Udemy vs. Udacity: Which is Better?

Udemy and Udacity are massive open online course (MOOC) providers founded in the US in 2010 and 2011, respectively. These online learning platforms offer free and premium professional, vocational, hobbies, and even basic “how to” subjects to their subscribers worldwide.

As of May 2022, Udemy registered 52 million students and 68,000 instructors teaching more than 70 languages. Meanwhile, Udacity’s website claims that it has more than 160,000 students from 190 countries as of this writing.

On both platforms, students enroll primarily to polish existing skills and acquire new ones. Some courses offer certifications that completers can use for various purposes like promotions, job applications, credentials, and credits for school requirements. However, there are also thousands of courses on recreational topics.

These subjects cater to home application, self-empowerment, social development, personal development, and cultural integration.

COMPONENT	UDEMY	UDACITY
User-friendly	– Easy registration – Sophisticated filter system to search courses faster – More organized	– Easy registration – No mobile app
Costs and Plans	– Free plan available – Generally cheaper	– Free plan available, better than Udemy
Topics Taught	– Wide catalog – Topics are arranged properly – Subjects include skills for hobbies	– Limited courses
Course Examples	-Varied	– Limited
Instructors/Community	-Skilled and experts in their fields – Enjoys more positive reviews	– Masters of their professions
Accreditation/Certificates	-Only a few courses offer certification for an additional cost – Many learning institutions do not recognize many certifications.	– Most courses offer certifications that are already part of the subscription charge; – Many certifications are credited by schools and companies.
Support	-Support articles, email	-Support articles, email, live chat with a human
Time Commitment	-Short as weeks	-Months

1. Udemy and Udacity: User-friendly

Professionals and students alike don’t like to use a complicated platform. Any website needs to offer a high-quality user experience to keep the currently enrolled students to finish the course and invite new users to sign up and subscribe.

Registration

Registering at Udemy is a breeze. You just need to enter your email address, password, and name, and you’re ready to go. For the final step, verify (and confirm) the email confirmation Udemy sends you.

Udacity’s registration procedure is similar: you must provide your name, last name, email address, password, and birthday. However, it allows you to register with your Facebook or Gmail account, simplifying the process.

Design

After registering with Udemy and exploring its site, you’ll realize that the UI is well-organized and simple. It’s helpful to build your own Categories to organize several courses on the same topic. For example, you can keep the cooking courses in a workspace and your photography classes in another folder.

Using the online course interface is very simple and enjoyable. The video player displays superior course quality. It allows you to change the video speed, activate subtitles, adjusts the quality, and even take notes at certain points while the video is playing.

The organization and presentation of courses on the right-hand menu are helpful. You may track your course progress by ticking and unticking each one.

You may use Udemy as an online learning platform from any current internet browser on your desktop or laptop, or you can utilize the free Apple or Android applications.

Udacity likewise offers a highly user-friendly system. Unfortunately, it does not have a design for creating lists of courses and categorizing them. Maybe, because it does not have as many courses, you are unlikely to use this feature.

Udacity offers a creative manner of structuring the classes. Firstly, you’ll find a brief introduction to the course, resources on the left-hand side menu, and a synopsis of the ideas.

The platform utilizes YouTube to play the videos. This is fine since it allows you to change the playing speed, control your subtitles, and choose the video quality.

Udacity currently has no mobile applications accessible since they are working on a new mobile experience.

Udemy vs. Udacity: User-friendly WINNER: UDEMY

2. Udacity vs. Udemy: Free Courses, Costs, and Plans

Both Udemy and Udacity offer free courses. However, it’s noticeable that there is a massive difference in the quality of the free online courses they offer.

Many subscribers feel that the free courses in Udemy are being used as an opportunity to upsell the premium versions. The same is not true with Udacity, where the free courses are well though-out and offer more value.

The average course on Udemy costs between $11.99 and $199.99. Udemy offers Personal, and Pro membership plans that provide students access to hundreds of courses (but not every Udemy course) for $20-$30 per month, depending on the selected program.

Udemy frequently sponsors large discount opportunities throughout the year, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Most courses come in at under $100. It’s a one-time fee, and they get lifetime access to the courses they purchase. As such, it is a more appealing option for those not yet ready to commit to any one skillset.

Udemy for Business is a fantastic tool for transforming whole teams. With Udemy for Business, you can get your entire team on the same page, fine-tune talents, acquire industry-required skills, and more.

Enterprise Plan – This is ideal for businesses with 21 or more employees. For price information, please contact Udemy.

Team Plan – The Team Plan is suitable for groups of 5 to 20 members. It costs $360 per user/year.

Leadership Development Plan– For further information, please contact Udemy sales.

