Udemy shifted from selling individual courses to subscriptions. In 2025 total revenue was flat at $789.8 million, but subscription revenue rose 8% to $566.0 million, 72% of the total, and consumer subscribers doubled to 343,000. One-off course revenue fell. Udemy posted its first net profit, then completed an all-stock combination with Coursera on 11 May 2026.
Key takeaways
- Udemy's 2025 subscription revenue rose 8% to $566.0 million, 72% of total revenue, up from 66% a year earlier.
- Consumer subscribers doubled from 170,000 to 343,000, while one-off 'transactional' revenue fell from $261.1 million to $221.2 million.
- Total revenue was flat at $789.8 million, yet Udemy posted its first positive net income: $3.8 million, against an $85.3 million loss in 2024.
- Udemy Business ARR was $540.0 million, with net dollar retention of 93% (97% for large customers).
- Udemy and Coursera combined on 11 May 2026, with 290 million learners and more than $1.5 billion of 2025 revenue between them, partly in response to AI pressure on online learning.
My friend Shani Raja is a former Wall Street Journal editor.
When I wrote The Subscription Playbook, he had published some Udemy courses on exceptional writing, and more than 460,000 students had taken them. (Who would have thought so many people would want to learn writing?)
That was Udemy's magic in 2022. A huge marketplace. Thousands of instructors. Each course bought one at a time.
It was also Udemy's problem.
Every one of those sales was a one-time transaction. And as I learned the hard way with my first business, one-time revenue keeps you on a treadmill.
What did the book say about Udemy in 2022?
In Chapter Five, I used Udemy to explain network effects as a moat factor. Its library had more than 150,000 courses and more than 50 million students. Successful instructors relied on network effects: as more people took a course, left reviews and found it helpful, the course became more valuable, and others were more likely to take it.
The book's research also noted that Udemy had ramped up without paid advertising. The marketplace fed itself.
What's happened since?
Udemy decided that a marketplace of one-off purchases wasn't enough. It moved its customers to subscriptions.
Here are the full-year 2025 numbers, reported on 4 February 2026:
| Metric (FY2025) | Result | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | $789.8 million | Flat |
| Subscription revenue | $566.0 million | Up 8% |
| Subscription share of revenue | 72% | Up 6 points (from 66%) |
| Consumer subscribers | 343,000 | Doubled (from 170,000) |
| Consumer subscription revenue | $44.5 million | Up 44% |
| One-off ("transactional") revenue | $221.2 million | Down from $261.1 million |
| Udemy Business ARR | $540.0 million | Up 4% |
| Udemy Business net dollar retention | 93% (97% for large customers) | |
| Net income | $3.8 million profit | From an $85.3 million loss in 2024 |
Read that table carefully. Total revenue went nowhere. But the business underneath it changed shape, and Udemy made its first profit.
Why would flat revenue be good news?
Because the mix matters more than the total.
When you move customers from one-off purchases to a subscription, some of them would have bought a course anyway. Now they pay monthly instead. In the short term, that can look like cannibalization: transactional revenue falls, subscription revenue rises, and the total barely moves.
But look at what you get in exchange:
- Predictability. You know what's coming in next month.
- A relationship. A subscriber keeps learning. A one-off buyer finishes the course and leaves.
- Value. As I wrote in Chapter One, buyers and investors value recurring revenue far more highly than one-off sales. See recurring revenue multiples for how much more.
Udemy's first positive net income, in the same year its total revenue was flat, tells you which kind of revenue is better business.
My take
This is the move I wish more course creators, coaches and trainers would make. You don't have to stop selling individual products. Add an all-access option, let the customers who want it move across, and watch the share of recurring revenue each quarter. Udemy went from 66% to 72% in a year.
What would subscriptions do to your numbers?
Compare one-off sales with a subscription offer, including cash flow and valuation, using the free Subscription vs One-off Profit Calculator.
Where is the business side heading?
The bigger and stickier part of Udemy is Udemy Business, the plan sold to employers. It's land and expand in action: win a company with a team plan, then grow it across departments.
