Course Hero Vs. Chegg: Which is Best?
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Are you a student looking for affordable access to resources? Maybe your coursework has you stumped, and you’re hoping for some extra tutoring. Perhaps you’re even on a mission to enhance your understanding and processing of new information.
Whatever your personal study goals, one of the easiest first steps to turning those academic ambitions into reality is to subscribe to an online learning platform.
However, signing up for an online study resource isn’t (or, at least, shouldn’t be) as simple as settling for the first site you come across. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of educational platforms online, and not all are created equal.
In this article, we’ll be delving into the wonderful, wisdom-filled worlds of Course Hero and Chegg. Founded close together, these platforms offer very similar services, and as such, are often pitted against one another to find out which is best. Today, we’ll be investigating this question and providing a definite answer once and for all.
An Introduction to Course Hero
Course Hero was founded in October of 2006. Based in Redwood, California, this online educational platform has risen through the ranks to become one of the biggest names in online study resources.
Course Hero offers access to study resources, including textbooks, for a reasonable fee. You can also count on Course Hero for 24/7 tutoring and homework assistance in a range of subjects, from STEM to social sciences!
Whether you’re a student or an educator yourself, you can use CourseHero to enhance your skillset and better understand your work.
An Introduction to Chegg
Chegg was developed and put into motion slightly before Course Hero, having been officially founded in July of 2005.
Chegg provides rented access to physical study resources as well as online study packs, video tutorials, and expert Q&A sessions.
Through Chegg, you can enjoy the benefits of writing support, flashcard features, and practice questions, all designed with the aim of helping you achieve your best.
| Course Hero | Chegg | |
| Pricing Options | From $9.95 to $39.95 per month. Free access options available. | Individual tools available from $9.95 to $14.95 monthly. Study pack available for $19.95 per month. 4-week free trial. |
| Features | Study guides and textbooks 24/7 homework help Resources for educators Money-making opportunities Scholarships | Study, math, and writing tools Flashcard creator Internship search function Expert Q&ACareer profilesTextbook purchase and rental |
| Usability | Professional presentation Intuitive layout Flexible registration Some issues surrounding document uploading | Uncluttered site layout Intuitive search functions Multiple registration options |
| Conclusion | Perfect for students and educators | Ideal for students considering career progression |
Course Hero
Pricing Options
One of Course Hero’s most celebrated features (and one of the biggest reasons for its popularity) is its affordable pricing.
There’s nothing more frustrating than turning to online platforms for accessibility and affordability, only to find lists of prices miles out of your budget.
Thankfully, with Course Hero, this isn’t the case. The site offers a number of regular payment plans, from an annual payment that comes to just $9.95 a month, a quarterly membership for $19.95 per month, or monthly payments of $39.95.
On a purely mathematical basis, the annual plan is clearly the best deal, although the ability to pay in larger monthly installments allows financial flexibility for students who don’t have the means to part with over $100 in a single payment.
Course Hero even provides a range of options for earning free access! This is a pretty unique feature where online learning platforms are concerned, with most online study aids being either exclusively pay-to-use or non-profit.
While some other platforms do provide financial aid, this can often be a long and even uncomfortable process for students. Course Hero avoids this entirely by facilitating a reward-based system, where students can unlock course materials in exchange for document submissions, referrals, and more!
For example, you can unlock 5 resources and 3 tutor questions for every 10 documents submitted to the database. If you rate or review 5 documents, you gain access to a free resource. Alternatively, you can recommend a friend for 8 tutor questions and the added bonus of 20% off for them once they sign up.
Features
So, we’ve ascertained that Course Hero’s pricing is affordable, flexible, and ultimately very reasonable. But what course materials and features do you get to enjoy for the price?
We’re glad to confirm, having scoured Course Hero’s website from top to bottom, that this platform boasts an extensive range of online learning features to make your payment worthwhile.
Once you subscribe to Course Hero, you’ll be granted access to study resources, including online textbooks and guides to literary texts. There’s even a ‘Search by School’ option where, if your institution is in Course Hero’s database, you can access all the resources for your specific courses through the website.
But that’s not all! There’s also a 24/7 Homework Help function that allows users to enter their questions for consideration by Course Hero’s expert tutors. Students can expect detailed, step-by-step replies in as little as 15 minutes!
Moreover, Course Hero is committed to helping educators to engage with their students and provide the best quality teaching possible.
Therefore, the platform also includes a section specifically geared towards educators, which includes access to over 40 million teaching resources, more than 500 best teaching practices, and the ability to engage with and learn alongside over 50,000 certified educators.
