Udemy vs Udacity: Which E-Learning is Best?
Buckle up. Because today, it’s a showdown between two of the best online learning providers for technical skills. Udemy vs Udacity!
In one corner, we have Udacity, a company that produces job-ready digital talent from its Nanodegrees.
…And in the other corner, it’s Udemy. Udemy has a course on everything. But best of all, its courses are practical and at a reasonable price.
In this article, we explore the pros and cons of Udemy vs Udacity. Which one is best for your needs? Let’s get ready to rumble.
In a rush?
No problem. At the end of the day, you should pick Udemy if you’re looking for affordability, course selection, and language support. But if you’re looking for mentorship, career support, high-quality courses, and real-world projects, then Udacity is the better pick for you.
1. Course Selection
Udemy is like the Amazon for online courses because you can find a course on almost anything! With 200,000 courses available, Udemy would be the world’s largest university. Topics range from coding to Excel and yoga. But with so many courses, how can Udemy ensure quality?
Although Udacity has only 200 courses or so and 75 nanodegrees, they’re all high caliber with regular updates. But what if you’re looking for free courses? Udacity has lots of free courses to choose from. Its roots date back to 2011 providing nothing but MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). But since then, Nanodegrees are its bread and butter.
2. Ease of Use (Interface)
The Udemy interface is easy to work in. Depending on the course you select, it’s kind of a mixed bag of reading material and videos. If you want to learn to code, pick a course with coding exercises. This will help master your skills and put them into practice. But the built-in IDE just isn’t there and you’re left a bit in the dark.
One of the strong points of Udacity is that it’s easy to digest. Typically, you get text, mini videos, and quizzes as checkpoints in each lesson. But the biggest benefit is the mini projects with personalized feedback. Udacity gives you a set of instructions and you go through it on your own. Within the live coding environment, you can install what you need to complete the project.
3. Cost
Udacity gets high grades for its Nanodegrees, but it has received criticism for its high price. Prices typically range anywhere up to $1000+ for a Nanodegree. But there is also an option to pay monthly and try to finish your Nanodegrees in a quicker amount of time.
A single course in Udemy will cost you usually between $20 to $30. If you’re looking for some help in IT certification, Udemy is a great option to get some targeted practice beforehand. These are well worth the price you pay to help you ace the exam.
PRO TIP – Udemy ALWAYS has 50% off deals going on with 5 hours left to buy it. Don’t get fooled by buying it quickly thinking it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
4. Scholarships
This is where Udacity really knocks it out of the park. Currently, Udacity has two scholarships offered by two leading companies in AI and machine learning (1) AWS and (2) Bosch. If you don’t have the money, Udacity scholarships can help you upgrade your skills and even earn a complimentary Nanodegree.
Although Udemy doesn’t provide any scholarships, it offers a handful of free courses in a variety of subjects. Whether you want to learn a new language, brush up on your coding skills, or pick up a few new hobbies, Udemy has something free for almost everyone.
5. Popularity
Udemy has a whopping 52 million students, 68,000 instructors, and 712 million course enrollments. These are some convincing statistics that Udemy is the place to go for online courses. You can purchase a course for a one-time fee or choose to enroll in a subscription plan that suits your needs. Udemy also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose by trying it out.
The Nanodegree program has catered to more than 75,000 graduates and has been embraced by over 200 corporate partners. This makes it a popular choice for recruitment and technical training in the digital skills space. Udacity is mostly aimed at working professionals who want to enhance their skill sets, advance their careers, and explore new fields by completing a hands-on curriculum and real-world projects.
6. Career Support
Udacity’s career services offer personalized career coaching and mentorship, as well as access to exclusive job opportunities. The career coaches are experienced in helping Udacity students find the perfect job for them. They provide guidance to help students create effective resumes, and LinkedIn profiles to prepare them to land a job.
While Udacity gets full points because it cares about students after completing a Nanodegree, Udemy can be just as instrumental in obtaining the right skills. This means students can prepare for specific IT certification exams or learn a niche skill, which can lead to a better career. As you’d expect, Udemy also has courses on resume writing and building LinkedIn profiles.
