Updated: November, 3, 2022
Brilliant is an online education platform that has helped over 10 million learners improve their science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills in a fun and engaging way.
Our latest Brilliant.org review covers the benefits of the platform’s gamification approach and how it helps the modern student acquire knowledge.
Learn more below!
Sue Khim co-founded Brilliant in 2012 as an interactive STEM learning platform that engages its students, sparks questions, and helps them learn from their mistakes.
Nowadays, you can choose from close to 70 high-quality Brilliant courses, ranging from math fundamentals to complex topics like quantum mechanics. However, regardless of the lesson difficulty, you will always enjoy a brilliantly gamified and simplified learning experience.
Note: Apart from the web interface, Brilliant offers free-to-use Android and iOS apps.
While grouped based on their topic area, the Brilliant courses are also combined into so-called ‘Learning Paths’ that take students on a journey to improve their STEM skills progressively.
After answering several preliminary questions, Brilliant recommends several learning paths that suit your specific needs and circumstances, which vary based on your answers.
The courses comprise hundreds of concepts and exercises, along with many interactive quizzes, games, and puzzles. However, only Brilliant premium subscribers get access beyond the intro chapter, as well as the whole library of ‘daily challenges’, guided courses, and more. Another great alternative for STEM-based courses is Khan Academy.
Depending on their pre-existing knowledge, students can either take a foundational or an advanced course in maths, science, or computer science, as listed below:
Regardless of your choice, each of these courses offers visual, hands-on learning, and helps you understand the key ideas by solving a variety of problems.
Ultimately, the platform relies on the learners’ curiosity to understand, instead of memorise the core concepts. Coupled with fun storytelling and the option to make mistakes while playing, you will stress less and learn better with Brilliant.
Typically, quizzes start with a brief explanation of the core learnings before moving onto multiple-choice questions that call on your logic and intuition. After arriving at the correct answers, a brief summary ends the lessons.
Note: You can ask for an explanation of the correct answer at any point during the quiz.
Brilliant’s daily challenges are interactive problems that keep your mind sharp, and your curiosity satisfied regularly; plus, they offer loads of fun and satisfaction when you solve them.
If you need more than one of these mind-boggling puzzles per day, you can always purchase a Brilliant subscription to access all the challenges published so far.
Despite the STEM-focused nature of the platform, Brilliant is an excellent learning website for several learner groups:
When it comes to the Brilliant.org cost, the platform operates via a freemium business model, meaning it offers a free sample of its products, but you have to subscribe to the Brilliant premium plan for the full access at these price points:
|Annual Plan||£6.39/month, billed as one payment of £76.68|
|Gift Plan||£76.61 (annual) or £399.99 (lifetime)|
|Group Plan||Three users for £15.99/month + £6.39/month for each extra user, billed as one annual payment|
With the premium scheme, you get full access to every chapter of the 60+ Brilliant courses, the entire daily challenges archive, offline app learning mode, guided lessons, and more. However, you can also try the Brilliant free trial plan for a week before committing. On the other hand, some eLearning platforms offer a longer trial period that doesn’t even require credit card information.
Note: Should Brilliant prove pricier than expected under your current circumstances, check out platforms like Pluralsight, which have access to a TV app.
Brilliant takes full advantage of its gamified platform to deliver interactive, fun, and engaging learning experiences: every STEM course is well-built, informative, and easy to consume, regardless of its level of complexity.
All in all, students, parents, and teachers get much value out of a Brilliant subscription, as they spend hours on end engrossed in various puzzles, tasks, and challenges that quickly improve their problem solving skills along the way.
The subscription costs £6.39/month, billed as an annual payment of £76.68 after a 7-day free trial period. However, the platform also offers more affordable group plans as well.
Yes, Brilliant has lessons in Python programming and Quantum Computing. They also feature a comprehensive course on logic and algorithm fundamentals.
Brilliant markets their platform as suitable for ages 10 to 110, and our Brilliant.org review also confirms: everyone from elementary school pupils to lifelong learners loves to engage with Brilliant’s short and sharp lessons.
An aspiring linguist with a background in teaching, I decided to use my years of experience to educate my audience through writing. The chance to apply my knowledge to my articles, fueled by my passion for research helped me develop my skills and learn more along the way, awakening my interest in even more topics. When I’m not typing behind my desk, you’ll find me learning a new language or pouring my thoughts into rhymes.