
Creative subscription cancelled. But how many other subscriptions are still ticking over in the background?
Most people find 3-5 subscriptions they forgot about when they actually look. Upload a bank statement to Subtracker and see every recurring charge in 2 minutes. No bank login. No manual entry. $12.99 once.
See what you're paying forChris Raad
Chris is the founder of Subtracker. He built this tool after experiencing the pain of discovering thousands of dollars in unused SaaS sprawl just before tax time.