Meanwhile, the cost of Udacity varies based on the course or program in which the student enrolls. For instance, their degree programs usually start at around $399/month for a 4-month course.

The data engineer Nanodegree program, for example, has two payment options. The monthly terms are $529 per month. But if the course is fully purchased, students save 15% and pay only $2245. If a student needs extra time beyond five months, the payment conditions are converted into a monthly fee.

Other discount opportunities, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, may be available throughout the year.

Udemy vs. Udacity: Costs and Plans WINNER: UDEMY

3. Udemy vs. Udacity: Topics Taught

Udemy provides thousands of courses and organizes them into 13 major divisions (and dozens of subsections). Udemy features one of the most sophisticated filtering algorithms to make searching easier.

It’s also relatively simple to read evaluations from course students, with the traditional star system ranking courses from 0 to 5. Each class contains a video introduction that explains the course format and the teacher.

Although Udacity’s catalog isn’t as big as Udemy’s, there are seven major categories for their 40 or so courses offered. Udacity’s filters aren’t that impressive, but since there are fewer courses, it’s understandable.

Reviews for Udacity programs are more difficult to find on the internet, as they are only available on the course homepage. Unfortunately, some of the courses are too recent to have reviews, making it more challenging to learn what previous students thought of the programs.

Each Udacity curriculum features a clip that includes an overview of the program and feedback from previous students. The course details and a full course description are also present. There is also a section for each program’s course professors.

Udacity now provides around 40 programs and approximately 200 free courses; nevertheless, this cannot be compared to the 150,000 (11,000 free) Udemy online courses. Keep in mind that the approaches of these two sites differ since Udacity develops its material while Udemy does not.

Udemy vs. Udacity: Course Examples

Udemy

Complete Python Bootcamp: From Zero to Hero in Python

Python is widely recognized as one of the most popular programming languages today. The 2022 Complete Python Bootcamp: From Zero to Hero in Python is a course for anyone who wishes to learn or is already familiar with Python. It covers the fundamentals and advanced material for anyone interested in learning more about Python.

The Web Developer Bootcamp 2022

The Web Developer Bootcamp is an introductory course that will teach you the various technologies required for web development. This course will cover the fundamentals of languages such as MongoDB, Node, JS, CSS, HTML, and others. It will also assist you in understanding a few complicated but necessary concepts for creating things like browser-based games and apps.

Artificial Intelligence A-Z: Learn How to Build an AI

The Artificial Intelligence A-Z course is ideal for those working with AI in a real-world context. This course will teach you how to mix data science and machine learning efficiently.

This course will teach you the fundamentals of artificial intelligence. It also enables you to comprehend AI self-improvement code while addressing subjects such as deep Q-Learning and other critical elements. This lesson will teach you how to create and optimize artificial intelligence projects.

Udacity

AWS Machine Learning Engineer

Udacity’s AWS Machine Learning Engineer course is available to IT professionals such as software engineers, data scientists, analysts, and others. Understandably, you’d need a good foundation in coding – Python in this case – as well as knowledge of basic machine learning ideas. Math skills are also advantageous.

The course begins with Python, where students learn about professional coding methods and documentation. The second module focuses on model deployment. It creates material using the Amazon SageMaker platform. The third session delves further into machine learning algorithms and how they operate.

Deep Learning

Udacity’s Deep Learning 5-part curriculum is centered on neural networks. To begin, the NumPy and PyTorch implementation platforms will be used to introduce you to the topic. The following three parts cover Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), and Generative Adversarial Networks (GEN) (GNN). The last session teaches you how to deploy and monitor a Sentiment Analysis Model.

This program’s appealing elements include challenging projects, innovative AI techniques, and mentor input. Furthermore, the exclusive roster of instructors includes industry specialists and academics, which is fantastic for learning diversity.

Become a Blockchain Developer

This Blockchain Developer course includes hands-on instruction in Blockchain architecture and Dapp development. At the conclusion, you will complete a capstone project in which you will create your own decentralized application. You must, however, have prior familiarity with Javascript site development. This is one of the best online Udacity courses if you are confident in your programming abilities.

Udemy or Udacity: Course Examples WINNER: UDACITY

5. Udacity or Udemy: Instructors and Community

Udemy

On Udemy, over 12,000 daily experts share their knowledge with millions of students worldwide.

Among Udemy’s top teachers are:

Rob Percival’s classes have reached almost 120,000 students, with total revenues exceeding $2.8 million.

Victor Bastos’ courses have reached over 52,000 Udemy students and made him approximately $900,000.

Alun Hill’s Udemy courses have been downloaded by roughly 47,000 students, earning him around $650,000.

