Best Of

Hey there instructors!

We wanted to take some time to give warm wishes for the holiday season! As the year comes to a end, our team will be taking some time to celebrate. With that, there may be some delays with responses to the community.

Thank you all for making this a special place, and we hope you all have a very happy holiday!

Best wishes,

The Udemy Instructor team.

FAQ’s: Udemy + Coursera Combination Announcement

How will this transaction impact instructors? How does this benefit us?

• We believe the combination with Coursera will create significant opportunities for our valued instructors. 
• Together, with our shared product, data and technology investments, we expect to unlock and accelerate platform innovation for learners, expert instructors, enterprises, and institutions. 
• We will also strengthen our go-to-market capabilities, global reach, and native language access.
• Our global instructor community’s content will gain access to Coursera’s consumer base of over 191 million registered learners and greater global scale to build and grow your expertise.
• We expect to enhance learner experiences, amplify the reach of our scaled instructor network and equip instructors with more effective and innovative tools to support their businesses.

Will there be any changes to the way instructors work with Udemy?

• Instructors will continue to be central to our success in this next chapter.
• We are committed to ensuring a smooth transition for our instructors and learners as we work to bring our two companies together.
• Until the transaction is completed, it is business as usual and we will continue to work with instructors as we do today.
• We are committed to keeping you as updated as possible throughout this process

How will the combination of Udemy’s instructor-driven content and Coursera’s complementary, branded content create new opportunities and expand the reach of my courses?

• Udemy and Coursera have highly complementary content engines and we look forward to expanding our marketplace to reach even more learners and organizations globally. 
• By integrating Coursera’ branded content from trusted educational and industry partners with Udemy’s rich marketplace of high-quality instructor-driven content, the combined company will be positioned to more effectively address the upskilling and reskilling needs of learners, institutions and enterprises globally.
• Instructors will continue to be central to our success in this next chapter.

Will I still be able to create and distribute my courses on the platform after the Udemy-Coursera combination?

• Yes.
• In fact, the combination with Coursera will position us to accelerate and unlock investment and innovation in our platform and equip instructors with more effective and innovative tools to develop and distribute content for learners.

Will our platform be incorporated into Coursera’s or will there be a new combined platform? When will this occur?

• The instructor marketplace will remain a key part of the combined business. Udemy instructors' insights, rapid content creation, and demonstrated teaching excellence are recognized and a key part of Coursera’s interest in our company. 
• There are many other important details that we will determine with Coursera as part of our integration planning efforts in the coming months.
• Final plans related to how Udemy’s platform and marketplace will be integrated will be developed as part of integration planning in the coming months and details will be announced at a later date.
• We will continue to keep you informed along the way.

Will the instructor marketplace continue?

• Yes. 
• The instructor marketplace is a strategic pillar of the combined company. Udemy instructors bring valued learner insights, agility, and instructional skill and these contributions remain central to our future.

Will this announcement change the revenue sharing model with instructors? What about revenue adjustments based on the subscription model?

• Today’s announcement has no impact on Udemy’s revenue sharing model. 

Will this transaction change how we engage with customers?

• We will continue to enable engagement between learners and instructors to generate meaningful insights and real-time feedback and analytics.
• We believe the combination will enable us to continue investing in and innovating our platform and equipping instructors with more effective and efficient tools to better serve our customers.

How will the Udemy-Coursera combination strategically benefit instructors?

• As a combined company, we believe there are exciting opportunities to invest, innovate, and grow our business with a focus on supporting our learners, instructors, and enterprise customers in achieving their goals.
• We are also thrilled for our incredible instructors’ content to reach Coursera’s consumer base of over 191 million registered learners.
• We look forward to continuing to partner with our instructors on our journey to become the global leader in the transition to a skills-based economy – and transform more lives through learning than ever before.

What can we expect next?

• Until the transaction closes, Udemy and Coursera will operate as separate companies and we will continue to work with you as we do today.
• In the coming months, we will be working closely with the Coursera team to determine integration plans and how best to combine our companies.
• We recognize the trust you put in us and are committed to ensuring a smooth transition and to supporting you well into the future.
• We are committed to keeping you as updated as possible throughout this process.

Will my status as an instructor on Udemy’s platform carry over to the combined platform? 

• Proven expertise, strong learner engagement, high learner satisfaction and consistent quality remain core signals of instructor excellence, and these strengths will continue to be recognized and valued. 
• We appreciate your partnership and recognize your incredible success in the Udemy marketplace – and we’re excited to help you build on that as part of the combined company.

For additional important information about the transaction, please read this link: udemy-combines-with-coursera/legends

In the past, learners found your courses through our marketplace or Udemy Business. Today, they’re asking ChatGPT for coding tutorials, turning to AI tutors for instant feedback, and expecting personalized learning recommendations at their fingertips.

The rise of AI didn’t just change how people learn—it fundamentally changed what they expect from learning. Today’s learners want interactive experiences, personalized guidance, hands-on practice, and direct outcomes that go beyond watching videos.

Their preferences are shifting in other ways too. While many still love the flexibility of one-time course purchases, more learners are seeking continuous access through subscriptions. The entire industry is moving toward ongoing learning, and so are we. In fact, we grew Udemy’s Personal Plan to 293k+ subscribers in 2025 alone.

That’s why we’re building tools meant to help you thrive in this new era, whether you teach in the marketplace, through subscriptions, or to enterprise learners. Together, we’re not just building new features—we’re creating the foundation for the next generation of online education, where instructors and learners grow side by side.

