The Great Courses icon

The Great Courses

For lifelong learners and academic-minded individuals seeking in-depth exploration of professional and personal interest topics.

1app4.8(17.2K)Education

Snapshot

Who is The Great Courses?

Providing lifelong learners with expert-led video courses across academic and professional subjects. Enabling self-paced education through a subscription-based digital library.

Target audience

Lifelong learnersAcademic-minded individuals seeking in-depth exploration of professionalPersonal interest topics

Active nemesis

Udemy

Other rivals

Portfolio

Free 1
1
app
Education1

Last updated

The Great Courses

v8.0.5

7mo ago

Active

Publisher DNA

What defines The Great Courses?

Publisher DNA

Primary focus

Educational video content and lifelong learning

Scale

indie

Target audience

Lifelong learners and academic-minded individuals seeking in-depth exploration of professional and personal interest topics.

Signature Patterns

  • •Expert-led video curriculum across diverse academic subjects
  • •Subscription-based monetization model
  • •Support for offline viewing to facilitate flexible learning
  • •Consistent focus on long-form educational content
Active

Portfolio momentum

Released 8 updates in the last 6 months with the flagship title updated within the last 19 days, indicating active maintenance and development.

Last release 19d agoActive apps 1

Portfolio

What does The Great Courses ship?

Apps

1 app analysed

The Great Courses icon
The Great Courses

Stream educational videos and audio content led by engaging experts!

4.8(17.2K)

Rivals

Who does The Great Courses compete with?

The rivals identified

Nemeses(1)

Udemy

known forUdemy Online Video Courses

1 app4.7Education

Both platforms target lifelong learners with video-based educational content, competing directly for the same user time and subscription budget.

Contenders(9)

BBC Maestro

known forBBC Maestro: Online Courses

1 app4.9Education

Both platforms target lifelong learners with subscription-based, expert-led video content, creating direct competition for the same user time and wallet share.

Bohdan Hlushko

known forMinutelore - Online courses

1 app4.9Education

Both platforms target the lifelong learning market, but they diverge on content format: The Great Courses provides long-form academic lectures, while Minutelore offers bite-sized lessons for users with limited attention spans.

Coursera

known forCoursera: Grow your career

1 app4.4Education

Both platforms target lifelong learners with video-based educational content, creating direct competition for user time and subscription spend in the professional and personal development segments.

GREAT LEARNING EDUCATION SERVICES PRIVATE

known forGreat Learning: Online Courses

1 app4.1Education

Both platforms target lifelong learners and professionals, but Great Learning focuses on career-specific technical skills while The Great Courses emphasizes academic-level enrichment.

Hevar Salih

known forMasterly Courses

1 app4.7Education

Both platforms provide expert-led video education, creating direct competition for users seeking academic and professional skill development.

Mindvalley

known forMindvalley: Self Improvement

1 app4.1Education

Both platforms compete for the same lifelong learner demographic by delivering expert-led video content through subscription models.

OpenClassrooms

known forOpenClassrooms: Online courses

1 app4.8Education

Both platforms provide video-based learning with offline access, targeting users seeking professional or personal development through structured curriculum.

Study.com

known forStudy.com

1 app4.0Education

Both platforms utilize subscription-based video learning to capture the self-paced education market, creating direct competition for time and wallet share among lifelong learners and students.

Teachable

known forTeachable online courses

1 app4.6Education

Both platforms target lifelong learners seeking professional or personal skill development, competing for the same mobile learning time.

Same space(20)

Books Made Easy

known forHeadway - Daily Micro Learning

1 app4.5Education

Headway targets the same self-improvement segment as The Great Courses but shifts the format from deep-dive lectures to 15-minute summaries.

BrainPOP®

known forBrainPOP

1 app4.7Education

BrainPOP provides supplemental, educator-created multimedia content for the same academic subjects covered in The Great Courses, albeit for younger learners.

Brainstash

known forDeepstash: Smarter Every Day!

1 app4.5Education

Deepstash competes for the same time-constrained professional audience as The Great Courses by offering micro-summaries instead of long-form lectures.

Brilliant.org

known forBrilliant: Learn by doing

1 app4.5Education

Brilliant serves the STEM-focused user of The Great Courses by replacing lecture-based learning with interactive, problem-solving exercises.

