How Often Does Udemy Have Sales?
Udemy courses are some of the cheapest right now, and a big reason for that is their sales. If you visit the site at the right time, you can learn a new skill for almost nothing. It makes sense if you would like to take full advantage of such opportunities when they come. So, the big question is, how often does Udemy have sales?
Udemy has at least one sale every day, and this tradition is consistent throughout the year. The sales are on individual courses and last for a limited period. You have to check specific courses to see if they are on sale. Buying that Udemy course before the sale ends will give you the discount.
I’ve been using Udemy for over three years now, and I’ve learned everything there is to know about how their sales work. In this post, you can find out if Udemy sales are real, when the next sale will happen, and how to pay almost nothing for the online course of your choice.
Let’s dive in!
When Do Udemy Courses Go On Sale?
The Udemy e-learning platform has courses on sale at all times. Whichever time of day, month, or year you log in, you can be certain that there’s a sale somewhere on the site.
If you’ve had your eyes on a course, but find it too expensive, there’s a big chance that you can get it at a discount some time in the year. However, it is unrealistic to check Udemy every single day. The best you can do is check specific periods of the year when Udemy offers sales, especially site-wide discounts. You could get as much as 95% off if you’re lucky.
Below is a list of the periods when Udemy courses are most likely to go on sale:
January:
- New year’s site-wide sales – This sale starts on the first day of January and lasts several days or weeks.
- Month end 3-day flash sale – You’ll find this on the 29th, 30th, and 31st of January.
February:
- Valentine’s Day sale – It lasts for 3 to 4 days and almost always ends on the 14th of February.
March:
- ‘Buy More, Save More’ deal – This offers more discounts when you buy 2 courses or 3+ courses.
April:
- ‘Own Your Education’ sale – Popular recurring sale
- Easter sale – This is a big site-wide sale that typically occurs around April 9th to April 22nd.
May:
- Mother’s Day sale – This sale starts 3 to 4 days before Mother’s Day each year.
June:
- Summer sale – It usually starts and ends in the first week of June.
- Syllabus sale – This sale takes place right after the Summer sale.
August:
- Back to School sale – site-wide discounts that last several days
October:
- Halloween sale – On the last day of October, you can get both site-wide discounts and discounts on specific course categories.
November:
- Black Friday sale – this starts on the Friday after Thanksgiving in the US.
- Cyber Monday sale – It starts on the Monday after Thanksgiving in the US.
December:
- Christmas sale – Check for this from the 23rd to 26th of December.
By simply checking out Udemy prices on the above dates, you can successfully pay nothing more than $15 for all of the Udemy courses you enjoy throughout the year.
Are Udemy Sales Real?
There have been a lot of conspiracy theories about Udemy sales. Some say that the sales are fake and you get charged the full price anyway upon checkout. Others claim that the sale prices are the actual prices of the online courses, and the regular costs are inflated. So, what should you believe?
I can confidently say that Udemy sales are 100% real. If you buy a course at a discount, you get charged the appropriate amount (less the discount). There are no hidden charges or fees. Even if the discounted price shows $10 for a $500 course, you should never doubt it.
I came to the conclusion that Udemy sales are real based on two major reasons:
1. I have benefited from Udemy sales
In the last three years, I have bought over 80 courses on Udemy. About 40 of these were on sale at the time of purchase. Not once did I not get the advertised discount. Many of these courses had top tier production value, and none were exactly useless. The quality of the courses did not decrease because they were on sale.
But don’t just take my word for it. You can also find out what other users think.
2. Others have benefited from Udemy sales
I ran a quick search through Quora.com and found dozens of stories about people who have enjoyed Udemy sales. Most of them seem like genuine stories, and I don’t doubt them too much. You can see for yourself one of the stories in the screenshot below:
If you’re still thinking, “But this doesn’t make sense; why would Udemy sell courses worth hundreds of dollars for literally peanuts if the courses aren’t worthless?” I did some research and found the reason for this, which is pretty interesting. It brings me to my third reason.
3. Udemy’s Interesting Business Model
I read a detailed article created by ProductMint about Udemy’s business strategy. In it, it was revealed that Udemy makes money through two major sources:
Instructor Fees:
Udemy gets a cut from every course sale. This cut is only 3% of the sale came from the instructor’s promotional efforts (coupons and referral links). It shoots up to 75% if the sale came from Udemy’s ads and marketing programs (including large sales).
Udemy for Business Subscriptions
Companies and enterprises pay Udemy an annual subscription fee so their employees can access all of the courses on the platform. This means that, for Udemy for Business to be appealing, instructors need to continue producing quality courses on the platform.
You can see that the more Udemy provides sales, the more people buy courses. Having more buyers attracts quality instructors to the platform. Hence, enterprises will see reasons to subscribe to the business plans. Also, Udemy only has to pay 25% of the actual course prices to instructors for the majority of these discount campaigns.