Other successful instructors include

John Purcell (171,243+ reviews from all the 17 courses)

Jose Portilla (average rating is 4.6/5 after 727,626+ total ratings)

Phil Ebiner (4.5/5 from 119,580+ reviews)

Stephane Maarek (4.7/5 even after 132,000+ reviews)

Kirill Eremenko (4.5/5 from the total of 311,210+ reviews)

Udacity

The teachers of Udacity are from Fortune 500 and Global 2000 firms. They have exhibited leadership and experience in their fields.

Some of the most reviewed courses were from

Ed Wiley

Ed Wiley has over 20 years of experience establishing, managing, and advising world-class machine learning, AI, and data science teams at firms ranging in size from startup to Fortune 50, serving as CIO, CTO, and Chief Data Scientist.

Paul Oyelakin

Paul has worked in security compliance, penetration testing, and network security solution architecture for businesses and the government. He holds an MBA and a Master of Science in Cybersecurity. He is also a Certified Ethical Hacker and a Professional in Information System Security.

Leslie Bell

Leslie Bell is an IT Governance and Disaster Recovery Senior Solutions Architect. She has experience working with technology in various fields, including scientific research, chemical analysis, transportation, insurance, and cloud-based infrastructure.

Udemy vs. Udacity: Instructors and Community WINNER: It’s a Draw!

6. Udemy vs. Udacity: Accreditation and Certificates

While Udemy offers completion certificates for each course completed on the platform, they are not certified in the same way that a university or other educational institution is.

As a result, their certifications will likely be of little use to interviewers when you seek a job.

Courses on the Udemy website are ideal for online education and personal development. They are good enough as a pastime or a new talent to use in your firm as an entrepreneur. If you’re searching for qualifications to add to your resume or CV, Udemy is not the place to be.

Udacity is not an accredited institution and does not provide traditional degrees.

Their nanodegree programs, on the other hand, reflect one-of-a-kind collaborations with top industry partners.

These industry partners help develop their material and may even recruit numerous Udacity program alums.

While an Udacity nanodegree certification may not be as striking as a university degree on your CV, it is growing in reputation and worth, particularly in the tech industry.

Specific IT businesses may place a high value on Udacity nanodegree programs, even more so than a standard degree. This is because they know the course material is specially tailored to the occupations they’re looking for.

However, some firms may not place as much emphasis on the courses, so it might be hit or miss.

In general, if you’re searching for a job in the IT field, an Udacity nanodegree will appear far more impressive on your resume or CV than an Udemy course certificate.

        Udemy vs. Udacity: Accreditation and Certificates WINNER: UDACITY

7. Udemy vs. Udacity: Support

Udemy’s support system contains almost every imaginable help article for each issue you may have concerning its platform. Support articles are also typically quite clear on pricing, certificates, courses, and other topics. You can contact also reach their support team by email: support@udemy.com.

Udacity’s help system is comparable, well-organized, and simple to use. It also offered support articles to answer most of your questions.

Contacting Udacity’s support team is significantly easier. You only need to go to its help section and click on the help chatbot button. When you write your query, you can contact a human for assistance. It may take longer to obtain a response if you’re a free user.

                     Udemy vs. Udacity: Support WINNER: UDACITY

8. Udemy vs. Udacity: Time Commitment

Udemy courses can be as little as 30 minutes long. Most are 3 to 5 hours long, with more in-depth 20 to 30-hour studies on the longer end of their offerings.

There aren’t many Udemy courses that should take weeks or months to complete unless you work through them slowly.

Udacity requires a considerably more significant time investment.

Some novice or introductory courses may be completed in a month or less. However, most of their classes take 3 or 4 months to finish and need you to dedicate roughly 10 hours each week to the course material.

      Udemy vs. Udacity: Time Commitment WINNER: UDEMY

Udemy vs. Udacity: Alternatives

There are situations when Udacity and Udemy aren’t viable options (e.g., you want an official completion certificate). Because of this, here are the alternatives for these two e-learning systems:

Coursera

Coursera may be suitable for learners seeking a degree because it collaborates with secondary educational institutions such as Stanford, The Imperial College of London, and Duke University.

Most Coursera courses are free to participate in. However, you must pay for the course (or program) to get a certificate. Individual courses (from $29 to $100), Specializations (from $39 to $89 per month), Coursera yearly memberships ($399), and full degrees (beginning at $15,000) are the many forms of eLearning programs accessible.

Check our review on Coursera here

Related:
Coursera Vs Udemy: Comparative Review

MasterClass

MasterClass may be the appropriate solution for anybody searching for entertaining seminars by celebrities and VIPs on various topics. Would you like to learn basketball from Stephen Curry, songwriting from Alicia Keys, or Middle Eastern culinary from Yotam Ottolenghi?

