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2024 Honest Review of Course Hero: Benefits, Features, And Costs

Javiera vega.

• Best Apps And Tools , Reviews

Study Consultant at Gradehacker

• Updated on May, 2024

What is Course Hero? Is it legal? Is it a scam?

If you are a busy college student looking for resources, documents, and references for your paper, Course Hero is the website you were looking for. It is 100% legal, as here you will find:

AI Homework Help

• Document sharing
• Plagiarism detector
• Real-life tutor assistance
• Textbooks solutions and explanations
• Study guides

Watch our Course Hero Review on our YouTube channel!

Many students were once trying to get through last-minute assignments, piled-up deadlines, unclear college professors’ instructions, and writer’s block. This is why today, we’ll share an honest review of Course Hero !

Getting a degree can be a rewarding experience and a bumpy road for even the most experienced university students. The stress that comes with it can make a simple task like writing an essay a complete nightmare.

The good news is that there are resources available for you , and here at Gradehacker, after many years of helping students find balance, we are happy to come up with this possible solution for you!

But first things first, what’s Course Hero? How legit can a platform like Course Hero be? If you use it, does it include plagiarism-free content? What’s the level of quality?

We are here to answer all concerns!

Let’s review Course Hero and checks its benefits, features, and costs in 2024!

So here we go, let's review Course Hero and checks its benefits, features, and costs in 2024!

Looking for quality college help and save money?

If Course Hero isn’t enough help to write your essay, see how Gradehacker can help you craft a plagiarism-free and quality paper.

What's Course Hero? Features and Benefits

Course Hero is a document-sharing platform centered mostly on previously written content by other students for their college assignments. It was founded in 2006 in Redwood City, California.

There are many great features this website offers to college students:

Document Sharing

There are many great features this website offers to college students

• Discussions
• Class notes
• Lab reports

Plagiarism Detector

As a second feature, we have plagiarism detectors, which are very trustworthy tools that can take any work you do online to a higher quality. It works similarly to the ones Grammarly or Turnitin have. 

If you’d like to know more about how they work and their effectiveness, you should check out our Grammarly review!

Some people are concerned that Course Hero promotes plagiarism and cheating. 

Still, at its core, this website works more like a vast online study group created by former and current students rather than a source of original content that you can present as yours. 

This platform follows an honor code where they clarify that their intentions are for you to improve your classes and expand your education by connecting with their resources. 

When you sign up, you agree to be academically honest while using the platform.

Intended plagiarism will be detected through plagiarism checkers .

To avoid the chance that your professor finds the document familiar because, after all, it was probably written for their class, have in mind that:

• The idea is not to copy from them but more to take inspiration and guidance from others' experiences.
• Course Hero is a great option for students looking for educational materials or struggling with their studies.

The third feature we have is one of their latest: an AI-powered homework helper that gives you instant answers and explanations and recommends resources. All done in as fast as 30 seconds!

You only need to upload your study document, and Course Hero’s AI will answer the questions, highlight the concepts, and give you step-by-step explanations about the subject.

And if you are unsure about the AI answer and prefer to talk with an expert tutor who can elaborate, you can instantly access their personalized tutor support.

Which takes us to their next feature…

24/7 Expert Tutor Assistance

Fourth feature we have 24/7 Expert Tutor assistance , which is about answering student questions and getting an email when it’s resolved. 

You can write a specific question to an expert tutor in your area of interest, and you’ll get a reply in 15 minutes or less.

It’s especially helpful when you are stuck with a particular subject and need to solve that exact question to continue with your assignment.

Textbook Solutions & Explanations

The fifth feature is the Textbook Solutions & Explanations.

Here, you can get solutions and explanations for different books, activities, and questions. Each book offers exercises and tips. However, you’ll need to pay for a subscription to have full access .

The benefits of these features are that you have multiple options from a wide variety of subjects:

• Statics and Probability

And many more options since they keep adding new books.

Some additional study tools you can take advantage of are:

• AI Homework Help: For instant answers and explanations
• Flashcards: Personalized to your specific needs
• Standardized Tests: From AP exams to graduate school exams, they have information uploaded to help you
• Literature Study Guides: For in-depth analysis through study guides, infographics, and essays about books

Study Guides

And finally, we have Course Hero’s detailed study guides .

