How to Cancel edX Subscription in 2026
edX subscription costs $39/month (or $26/month on annual plan — $312/year). Most edX courses from Harvard, MIT, and Berkeley are free to audit. You're paying for certificates you might never use.
💡 Audit for Free: When enrolling in any edX course, look for the "Audit this course" option (sometimes hidden behind the paywall). You get full video access and course materials — just no certificate or graded assignments.
Cancel edX Subscription
- Go to edx.org and sign in
- Click your profile icon (top right)
- Select "Account Settings"
- Go to "Subscriptions"
- Click "Cancel Subscription"
- Confirm — access continues until end of billing period
Cancel Individual Course Certificate
If you paid for a single course certificate ($50-300):
- Refund available within 14 days of purchase (if you haven't accessed graded content)
- Go to Dashboard > Find the course > Request refund
- Or email billing@edx.org
edX Pricing Breakdown
- Audit (free): Full course content, videos, readings — no certificate, no graded assignments
- Verified Certificate ($50-300 each): Pay per course for a certificate
- edX Subscription ($39/mo or $312/yr): Unlimited certificates across all courses
- MicroMasters ($600-1,500): Graduate-level programs that can count toward a real degree
- Executive Education ($300-2,500): Short professional programs
Do edX Certificates Matter?
Honest answer: it depends on your field.
- Tech/CS: Certificates rarely matter — employers care about skills, not MOOC certificates. GitHub portfolio and projects matter more
- Business/MBA: MicroMasters from MIT or Columbia can carry weight, especially for graduate school admission
- Career changers: Google/IBM certificates on Coursera are more recognized by employers than edX certificates
- Personal learning: You definitely don't need a certificate. Audit for free
Free Alternatives
- edX audit mode (free) — same platform, same courses, just audit instead of paying
- MIT OpenCourseWare (free) — actual MIT course materials, no sign-up needed
- Coursera audit (free) — audit any course for free, pay only for certificates
- Khan Academy (free) — comprehensive courses especially in math and science
- freeCodeCamp (free) — full tech curriculum with free certificates
- YouTube (free) — Stanford, MIT, Harvard lectures freely available
⚠️ 2U Acquisition: edX was acquired by 2U in 2021 and has become increasingly focused on paid products. The free audit option still exists but is harder to find. Always look for the small "Audit this course" link when enrolling.
Download Course Materials
Before canceling, download anything you want to keep:
- Video lectures can be downloaded with tools like yt-dlp
- PDFs and readings — save directly from the course page
- Notes and bookmarks — copy to your own documents
- Certificates — download PDFs of any earned certificates
🔍 Not sure what you're paying for? Upload your bank statement to JustCancel — we'll find all your subscriptions and show you how to cancel each one.