Choosing between Udemy VS Codecademy when learning coding & programming can be difficult, but in this review I outline why you should choose both of these services if you can, or at least try them both out, in order to directly experience which service is better at teaching you.
Udemy offers a wide selection of courses on a variety of topics, which includes topics such as programming, marketing, design and other business-specific and other general skills. If you’re not trying to learn coding or programming, then you shouldn’t be considering Codecademy, because they are dedicated exclusively to teaching programming. Let’s jump into our review of Udemy VS Codecademy.
How do the Features of Udemy Compare Against Codecademy?
Feature
Number of Courses
100,000+
70+
Available Ways to Purchase
Per Course
Subscription
Ability to Purchase Courses Individually
YES!
No
Lowest Priced Courses
$0.00
$0.00
Ability to Purchase a Subscription to Multiple Courses as an Individual
No
YES!
Subscription Details
Business Only * (4000+ courses included)
From $19.99 per month
Business Plans that can be Purchased Online (Without Contacting a Sales Rep)
YES!
YES!
Starting Prices for Business Plans
$360 per user per year
$240 per user per year
Free Trial Offer
14 days (Team plan only)
7 day free trial
Moneyback Guarantee
30 days
None
Only Allows Accredited Teachers to Create Courses
No
YES!
Learning Using Videos
YES!
YES!
Interactive Tasks
YES!
YES!
Testing & Exams
YES!
YES!
Earn Certificates
YES!
YES!
Earn Accredited Degrees
No
No
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You have to buy each course on Udemy, while Codecademy is a subscription service
Codecademy exclusively teaches you how to program and code, while Udemy offers a massive selection of courses over a large number of topics.
Udemy requires you to purchase each course individually, while Codecademy is a subscription service that gives you access to all their programming courses for just one subscription fee. If you’re interested in paying a low fee to have access to multiple programming courses, then you should consider Codecademy’s subscription plan.
Unlike Udemy, Codecademy gives you a 7 day free trial.
Udemy offers a 30 day moneyback guarantee on their courses, while Codecademy does not. However, Codecademy has a 7 day free trial of their subscription service which should allow you to see if it is a good fit for your learning style.
How do the Subjects Covered by Udemy Compare Against Codecademy?
Feature
Information Technology Courses
YES!
No
Programming & Coding Courses
YES!
YES!
Creativity & Design Courses
YES!
No
Business Courses
YES!
No
Marketing Courses
YES!
No
Media Courses
YES!
No
Music & Audio Courses
YES!
No
Data Science Courses
YES!
No
Personal Development Courses
YES!
No
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Udemy covers all the subjects which we write about here at LearnOnline.shop and in fact, covers more topics than we actually cover here. Codecademy, on the other-hand, is exclusively dedicated to programming courses only.
In addition, it should be noted that Codecademy teaches coding directly in the browser, with practical exercises that teach you by having you directly write code. This is quite different from the way Udemy courses teach programming, which is primarily through video and written instructions that you then follow on your own desktop development environment.
How do we Rate Udemy VS Codecademy?
Feature
Course Quality Review
8.0
9.0
Course Selection Review
9.9
7.8
MOOC Platform Review
8.0
9.0
MOOC User Experience Review
9.0
9.0
Value Proposition Review
9.9
9.0
Overall Review
9.0
9.0
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Course Quality Review
Winner: Codecademy
Codecademy has 1 job: to teach you coding. Their courses are simply superior on these topics.
Udemy courses are made by any individual who can pass some basic screening questions and demonstrate high level knowledge of a particular skill. However, just because you know a subject, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re good at teaching it. This leads to some quality variations between courses on Udemy. Codecademy, on the otherhand, isn’t soliciting new course creators like Udemy does. Because Codecademy only focuses on teaching programming, their courses and their entire learning platform are built around this sole purpose. This naturally leads to a more focused and optimized learning path, and is the reason why we’re awarding Codecademy the win for course quality.
Course Selection Review
Winner: Udemy
Udemy has over 100,000 more courses than Codecademy.
The Codecademy subscription means that one payment grants you access to their entire service while a single payment on Udemy gets you access to 1 course. Udemy has over 100,000+ courses compared to Codecademy’s 70+, so the winner in course selection is clearly Udemy. Realistically, the numbers speak for themselves, as Udemy has almost ten thousand times the number of courses as Codecademy . However, Codecademy grants you access to their entire service for a low monthly fee, which means you have 70 courses you can take as opposed to the individual courses you have to buy from Udemy.
Learning Platform Review
Winner: Codecademy
Codecademy is a platform built from the ground up to teach coding.
When I talk about platforms, I am talking about the ways that the site teaches you, like video tutorials, interactive projects and hands-on testing, as well as awarding certificates. Both Udemy and Codecademy have good platforms. Udemy has thousands of course creators, who all create their courses differently, with varying levels of production quality. While some courses are presented optimally, some are not, so expect a variation in quality between course authors. Codecademy is a platform with one goal: to teach you coding. To that end, the entire website was built from the ground up to teach coding. Instead of having you download a bunch of 3rd party programming tools, the Codecademy platform itself allows you to enter code into your browser and see the results instantly. Because of this, the clear victor in our Learning Platform review is Codecademy.
User Experience Review
Winner: Tied
Both services have good user experiences.
When we review the platform, we’re looking at the learning angles of the experience, but for the User Experience Review we look at everything else, including the sign-up process, the wait-times, the quality of courses, support, emails, billing and more. Fortunately, both of these websites provide a great overall user experience. After using both services extensively, I can say that they’re both more than serviceable and I encountered no real technical or support issues.
Value Proposition Review
Winner: Udemy
Udemy frequently runs big sales.
When Udemy runs their sales, you can get access to some expensive and worthwhile courses for rock-bottom prices. During these sales, it’s hard to argue against their value proposition. If the sales were not a regular occurrence, I’d have a harder time selecting them as the value proposition winner here, but thankfully the sales do happen frequently. If you’re interested in learning multiple programming languages, then Codecademy offers a huge value proposition because you get access to all their programming languages with your subscription. It’s still a good value when you’re only looking to learn a single language, but in our opinion, Udemy has a slightly better value proposition for most learners.
Overall Review
Winner: Tied
Choose Codecademy for coding, Udemy for everything else.
Deciding the winner between Udemy VS Codecademy is hard because they both offer such an amazing value, but also because it really depends on what you’re studying. If you’re new to programming and trying to learn how to code, then Codecademy is our recommendation. For just about anything else, Udemy is the clear winner. Fundamentally, this makes it impossible for us to pick a clear winner. Luckily Codecademy offers a free trial, so you should try it for free and see if it is suited towards your learning style.
Pros & Cons of Each Service
Both Udemy and Codecademy are amazing learning services and platforms, but they each have their PROs and CONs. In this section, I have outlined PROs and CONs for both services, specifically with how they compare to each other.
When deciding between Udemy VS Codecademy it is all about what your goals are. If you’re trying to learn coding and programming for the first time, or looking to become fluent in a new programming language, you should probably choose Codecademy. On the otherhand, if you’re interested in virtually any other subject, or want to use 3rd party development tools to learn programming, then Udemy may be better suited for your needs.
In the end, both of these platforms are fantastic, but serve different needs. Hopefully this article has helped you decide between these two fantastic services. If any of this content has become out-of-date, or if you have any questions or comments, please let us know in the comment section below. Thanks for reading and happy learning!
