Unacademy

Unacademy is an online learning platform for students preparing for competitive exams in India. It is a learner product: a student picks a "goal", such as the UPSC Civil Services exam, IIT JEE or SSC, and gets live classes, recorded lectures, practice tests and doubt solving from educators who teach for that exam. The homepage headline reads "Crack your goal with India's top educators" and the site describes itself as "India's largest online learning platform." The company behind it, named in the footer, is Sorting Hat Technologies Pvt Ltd.

Which exams it covers

The homepage says "200+ exams available for your preparation" across 60+ exam categories. Its popular goals are UPSC CSE-GS, IIT JEE, NEET UG, bank exams, SSC JE and state AE exams, CAT and other MBA entrance tests, CBSE class 12 and CA Intermediate, and the footer adds CSIR UGC NET, GATE, NTA UGC NET and CA. The blog's exam selector also lists NDA, CDS, NEET PG and Kerala PSC. That spread covers three of the directory's reader groups at once: civil service and government job candidates, students facing university admissions tests for engineering, medicine and management, and professionals taking accountancy or research eligibility exams.

Each goal has its own page. The UPSC page, for example, is a full guide to the Civil Services exam: eligibility, the Prelims and Mains structure and marks, important dates for 2026, a month-by-month study plan over seven months, and recommended books by subject, including an Unacademy UPSC PYQ book of solved papers. The SSC page does the same for SSC exams (non-technical) and railway exams, listing SSC CGL, GD, CHSL, JE, CPO, MTS, Stenographer and JHT, with exam dates, eligibility and syllabus, and tips for choosing an online class. The UPSC page gives similar advice, telling candidates to check a platform's syllabus coverage, study material, mock tests and success record, and to ask current and past students for feedback before enrolling.

What a learner gets

Every goal page lays out the same set of features:

• Prime: "Watch live classes and recorded content of our best educators."
• Top educators to learn from, and Courses to "Learn every subject in detail from your favourite educator."
• Batches: groups of classes laid out for one goal, so a learner follows a set sequence instead of assembling one.
• Playlist: lecture videos "for the entire syllabus for all your subjects."
• Practice: "adaptive practice tests."
• Test series to evaluate exam readiness.
• Doubts & solutions for "quick and detailed solutions to clarify your doubts."

Goal pages also link to a Store and to success stories. Live classes are the center of the product. During a class, learners can chat with educators, ask questions, answer live polls and get doubts cleared "all while the class is going on." Outside class, the practice section, mock tests and "lecture notes shared as PDFs" support revision. The homepage says "One subscription gets you access to all our live and recorded classes to watch from the comfort of any of your devices," and the app lets learners download lessons to study anywhere.

There are three apps: a Learner app, an Educator app and a Parent app, so a parent can follow a child's preparation alongside them. The goal pages also say learners trust Unacademy "for online and offline coaching", and the UPSC page links to IAS coaching in Mukherjee Nagar and Karol Bagh in Delhi and UPSC coaching in Prayagraj.

Free material and how buying works

A good share of Unacademy can be used before paying. The sign-up button reads "Join for free", goal pages offer "Try learning for free" and "Explore for free", and the SSC page advertises "free online coaching classes by our best educators." The UPSC page links to a free UPSC test series and free UPSC online coaching. The blog section adds free live classes for engineering branches (mechanical and chemical, ECE and electrical, and CS/IT), downloadable materials for UPSC, NEET UG, IIT JEE, GATE, bank exams, SSC and CAT, and general content on current affairs, NCERT topics, government job notifications and full forms. Standalone study material pages exist for UPSC, NEET UG, CA Foundation, JEE and SSC.

The paid side is sold as a subscription. Goal pages carry "View subscription plans" and "View subscription offers" buttons, but the plan prices do not appear on these pages. For help choosing, the site offers "Talk to our experts" and a phone line, +91 8585858585, and the about page gives help@unacademy.com. The footer links to a refund policy, user guidelines, a takedown policy and grievance redressal.

Scale and history, in the company's words

The homepage and the about page give different figures. The homepage counts "Over 10 crore learners", 1.5k+ daily live classes, 3.2B+ minutes watched, 14k+ educators and 1M+ video lessons. The about page shows 50M+ active learners, 1000+ top educators, 1B+ minutes watched and 2000+ daily live classes. Both sets are the company's own claims.

The about page timeline says Unacademy started as a YouTube channel in 2010 and became an education technology platform in 2015. It says that by 2017 it had 1m+ learners and 40k live classes, and in 2018 it had 200k+ daily active users learning through live classes. In 2020 it acquired Kreatryx, PrepLadder and Codechef "to encompass more avenues of learning" and launched the Graphy app for interactive stories and books, and in 2021 it relaunched its learning app at an event called Unveil 1.0. The leaders listed are co-founders Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh (CTO) and Gaurav Munjal (CEO). The mission line is "Democratise access to high quality education."

Who it suits

Unacademy suits a student in India preparing for a national or state competitive exam who wants to learn from live classes with named educators and to keep recordings for revision. UPSC aspirants get the most visible support, from a seven-month study plan to test series and book lists, but JEE, NEET, SSC, banking, CAT and CA candidates get the same structure of batches, courses, practice and doubt solving. A working candidate who cannot attend live can rely on the recorded classes and downloads, and parents can track progress through their own app. Engineering students preparing for GATE can start with the free branch-specific live classes.

It is built for these Indian exams, so learners preparing for other qualifications will find little here, and it is not a platform for creators or companies. Because the subscription prices are not shown on the goal pages, a learner will need to open the plan page or call the advice line before comparing costs.