You can search by topics, classes, subjects, and books.

They have hundreds of guides , and on each, you will find a thorough explanation of the subject.

For instance, for class study guides you can find course contents, faculty resources, and summaries of the modules.

And for literature study guides , they have an overview, explanations of the context, themes, symbols and characters, diagrams, and both overall plot and individual chapter summaries.

Again, all of this is completely free for anyone to access.

You deserve reliable study support

Get a quality essay reference and discover how Gradehacker can help you succeed with 100% original samples written by real experts

How Does Course Hero Work?

To gain access to all of these features, there Is a system that works with “unlock points.” But how does this work? Let’s find out!

The unlock system allows you to read and download complete documents and access other features from the sites, such as the 24/7 Expert Tutor assistance. 

There are three ways to obtain unlock points :

• Post your own content
• Rate other people’s submissions
• Subscribing to Course Hero

This is how an average document looks on Course Hero before you unlock it.

The first two methods are totally free and only depend on how many documents you submit or rate on the platform. 

The process of unlocking works by sharing 10 educational resources you’ve created so you can access any 5 files in the library . Keep in mind that your resources will need to be reviewed before gaining access. 

However, keep in mind that this process can get tedious.

Yes, the more content you share and the more ratings you give, the more unlocks you get, but rewards are not proportional to your effort in getting them. This system will definitely be a turn-off when you are in a hurry and out of unlock points.

You can also rate any document in Course Hero like this and get unlock points to see other people’s contributions.

On the other hand , paid subscriptions offer you a more unlimited experience that doesn’t require you to meet any of the conditions mentioned above . 

You can get, see, and download as many documents as you want for a price. You’ll also get between 10 to 40 questions for a 24/7 Expert Tutor.

Unsure about Course Hero's legitimacy?

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How Much Does Course Hero Cost?

You can use Course Hero and all its features for free as long as you meet the requirements to get unlocks. Still, it’s a tiresome process, and if you are a regular user, you will get tired of submitting content and ratings at some point.

When this happens, there is always the option of a   paid subscription that offers the following benefits:

• 24/7 homework help from tutors
• Count with course-specific resources
• Access Course Hero's library
• Unlimited access to textbooks
• Upload to study

They offer three types of subscriptions:

• Annual: $9.95 /month or $119.40 charged yearly
• Quarterly: $19.95 /month or $59.85 charged quarterly
• Monthly: $24.95 /month or $24.95 charged monthly

Online tutoring is not available for free users.

While premier members can unlock up to 30 documents per month , you can unlock user questions, access all Textbook Solutions and Explanations from the library, and receive up to 40 tutor questions.

There is no free trial, but there is a   30-day money-back guarantee.

Course Hero also offers a $5.000 Student Scholarship to help you until graduation.

Scribd, Quizlet, and Course Hero: How Similar Are They?

Are the other online learning resources, Scribd and Quizlet , similar to Course Hero? The answer is yes, and no. Let us explain better!

While both have things in common, the levels of content curation and usage vary between each other.

Quizlet is a sharing platform, but users here share their study materials like flashcards, guides, and memory games created through the website. 

In a way, Quizlet and Course Hero can complement their best features but are not a replacement for each other.

It also offers study activities related to the content for specific classes but not documents such as essays or notes.

Scribd is a document-sharing platform that works with some sort of unlock system.

However, it’s not explicitly designed to host content related to college classes.

If a document, PDF, or book passes the screening process guidelines, you will get a free unlock. This brings a quality problem since you will find valuable study guides and completely unrelated content in equal parts.

For example, as long as you have words in a document, no matter if they make sense or are valuable for someone else, they will be approved as “content” by Scribd, and you will get a free unlock.

While on Course Hero, only college-related content is approved for sharing, in Scribd could be any type of content.

Scribd has quite a similar interface and system as Course Hero, but the quality of the content is debatable.

If you want more websites like Course Hero, you can check out our list of Course Hero alternatives .

Our Verdict

So, is it worthwhile to use Course Hero for class materials? 

Whether you want the free option or the paid subscription, we believe this website is usually worth your time.

As mentioned before, Course Hero has a free membership, and you can access “unlocks” by adding new content yourself or rating the content of others.  

Unfortunately, this system might not be too convenient if you are struggling with a class or semester and need constant access to new content.

