Udemy vs Udacity: Which One Is Best?

Today, there are loads of eLearning communities you can join to increase your knowledge and expand your skill set.

However, this means that there are lots of options to choose from. Two of the most popular ones are Udemy and Udacity. Udemy vs Udacity: Which One Is Best?

Now, you must be wondering how these two are different from each other, which one you should choose, and which will help you grow professionally. Let’s admit it- if you aren’t looking to grow, what are you doing in life?

Below is a detailed guide to help you choose the best platform for your goals: 

What is Udemy?

Udemy is an online educational platform whose mission is to “help anybody learn anything online.” It allows instructors to plan, design, and churn out videos on almost any subject they wish to teach.

Here, instructors can teach and share their knowledge with students around the globe. Students are given the opportunity to learn new skills by exploring the extensive library available for various courses. 

Udemy targets several versatile, yet similar markets. These include the instructor who wishes to create the course, the student who applies for the course, and the organizations that use Udemy courses to design specialized courses as either a branded product or for internal employees to utilize.

What is Udacity?

Udacity is a for-profit online education provider that provides online course creation known as MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses.

It mostly focuses on job training and in-demand skills. Some courses on Udacity are produced in collaboration with universities and technology experts, such as Georgia Tech and Google.

The courses that Udacity offers are student-centric and interactive. They feature quizzes and different exercises to test knowledge before allowing students to progress to another part of the course.

After completing each assignment, students have access to a project review system that creates a detailed project report within seconds.

They Have Similar Names, but What is the Difference?

Udemy and Udacity- both have similar names and are online learning portals, but how are they really different?

If you’re wondering which platform to choose, this guide will make your decision easier and will narrow your choices down based on your preference:

Pricing

While both Udemy and Udacity have free courses to choose from, the quality of the courses offered differs significantly.

The free courses available on Udemy upsell for paid courses even though they do not provide any real value. Udacity’s courses, on the other hand, are detailed and cover industry-relevant substance, especially as part of their Nanodegree programs (see also ‘What Is A Nanodegree?‘).

Udemy courses can cost anywhere between $10 to $200, sometimes even more. However, courses on the platform go on sale often and can sell for 90% off. It’s not uncommon to see a course with a high-rating display $199 as the regular price and $10 as the price on sale. 

Nanodegree courses available on Udacity, however, cost $399 each. While there might be premium courses that cost more, this is the price for most available courses, regardless of the course length, and whether it is a beginner, intermediate, or advanced-class level. 

Certification

Udemy offers certificates each time you complete a course on the online platform.

However, the catch is that while you can put them on your resume and claim to know the respected skill, the course you took will not be accredited like a course taken at a university or educational institute.

Hence, it is evident that the course certificates obtained via Udemy (see also ‘Is A Udemy Certificate Useful?‘) will not hold much value in the eyes of interviewers when you are applying for a job.

Courses available on Udemy are used by individuals of all ages to expand their skill set. They might want to do this as part of a new hobby or so that they can use their skill in their business or so that they can freelance in their free time. 

However, if you are looking for credentials to make your resume stand out from your peers, Udemy is not the best option for you. Instead, you might want to look into Udacity.

Even though Udacity does not fall into the accredited university category as it does not offer traditional degrees, the nano degree programs available on Udacity represent collaborations with dominant industry partners.

The partners help expand their content. Udacity program graduates have more chances of being employed by these industry partners as well.

Even though an Udacity nano degree certificate does not compare to a university degree, it helps bump your reputation and value in the job market, especially in the tech industry.

Some tech industries prefer individuals who have taken nano degree programs on Udacity over ones who hold a traditional degree. This is because they are confident that those individuals are well-prepared for the job and have knowledge of the course material.

Hence, it is safe to assume that when aiming for a job in the tech industry, a Udacity nano degree will get more attention on your resume than a course certificate obtained from Udemy (see also ‘How To Add Udemy Certificate To LinkedIn?‘).

Topics

Udemy covers a wide range of topics. You will find everything under the sun on Udemy. Courses cover business, health, fitness, nutrition, marketing, professional and personal development, web development graphic design, psychology, and much more.

Udemy allows you to choose individual courses based on your interest and convenience. However, these smaller courses do not tie into a larger program the way Udacity’s nano degrees do.

Udacity, on the other hand, offers a focused and niche-specific curriculum. Its shorter and casual courses are based on programming and development, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data science, business, and autonomous systems.

It is important to note that Udacity only focuses on tech-related courses. A total of 35 nano degrees are offered on this platform. These degrees provide industry-leading programs that are officially built and recognized by top-notch companies, including Google, AT&T, and IBM.

Even though Udacity has approximately 200 free courses available, they do not reward the individual with a certificate upon completion. The courses offered on this online platform are self-paced, but courses are designed in a way to allow students to spend six to ten hours a week per subject.

Nanodegrees include lesson plans which include exercises and instructive educational videos. There is a final project at the end of each course to test the student’s knowledge.

Instructors

Udemy allows anyone to become a course instructor (see also ‘How Much Do Udemy Instructors Make‘) (see also ‘How Much Do Udemy Instructors Make‘). However, this means that there can be some inconsistency in the quality of each course. It also means that there is no guarantee of the course material that is taught.

While some courses can be taught by experts and professionals and can hold hundreds of good reviews, other courses are hastily put together and do not provide any valuable information.

Hence, before taking a course on Udemy, you need to do in-depth research on the instructor, his educational background, and what students who have taken his/her course think. Looking at course ratings is extremely important before you purchase individual courses on Udemy.

In contrast, the instructors on Udacity are known for being more curated and organized. Hence, they guarantee an excellent course that you will thoroughly enjoy as well as through which you will learn.

Udacity instructors include former teachers, graduates, content developers, CEOs of different companies, as well as other educated individuals who are highly skilled at what they do.

What’s even cooler is that you can find courses where the Udacity founder and president teach the entire syllabus themselves! 

While some Udacity courses may include a single course lead, you will also find courses where ten different professionals have contributed to the syllabus.

Course Formats

Wondering what type of courses are offered on each of the online learning platforms? You’ll find the following courses on Udacity. Remember, courses offered on Udacity are tech-related:

• Introduction to Machine Learning
• Marketing Analytics
• Business Analytics
• Programming for Data Science
• Data Engineering
• Data Structures and Algorithms
• C++ Engineer
• Artificial Intelligence for Trading
• Blockchain Developer (see also ‘