Comparison

Skillshare vs Readwise

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

Head to head
About

Skillshare

Access thousands of online courses taught by industry professionals to develop your creative skills. Learn drawing, animation, design, photography, and more at your own pace. Offers free classes and a premium subscription for unlimited access.

Highlights
  • Thousands of online creative courses
  • Professionally led lessons
  • Offline viewing
  • Progress syncing across devices
  • Mini viewer for multitasking
  • Free classes available
Features
Read full description

Explore your creativity on Skillshare, the leading learning app for online courses where millions of creatives come together. Take the next step in your creative journey with thousands of inspiring classes on topics like drawing, animation, creative writing, and much more. With Skillshare you’ll take online classes hand-in-hand with leading professionals that will teach you to use the tools you need to excel in any creative endeavor. Discover lessons in everything from calligraphy and graphic design to photography and arts and crafts. Watch thousands of online classes on the creative education app made for everyone – whether it’s a hobby or professional pursuit. With Skillshare you’ll learn to use essential art tools like Procreate, Fresco, Illustrator, and Photoshop to polish your creative skills with the latest in industry tech. Learn piano, a new language, or digital marketing – the possibilities are endless. Discover online courses for the talent you’ve always wanted to develop with Skillshare today Start your creative career and download Skillshare now. SKILLSHARE FEATURES PROFESSIONALLY LED LESSONS - Discover hundreds of free classes and start learning as soon as you download - Find online courses that teach everything – from public speaking and art design to how to draw - Explore guided lessons that help teach the creative skills you’ve always wanted to develop EXPLORE ONLINE CLASSES FOR ALL CREATIVE NEEDS Develop your skills in: - Drawing - Calligraphy - Graphic Design - Photography - Animation - Arts & Crafts - Illustration - Hand Lettering - Pattern Design - Icon Design - Watercolor - Music - Animation - Creative Writing - Digital Marketing - and more! THE ON THE GO EDUCATION APP - Sync your progress across multiple devices for seamless learning - Skillshare is the learning app that goes where you go, with convenient offline viewing when needed - Multitask with a mini viewer to keep your lessons going and get more done Download Skillshare today and watch hundreds of free online classes to kickstart your creative journey. Start your free trial of Skillshare Premium to get unlimited access to our full library of premium, subscription-only classes. As a Skillshare Premium Member, you can also download classes to watch offline. Questions? Suggestions? Feel free to email us at help@skillshare.com. TERMS After your 30 day trial, payment will automatically be charged to your iTunes Account. Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off 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. Your subscription and auto-renewal settings are managed via your iTunes Account Settings. For further information please refer to our privacy policy (https://www.skillshare.com/ss/privacy) and terms of use (https://www.skillshare.com/ss/terms).

About

Readwise

This app helps you retain more of what you read by centralizing and revisiting your highlights from various reading platforms. It uses spaced repetition and active recall techniques to improve memory and offers features like tagging, note-taking, and OCR for physical books.

Highlights
  • Synchronize highlights from multiple platforms
  • Daily review habit via app and email
  • Spaced repetition and active recall
  • Tag, note, and search highlights
  • OCR for paper book highlights
  • Convert highlights to flashcards
Features
Read full description

Readwise helps you get the most out of what you read by making it fun & easy to revisit your highlights from all your favorite reading platforms in one place. Quickly synchronize your highlights from Kindle, Apple Books, Instapaper, Pocket, Medium, Goodreads, and even paper books. Then start building a daily review habit using the app and daily email. By reviewing your highlights every day, you'll retain dramatically more and you'll finally stop forgetting all the details from books you just finished! --- “Readwise is my favorite new service this year. Save highlights from Kindle, Instapaper, and now tweets... one of the best long-term personal learning tools I’ve come across.” — Caleb Hicks “Besides my Kindle, Readwise has been the most influential tech for improving my reading process.” — Blake Reichmann “If you use Kindle or Instapaper or just enjoy keeping and reading highlights, please sign up to Readwise. It will become one of your cherished services.” — Christopher Galtenberg --- ACTUALLY USE YOUR HIGHLIGHTS Highlighting is great, but why bother if you're never going to see any of your highlights again? Readwise makes it easy to quickly liberate all your highlights into one place, ensuring that you'll actually see and use them, including highlights from: • Amazon Kindle • Apple iBooks • Instapaper • Pocket • Medium • Goodreads • Twitter • Physical Books (using OCR) • Manual Input • CSV Upload STOP FORGETTING WHAT YOU READ How often do you finish a book, only to forget the key ideas two weeks later? We don't remember things by just reading them once. Readwise solves this problem using scientifically proven learning techniques called Spaced Repetition and Active Recall. Readwise resurfaces the right highlights at the right times using a daily email and an app. Readwise even makes it possible to convert your best highlights into flashcards for added retention. TAG, NOTE, SEARCH, AND ORGANIZE With your highlights all in one place, Readwise enables you to organize and connect these ideas in new ways. Use search to find a highlight instantly; use tag to organize highlights within your library; use notes to add your own annotations. HIGHLIGHT PAPER BOOKS Readwise also makes it possible to take highlights from your physical books and papers using your phone’s camera. Just snap a pic, highlight with your finger, and have your favorite highlights saved forever. --- If you are not already a Readwise subscriber, you can get started immediately with a 30-day free trial with no credit card upfront. At the end of the trial, you will not be charged unless you choose to subscribe to Readwise Full or Readwise Lite. Price may vary by location. Manage your subscription from your dashboard. --- Support: Check out readwise.io/faq or email us at hello@readwise.io Privacy Policy: https://readwise.io/tos Terms of Service: https://readwise.io/privacy