If you are in this position, you might want to opt for memberships that provide the most value, according to Course Hero helpful rating reviews made by students. 

You can also count on step-by-step explanations and get answers to any difficult questions with their online tutors.

Does that sound good? I bet it does, but sometimes, you don’t have enough time to look for other classmates’ notes, summarize them, and make them look coherent.

If you are definitely and utterly overwhelmed or just want to plan ahead, you can always look for other options.

Often, Course Hero resources are compared with Chegg Study Pack . So if you want to see alternative options, you can check our Chegg review .

We recommend thinking carefully about it and deciding if Course Hero will be a tool that might help you during your entire degree or just for a challenging class.

An online learning platform is only good as long as it is comfortable to use . If it is too convoluted or requires a high learning curve, students may feel they waste precious time just learning how to access the service.

Luckily, the Course Hero interface and reward system is intuitive, so even the less tech-savvy users will feel at ease.

Course Hero: Taking Your College Assignments To The Next Level

We hope our detailed Course Hero review helped you see whether a study assistance service like this is helpful for you.

In case you are looking for other types of services, platforms like Gradehacker offer you help with your classes or even help to accelerate your degree . If you need a  single essay or stand out on your discussion boards , we are here for you too!

If you want to continue learning more tips on how to make your college life easier , you can read these articles:

7 Best Websites to Find Free College Textbooks in 2024

Best Sites For Scholarly Sources | Websites To Find The Best Academic Sources

Edubirdie Honest Review 2023 | Everything You Need To Know

Best 5 Websites For Solving Math Problems

The Best Course Hero Alternatives

How Much Does it Cost to Write My Essay?

Javiera Vega is a Study Consultant and Content Creator for Gradehacker. She has a degree in Education and Literature and is currently working on getting a master’s degree in Linguistics. Even though words, languages, and books are her thing, science and psychology were her hidden passion for many years. Luckily, Gradehacker has allowed her to use all that knowledge by helping many clients with everything they need. Javiera considers herself a proud nerd who likes to learn and read about everything she can find. From movies and comics to microbiology and genetics, every topic is interesting for her. Her curiosity has no limits. Find her on LinkedIn

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Course Hero Review 2024 – Does Course Hero Really Help?

Course Hero provides study resources, course notes, test prep, 24/7 homework help, tutors, and more.

Last Updated: February 13, 2024

Forming Study Groups

• Consistent flow of fresh study material
• The catalog offers high-quality study materials
• Students can access millions of documents on any academic discipline.
• 5 different kinds of scholarships to students worth $5,000 annually until graduation.
• Students can gain access to Course Hero materials for free by contributing study material
• Low pay for tutors
• High premium membership cost
• Tutors claim their account gets suspended if even a single student complains

If you are struggling with strict deadlines or last-minute assignments, don’t stress out. Course Hero is here for you to help you manage with all your homework assignments and prepare you for your exams.

Check out our Course Hero review to see how you can benefit from it!

What Is Course Hero and How Does It Work?

Course Hero is an education technology website founded by Andrew Grauer, a graduate of Cornell University. It provides access to homework assignments, class notes, textbook answers, old tests, lesson plans, interactive flashcards, and test study guides . Using Course Hero’s platform, students can form study groups where they can share their files and brainstorm . Moreover, they can also browse the database for resources , take complete online courses , and receive online tutoring.

Let’s find out the pros, cons, key features, and pricing for their service. You can then decide upon the answer to the question “Is CourseHero worth it?” for yourself.

Plans & Pricing

Since Course Hero is a crowdsourcing education technology platform, it comes with free subscription options that involve uploading content, becoming a tutor, or referring another person to the site, all of which unlocks resources. However, according to verified Course Hero reviews, this provides limited access to the study material. But if you pay for premium services, you can get instant access to all the materials.

There are 3 course hero subscription price options available:

• Annual membership : $9.95 per month which is billed in one advanced installment of $119.40.
• 3-month membership : $19.95 per month which is billed in one advanced installment of $59.85.
• Monthly membership : $39.95 per month.

The Monthly Membership allows users to ask up to 10 Tutor Questions, the 3-month Memberships comes with 20 Tutor Questions while the Annual Membership grants users up to 40 questions.

