People can learn at their own pace with sites like Udemy and Pluralsight without having to pay for teachers, large collections of books, or expensive tuition fees. What would you choose if you had to choose between the two?
My research began with the same question. You can find out below how I chose between Udemy vs Pluralsight and which one I thought was better.
You can access unlimited courses with Pluralsight’s annual subscription. Most courses are related to technology. Its course topics are more diverse, and you are able to pay only for the courses you need.
We will discuss what each platform offers, what it costs, how much time commitment is needed, who the instructors are, and more.
Content Outline
Udemy
One of the largest and most established online learning platforms is Udemy. Over 50,000 courses are available on topics such as business and painting. There is something for everyone.
Any individual can sign up and create a course on the site, which is for sale. Thus, there is so much choice, but some courses have a lower quality overall as well.
A Udemy course can be created by anyone, so they don’t necessarily count as credit or look impressive on a resume the way a university degree would.
It is possible, however, that you can use your new skills to get a job or a promotion.
Pluralsight
Compared with other sites, Pluralsight is a lot more selective about how and who can publish content on its site. Therefore, its video and educational courses are of excellent quality.
In comparison with other online learning platforms such as Udemy, Pluralsight is a much newer website. This is reflected in their course catalog, which only offers about 5,000 courses.
It costs about ten times as much as Udemy. Its courses are of a superior quality to Udemy’s.
There is a tendency for the platform to prioritize computer-related skills over all other topics.
Each Pluralsight course is carefully curated and created by qualified subject matter experts. You can take Pluralsight courses at your own pace and according to your schedule, just like Udemy courses.
Mobile and desktop applications are available on both platforms. Businesses and individuals can choose from different pricing options.
There are differences in compensation among Pluralsight’s course creators compared to other platforms. The course they sell determines how much Pluralsight instructors are paid. This is unlike Udemy instructors.
Usually, Pluralsight courses take longer than they should. For instance, a three-hour Pluralsight course might explain something that should have taken one hour.
Udemy Vs Pluralsight: Pricing
It is possible to purchase courses on Udemy for as little as $10 or as much as $200. In addition to the free courses, they also offer low-quality courses meant to encourage users to upgrade to a more premium product or service.
Udemy frequently offers sales on its most popular courses. Some of the bestselling courses on the front page are marked down from $200 to $10.
This 90% off sales aren’t uncommon for the platform, and they seem to be a major marketing strategy. Suddenly, $10 for a course seems like a huge deal when you convince people the course is worth $200!
Udemy courses are individual purchases, and there are no subscriptions or flat rates for larger amounts of content.
The subscription model is used by Pluralsight. In other words, you pay one price per month to access an unlimited number of classes and videos.
Pluralsight’s standard subscription costs $299 per year, while a premium subscription costs $449. With the premium plan, you get certification practice exams, interactive courses, and projects that the standard plan does not include.
For those who cannot (or don’t want to) pay for an entire year upfront, you can choose to pay $35 per month.
At the time of writing, Pluralsight has a limited-time offer that offers $100 off their standard and premium annual plans.
Pluralsight’s subscription pricing model is higher than that of some of its competitors like Skillshare.
It’s still not an exorbitant price to pay for top-notch educational content when it costs less than a dollar a day.
A course on Udemy costs as little as $10, which is a lot less than spending hundreds of dollars on an annual subscription.
If you intend to purchase only one or two courses online, this may be true. The full price of a course you want to buy on Pluralsight is around $200, and if it isn’t on sale, that is almost as much as a year’s worth of unlimited courses on Pluralsight!
If you’re constantly studying and taking courses, you should take that into consideration.
Udemy Vs Pluralsight: Subjects/Topics Taught
As previously mentioned, Pluralsight has a smaller selection of courses. On Udemy, there are 50,000 courses, while 5,000 are on Coursera. Udemy has a fraction of the users that Pluralsight does.
A majority of Pluralsight’s content is geared toward professionals in software development, information & cybersecurity, IT operations, and data science.
Pluralsight offers a range of courses, but most tend to revolve around these topics.
Because Pluralsight instructors are paid based on how many minutes of their videos are viewed, they are more inclined to focus on topics that are popular with the community.
Instructors take on more risk when creating content for a more niche subject. In other words, they tend to stick to what works, unless a new trend or technology emerges.
There are courses on Udemy for every topic covered by Pluralsight, and even more.
Udemy’s main course sections are business, design, IT & software, personal development, marketing, and photography.