At $540.0 million ARR it's a big business on its own. But its growth was only 4%, and net dollar retention of 93% means existing business customers shrank slightly overall. Large customers held up better at 97%.
That's honest-reading territory. A net revenue retention figure below 100% means you're refilling a leaky bucket. Check how that compares in our NRR benchmarks.
Why merge with Coursera?
On 17 December 2025, Udemy agreed to combine with Coursera in an all-stock deal: 0.8 Coursera shares for each Udemy share. It completed on 11 May 2026.
Together, the companies have:
- 290 million learners
- 18,000 enterprise customers
- 95,000 instructors
- more than $1.5 billion of 2025 revenue
AI pressure on online learning was a big part of the reasoning. When an AI assistant can explain almost anything on demand, a course library on its own is easier to replace. Scale, enterprise relationships and credentials are harder to copy. For a sharper example of what AI can do to an education business that doesn't adapt, read how Chegg lost half its revenue to AI.
What you can steal
- Launch an all-access subscription. If you sell courses, templates, workshops or products one at a time, bundle them into a monthly or annual pass. That's the unlimited content model.
- Accept some cannibalization. Some one-off sales will move into the subscription. That's the point. Judge success on recurring share and profit, not just total revenue.
- Track the recurring share every quarter. Make it a headline number in your business, as Udemy did.
- Sell a team plan. Employers buy for many people at once and churn less. Udemy Business is the bigger side of Udemy for a reason. My guide to land and expand shows how to grow those accounts.
- Give subscribers a reason to stay. New content each month, live sessions or a community. Otherwise people binge and cancel.
If you run a tutoring or training business, the education and tutoring guide has example tiers to start from.
NRR and GRR CalculatorNet and gross revenue retention.Open the free tool →Free Subscription Profit Review
Australian business owners can book a free 30-minute review with a BPAG Accountants adviser. An honest conversation about:
- whether a subscription model could work for your business
- how recurring revenue could cover your fixed costs each month
- how it could lift what your business is worth
No cost, no obligation. General information only until we understand your situation.
The lesson
Moving from transactions to subscriptions can shrink headline revenue at first and still improve the business. More predictable revenue, a first profit, and a customer relationship that continues after the first purchase.
And in a market under AI pressure, Udemy's final move is worth noting too: sometimes the best defense is scale.
So, what do you sell one at a time today that your best customers would happily pay for every month?
Frequently asked questions
Does Udemy still sell individual courses?
Yes. Udemy still earns 'transactional' revenue from one-off course purchases, but it's shrinking: it fell from $261.1 million in 2024 to $221.2 million in 2025. The company has deliberately pushed learners toward its subscription plans, accepting that some people who would have bought single courses now subscribe instead.
Why did Udemy merge with Coursera?
The two companies agreed to combine in December 2025 in an all-stock deal, at 0.8 Coursera shares per Udemy share, and completed it on 11 May 2026. Combined they have 290 million learners, 18,000 enterprise customers and 95,000 instructors. AI-driven pressure on online learning was a big part of the stated rationale: scale and a broader skills platform are harder for AI tools to replace.
What does 93% net dollar retention mean for Udemy Business?
It means that, across existing Udemy Business customers, revenue a year later was 93% of what it had been, after expansions, downgrades and cancellations. For large customers it was 97%. Below 100% means existing customers shrank overall, so growth has to come from new accounts. It's a number to watch, not one to celebrate.
Can a small course creator copy Udemy's model?
Yes, at a smaller scale. If you have several courses, offer an all-access membership alongside individual purchases, add something recurring (live Q&A, new lessons each month, a community) so the subscription stays worth it, and sell a team plan to employers. Track what share of revenue is recurring each quarter.
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Robert Coorey, MBA
Robert is the author of The Subscription Playbook and Feed a Starving Crowd and a Director at BPAG Accountants in Sydney. More about Robert.
Sources
- Udemy, Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2025 Results (4 Feb 2026)
- Coursera, Coursera Completes Combination with Udemy (11 May 2026)
- Udemy blog, Udemy and Coursera Agree to Combine (Dec 2025)
Facts and prices checked 27 October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.