Screenshots

Skillshare4 screens
Readwise4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Skillshare at 25K against Readwise's 1.5K. Readwise's advantage is review sentiment (72% vs 62%). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Skillshare sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $18.99 per month and Readwise sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 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 Skillshare against 4.8 for Readwise. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Skillshare has 25K ratings behind it against 1.5K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 62% of Skillshare's written reviews are positive against 72% of Readwise's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Skillshare ships an update every 10 days, Readwise every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Skillshare versus Readwise: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSkillshareReadwise
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (25K ratings)4.8 (1.5K ratings)
Positive reviews61.8% of reviews72.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings25K — better1.5K
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.5
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB110 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperSkillshare, Inc.Readwise, Inc

Customer experience

Skillshare

All ratings25,411 ratings
Positive96.4%
Neutral0.8%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews1,522 reviews
Positive61.8%
Neutral7.7%
Negative30.6%

Readwise

All ratings1,513 ratings
Positive95.7%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews324 reviews
Positive72.2%
Neutral7.7%
Negative20.1%

User reviews

Skillshare

From 25K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Excellent variety of creative classes
  • 🤓 High-quality instruction from industry professionals
  • 🕰 Flexible learning at your own pace
  • 💡 Inspiring and motivating content
  • 📚 Broad range of topics covered

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Lacking search and organization features in the app
  • 🖥 Limited functionality compared to the website
  • 🔌 Offline viewing issues and inconsistencies
  • 🤖 Buggy and unstable app performance
  • 🔒 Questionable billing and cancellation practices

Readwise

From 1.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful spaced repetition
  • 📚 Seamless integration with reading apps
  • 🔍 Helpful AI-powered features
  • 🗓️ Useful daily review routine
  • 🧠 Boosts knowledge retention

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🔌 Sync issues with some platforms
  • 📱 Subpar mobile app experience
  • 🕰️ Lack of flexibility in daily review
  • 🔍 Limited search functionality

Bugs and requests

Skillshare

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App crashes and freezes frequently
  • Video playback issues and syncing problems
  • Inconsistent user interface and navigation
  • Inability to access class resources and materials
  • Account management and cancellation difficulties

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to sort and organize saved classes
  • Offline class downloads and viewing
  • Seamless integration between app and website
  • More advanced search and filtering options
  • Picture-in-picture mode for multitasking
Show 1 more
  • Direct class enrollment and feedback from the app

Readwise

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Frequent app crashes
  • Sync failures with certain accounts
  • Unreliable highlight capture

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for more reading apps
  • Improve sync and import capabilities
  • Introduce more customization options
  • Enhance search and organization tools
  • Develop a more intuitive mobile interface

In-app purchases

8 purchases

Skillshare

Subscriptions8
  • Premium Membership1 Month trial2 variants$18.991 Month
  • Skillshare Monthly Membership1 Month trial$19.991 Month
  • Monthly Premium Membership1 Month trial2 variants$31.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Monthly Premium Membership7 Days trial$31.991 Month
  • Skillshare Monthly Membership1 Month trial$49.991 Month
  • Skillshare Annual Membership1 Month trial$167.991 Year
  • Annual Premium Membership1 Month trial2 variants$169.991 Year
  • Annual Premium Membership7 Days trial$169.991 Year
8 purchases

Readwise

Subscriptions8
  • Readwise Lite Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Readwise Lite Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Readwise Full Monthly Plan$8.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Readwise Full Monthly$12.991 Month
  • Readwise Lite Yearly$52.991 Year
  • Readwise Lite Yearly$66.991 Year
  • Readwise Full Yearly$94.991 Year
  • Readwise Full Yearly$119.991 Year

Questions

Is Skillshare free?
Skillshare is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Readwise free?
Readwise is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Skillshare or Readwise?
Skillshare and Readwise are both rated 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store, from 25K and 1.5K ratings respectively.
Do Skillshare or Readwise have ads?
Neither Skillshare nor Readwise shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Skillshare or Readwise?
Skillshare ships an update every 10 days, and Readwise every 2 weeks. Most recently, Skillshare was updated on September 24, 2026 and Readwise on September 24, 2026.

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