- The Great Courses Plus: The ultimate, all-inclusive subscription. It grants unlimited access to the entire library of over 20,000 lectures across all subject areas—including science, history, hobbies, and personal pursuits. Cost: $20 / mo or $45 per quarter, or $150 per year.
- Signature: A curated selection of over 7,500 lectures focused heavily on core academic subjects like history, science, and math. Cost: $7.99 / mo or $79.99 a year.
- Classics: A tier dedicated specifically to 5,500+ lectures in classic, core academic subjects. This is tailored for users who want to focus purely on traditional disciplines without the lifestyle or hobby content.
- Cost: $7.99 / mo or $79.99 a year.
- Living: A lifestyle and wellness-focused tier featuring 4,500+ lectures. This plan focuses on topics like health, wellness, culinary arts, travel, and personal hobbies. Cost: $7.99 / mo or $79.99 a year.
There are several ways to subscribe to Great Courses Plus. All feature the same prices.
- The Great Courses website has all four plans available. For more details or to subscribe, visit:
- Amazon Prime Video offers the Great Courses Living (details here) and Signature (details here).
- Roku also offers the Great Courses Living and Signature (details here).
Great Courses Plus Benefits
Great Courses Plus offers:
- Unlimited access to thousands of hours of audio/video lectures taught by the world’s greatest professors
- New content every month
- Video, audio, and transcripts of every session
- Apps for desktop, laptop, tablet, phone and TV
- Exclusive access to beautifully produced documentaries that explore today’s most important ideas
- Free Digital Guidebooks available for many courses—simply download at no additional cost.
- Audio Streaming – Great Courses Plus offers seamless audio streaming in its mobile apps so you don’t have to stop learning, even if you can’t watch your favorite videos.
Free Classes at Great Courses Plus
Before subscribing to Great Courses you might want to view some of the free lectures from the Great Courses library for free, with no registration, no fees, and no logging in. Usually this will be the first lecture in a course. The full courses usually contain about a dozen lectures. You can find these free lectures on the Great Courses Plus YouTube channel at:
Great Courses Free Video Lectures
You can learn everything from How to Play Guitar, Why Stars Shine, Statistics, French for Beginners, and the History of the Roman Empire. If you want to take a complete course, you can either purchase the course individually at The Great Courses, or sign up for a monthly online plan with Great Courses Plus.
Sample Free Course
Below is a recent addition to the free courses titled, What Are Birds Actually Saying? | A Nature Lover’s Guide. You can find more videos like this on the Great Courses Plus Youtube Channel.
Great Courses On Sale
The Great Courses is the “offline” version of Great Courses Plus, selling physical DVDs and downloads. Every Great Course program goes on sale at least once a year at up to 70% off its retail price. This revolving sales approach allows you to get both great value and great service. You can view the current sale courses at: