Report updated Apr 2, 2026
99U
v1.1.1Creative professionals, designers, and entrepreneurs seeking practical, career-focused advice from industry leaders.
What Is 99U?
Launched Mar 21, 2016
Updated Oct 2017
What are the key features?
Access to nearly a decade of HD video content from the annual 99U Conference featuring industry visionaries.
Focuses on pragmatic, non-inspirational insights for building a professional creative career.
Filter and find specific talks by speaker, topic, or title.
What do users think? iIndependent intel reports to help builders create better apps or enhance existing ones. Still in beta, accuracy and relevancy get better every day. For informational purposes only.
Gathering public signals...
Sentiment analysis will be available once enough user reviews are collected.
What are the pros and cons?
Pros
- High-quality, exclusive content library
- Strong brand association with Adobe/Behance
- Clear, niche-focused value proposition
Cons
- Stagnant product development (no updates since 2017)
- Lack of community or interactive features
- No monetization or retention loop
What is the market outlook?
Growth Opportunities
- Pivot to cohort-based learning models
- Integrate with Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem
- Modernize UI/UX for better engagement
Market Threats
- Shift toward interactive/community-driven learning
- Aggressive expansion of competitors like MasterClass
- YouTube's dominance in free professional content
Who competes with 99U?
The Nemesis
Animated 3D Emoji Stickers
6S MOBILE
Direct competitor in the high-quality, professional-development video lecture space with a global library of industry-leading speakers.
Contenders
MasterClass: Online Classes
MasterClass
Offers premium, expert-led video curriculum for creative and professional growth, directly targeting the same aspirational user base.
Skillshare: Creativity Classes
★4.8 (25K)Skillshare, Inc.
Focuses on creative career development through expert-led video content, though with a more workshop-oriented structure.
Udemy Online Video Courses
Udemy
Massive library of professional and creative skill-building courses that serves as a broader alternative for career education.
Same Space
Coursera: Grow your career
★4.8 (167K)Coursera
Offers academic and professional certification-focused video content for career advancement.
What are the key takeaways?
99U is a divisive education app that is completely free.
Best for: Creative professionals, designers, and entrepreneurs seeking practical, career-focused advice from industry leaders.
How much does it cost?
Model: free
The app serves as a free educational content hub to support the broader Behance/Adobe creative ecosystem and brand authority.