And if you thought it couldn’t possibly get any better than that, wait until we tell you about Course Hero’s money earning opportunities!
Course Hero doesn’t only offer resources to existing educators – it also provides the exciting opportunity for potential educators to become official Course Hero tutors themselves! This is a great way to earn some extra money and make a difference to the lives of students everywhere at the same time.
Potential monthly earnings can, in some cases, surpass $1,500, so if you have a passion for educating and knowledge of one or several courses available through Course Hero, we highly recommend giving it a try.
Additionally, Course Hero generously provides Hero Student scholarships to dedicated students navigating their studies through all kinds of adversity. A Hero Student scholarship entitles the student to $5,000 per year of study in support of their academic needs.
Course Hero’s commitment to opening the doors of further education to students of all walks of life is admirable. It makes it not only an excellent learning platform but also a great cause worth supporting.
Usability
A wide and exciting range of features is all well and good, but without a functional, usable website, all the material would be virtually useless.
Luckily, Course Hero’s website is professional, appealing, and, most importantly, intuitive to navigate. You should never encounter any major issues in finding what you’re looking for – although, like most company websites, there is some room for improvement.
Course Hero’s site is well laid out, with all its primary features (study resources, homework help, free access options, and Course Hero for educators) accessible as drop-down menus at the top of the page. Right next to these menus are the options to log in or sign up. This makes the website easy and logical to navigate, and once you’ve checked out the resources, signing up is just a click away!
Alternatively, while scrolling down the homepage, you can access some of the features directly without having to navigate the menus at all. These sections on the homepage provide examples of available course resources, allowing a more in-depth appraisal of all the features from the first point of contact.
There are some minor organizational issues in the ‘Textbooks and Solutions’ section. For example, there have been instances where the same answer has (incorrectly) been provided for several questions. However, issues such as this should be easily rectifiable through the ‘Contact Us’ or ‘Feedback’ pages linked at the bottom of the homepage.
Perhaps a more concerning issue is the fact that students have reported accidentally uploading personal study documents that they did not intend to share. This sort of thing could happen to anyone, but the real problem is that Course Hero makes it relatively difficult to remove such documents once uploaded.
This may be partially due to the fact that, as we’ve mentioned, Course Hero offers rewards for document uploads. However, this isn’t applicable to users who have paid for the service and could potentially lead to more serious privacy issues.
Therefore, we believe that Course Hero’s website and overall usability could be greatly improved by providing confirmation pop-ups each time a document is uploaded, including a preview of the selected article, to minimize mistakes of this kind. Moreover, Course Hero should be more proactive about removing documents uploaded in error.
Something we particularly like about Course Hero’s usability is that the site also provides helpful advice for using the available resources. For example, on the homework help page, you can find ‘Tips for getting a good answer.’ This includes bullet point reminders and examples of both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ questions to help you optimize your learning and make the best use of your time.
There are multiple account creation options available through the sign-up page, including separate account types for students and educators. You can choose to sign up via email, Google, Facebook, or even Apple. With this kind of flexibility, combined with the fact that creating an account is completely free, there’s no reason not to sign up today!
Conclusion
Ultimately, it’s clear that Course Hero is a comprehensive and accessible online learning platform.
From its dedication to enhancing both learning and teaching progress to its various payment plans and free access options, Course Hero has proven itself to be a user-focused and valuable tutoring tool.
If Course Hero were to iron out some of the kinks in its current textbook solutions and document uploading features, they would be a strong contender for the title of best online tutoring platform overall.
Chegg
Pricing Options
Chegg’s payment and pricing system are a little more complex than those offered by Course Hero and other tutoring platforms. This is because Chegg’s study resources are divided into ‘tools,’ which can be purchased individually or as a package on a monthly basis.
All of Chegg’s tools fall into one of three categories: Chegg Study, Chegg Math Solver, and Chegg Writing. We’ll go into more depth on what each of these toolkits entails in our ‘features’ section (see below).
Chegg Study usually costs $14.95 per month, while Chegg Math Solver and Chegg Writing are both priced at $9.95 per month.
Alternatively, Chegg gives users the option of purchasing all toolkits together in the form of the Chegg Study Pack for a discounted price of $19.95 per month. That’s a total saving of $14.90 every month.
Sill, a monthly payment of $19.95 can be a big commitment, especially if you don’t yet have a sense of how well the platform will work with your learning style and other educational commitments. That’s why Chegg also offers a 4-week free trial, cancellable at any point before the end of the trial.
Features
Now that we know what price points you can expect from Chegg, let’s take a deeper look at some of the platform’s learning features!