Almost anything is available as a course. It covers everything from astrology to aquaponic gardening, even how to play the harmonica. Just Google it and a course will probably pop up.
Udemy Vs Pluralsight: Course Examples
The following are some examples of courses offered by Udemy:
- Learn The Essentials Of Fashion Buying
- Start Learning Ethical Hacking From Scratch
- How to get 10,000 followers on Instagram in 2019: A step-by-step guide
- Time Management and Productivity for the Overwhelmed
- Night Photography: How to Take Stunning Night Photos
- Learn to Code Making Games with C# Unity Developer 3D
- Interior Design Styles: How to Work Like a Pro
- Saving, Protecting and Making More in Personal Finance
You can take individual courses on Pluralsight such as these:
- System Administrators’ Guide to Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- PowerShell: An Introduction
- Tables for pivoting in Excel 2016
- Excel 2013: The Fundamentals
- Unreal Engine 4: An Introduction
- Detecting and responding to incidents: The big picture
- Design for injection molding with Fusion 360
- 3ds Max and V-Ray Interior Rendering Strategies
There are usually between one and eight hours in each of these courses.
Paths and assessments are available in addition to individual courses.
An instructional path consists of a group of pre-made courses that might add up to 50 hours of content in total.
You can choose to take 18 C# courses and spend 52 hours on the course, or you can take a Business Analysis – PMI-PBA course comprising 5 courses and lasting 14 hours.
They are “all in one” packages that are designed to provide you with a comprehensive overview of a particular subject.
The Pluralsight skill IQ assessment is also available. You may find them helpful if you are unsure of where you stand in terms of your current knowledge.
Udemy Vs Pluralsight: Who Are The Instructors?
Udemy accepts instructors of all skill levels. You might learn from someone with industry experience.
It’s more likely you will learn from someone who is just a little bit more advanced than you in a particular skill or craft.
Their instructors are referred to as authors on Pluralsight. Most of them have much more education and work experience than someone who creates courses on Udemy.
There are various interactive learning paths that can be followed by students on Pluralsight.
Udemy Vs Pluralsight: Impact Of Your Accreditations And Certificates On Your CV?
All courses on Udemy can be completed with a certificate. Due to the fact that Udemy instructors are just regular people, there is no accreditation behind the courses that make them seem credible when you apply for jobs.
You can learn a lot from Udemy, but it isn’t always the best way to showcase your skills to potential employers.
CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) and PMI (Project Management Institute) accept CEUs (continuing education) earned through Pluralsight courses automatically.
It’s also possible to submit credentials obtained through Pluralsight for ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) in a PDF, but you’ll have to contact Pluralsight directly for this information.
A certificate of completion will be awarded for 100% completion of a Pluralsight course.
However, they will likely be treated more seriously than a certificate from Udemy even though they are still not as good as having a university degree on your resume.
Udemy Vs Pluralsight: Time Commitment
You can expect Pluralsight courses to take longer than courses on Udemy.
On Udemy, courses are only 30 minutes long. Udemy courses are usually a few hours long, but there are a few that are less than one hour long.
Particularly those priced under $10. You can probably complete most Udemy courses in one afternoon.
There are typically multiple hours of content in a Pluralsight course. Taking Pluralsight courses might require you to watch up to 60 hours of video content.
That doesn’t even include assignments or projects. To complete one Pluralsight course could take several weeks. If you don’t have the time to devote to it full-time.
Pluralsight is closer in terms of time commitment and works required than Udemy, even though they are comparable to a traditional online course offered by a University which lasts several months.
Udemy vs. Pluralsight: Pros & Cons
Here are some pros and cons for both platforms.
Udemy Pros
1. A wide range of courses are available
Despite the low price points, you have probably a choice of multiple courses on any given topic. You have a lot of other options if one of the courses doesn’t interest you.
2. Free online courses
Several of Udemy’s courses are available for free. Generally, these courses are geared towards beginners and do not include a lot of practical information. You might want to just take a free course if you are completely new to a topic to see if you are interested.
3. Difficulties of the course vary
You don’t need to be a beginner to take Udemy’s courses. The site also offers courses for intermediates and advanced students. Even if you are an experienced photographer or programmer, there are still courses you can take to learn something new.
Udemy Cons
1. The quality of the courses varies
There is no tight quality control system in place to filter out bad content on Udemy, and anyone can become an instructor.
A Udemy staff member would have to review each course that is being released each day due to the amount of content that instructors produce. As a result, it is imperative that you check reviews and ratings before committing to a particular course.
