Comparison

The Great Courses vs Imprint

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

The Great Courses

Access thousands of educational videos from world-renowned professors and experts. Explore a vast range of subjects, from history and science to personal development, with flexible learning options available online and offline. Start your learning journey with a free trial.

Highlights
  • Thousands of educational videos
  • Courses by world-class professors
  • Diverse subject matter
  • Online and offline access
  • Flexible learning pace
  • Free trial available
Features
Read full description

Unlock your potential with The Great Courses, the premier platform for online courses that offers a wealth of educational videos to help you explore, learn, and grow in a wide variety of subjects. The Great Courses specializes in courses taught by the world’s greatest professors and experts covering diverse topics such as history, science, math, philosophy, religion, literature, health, travel, personal & professional development, and more. It’s the place to experience the pure joy of learning—anytime, anywhere. The Great Courses ensures an engaging and enriching learning experience for all. Catering to learners of all skill levels and interests, our platform provides the flexibility to deep-dive into specific topics or explore a variety of subjects at your leisure. The Great Courses grants seamless online and offline access to our extensive library of online courses, empowering you to learn and grow at your own pace. Existing users can sign in to access their purchases and subscription content, while new users can register and subscribe directly within the app to access thousands of educational videos online and offline for one low price. Optimized for iOS 15 and higher, The Great Courses offers a variety of subscription plans, along with a Free Trial to start your educational journey. Payment Details: - Payment will be charged to your Apple account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period - Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period - Subscriptions may be managed or canceled by accessing your Apple account - If you cancel during a Free Trial period, you will have access until the end of the trial period Privacy Policy: https://www.TheGreatCourses.com/Privacy Terms of Service: https://www.TheGreatCourses.com/TOS

About

Imprint

This app offers bite-sized visual learning sessions on a wide range of topics, from psychology to finance. Master complex concepts quickly with elegant visuals and retain knowledge through daily quizzes. Save and review key insights in sessions lasting two minutes or less.

Highlights
  • Bite-sized visual learning
  • Master essential topics
  • Understand complex concepts
  • Daily retention quizzes
  • Save and review insights
  • Short learning sessions
Features
Read full description

Imprint is your visual guide to the world's most important knowledge. - Master essential topics in psychology, philosophy, history, finance, leadership, business, health, science, technology and more. - Understand complex concepts quickly, with elegant visuals that clarify key ideas and help you stay focused. - Take challenging daily quizzes that help you retain what you've learned. - Save and review the insights and visuals that matter most to you. - Complete a chapter in two minutes or less, in bite-sized sessions throughout your day. - Explore our rapidly expanding catalog, featuring: COURSES - Philosophy and the Meaning Life with Professor John Kaag - Finance and Investing: Essential Concepts for Wealth-Building - Interpersonal Dynamics: The Psychology of Human Relationships - Principles of Productivity: Skills and Strategies for Getting Things Done QUICK READS - The Freudian Mind: Id, Ego, Superego - mRNA Vaccines and the Future of Immunity - The Imprint Guide to Gerrymandering VISUAL GUIDES TO BESTSELLING BOOKS - Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari - Atomic Habits by James Clear - The Beginner's Guide to the Stock Market by Matthew Kratter ...and much more! -- SUBSCRIPTION PRICING AND TERMS: Imprint offers an auto-renewing yearly subscription and an auto-renewing monthly subscription which allows you full access to all of the content in our catalog for as long as you maintain an active subscription. These prices are for United States customers. Pricing in other countries may vary and actual charges may be converted to your local currency depending on your country. Payment will be charged to the credit card connected to your iTunes account at the time of initial subscription purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current subscription period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period end date, and the cost of the renewal will be listed. You can manage your subscription and auto-renewal can be turned off by going to your Account Settings after the purchase. Read more about our Privacy Policy here: https://bit.ly/2UzFLvt Read more about our Terms of Service here: https://bit.ly/2Jc1rZm

