Udemy vs Pluralsight – Which is Better?

We live in a truly amazing technological era in which anything is possible. Our technological advancements have enabled us to easily overcome large physical barriers. This has enabled us to communicate and interact with people from all over the world. The concept of online learning is one of the advantages of living in such a technological age.

The days of physically enrolling in an academy or learning centre to learn a few basic skills are long gone. You can now do all of that from the comfort of your own home, at your own pace and on your own schedule. This has allowed many people to begin their careers by learning and perfecting key skills without the need for in-person education.

Sites such as Udemy and Pluralsight provide their services by allowing people to learn at their own pace without the need for teachers, large book catalogues, or expensive tuition fees. But, if you had to choose between the two, which would you choose? I came to the same conclusion, and this is where my investigation began. You can read on to find out how I chose between Udemy and Pluralsight and which one I thought was superior.

At a Glance

While they appear to be similar, Udemy and Pluralsight are built on very different business models. They also include various features and cater to a variety of people. There are other learning sites available, but these two appeared to be the most popular in my experience. Here are the basic offerings of both platforms to help you decide between Pluralsight and Udemy.

Udemy

Udemy is one of the oldest and largest online learning platforms, with thousands of online courses. It covers a wide range of topics, from basic skills to creative arts and even professional topics. This is reflected in the site's massive number of courses, which exceeds 45,000.

All of this is possible because Udemy's business model is similar to a marketplace where individuals can sell their courses. The topics range from mainstream to very niche. But it's undeniably a case of quantity over quality. I did come across a number of courses that didn't appear to offer much or were simply of poor quality.

User ratings can be used to grade courses. Higher-ranking courses will appear more frequently in search results.

Udemy charges per course, but it also offers a variety of payment plans and subscriptions for individuals and businesses.

Pluralsight

Pluralsight is a newcomer to the world of online learning sites. As a result, it lacks the sheer volume of courses and topics that Udemy does. What it lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality.

Pluralsight currently offers over 5000 online courses on its website. What distinguishes it is that these courses have been carefully curated and are delivered by qualified individuals. There are also some bonus features such as multiple learning paths, skill measurement, and much more. These courses are all self-paced, which makes learning convenient no matter how much time you have available to learn.

While the catalogue is small, it contains far more courses than Udemy. Every course I came across was meticulously crafted, and there was no filler on the site in the form of mediocre courses. Pluralsight has its own dedicated team to ensure that the courses and course creators meet standards. The courses are cross-platform and can be accessed via desktop and mobile devices.

Pricing and subscription options for enterprises and individuals are similar to those available on Udemy. Pluralsight's courses, on the other hand, are not priced individually, and its monthly subscription price is significantly lower.

What Can I Learn Using Pluralsight?

Pluralsight's curriculum includes courses in Web Development, Python, Javascript, Jquery, Ruby on Rails, SQL, networking, Frontend, Backend, and Full Stack programming, object oriented programming, web application development, Machine learning, HTML, and CSS. You can use these skills to launch a new career as a certified ethical hacker, web developer, networking specialist, game developer, mobile developer, or any of a number of other well-paying IT professions. There are even hundreds of courses in specific disciplines such as game development in some areas.

Picking Between Pluralsight vs Udemy

Now that we've taken a quick look at each site, it's time to compare them in depth. This didn't appear to be easy at first because of how much we had to consider. However, as I began to use both sites, the picture became clearer.

I chose a few topics and looked for courses on both sites. The course offerings on Udemy and Pluralsight differed, as expected.

I then began comparing course selection and course quality. At the same time, I compared the two sites' features, pricing models, and overall service quality.

My comparison is provided below, with special emphasis on the key factors. This helped me narrow down my choices in the 'Pluralsight vs. Udemy' debate.

Number of Courses
With over 45,000 courses in its catalogue, Udemy won this one. With the service being so old and popular, it's no surprise that it was able to accomplish this feat. As previously stated, not all of these courses are of high quality. Many of them were of poor quality and served only to boost Udemy's numbers. If you're going to buy a course on Udemy, it's well worth waiting for a special offer because they frequently have deals where you can get an expensive course for 70% off or more.

Content Quality
Pluralsight came out on top with its excellent courses. Each course appeared to adhere to a high standard of quality throughout. Pluralsight's course production quality simply blew Udemy out of the water. Images and screengrabs were clear and understandable, and voices and audio files were high resolution. When you compare that to Udemy, you get a lot of courses that aren't up to par or don't have a high-quality presentation.

