Is Envato Tuts+ Free, and What Does the Pricing Link Refer To?

Envato Tuts+ is positioned as a free educational resource: its own site title describes it as "Free Courses, Tutorials, Tips & Tricks," and the site describes itself as a place to "learn creative skills from leading industry experts." The pricing links you see on the page (for example, "From $16.50/m," "Get unlimited downloads," "Our Pricing & Plans") point to Envato Elements, a separate subscription product for creative assets — not to Tuts+ itself. In short: the tutorials are the free part; the paid links are an upsell to a different Envato service.

Why the pricing links appear on a free tutorial site

Envato Tuts+ and Envato Elements are two products from the same company, and the Tuts+ site carries promotional placements for Elements. That is why a page whose headline promise is free learning also shows subscription pricing.

The pricing links in the page data all resolve to elements.envato.com/pricing, tagged with UTM parameters that identify them as Tuts+ promotions (for example utm_source=tutsplus.com, utm_medium=promos, utm_campaign=elements_tuts-header_promo). The "From $16.50/m" figure and the "unlimited downloads" language belong to that Elements offer.

What Envato Tuts+ covers

The site is an educational resource for creative and technical skills, aimed at self-directed learning. Its own description frames it around learning from "leading industry experts." Typical subject areas for a resource like this include design, web development, code, photography, video, and business skills — the kind of practical, project-oriented tutorials the name "Tuts+" implies.

If you are trying to decide whether it fits your goal, the useful question is not "is it free" but "does it cover the specific skill I need." Browse by category or search for your topic before committing time.

What Envato Elements is, and when the subscription makes sense

Envato Elements is a subscription service for creative assets — the kind of thing you would use when you need ready-made files rather than instruction. The page data supports the subscription framing ("From $16.50/m," "unlimited downloads") but does not list specific asset types, so treat the exact catalog as something to confirm on the Elements pricing page itself.

Choose the subscription only if your need is assets, not learning:

• You need templates, graphics, or similar ready-to-use files on an ongoing basis.
• You would otherwise buy individual assets repeatedly.
• You do not primarily need tutorials — those are already free on Tuts+.

If your goal is to learn a skill, the free Tuts+ content is the relevant part, and the Elements pricing links are not a paywall on the tutorials.

How to tell which product a link belongs to

A quick check before you click anything on the site:

1. Look at the destination domain. Links going to elements.envato.com are Elements (paid subscription); content pages on tutsplus.com are the free learning material.
2. Read the link text. "Pricing," "plans," "unlimited downloads," and per-month figures signal Elements.
3. Ignore the promotional banner if you only want tutorials — it is an ad placement, not a gate.

One caveat: the page data does not state whether Tuts+ requires an account to access tutorials, so do not assume either way — check on the specific course or tutorial page you want.

Bottom line

Envato Tuts+ presents itself as a free learning resource, and the pricing you see on its pages belongs to Envato Elements, a separate subscription for creative assets. If you want to learn, start with the free tutorials; if you need downloadable assets at volume, evaluate the Elements subscription on its own pricing page.