Learning Subscription Audit 2026: You're Paying $500+/Year to Not Learn

Updated 2026-03-02 • 9 min read

📊 The completion rate problem: Online course completion rates average 5-15%. That means for every $100 you spend on learning platforms, you're getting $5-15 of value. The rest is the "aspiration tax" — paying for the person you wish you were.

The Full Learning Subscription Stack

Codecademy Pro: $17.49-34.99/month ($210-420/yr)
Brilliant: $24.99/month ($300/yr)
Skillshare: $13.99/month ($168/yr)
MasterClass: $10-20/month ($120-240/yr)
Coursera Plus: $49/month ($588/yr)
LinkedIn Learning: $19.99-39.99/month ($240-480/yr)
Pimsleur: $20.95-47.95/month ($251-575/yr)
Blinkist: $8.33/month ($100/yr)
Wondrium: $14.99/month ($180/yr)
Duolingo Plus: $6.99/month ($84/yr)
Headspace: $12.99/month ($156/yr)

Maximum stack: $2,867-$3,771/year. We've seen bank statements with 4-6 of these active simultaneously.

The Audit Framework

For each learning subscription, answer honestly:

When did you last complete a lesson? If more than 30 days ago → cancel
What course are you currently in? If you can't name it → cancel
What did you learn last week? If you can't recall → cancel
Is there a free alternative? For 90% of learning subs, yes → cancel and switch
Would you re-subscribe if it lapsed? If no → that tells you everything

Free Alternatives by Category

Coding & Tech

freeCodeCamp: Full curriculum, free certification, respected by employers
The Odin Project: Full-stack web development, project-based
CS50 (Harvard): Best intro CS course, free on edX
Replaces: Codecademy Pro, Pluralsight, DataCamp, LinkedIn Learning (tech)

Languages

Duolingo Free: Same lessons as paid (just has ads)
Language Transfer: Free audio courses similar to Pimsleur
Tandem/HelloTalk: Free conversation with native speakers
Replaces: Pimsleur, Babbel, Busuu, Memrise Pro

General Knowledge

Khan Academy: Math, science, history, economics — free
MIT/Yale/Stanford OpenCourseWare: Actual university lectures — free
YouTube: CrashCourse, 3Blue1Brown, Kurzgesagt — free
Replaces: Brilliant, Wondrium, Coursera Plus (for casual learners)

Books & Reading

Libby/OverDrive: Free audiobooks and ebooks with library card
YouTube book summaries: Better than Blinkist for most books
Replaces: Blinkist, Audible, Kindle Unlimited

Creative Skills

YouTube tutorials: Photography, design, music — unlimited free content
Replaces: Skillshare, MasterClass (for most users)

The One-Sub Rule

If you must pay for learning, follow this rule:

Subscribe to ONE platform at a time
Complete at least one full course before considering another platform
Cancel immediately when you finish your goal
Wait 30 days before re-subscribing — if you still want to learn that topic, subscribe. If you've moved on, you saved yourself another month

Why Learning Subs Have High Churn

Learning platforms exploit the gap between who you are and who you want to be:

January effect: Sign-ups spike with New Year's resolutions
Initial motivation: First 3-5 lessons feel amazing
The plateau: Content gets harder, novelty fades
The ghost phase: You stop using it but keep paying because canceling feels like "giving up"
The guilt: "Maybe I'll start again next month" — you won't

🎓 The average person pays for 2.7 learning subscriptions and actively uses 0.4 of them. That's hundreds of dollars per year paying for aspiration, not education. Upload your bank statement to JustCancel to find every learning sub you've stopped using.