CreativeLive, one of the original platforms for online photography education, is shutting down on December 31, 2025. The site is now closed to all but current users and will be wholly shuttered at the end of the year.
“Thank you for being a CreativeLive student. Through your support, we’ve been able to empower the careers and passion projects of millions of creatives. As the demand for long-form classes has shifted, continuing to run CreativeLive as originally envisioned is no longer sustainable, and we’re sadly unable to continue operations,” a note on CreativeLive’s home page (which was also emailed to subscribers this morning) reads. The statement is not attributed to any specific person.
“Purchasing and downloading of classes will remain available through December 31, 2025. We’re deeply grateful to everyone who has been part of this journey.”
Founded by Chase Jarvis — an award-winning photographer who was highly influential through the mid-2000s — in 2010, CreativeLive was designed as an online education platform with a mix of paid and free content. Some of the biggest names in photography — then and now — have either been featured by CreativeLive or got their start there. While the platform gained popularity thanks to its lessons on photography, it branched out over the years and grew to include design, business, video, marketing, and more through a diverse set of instructors including a group of Pulitzer-, Grammy-, and Oscar-winners, New York Times best-selling authors, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs.
Jarvis supported Creative Live through outside investors and saw a $7.5 million Series A round, followed by a $21.5 million Series B round. He became CEO of the company in April 2014, and he told the New York Times, “What we’re trying to do is create the most vibrant learning experience we can.” As far as records show, Jarvis is still the CEO.
The Seattle-based company was acquired by Fiverr in 2021 as part of what the parent company described as a broader strategy to expand its offerings outside of a marketplace for gig workers. It combined its in-house solution, Fiverr Learn, with CreativeLive after the acquisition and in 2022 expanded its library of online courses through the purchase of Wildist.co, a platform for workshops on wildlife photography that included everything from drone photography to working with brands. Wildist was founded by French photographer Alex Strohl. With CreativeLive’s shutdown, all of Wildist’s content will presumably be deleted along with all content from the platform.
CreativeLive will shut off its servers and website on December 31, 2025.