Top 12 most affordable websites to learn English online

As you may have already discovered by now, there are countless ways to study English, but what if you don’t have a lot of time and money set aside to get proficient? Juggling multiple projects and tasks? Working and studying? Busy with friends and family? Or simply, don’t feel like you found the right course that you can afford yet? Learning should not break the bank; we have all been there – looking desperately for help only to realize that it’s too expensive, making you spiral down a lengthy search for free resources, only to become frustrated and lost in the jungle of educational content out there. 

The new kid on the block! A platform made to provide their students with the language skills needed to excel professionally, where the main focus is providing effective and efficient English teaching, at an affordable price. Courses have been designed to ensure that you will gain a good base knowledge of the English language after just one course, which could be a great fit for those looking for time-efficient result-oriented solutions. Plus, you can rest assured that you are receiving quality education, as Theia Learn counts on trained, experienced professional instructors (with 30+ years of experience) who will teach you the ground rules of the English language and help you excel in achieving your academic and professional goals.

An affordable solution for those looking to learn English quickly, as courses run for about 3 months long, where you can choose to simply purchase one course or pay a monthly subscription which gives you access to all of the courses! To properly improve your English skills, interactivity and immersive learning is a big focus here. Apart from the weekly lessons, students have 1-on-1s every week with the instructor (which means subscribers can have more than one in the same week if enrolled into more than 1 course at a time!). As lessons have a perfect hybrid between independence and community – you have the flexibility to choose when you want to learn and where, but you rely on a community to help you through the process. You can share ideas, ask questions, and even interact in assignments together, because learning a new language can feel a bit intimidating. All in all, if you are looking for courses to learn English online that provides you with the necessary understanding and guidance of the language (by educational professionals), focused on giving you the tools to upscale your career, and all at an affordable price, we definitely recommend you try out Theia Learn!

• Main takeaway: Our top option if you are looking for a fast and effective method to learn English, giving you the best value for your money - quality content, individualised tutoring and guided learning all in one and at an affordable price. 

Udemy is another super-star in the universe of online learning providers. Covering a vast array of subjects (from categories like design, marketing, development, business, music, photography and much more), they also offer learners an opportunity to improve their English skills. They offer multiple courses by online instructors that are capable of teaching English online, but who are not necessarily English language teachers by profession nor education. Thus, prices range from super-affordable to pricey, depending on the instructor and the course.

Although there are facebook groups for learners and some interactive tasks, the format of courses is heavier on the pre-recorded video content rather than on practicing what you learn. While they implement the use of google classroom and email support from the instructor, we believe it could be difficult to maximize this online community learning as some students have no deadlines to follow and some may be more advanced in the material than others. Lastly, as courses are quite affordable and automated for the most part, it is difficult to individualize them towards each and every student, nor do they come with complimentary tutoring or assessment. If interested in private tutoring, students can get in touch with the instructor and arrange those separately, which would come at a separate cost.

• Main takeaway: A fun, easy way to learn - for those looking to simply be able to communicate basic needs quickly, rather than learn English.

Linkedin Learning, or formerly Lynda, is excellent at providing subscription based diverse training. The courses are created by experts who are not necessarily education professionals (teachers) but are influencers and power creators or top voices or work with LinkedIn in any other capacity. You have a month of free trial, with the individual subscription proving great for networking as well. However, there is no real community management nor practice within student groups as such; the format is video based pre-recorded sessions and automated quizzes. 

• Main takeaway: Recommended for those mainly looking to gain a good network and gain training from experts rather than instructors.

Skillshare is one of the more affordable options, with a membership plan that grants access to their entire course library. There you can find tutorials for different skill levels, with a more immersive learning approach. While they put a big focus on community, where learners can share their work and receive feedback, students lack real-time interaction with instructors and learners. They empashize creativity and flexibility which can be great, but their teachers are not specifically educational professionals, but rather are creative professionals. This means that anyone is able to create a course on skillshare, which means that the quality of your education can vary significantly. Having creative professionals as instructors can be good so they can showcase their experience and expertise, but the content can lack teaching the necessary English language skills you may need. Given that they are not educational professionals you also do not receive any formal certifications. Overall, it can be a valuable tool for learning English as it is self-paced and explores various topics!

• Main takeaway: An affordable option to learn independently where you can prioritize the skills you want to focus on, as long as you are looking for different creative professionals to teach you their experience.  

EnglishCentral, as its name suggests, is solely focused on English language trainings. The study plan includes 25 minute 1-on-1 lessons with private tutors and group lessons, complemented with the thousands of AI-powered videos to watch on an ongoing basis. EnglishCentral is unique in combining cutting edge AI technology with learner feedback of over 10 years, where they have developed cool high-tech solutions like “Teacher Machine Learning Loop”, “in-context” learning, proprietary IntelliSpeech Assessment Platform and trained ChatBots. From what we have seen, this is among the most prominent platforms for learners who value AI when studying.

FluentU is quite an exciting an innovative approach to English learning, as they teach you through TV show clips, movie scenes, and music videos. This is really a great approach to making learning enjoyable, but they merely focus on the improvement of vocabulary and listening. This is because they emphasize the exposure to authentic pronunciation and everyday language, but do not address speaking, writing, or grammar skills. If you are looking for a more independent approach, this can be a good option as they do not have any instructors to guide you. The platform can create personalized learning paths based on your performance on quizzes, but it does not actually have a proper understanding of your level or knowledge, given that all of it is gained from randomized quizzes. This approach is more of a passive learning, so keep this in mind if what you are really looking for is to gain a good base knowledge of English effectively. 

• Main takeaway: An exciting approach for those looking to learn independently in a more creative way, learning from online videos, shows, and movies. 

Rosetta Stone has been helping language learners for a long time. Starting with their CD-ROM language course products back in 1992, today Rosetta Stone products are based on a global cloud-based technology, offering bite-size lessons based on online and offline audios and downloadable lessons, speech recognition technology to perfect learners’ pronunciation, audio lessons, written words and real-world images. There are short lessons available and live tutoring as well when purchased separately. Perhaps the main shortcoming would be the lack of videos and unguided format – but that is not a problem for students who are auditory self-guided learners who know what they want to achieve and are great at studying by themselves online and offline.