As we mentioned earlier, Chegg’s main features can be categorized into Chegg Study, Chegg Math Solver, and Chegg Writing.
Purchasing Chegg Study will unlock access to 32 million textbook solutions and guided video tutorials, plus the ability to pose your questions to study experts at any time.
Chegg Math Solver includes step-by-step guides to equations (which can be entered on a custom basis) and an online graphing calculator.
Chegg Writing, on the other hand, offers helpful resources for writing academic papers. If you sign up for this package, you’ll get access to Chegg’s citation help, plagiarism checker, and, of course, spelling and grammar checks.
The fact that these toolkits are available separately from one another is great for students in further education who wish to specialize in or prioritize a particular subject or area of learning. It’s also ideal for students who may find themselves struggling with one area of their school curriculum more than others.
If, for example, you feel confident with both general study and writing, but need some extra help with math, you can simply purchase the $9.95 Chegg Math Solver package without having to pay for any other resources.
However, as we mentioned previously, the entire Chegg Study Pack, with all subject resources included, can be purchased for a discounted price for more holistic tutoring. Plus, when you sign up for the Chegg Study Pack, you also receive an upgrade on the Chegg Study features, with access to practice questions and 20 expert Q&As per month.
In addition to all of this, Chegg lets its users rent or buy textbooks for bargain prices, with a 21-day risk-free returns policy. The platform also provides a flashcard creator feature to help with memorization techniques.
Moreover, Chegg encourages students to consider life and prospects after education. Through Chegg’s website, you can access a search function for work experience and internships by location and field, alongside internship advice from professionals.
There’s also a Career Profile feature that allows students to search for and learn about specific careers, from Accounting to 3D Animation. Searches can be conducted according to skills, interests, and desired salary. Each career profile includes a video interview with an experienced professional in the field, plus an average salary indicator and links to related internships!
Through all of these features, Chegg provides tailored guidance for students both during and after their studies, foregrounding the importance of individuality and career progression in education.
Usability
Much like Course Hero’s website, Chegg’s site is effectively laid out and looks both professional and welcoming.
The pages are neatly presented and uncluttered, making it easy to find whatever you’re looking for in a matter of seconds.
From the homepage, you can access all of Chegg’s study packages, the book rental/purchase service, and the flashcard creator through the menu bar. A convenient search bar is positioned directly underneath, so if you can’t immediately find what you’re looking for, you can let the site find it for you!
As we saw with Course Hero’s website, the rest of the homepage is split into segments representing Chegg’s main features.
At the bottom of each page, you’ll find a menu with links to all the information you could possibly need about the platform, including extra links to the products and services. You’ll also be able to access background information about the company and its legal policies.
Under the customer service heading, students can access feedback and help features to help make the Chegg experience even better!
Chegg matches Course Hero in terms of sign-up flexibility, with account creation via email, Apple, Google, and Facebook having been enabled along with the option for a free trial.
Conclusion
Chegg is a fantastic online tutoring resource for students looking to boost their performance in one or several school subjects. It’s also an excellent platform for kickstarting career progression.
Featuring a user-friendly website, tailorable subscriptions, and internship guidance, Chegg’s services are designed to proactively prepare students both for examinations and for life beyond formal education.
Conclusion
Course Hero and Chegg both have a lot to offer the world of online education.
In some areas, there seems to be very little to choose between these two tuition platforms. However, on balance, Chegg narrowly surpasses Course Hero in terms of usability due to its website experiencing fewer issues overall.
Course Hero has a clear advantage over Chegg when it comes to providing resources for educators, which is not one of Chegg’s focuses. So, if you’re an educator looking to enhance your skills or even earn some money, Course Hero is the obvious choice.
But which is the best for students? Well, that depends on your ultimate goal.
If you’re hoping to save some money, Chegg is likely to be the most economical option thanks to its subject-specific packages, discounted study pack, and 2-week free trial. Chegg may also be the most helpful option for students considering career choices and seeking work experience. Additionally, if you want to rent or buy physical copies of textbooks, Chegg is the platform for you.
On the other hand, Course Hero will be the ideal platform for students seeking scholarship opportunities, as well as those who find motivation through exchanging resources and learning as a community.
Students who prefer to learn from virtual rather than physical texts may prefer Course Hero’s resources, and if you’re looking to complement your school’s unique curriculum, Course Hero offers the best chance of success.
About the Author Jacob M.
Jacob has a background in finance and engineering. Outside of his day job, he is a lifelong learner, who enjoys reading, taking online courses, and writing about what he's learned.
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