As you can see, if you opt for the course hero annual membership, you will save more money over the course of the year. Comparing it to the 3-month membership, the annual membership will cost you $120 less per year. Meanwhile, the monthly membership costs four times as much as the monthly payment of an annual membership.

A student who is always on the lookout for new study materials but does not have access to physical libraries or resources can opt for the annual membership. However, many students may not want to avail themselves of the service for that long. If you are simply facing a rough patch in your current semester, opting for the 3-month membership provides the most value, according to Course Hero reviews by students.

In contrast, the monthly membership course hero price is a bit on the high side so it may only be appropriate for students who are facing a one-time study emergency.

Finally, if the plans and pricing are past your budget but accessing those documents is of paramount importance for your studies, you may want to consider getting a no-interest credit card to cover your membership fees. 

Refund Policy

Course Hero has a great refund policy. If this is your first time using Course Hero and you found out that your GPA has dropped compared to the former semester, Course Hero will offer you a full refund. To get the refund, provide the support team with copies of your transcript. You can also cancel your subscription at any time.

Course Hero Key Details

In this CourseHero.com review, we focused on highlighting the key features and services that are offered.

Unlock Million of Documents

With Course Hero, you can unlock notes, essays, study guides, lab reports, and homework help, and gain access to them throughout the time that you are subscribed to the service. Most documents allow you a brief preview of the content so that you can be sure that this is what you want to download. To find your research and study materials, you can search for relevant queries on the Course Hero’s search bar or browse by subject, book, or school.

By sharing your own study materials, you can also earn tutor questions to get academic assistance from Course Hero’s online tutors. Course Hero also allows you to rate the tutors and based on their ratings, tutors can get more students in the future.

Offers Practice Problems

Course Hero uses its database of academic materials to form its own practice problems. The questions come in sets. Once a set is completed, you can repeat it by clicking restart if necessary. Once you have successfully completed a problem set, you can also go forward to finish a new set of questions.

24/7 Tutors

Tutors are fellow Course Hero users who get paid to help you. According to a Course Hero tutor review, top tutors have the potential to earn as much as $500 every week.

Not surprisingly, teachers from all over the world are migrating to e-learning platforms which gives them not only teaching liberty but an opportunity to make additional money as well. 

If you want to get personalized help from an online tutor, you need to first earn tutor questions. To do this, you need to create an account and upload your original study materials. Then just ask your question, select the subject, and a tutor will help you out. Once your tutor has successfully helped resolve your query, you can rate them. However, if the tutor is unable to help you out, you can get your tutor’s question back and try asking another tutor.

Textbook Solutions

Course Hero offers a new feature, which helps with getting solutions and explanations for different activities, books, and questions.

As it is a new feature, the catalog may be a bit limited, however, they are constantly improving. Thanks to this Course Hero feature, you can find help and solutions for nearly any subject that you’ll have in college, so it’s a big plus.

Scholarship

If you need help going to college, you can rely on Course Hero to help you out. A typical Course Hero scholarship review shows that these scholarships are easy to apply for if you meet the service’s requirements. Most scholarships only require short answers, although there are some that will require you to submit an essay. Currently, Course Hero is offering five different types of scholarships, including Veteran Hero Scholarship, Rise Up First-Generation Scholarship, Community Hero Scholarship, High School Super Senior Scholarship, and Hero Student Scholarship. However, if you do not qualify for a Course Hero scholarship, there are student credit cards you can use as an alternative. 

An education platform is only good as long as it is comfortable to use. If it is too convoluted or requires a learning curve, students may feel they are wasting precious time just learning how to access the service. This can be a big turn-off for them.

Interface & Ease of Use

We have also considered interface and ease of use when creating our Course Hero review. The platform is comfortable and quite intuitive with flawless functions. Even people who use the platform for the very first time will find it easy to navigate.

Mobile Accessibility

According to smartphone statistics , mobile phones are slowly but surely replacing personal computers.  Course Hero has also developed its iOS and Android mobile apps for people who want to access study material on the go via their smartphones or tablets.

Help & Support

To contact Course Hero’s customer support team, you will need to fill out an online form that will ask you what they can help you out with, your contact details, and any other additional information that you would like to contribute. The staff is very helpful and offers detailed answers to your queries, according to the average Course Hero customer service review.