7. Course Quality
Udemy is a bit hit-and-miss for course quality. If you think about it… how can Udemy maintain quality and consistency with 68,000+ instructors? It can’t. Like all things in life, you pay for what you get. Make sure to read the reviews before buying a Udemy course to make sure it’s suitable for your needs.
The courses on Udacity are created by industry experts, who are actively involved in the development of technologies. As a result, the content of these courses is engaging and can give you a competitive edge. If you’re looking for online courses that challenge you and help you advance your career, Udacity is the better option. But it’s just really expensive.
8. Features and Extras
The biggest benefits of Udemy are its affordability, range of courses, and diverse set of languages for courses. No matter what kind of knowledge you are looking for (soft or technical skills), Udemy has a niche course for it. Overall, Udemy’s target audience is much wider including students, professionals, parents, and hobbyists from beginners to experts.
What makes Udacity stand out from the rest is its mentor-led approach. In particular, Udacity has a clear focus on student success with its career services support. It’s catered to those who want a complete skill set so each course is structured in a way that makes it easy to learn. When you submit a project, your mentor provides personalized feedback. You get the feedback like you’re in a university class when you need help getting out of a rut.
9. Value
Which carries more weight? Ultimately, the decision of which program is more valuable will depend on your needs and goals. If you’re looking for a comprehensive and structured learning experience, then a Nanodegree may be more beneficial. If you’re more interested in learning a variety of skills and are on a budget, then Udemy courses may be more suitable.
Are employers really asking for Nanodegrees? Certainly not. But Udacity can help you master a specific skill set with guided mentors. This is what you’re paying for. While Udemy doesn’t do any of that, its courses can fit different objectives and almost any budget.
10. Community
Udacity gives you the opportunity to broaden your professional network by interacting with current students and alumni. You can also benefit from using LinkedIn to reach out to people who are in the same field. Udacity gives a “kill two birds with one stone” with its two-pronged approach.
If you take a course with Udemy, its Q&A dashboard is a great way to get feedback. The best way to get the most out of this tool is to keep your eyes open for previous Q&A discussions, which can help with any unanswered questions. Students always appreciate the transparency in Q&A discussions, and it can help them start the course on a positive note.
At a Glance: Prod and Cons of Udemy vs Udacity
Here’s a summary of the benefits of both Udacity vs Udemy:
Udemy
Udacity
Don’t forget to check out our Udacity review for more information on this e-learning platform.
Which e-learning platform is right for you?
As you can see, Udemy and Udacity are different platforms that offer different types of courses and philosophies.
If you are looking for course variety, Udemy is the right choice. Whereas Udacity offers a limited number of computer science and business-related courses only.
For the price, Udemy is much more cost-effective. While a Udacity Nanodegree is more expensive, you can get mentorship, career services, and real-world projects.
Whether you want to pursue a new career path or add a new certification up your sleeve, both Udacity vs Udemy has their own value.
Now, we’d love to hear from you. Which e-learning platform do you like the most? Please let us know with a comment below.
Udacity’s grading rubric is a pain to creatives. They teach you “how to’s” but then expect you to create your own version using the exact same methods taught. You can’t be creative; instead, if you don’t exactly measure up to their rubrics grading, they will not pass you to move on to the next section.
There were times I went above and beyond the needed assignment/task, but they wouldn’t pass me because I didn’t complete the mandatory requirements. For example, one time I went through the whole seven steps, even doing more to build out an entire app (for a UX design course), but they wouldn’t allow me to advance to the next level because I only listed three sticky notes in my research instead of four sticky notes that the rubric required. This happened multiple times and it was frustrating because although I was learning, it was a pain trying to meet Udacity’s rubrics.
Plus, questions on quizzes always seemed hard to understand. Overall, Udacity was not fun, and their UX sucked (even though they taught a class on “User Experience”). I will never do another Udacity course again.