If you want to learn how to programme, there is one feature of Pluralsight premium that, in my opinion, is a million times better than Udemy, and that is their interactive courses. Instead of just watching videos and not knowing whether you've written or understood the code correctly, you can use Pluralsight's interactive code features to write code in your browser and get IMMEDIATE feedback and help if you're stuck. I've used interactive courses like this to learn programming, and it's made it so much easier to move forwards. You can check their interactive catalogue to see if they have interactive courses for your desired language or framework.

Course Material Curation
Continuing on from my previous point, I discovered that these sites curated their content in different ways. Pluralsight has its own team that works tirelessly to keep the course quality at an acceptable level. On the other hand, Udemy's course curation is based on user ratings, which aren't always reliable and can be manipulated. This is why Udemy's courses fall short of that standard.

That doesn't mean you can't find high-quality courses on Udemy; it just means you have to be vigilant, which can be difficult if you don't know the course material very well to begin with. If you're a complete beginner, I'd recommend Pluralsight so you don't waste your time and money on courses that are out of date or difficult to follow.

One vexing issue I've had with Udemy is that courses are sometimes out of date, and the code does not work with current libraries or frameworks, so you're stuck not being able to progress through a course despite having already spent hours on it. This can happen with Pluralsight as well, but you can contact the Pluralsight team and you'll be able to get a fix fairly quickly, whereas with Udemy you're dependent on the creator, who are often amateurs with other jobs, and the courses can be abandoned. Again, this isn't always the case, but with Pluralsight, you have a better chance of getting the help you need, when you need it.

Topic Diversification
Udemy has a much broader range of topics. It provides not only learning material for the technology and business fields, but also content for developing artistic skills or hobbies. In this regard, you can't really compare Udemy to Pluralsight; if you want a course that isn't available on Pluralsight, Udemy is your only option. However, if you want to learn something in the business or technology fields, Pluralsight offers courses that are extensive and cover the topics in much greater depth with a specific focus and useful tools that can make your learning journey a lot easier. If you're not sure whether Pluralsight offers courses on your specific topic of interest, you can look through their course catalogue.

Pricing is an important consideration whether you are an individual or a large corporation. Both Udemy and Pluralsight have different pricing plans that can be paid monthly or yearly.

The main distinction here is that Udemy allows you to buy courses individually, whereas Pluralsight is purely subscription-based. Obviously, there is a benefit to paying once and having access to a course, but there are additional benefits to a subscription that you may not be aware of. Making high-quality courses takes time, money, and effort.

This is why, if you're not on a tight budget, I'd recommend Pluralsight. Even though it does not offer individual course purchases, it charges a reasonable fee, you know the quality of the courses is high, and you can be confident that what you receive will be updated frequently and work for as long as you are subscribed.

Service Excellence
At the end of my comparison, I compiled my overall experience with the two sites, including their content, customer service, and quality. This enabled me to rate the service as a whole based on my experience with it. It came as no surprise to me that Udemy was clearly lacking. While the site used to be one of the best for online learning, it has recently fallen short of expectations.

Nowadays, the site simply does not provide high-quality content. This is why many people have shifted to better alternatives such as Pluralsight. Pluralsight's learning process, particularly the content quality and wide range of topics in the tech industry, which are frequently taught by certified industry experts, is light years ahead of Udemy.

My Personal Pick for Pluralsight vs Udemy: Pluralsight

It's no secret that Pluralsight provides a lot more for a lot less. This made it simple for me to select Pluralsight as the winner. Don't get me wrong: Udemy is an excellent online learning platform.

However, the service has recently fallen short of its former standards. With the lack of extra features and the expensive pricing model, I simply can't recommend Udemy as a good online learning service any longer. Whatever your learning objectives are, there is only one option that I believe is the best – Pluralsight. The only time I would recommend Udemy is if you need to learn something that Pluralsight does not provide – which is unlikely – just browse their massive course library.

Pluralsight has fewer courses, but they are all of high quality, so I have few complaints. I don't have to waste time sifting through lengthy course descriptions in search of suitable courses. I can simply log on and select a random course, confident that everything will be up to standard. That's more than I could ever ask for as someone with limited funds and time.

If you haven't already, take advantage of Pluralsight's free trial to test and experience the platform for yourself.