Types of Udemy Sales
There are four main types of sales on Udemy. I’ll briefly explain each one:
1. Site-Wide Sale
This type of Udemy sale offers discounts on all courses on the website. It could be a percentage off or a flat discount on all Udemy courses.
2. Course Sale
A course sale offers a discount on a specific program. The online course will be chosen at random, but most times, it tends to be one of the best-sellers. This is where I’ve gotten the most value from Udemy sales because the courses could go for as little as $15.
3. Category Sale
There are 13 categories on Udemy. Each one contains hundreds of courses, and all of them could go on sale at once if there’s an ongoing category sale. The sale could also be linked to a specific sub-category, as there are many of these on the site.
4. Country-Specific Sale
Sometimes, Udemy runs a sale that only applies to users in a specific country. The sale will mostly be site-wide and can run during a domestic holiday. A good example is the November Udemy Diwali sale that happens in India.
Should You Wait for Udemy Sales?
It is not necessary to wait for Udemy sales. There are many instances where the best course of action is to buy a course right away. There are also cases where it would be better to hold out until there’s a sale on the course you want.
Below, I’ve highlighted good reasons for waiting for Udemy sales.
- If you’re unsure about taking the course, there’s a high chance you’ll change your mind.
- If you can’t afford the course.
- If you don’t need the course urgently.
Tips for Saving Big with Udemy Sales
Create a New Account
Being a first-time buyer will give you automatic access to Udemy’s new user discount. This is a site-wide offer that allows you to save massively on the first course you buy.
So, how do you get such an offer more than once? The simplest way to do this is to create a new account, preferably on a new device. However, this method doesn’t work all the time. Thankfully, there are other things you can try to get a second or even third (wink) discount.
Use Your Browser’s Incognito Mode
Setting your browser to Incognito Mode could allow you to get multiple discounts with the same sale, offer, or promo. In some browsers, this mode is called Private Browsing.
Be sure to set this mode before entering the Udemy site. Going Incognito is pretty simple. Most browsers, such as Google Chrome, simply require you to open your browser menu and click “New Incognito WIndow.” You can also access it with a dedicated short code.
Find your browser in this Incognito Mode guide, and give our method a quick try. You should have your Udemy sale once again. If not, there’s still something else you should do.
Use a VPN
You can also combine private browsing with an active VPN connection. This changes your location and IP address, so Udemy sees your device as a new one.
Most VPNs are free, but the best ones cost money. For our current purpose, makes sense to use a free VPN since you only need to use it a couple of times. So, here’s a post I found that talks about the best VPNs with free trials.
Try Clearing Your Browser’s Cookies and Cache
Another method that has worked for me is to clear browser cookies and caches before refreshing the Udemy page. Doing this makes your traffic appear brand new because cookies are how websites keep track of our activities online.
Clearing cookies and cache is simple, although it takes a few more steps than browsing Incognito. As always, I have a simple guide to help you with the process.
Why Are Some Udemy Courses NOT On Sale?
Sometimes, Udemy might run a site-wide sale, but when you check the course that has been on your wishlist for months, you don’t see a discount. That’s the stuff of nightmares, I know. But unfortunately, these things happen. The question is, “Why?”
It’s possible for some courses to be excluded from the Udemy sale because the instructors or course creators want it that way. On the backend, IUdemy allows instructors to select an option that excludes a course from the company’s sales and promo deals.
This means that even when there’s a big sale, the course price remains the same. It’s not common for instructors to choose this option, but it does happen, and you should keep that in mind while you wait for a course to go on sale.
Also, before you conclude that a course should be on sale but isn’t, I recommend that you pay close attention to the details of the deal. It could be a category sale and not a site-wide sale. If such is the case, the course you want could be in an ineligible category. Hence, it wouldn’t go on sale.
How Much Do Udemy Courses Cost When Not on Sale?
When Udemy courses are not on sale, their prices could range from $19.99 to $199.99. Udemy has no influence over the actual pricing of courses; instead, the instructors set these prices. Once you buy an individual course, you have lifetime access to it and can learn at your own pace.
You can also spend $28.99 per month or $199.99 per year to get access to 8,000+ of the courses on the platform. This option is called the Personal Plan. This is ideal if you have enough time to go through several expensive courses in a relatively short time.
There are over 213,000 courses in the Udemy library. While most are paid courses, some of them are free, and you can start learning at no cost. We’ll talk more about how to get these free courses later in this article.
Why Does Udemy Show Different Prices?
Udemy pricing can be confusing. You may notice that if you don’t act on a sale, the price shoots back up to its original value. This could be 10X the sale price. This is because the true value of an Udemy sale lies in its ability to create a sense of urgency.
