This is our Craftsy Unlimited review. We have been using it now for over 6 months so thought it was time to offer our opinion of what we think of it.
Update 1: Craftsy Unlimited is now known as Bluprint.
Update 2: Bluprint is now back to being called Craftsy again.
What is Craftsy / Bluprint?
Craftsy (who changed their name to Bluprint and is now back to Craftsy again) is an online training school for crafters. There are over 1200 courses in all sorts of subjects ranging from art to quilting. The courses are presented with video and basic written instructions depending on the course.
You watch the courses online and it is open 24/7 so you can log in whenever you like and watch as much or as little as you like.
What’s Not Included?
In the past, Craftsy Unlimited included all classes except the ‘The Great Courses’ which are those provided by a third party. However, the new Bluprint also includes some of those classes which is pretty awesome. These ‘Great Courses’ are usually pretty extensive so you are getting great value here.
What Sorts of Classes are Included?
In the image below you can see just a few examples of the different types of classes.
Craftsy has a large range of classes in all sorts of crafty categories.
- quilting
- sewing
- bag making
- machine embroidery
- embroidery
- knitting
- crochet
- Silhouette
- Cricut
- art
- painting
- drawing
- photography
- jewellery making
- card making
- scrapbooking
- paper crafts
- gardening
- weaving and spinning
- mixed media
- wood making
- cooking
- bread making
- cake making and decorating
- pattern making
- tailoring
- serging
What Do We Think After 6 Months of Using Craftsy Unlimited / Bluprint?
Prior to Craftsy Unlimited, between the two of us we had purchased over 50 classes from Craftsy on all sorts of subjects including quilting, cooking, card making, photography, sewing, mixed media, scrapbooking, embroidery and more. Plus there were loads more that we really wanted to watch.
So when Craftsy Unlimited was introduced we were quite excited about it but for some reason we thought that it was only certain classes that were part of it. It wasn’t until we realised that it included all classes that we jumped right in.
Personally we love it. We can watch unlimited classes at any time and we can also watch the ones that we probably wouldn’t have purchased but might have had a vague interest in like the one on making focaccia. Loved that one and my focaccia turned out perfect…at least the second attempt did.
Craftsy Unlimited also has an app so you can watch it on mobile although often we will stream it through to Wanda’s tv when we are working so we can watch classes during lunch breaks.
So yes, we highly recommend it. Having access to over a thousand classes that we can watch at a moments notice is truly awesome.
Is Craftsy Unlimited / Bluprint worth the price?
Prior to Craftsy Unlimited, Craftsy was an al la carte service. In other words, if you wanted to watch a particular course, you had to purchase it. That service is still available, so if you want to purchase just one or two classes then you can do so. However, with the price of some of these courses reaching prices of $60 and more it can start to get quite expensive pretty quickly.
So I give it a big yes in terms of price. It is definitely much cheaper getting the subscription based option. We personally signed up for the free trial and immediately decided to stay on with a one year subscription. We figured that we would get a lot out of it over a year.
However, just remember that with the subscription based option, when you stop, you no longer have access to the classes. However, if you purchase the al la carte individual classes then you will always have access to those.
How Much Does Craftsy Unlimited Cost?
It will depend on what country you are in of course because of the exchange rate but here are the rates as at June 2018 taken from the Craftsy site. We went with the yearly plan so we still have 6 months left.
Sign up for the FREE TRIAL
You can sign up for free for a limited time just to see if it suits you or not. This is what we did. We had full access during that free trial period so it gave us a good idea of what to expect. For us it was definitely worth it to stay on.
Click here to see more at Bluprint (Craftsy Unlimited).
So there you go, that is our Craftsy Unlimited review or should I say Craftsy Bluprint review. We will probably update again after our year is out. We’ll let you know whether we have subscribed for another year.
UPDATE APRIL 2019: Did we subscribe for another year? Yes, we did. We love it and continue to use it.
Dee says
It has Lots of content but so does YouTube.