Screenshots

The Great Courses4 screens
Imprint4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: The Great Courses at free with in-app purchases against Imprint's subscription. The Great Courses also leads on ads (none vs shown) and device support (4 vs 2). Imprint's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly) and chart position (#5 vs #97). On price, rating, review sentiment and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. The Great Courses sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month and Imprint sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for The Great Courses against 4.8 for Imprint. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 17K and 59K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 40% of The Great Courses's written reviews are positive against 38% of Imprint's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Great Courses ships an update fortnightly, Imprint every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 28, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
The Great Courses versus Imprint: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Great CoursesImprint
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (17K ratings) — better4.8 (59K ratings)
Positive reviews39.6% of reviews — better38.3% of reviews
Number of ratings17K59K — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
Best chart rank#97#5 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size120 MB215 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperThe Great CoursesPolywise, Inc.

Customer experience

The Great Courses

All ratings17,169 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews313 reviews
Positive39.6%
Neutral13.7%
Negative46.6%

Imprint

All ratings58,980 ratings
Positive94.8%
Neutral1.7%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews1,458 reviews
Positive38.3%
Neutral7.1%
Negative54.7%

User reviews

The Great Courses

From 17K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fantastic, use it all the time
  • 👍 Excellent content and Outstanding Educators
  • 👍 best app you'll ever subscribe to
  • 👍 Math courses are phenomenal!
  • 👍 Loving the content in the app!

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Ok content, weak app
  • 🐛 Broken
  • 🐛 Technical problems trying to cast
  • 🐛 Great content, poor streaming
  • 🐛 Far fewer courses than before? App VERY buggy

Imprint

From 59K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Efficient learning
  • 👍 Visually engaging
  • 💡 Bite-sized content
  • 🚀 Quick to use
  • 👍 Great for visual learners

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🐛 Buggy performance
  • 🔒 Lack of transparency on pricing
  • 💰 Limited content for high price
  • 🚫 Paywall restricts access

Bugs and requests

The Great Courses

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices
  • Audio goes out of sync with video
  • App constantly logs users out
  • Downloading content doesn't work offline
Show 3 more
  • Playback issues when switching between audio and video
  • Inconsistent behavior when pausing/resuming playback
  • Poor navigation and course tracking

Requested features

8 requests
  • Can we get a ton of courses on AI please, it's a mite urgent
  • Dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard
  • Allow audio-only downloads
  • Ability to download an entire course in one go
Show 3 more
  • Ability to browse other content while playing a lecture
  • Note-taking during content and live closed captioning
  • Ratings and reviews for content

Imprint

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Freezing or crashing issues
  • Inconsistent load times
  • Syncing problems between devices
  • Unfinished or incomplete courses

Requested features

5 requests
  • Sync progress across devices
  • Dark mode option
  • More diverse content topics
  • Ability to download content offline
  • Better organization of saved content

In-app purchases

3 purchases

The Great Courses

Subscriptions3
  • TGCPlus Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$19.991 Month
  • Quarterly Subscription7 Days trial$44.993 Months
  • TGCPlus Annual Subscription7 Days trial$149.991 Year
14 purchases

Imprint

Subscriptions14
  • Monthly Subscription$3.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription$7.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription$10.991 Month
Show 11 more
  • Monthly Subscription$11.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription4 variants$15.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • Imprint premium$29.991 Year
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial2 variants$49.991 Year
  • Discount yearly (7 day trial)7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Discounted yearly (no trial)$69.991 Year
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial3 variants$74.991 Year
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial2 variants$99.991 Year
  • Yearly Subscription (Discount)7 Days trial$99.991 Year

Questions

Is The Great Courses free?
The Great Courses is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Imprint free?
Imprint is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, The Great Courses or Imprint?
The Great Courses is rated higher. The Great Courses averages 4.8 out of 5 from 17K ratings, while Imprint averages 4.8 from 59K ratings.
Do The Great Courses or Imprint have ads?
Imprint shows ads; The Great Courses does not.
Which is updated more often, The Great Courses or Imprint?
The Great Courses ships an update fortnightly, and Imprint every 4 days. Most recently, The Great Courses was updated on October 28, 2026 and Imprint on October 28, 2026.
Which is more popular, The Great Courses or Imprint?
The Great Courses currently peaks at #97 in the App Store charts, and Imprint at #5. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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