2. It can be more expensive in the end
It seems like a small amount for a $10 course. However, some Udemy courses can be purchased for $50, $100, or even $200. You’ll have to start adding up the cost of several smaller courses even if you only buy them when they’re on sale.
You may want to consider a platform with a subscription model like Pluralsight if you spend more than $20 per month on course content.
Pluralsight Pros
1. Continually high quality
Course content is uploaded to Udemy, where instructors make it available to everyone. However, Pluralsight actually employs a full-time team of editors to ensure that the videos and content are up to Pluralsight’s high standards.
2. Advanced content
Because Pluralsight is focused on quality, their authors (instructors) are able to dedicate more time when creating their materials and are able to go into greater detail.
Udemy, as an example, takes a less comprehensive approach. Pluralsight is, therefore, more useful if you are an advanced learner of a particular topic.
3. Your path is plotted out
A lot of the work has already been done by Pluralsight to put together a good overall education by putting together a variety of related individual courses.
Even if you could create your own path on a platform like Udemy, you might end up with course overlap and duplicate content.
4. There is new material every day
Pluralsight is still a relatively new platform. New content is constantly being added to it. New information is always being added to it.
Pluralsight Cons
1. There are some outdated courses
According to Pluralsight’s course listing, some of the courses date back to 2010 and possibly even earlier. A certain amount of course material is evergreen and does not need to be updated every year.
My preference is to see brand new and up-to-date courses regarding software and other types of technology-related topics
2. Subscriptions are expensive
For $349 per year, you can get a Premium membership from Pluralsight, but you have to pay it upfront, so you might not be able to take advantage of the full value. The platform may not be useful unless you always have a course in progress.
How do Pluralsight and Udemy compare? Which should you sign up for?
The courses delivered by Udemy and Pluralsight are incredibly similar, and both platforms are fine. Before enrolling in a course with either of them, I recommend taking some time to consider the reasons you wish to enroll.
For Casual Interest:
Looking through relevant courses on Udemy, and reading their reviews, would be a good place to start if you’re curious or an introduction to a subject you’re not familiar with.
Those free or cheap introductory courses are less committed, so if you decide you don’t want to continue, you have less to lose.
For Professionals:
Pluralsight is by far the better choice for professional development, and it’s you who they want to use the site anyway. There’s a lot more clarity here, and judging by the course titles, you should at least know some fundamentals before starting.
[/alert-success]Udemy Customer Testimonials
Pluralsight Customer Testimonials
I find Pluralsight to be the best IT training I have ever experienced on-line. I have been in the IT field for over 30 years and nothing has come close to this in terms of quality and breadth of courses. My IT department of 42 people now has the benefit of exceptional on-demand training without having to spend multi-thousands of dollars on travel and in-person courses every year.
So far so good; I have been using Pluralsight for the upcoming Net + exam and I can’t recommend it enough. Ross is doing an amazing job and is for free through April. I have started to watch some interviews on this platform as well.
Pluralsight is the ultimate learning site I go to.
I just left anything else. Pluralsight is my only choice right now and will be for the foreseeable future. The content is excellent.
Pluralsight has helped me to keep my skills up to date to remain competitive. As someone who has been as a developer for over 21 years, it is increasingly harder to keep up with new technologies that are growing/changing at a very fast pace. Dedicating my working hours to acquire new skills is no longer an option for me. Pluralsight has come to the rescue by providing me with a learning platform that allows me to study at my own pace and convenience and at a very reasonable price.
Pluralsight has an amazing program for learning all that you need in many areas, like engineering, motion graphics, VFX, computer programming. Character design, and many other areas
There is no better place to learn about technology. Every course i watched since my first subscription (back in 2014) is well made, has agenda, introductions, theory and practice. Take your annual sub right now!
Quick Links:
- Udemy Coupon Codes & Promo Codes
- Best Udemy Courses for Internet Marketers & Entrepreneurs
- 6+ Best Online Learning Platforms: An Ultimate Guide
Conclusion: Udemy Vs Pluralsight 2024
These two online course platforms are among the best in the business and for good reason. Though they serve slightly different purposes, they are both good at what they do.
Udemy might be a good place for you to pick up a one-off skill if you are just trying to pick up a new skill.
Pluralsight is also worth your consideration if you’re interested in learning a more in-depth skill, particularly a technology-related one.
Because you will be mostly self-directed, it’s important to know what your learning objectives are before starting.