Aside from this, they have a knowledge center where you can read in-depth articles about how to get started, how to get payments and refunds, about academic integrity and their educators.

Unfortunately, Course Hero does not offer a phone or live chat option which would have made working with them much easier but could possibly cause a poor customer experience. As stated in the customer service statistics , bad customer service costs US businesses $1.7 trillion. A bit expensive, isn’t it?

Course Hero User Reviews and Testimonials

Course Hero’s rating with Better Business Bureau is A+, and it has over 24 million students and tutors on its network. With annual revenue of $100 million , Course Hero is one of the biggest names in education technology in the market. However, like all services, it has its good and bad days.

Here is one Course Hero online prep test review:

Positive Course Hero Reviews

“There are a lot of different study features which makes it great for doing homework and revision. You can get help with homework on topics that have little material from tutors. You can get multiple answers which adds perspective to your problem.

Overall, I think CourseHero is a good study tool. It is easy to navigate around and get assistance with material on different topics.”

Neeraja M. from GetApp , 08/2021

Negative Course Hero Reviews

Some Course Hero complaints are related to its help and support service:

“Every time I upload documents it takes several days (a lot longer than their claimed 24-hour period) for me to receive my unlocks. Whenever I try to contact customer support, they always pretend that it’s because I didn’t upload enough documents even though my account says I uploaded 10 documents.”

Jimmy V. from Sitejabber , 10/2021

Course Hero Alternatives

There are several other sites that offer similar services to Course Hero. The most notable ones are:

StudyBlue is a collaborative learning platform that helps people gain knowledge in any subject they want. Students also have the option to connect with others who are studying the same subjects through a library of over 250 million pieces of user-generated material. Compared to Course Hero, some students claim StudyBlue has a better support team and meets requirements better.

OneClass is similar to Course Hero as you can find course-specific study tools that can help you learn efficiently. However, some reviews claim that OneClass offers better quality academic materials as it motivates its note-takers with the chance to earn $470 per course by adding top-quality study resources to the site.

GradeBuddy is a service where students can find lesson notes on a large range of courses that are taught in American universities. Course Hero students say in their reviews that although its services are pretty similar to Course Hero, its subscription fees are more affordable, and students have the option to preview 20% of any content before they buy it.

Course Hero is a wonderful education technology service that enhances a student’s learning experience. According to verified Course Hero reviews, its best feature is that students can access a huge repository of study material through its free options, by uploading documents or becoming a tutor.

Even though there are people who are concerned that Course Hero promotes cheating, using it isn’t any different from forming a study group or getting a tutor to help you with your lessons. For students who are looking for research material or struggling with their studies, Course Hero is a great option.  On the other hand, for parents on the lookout for a means to track their child’s learning, parental software may be the perfect solution.

When they are thinking about using the service, a lot of people ask the question, “Is Course Hero legit?” The answer is that it is indeed a legitimate site. As a crowdsourcing site (users are the ones who provide the study material), Course Hero has to be legitimate, otherwise, it would fail. Considering that 24 million people use this platform, it looks as if many people find it both useful and trustworthy.

Course Hero does not enable its students to cheat. It is created on the same concept as a study group where students come together, share notes with each other, and exchange ideas. Additionally, Course Hero’s policies do not tolerate cheating, copyright infringement, or plagiarism, and they permanently ban anyone who violates these rules.

This Course Hero review wouldn’t be complete without explaining what Course Hero’s policy is regarding cheating. According to Course Hero’s rules, cheating entails submitting someone else’s work under your own name, uploading lecture recordings from the same term you are currently studying in, using the service’s materials when the student is told not to get any outside help, and violating the honor code of schools or instructors.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Terry Stancheva

I am a curiosity-driven creature searching for answers — and questions — in the digital realm. From marketing through online business creation to software tools — I am fascinated by everything that can make life easier. When not looking for meaning, yoga and good food keep me grounded.

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What kinds of study resources does Course Hero offer?

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• About Course Hero

Course Hero provides a variety of learning resources to help students study more effectively and succeed in their courses. Resources include:

• More than 30 million study documents from more than 11,000 schools—including notes, test prep, Q&As, Textbook Solutions and Explanations, and more. 
• 24/7 Homework Help from tutors who provide fast, step-by-step answers. Tutor expertise spans a wide range of subjects and courses.