Paying for an Udemy course is the first step toward becoming a regular customer. The company knows this and wants to make that first payment as easy as possible for you. If you notice a drastic change in the price of a course you’re interested in, try any of the four tips for saving big on Udemy sales I mentioned earlier in this post.
Current Udemy Courses On Sale
Udemy sales are mostly random, and it’s difficult to pin them down long enough. So, if a sale is running in the month of August, 2023, there’s no guarantee that it will continue to do so by September, 2023.
To give you the most accurate info about current Udemy sales, I’ll only talk about deals that have the highest chance of running throughout 2023. Check them out below:
New Customer Sale – Pay as little as $14.99 for your first course
You can enjoy this deal if you’re new to Udemy or just created a new account. Act fast and select a course from the library. The system will automatically apply this discount on the checkout page.
Data Science Sale – 60% off via coupon code UDEAFFDS0823
Udemy is currently offering 60% off on courses that teach data science if you use the coupon code: UDEAFFDS0823 (may be invalid at the time of reading). Go to the search bar on Udemy and type in “data science.” Hit the search button and select from a wide variety of courses on the subject.
Free Java Tutorial For Complete Beginners
There’s an ongoing Udemy sale on a Java programming language tutorial created by John Purcell. He’s a software developer with over 14 years of experience working for various tech companies. This sale allows you to enroll in the 16-hour course for free.
Personal Plan Free Trial – 7 days
You can try the Udemy Personal Plan (monthly or annual billing) for free. Please note that you will need to input your card details before you can get this offer. Feel free to cancel the subscription before the trial period ends. If you fail to do so, you will be charged the agreed amount.
If you’re looking for a much larger sale – something that allows you to get discounts on multiple courses, you can get that too. All you need to do is wait for the next big sale on Udemy. When is that? Find out in the next section.
When Is the Next Udemy Sale?
Although Udemy never reveals its annual schedule for sales, the next big sale is closer than you think. They are constantly updating their sites to provide regular sales and deals. You may have missed some of them because they’re not site-wide.
Thankfully, you can predict the next site-wide Udemy sale. Simply check your calendar for the next big holiday of the year. We still have the following sales to look forward to:
- Halloween Sale in October
- Black Friday sale in November
- Cyber Monday sale in November
- Christmas sale in December
But if these sales have no specific planned date, how do you know when they begin so as not to miss out? I’ve got possible solutions to that problem.
How To Know When Udemy Has a New Sale
It feels awful to hold out on buying a particular course because you want to get it on sale, only to narrowly miss the discount window. I should know because it happened to me last year.
To avoid making the same mistakes as I did, you should check out my best list of ways to know when a new Udemy sale is up and running:
Subscribe to Udemy Newsletter
Udemy will occasionally send out emails to subscribers, informing them of new sales, promo offers, and deals. You can take advantage of this feature by subscribing to their newsletter program. The only downside is that you may also get emails that have nothing to do with discount offers.
Check at Strategic Times
I wouldn’t ask you to check Udemy and stalk the same course every day. The most effective approach is to use the list of dates I provided. You can check a few days before big holidays, during these holidays, and after them. Look out for the homepage banner. That’s the most obvious sign of an ongoing sale on the site.
Follow Udemy on Social Media
This is one of the easiest ways to learn about new Udemy sales. Follow their official accounts on:
They occasionally make posts about new sales and offers.
Ask Your Friends to Remind You
If you have friends, colleagues, or family who use Udemy, ask them to let you know when they notice a sale on the platform. The more people you ask, the greater your chances of getting useful feedback. You can also consider joining a community of other learners. Someone might post links to new online courses on sale.
Ask Customer Support
This is my least favorite method of finding out about new Udemy sales. There is no live chat feature on the site, so you need to submit a support ticket. If done incorrectly, you could waste your time and that of the support staff. Only use this method to inquire about sales when you’re unsure about the validity of a promotional offer.
How to Get Free Courses On Udemy
Coupon codes and sales are nice, but what can you do to get 100% free courses on Udemy? The process is pretty simple.
- Log in to your Udemy account.
- Select any category of your choice (e.g Personal Development).
- Scroll down until you see a dropdown menu tagged “”Price.” Click on it.
- Check the box labeled “Free.”
- Browse through the list of free courses in your chosen category.
There are thousands of free courses on the platform. Enjoy!
Check out this other post: Udemy vs. Udacity
Final Thoughts
Who says getting a quality education has to be expensive? Knowing how often Udemy has sales will help you save big in 2023 and beyond. The tips in my guide are more than enough to get you on the right track. I’ll be updating this post regularly to ensure you get the latest information. So, check back every month to see these updates.
Feel free to leave a comment if you have any unanswered questions. You can also comment if you would like to share an Udemy cost saving tip that works for you.