You may join up for one of the MasterClasses subscriptions to access their portfolio of 150+ lessons divided into 11 categories. All subscriptions are invoiced yearly, with the Individual plan costing $180 per year (about $15 per month). If you decide that MasterClass isn’t for you during the first 30 days, you can seek a refund.

Check our review on MasterClass here

Skillshare

Skillshare is a cheaper alternative to Udacity and Udemy, which operates on a subscription basis. With its subscription model, this e-learning portal for creatives and businesses offers over 25,000 courses.

Although Skillshare does not provide completion certifications, some of its courses are designed by top industry leaders and large corporations such as MailChimp, Google, and Moz.

Check out our review for Skillshare here

edX

edX, like Coursera, provides courses offered by world-class colleges such as MIT, Berkeley, and Harvard. You will be able to receive formal degrees from edX because it is a recognized company.

There are numerous free courses on its platform. Still, you must pay for the class (between $50 and $300) to receive an edX completion certificate.

Check our review on edX here

Summary of Pros and Cons

Pros of Udemy

A wide range of courses

Udemy now offers thousands of classes in disciplines ranging from music to design and software development. If you’re trying to learn a particular talent, there’s probably already an Udemy course based on it.

Low price

Almost all Udemy courses cost less than $200. Even more expensive courses are sold for as little as $10. Approximately 10% of the courses available on the platform are also free. In addition, if you enroll in a class and then decide against it, Udemy offers a 30-day return guarantee.

Time involvement is minimal

Udemy courses typically only cover the essential knowledge and skills needed to learn about a specific topic. They take something complex and remove most of the fluff, reducing it to only a few hours of video lectures. You may go through courses at your own speed since you get lifelong access to every course you purchase.

Cons of Udemy

Academically, it is not widely accepted

Compared to official university degrees or certificates, putting an Udemy certificate on your resume or CV is not remarkable to most companies when interviewing for a job. Udemy courses are focused on conveying practical information rather than academic credit.

Course quality varies

Because anybody may publish a course on Udemy, the quality of course materials might differ significantly from video to video. Some studies may include only an instructor speaking through a camera, while others may have PowerPoint presentations, screen screenshots, and other ways of presenting. In general, contact between professors and students is minimal.

Less for your money

If a comparable course topic is accessible on both Udemy and Udacity, the Udemy one will almost always provide less value for money. This is especially true if you are paying the total price for a course on Udemy rather than taking advantage of promotional pricing. Udemy courses are often only a few hours long, but Udacity courses typically cover months of information.

Udacity Advantages

Excellent classes

Udacity has collaborated with prominent industry experts to provide precious courses. This is true even for their free classes. If you want to learn computer science as a hobby and don’t worry about certificates, their free courses have the degree of excellence you’d expect from a university course. Companies such as Google give some of their material directly.

Excellent course design

There is no extraneous information in the classes. The content is both active and of excellent quality. It’s the standard you’d expect from a university or equivalent institution’s online course.

Cutting-edge course content

When you take an Udacity course, you get the most up-to-date material accessible. Their courses cover areas like machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and self-driving cars, which will only grow in popularity in the future.

In contrast, in a more typical university course, you may acquire concepts that are already a few years old.

Technical mentoring

Most Udacity nanodegree programs link you with an individual mentor who will help you through your study. They can help you with any questions, keep you on track, and inspire you.

Cons of Udacity

Costly

Taking classes on Udacity may be more expensive than other online learning sites, at $399 each for a nanodegree course.

Limited courses

Udacity’s curriculum is mainly based on technology. While this is fantastic if that’s all you’re searching for, their selections are restricted if you seek other areas of expertise.

Credentials have not been established

Udacity’s nanoegree program is non-traditional and not certified in the same way that university degrees are. While a nanodegree is preferable to an Udemy certificate on your résumé, it is untested. It’s difficult to predict how companies perceive your Udacity qualifications on your resume or CV. They may not know enough about the programs to trust them and may be unwilling to conduct a study to find out.

It may be isolating

The discussion boards of Udacity require improvement. The feedback you receive on submitted projects is frequently ineffective. Their classes, especially the free ones, might feel isolating. Compared to other online course systems, Udacity also has limited language support.

Final Words

To emphasize the points, choose Udemy when your purpose is to further your knowledge or learn new skills. If you’re comfortable polishing your skills without actually receiving academic or professional credit for it, Udemy is a great option. It is less expensive and self-paced learning, making it ideal for those who want to learn only during their free time.

Meanwhile, choose Udacity if your goal is not just to study but to bolster your credentials. More institutions prefer Udacity in terms of academic enrichment and professional training. However, learning in Udacity comes with a price, as enrolling here costs more than on Udemy.

FAQ

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