After being with Craftsy from the beginning, my greatest disappointment is the now COMPLETE LACK OF INSTRUCTOR INTERACTION on Bluprint. The only folks to answer your questions now will be other classmates. I also think they’ve “deconstructed” topics in a way, to discourage the non-subscriber.
For example: They took a single discipline like machine embroidery and then broke it down into a class on stabilizers, another on threads, another on hoops, monograms, etc. so if you are not a subscriber and want to start learning machine embroidery you will have to buy at least 3 different classes just to get started! So it’s essentially a glorified YouTube. I now find myself searching through Bluprint 4-5 machine embroidery classes and user comments trying to get all the info I need…just like YouTube. It’s time consuming and frustrating.
I sure hope somebody creates a new start-up with the old Craftsy business model. I think they will do very well….obviously.
Alanda says
I think Bluprint are definitely trying to push people towards the subscriber model. The individual classes have increased in price and they don’t offer sales on those individual classes like they used to. I suspect that the individual class purchase option will disappear as soon as they get enough subscribers over to Bluprint.
As yet, I haven’t had a problem with instructor interaction. It might depend on the instructor I guess, but Bluprint really need to have checks in place to ensure that the instructors are answering questions. I wonder also whether the instructors are getting as much money with this new model and therefore are less inclined to spend hours answering questions.
Still I have to admit that I love having access to all the classes. There are some amazing classes in there and I don’t have an issue with the classes being separated out into topics. I actually like that as I don’t have to go into each course to try and find the information I need.
Margaretha says
Bluprint is not the same as Craftsy. Bluprint does not honor the free classes that they offer with subscription. Too bad because the instructors are very thorough and I enjoyed the classes. You can also not download the classes you own, so you are subject to the choppiness of the streaming service.
Alanda says
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘not honoring the free classes’. When you subscribe to Bluprint, you just get access to everything whether it’s free or not. Is there something I am missing?
Craftsy have never allowed for download of classes. That is a drawback for a lot of people I think who have slow connections.
Susan Dawson-Tibbits says
I am not a fan of Bluprint. What I liked about Craftsy was that I owned the classes that I purchased. I could access them on my iPad, my phone, or my computer. I know that the subscription model is more lucrative than offering individual classes for sale, but I LIKE buying individual classes and I HATE getting sucked into a subscription that I will not use. I do not have unlimited time or money to waste on that. I really liked using the Craftsy classes as an immediate source of help — just pull up the video, find the section I was interested in or needed help with in the table of contents, go directly to that section, and then watch an expert show and tell me what to do. I know that I can still purchase individual classes, but I refuse to pay $40.00 for a class that I used to be able to get for $14.95 when you offered a sale. Sorry, Bluprint, but you’ve lost a customer. Good-bye, Craftsy, you offered a good product, and I will miss you.
Barbara Russotto says
What happens to class I purchase before used to be unlimited for life I paid a lot of money and in print.
Alanda Craft says
You will need to contact Bluprint for that, (although now they are back to being called Craftsy).
Lynne says
Hi yes I was considering joining the nice price of $ 2.95 fo the year. Now reading this I am concerned that even $ 3.00 would be a waste. Someone from crafty needs to come forward and explain in detail that you can only what —- with this subscription.
Thank you
Crystal says
I bought the one year for $3 and won’t be renewing. While there’s lots of content there’s a lack of site functionality that I would expect with a sticker price of $150 CDN. I started a class, had to pause because life. Came back to the site and had to do a huge search to try and find the class again (I couldn’t remember the name of it) – for some reason Craftsy hasn’t implemented a section on the home screen to show me what classes I’ve started! And it doesn’t save your place if you pause mid-section of a class. So you have to hunt out the class and then watch the section from the start (thankfully it remembers which sections have been fully watched!) – for the price this is unacceptable to me.
I did enjoy the “startup sewing” or whatever it’s called with the tote bag. Very easy to follow.