This year has been a turning point for online learning. We’ve focused on providing more ways for you to connect with learners, expand your reach, and grow your impact.

New Content Formats to Bring Learning to Life

Role Play launched earlier this year as a new way for learners to practice real-world skills through interactive scenarios. Picture a project management role play where learners navigate team conflicts or make tough decisions in the moment. This AI-powered creation tool has enabled nearly 2.9k instructors to publish more than 16.1k Role Plays so far!

We also introduced In-course Labs, hands-on spaces where learners can apply technical skills directly within your course. Think coding labs where students debug real problems and learn by doing.

To make course creation faster and easier, we introduced the Production Hub—a new resource offering the latest templates, tools, and tips for your course videos.

Looking ahead, we’re exploring even more ways to help you create engaging, multimodal content that reflects your unique teaching style and expertise. 

New Ways to Monetize Your Expertise

This fall, we began piloting Connect 1-1, which enables learners to book one-on-one coaching sessions with you directly after taking your course. It’s a natural way to deepen learner relationships and open up a new stream of personalized income.

In September, we launched Instructor-led Bundles, allowing you to group related courses together to help learners go deeper while increasing your earnings per sale. Today, more than 9,000 instructor-led bundles have been published since we launched in September 2025. Great news: we’ll soon be  launching an automatic 15% off pricing feature on all Instructor-led Bundles for instructors participating in the Instructor Deal Program, making your bundles more compelling to learners and helping you unlock more revenue from the content you’ve already created.

Rewarding Your Contribution to Subscription Growth

We’re excited to announce a new incentive designed to reward instructor contributions to Udemy’s growing subscription business. The Subscription Bonus is intended to enable instructors to participate meaningfully in this growth by compensating instructors whenever their course landing page leads to a consumer subscription purchase. For 2026, we’ve allocated up to $2M USD to support this bonus.

The Subscription Bonus is subject to additional terms. Specific payment calculations and bonus limitations will be provided to instructors in the Subscription Bonus Policy.

Course Variations

Every great course starts with a strong foundation—but what happens when your learners’ needs start to diverge? Some may need a gentler entry point, others want advanced projects or role-specific examples, and still others just want to stay up to date with the latest version of your topic. Course Variations aims to make it possible to adapt your content strategically without starting from scratch. By building new variations from your existing course, you could reach new audiences, keep your catalog fresh, and strengthen your overall brand reputation. Keep your eyes peeled for more information in Q1 2026!

Instructor Subscription Phased Rollout

Many instructors have shared how they’re increasingly engaging learners beyond traditional courses; through live sessions, communities, and more frequent learning. We’ve been listening, and in 2026, we plan a phased rollout of a new experience around Instructor Subscriptions.

This isn’t about replacing instructors’ traditional Udemy courses—it’s a complementary format intended to help them engage directly with learners, experiment with new content types, build stronger communities, and create recurring revenue streams.

We’re particularly excited about the possibilities for short-form content, including content under our current 30-minute minimum. This phased rollout approach will help us understand what truly matters to learners and how Udemy can best scale instructors’ subscription communities over time. Instructors interested in participating can express interest using the information provided in this announcement.

AI-Powered Micro-learning

We’re going to be rolling out AI-powered tools designed to help transform instructors’ existing courses into interactive microlearning experiences; breaking skill acquisition down into bite sized moments that meet learners where they are, whether in the flow of work, on mobile, or during brief study sessions.

Instructors remain absolutely central to this vision. We see instructors as curators and directors of AI, bringing their expertise, teaching skills, and creativity to new formats that can reach millions of learners. This new functionality is designed to analyze courses, identify key learning objectives, and generate interactive activities tailored to those goals. In our perspective, only instructors can validate whether the AI created activities capture the essence of their teaching and ensure the quality meets their standards.

This innovation is designed to open powerful new learning opportunities while maintaining the human expertise that makes Udemy’s instruction so valuable.

Content Innovation Fund

To accelerate the future of learning and support instructors leading the charge in educational innovation, we’re establishing a Content Innovation Fund, with committed funding of $2.5M USD. This dedicated investment is designed to provide grants and resources for instructors who are pioneering new content formats, experimenting with subscription-based learning experiences, and leveraging AI-powered tools to create engaging microlearning opportunities. Whether instructors are developing interactive short-form content, building learning communities, or transforming traditional courses into bite-sized experiences that meet learners in the flow of work, this fund is designed to remove financial barriers and support experimentation. Leading by example, instructors, like learners, are always learning, too.

Application processes, eligibility criteria, and additional terms will be announced separately.

Reminder

As we continue investing in these new tools and opportunities, we want to remind you that we’re implementing a 2.5% revenue share adjustment in January 2026 to help fund these innovations and maintain the high-quality experience you and your learners expect. See our Teaching Center article for details.

The future of learning isn’t being built by technology alone—it’s being built by people like you. Your creativity, your expertise, and your connection with learners are what make Udemy thrive.

As we look to the year ahead, our goal is simple: to help you do more of what you do best—teach, inspire, and transform lives.

Teach on!

The Udemy Team

In my 30 years in IT I’ve been through too many mergers/acquisitions to count. I’ve never seen it benefit the company being acquired. I’m positive this will be no different. What remains of Udemy will be molded into the Coursera including pay scales and content management. Udemy is gone, sadly. Upside is we have a 6 month notice.