MasterClass recently cut the price for membership in half and extended the deal to its newly expanded certificate programs, one of its steepest price drops across the site. For those with structured upskilling, high-impact gifting, or a career in mind before the new year, it is one of the only times you can get half off celebrity-taught classes and career-focused curricula.
What the 50% off MasterClass deal includes
The deal applies to all three levels of annual membership. Standard is effectively $5 a month billed annually, Plus is $8, and Premium is $10. Standard supports one device and streaming only, while Plus adds a second device and offline downloads. With the Premium account you can use up to six devices with offline support. All plans are backed by a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.
For those who want a finish line and a credential, MasterClass is also cutting certificate pricing in half.
These courses usually cost $299 before the discount and consist of 15 to 20 hours of material with a clear syllabus, modular lessons, quizzes, and a capstone project. Learners get instant feedback and a certificate to share with others upon completion.
Who you learn from and how it’s structured
MasterClass is a long-time purveyor of high-end talent to instruct practical, watchable lessons. Look for culinary technique from Gordon Ramsay, editorial leadership from Anna Wintour, home and hospitality tips from Martha Stewart, storytelling by Neil Gaiman, and negotiating with Chris Voss. Courses are created as high-quality documentaries, but they’re designed to help you learn in short, real-time bites.
Most classes contain about 20 video lessons that are typically around a 10-minute average length, plus workbooks or assignments you can revisit at your own discretion. This short, concise, and action-oriented learning follows the pattern often referenced by Harvard Business Review: smaller pieces of content delivered in a targeted manner increase learners’ engagement and therefore knowledge retention—particularly for busy professionals balancing work and family life.
The app experience is consistent across devices, from mobile to desktop and from computer to TV. And if you’re a commuter or traveler, no‑Wi‑Fi viewing is possible thanks to Plus and Premium’s offline mode, where you can also queue up entire courses. For households or small teams, Premium’s six-device limit makes sharing access more manageable without bumping each other off sessions.
Certificates for career moves and real-world application
For the half-off certificates, beyond celebrity-led classes, it’s all workplace skills. Highlight offerings include “Scaling AI Strategy,” with NVIDIA, and “Lead With AI,” developed in partnership with Microsoft. Execution is the focus, not theory: you go through bite-sized modules, apply frameworks to real situations, and complete a capstone project that you can talk about in performance reviews or job interviews.
The most recent Future of Jobs survey by the World Economic Forum projects that six in ten workers will need retraining by 2027 as AI and automation shift roles, but many may not have access to programs that meet their time or budget needs. A compressed, project-based certificate offered at half the cost directly fills that gap—especially for managers looking to level up quickly or teams already piloting AI initiatives who can’t stop what they’re doing on a daily basis.
If your company has an education stipend, these certificates are frequently a relatively simple cost to expense, and the shareable credential fits into professional profiles and skills frameworks already used by many HR teams.
No one certificate is the ticket to a better job, but hiring managers are increasingly considering applied projects and portfolio artifacts as indicators of ability.
Value math, pricing breakdown, and plan sizing options
Standard is therefore $60 for the year at the discounted price, Plus $96, and Premium $120. Consider: if you only take four classes in a year, you’re effectively paying between $15 and $30 per class depending on tier. That’s a tiny fraction of what you’d pay for a weekend workshop or standard professional seminar, and it comes with continued access to rewatch lessons during the time your membership is active.
- Choose Standard if you’ll be watching on one screen and don’t want to download your content.
- Go with Plus if you plan to learn on the go and access offline mode across two devices.
- Go for Premium if you share the account with others, or if you bounce among phone, tablet, TV, and laptop.
- If you’re looking to fast-track your career or give your résumé a boost, consider adding a certificate while it’s offered at half price.
Bottom line on pricing, features, and who should consider it
MasterClass is rarely this accessible for personal and professional development—a 50% sitewide discount on memberships and certificates. Whether you’re mastering a skill with help from an expert instructor or just looking to fill a gap in knowledge, for value versus time it’s hard to beat—plus there’s a 30-day guarantee and offline access available across multiple devices.