CELEB INNOVATIONS

known forRiseGuide: Top Expert Insights

1 app4.6Education

RiseGuide complements the professional development offerings of The Great Courses with a focus on daily, bite-sized personal branding lessons.

Complexly

known forCrash Course - Watch and Study

1 app4.7Education

Crash Course provides the same high-quality educational video content as The Great Courses, specifically targeting high school and college students.

edX

known foredX online learning

1 app4.8Education

edX offers the same high-level academic content as The Great Courses but focuses on formal certifications and career-defining degree programs.

Gaiali

known forYuno - General knowledge

2 apps4.8Education

Yuno competes for the same spare-time learner as The Great Courses by providing audio-first, 10-minute educational sessions.

GAUTHTECH PTE

known forGauth: AI Study Companion

1 app4.8Education

Gauth addresses the STEM-focused portion of The Great Courses audience by providing immediate, AI-driven homework assistance rather than long-form instruction.

Iuliia Tikhokhod

known forStepik: best online courses

1 app4.9Education

Stepik offers the same online course marketplace model as The Great Courses, focusing on technical and academic disciplines.

Khan Academy

known forKhan Academy

1 app4.2Education

Khan Academy provides the same academic-level content as The Great Courses but shifts the model to free, mastery-based interactive learning.

Kremital

known forNibble: Your Bite of Knowledge

1 app4.5Education

Nibble targets the same casual learner as The Great Courses by offering interactive, 10-minute lessons for short-break consumption.

LinkedIn

known forLinkedIn Learning

1 app4.8Education

LinkedIn Learning overlaps with the professional development catalog of The Great Courses by tying course completion to career-focused profile data.

MasterClass

known forMasterClass: Online Classes

1 app4.9Education

MasterClass occupies the same premium, expert-led video space as The Great Courses but focuses on celebrity-driven creative and professional instruction.

Moodle Pty

known forMoodle

2 apps4.5Education

Moodle serves as the institutional infrastructure for the same academic content found in The Great Courses, focusing on formal course management.

Polywise

known forImprint: Visual Micro Learning

1 app4.8Education

Imprint targets the same lifelong learner segment as The Great Courses by condensing complex academic topics into visual-heavy micro-sessions.

Simply

known forSimply Piano: Learn Piano Fast

1 app4.6Education

Simply Piano captures the same lifelong learner demographic as The Great Courses by replacing passive video consumption with active, skill-based music practice.

Skillshare

known forSkillshare: Creativity Classes

1 app4.1Education

Skillshare serves the creative-focused learner of The Great Courses by emphasizing project-based learning over theoretical lecture content.

TED Conferences

known forTED Talks: Watch and Learn

1 app4.1Education

TED Talks provides the same curiosity-driven educational content as The Great Courses but relies on a free, ad-supported library of short-form videos.

UPTIME APP

known forUptime: Get smarter, stand out

1 app4.7Education

Uptime serves the same time-constrained learner as The Great Courses by summarizing complex content into 5-minute hacks.

The Analyst's Read

The bottom line on The Great Courses

Bottom line

The Great Courses maintains a strong product-market fit by focusing on high-quality, expert-led educational content. Their single-app strategy allows for deep focus on the user experience for long-form video consumption.

Frequently asked questions

How many apps does The Great Courses publish?
The Great Courses has 1 app tracked by Marlvel, primarily in the Education category.
What kind of apps does The Great Courses make?
The Great Courses's portfolio is concentrated in Education, with an average rating of 4.8/5 across rated apps.
What is The Great Courses's top app?
By review volume across the portfolio, The Great Courses is The Great Courses's best-known app tracked by Marlvel.

What fed this analysis

Apps analyzed:
1
With full intel:
0
With overview:
1
Website scraped:
yes
Social presence:
yes

Disclosure: Independent intel to help mobile builders succeed.

AI-powered analysis with automated quality gates, built from publicly available sources. Marlvel.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by The Great Courses, its developer, the app publisher, Apple, or Google Play. All trademarks, logos, and screenshots referenced remain the property of their respective owners.

Cite this report

Marlvel.ai. “The Great Courses intelligence.” Updated 2026-05-04. https://marlvel.ai/publishers/the-great-courses

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Data licensed under CC-BY-NC 4.0