Udemy vs. Udacity? When you’re ready to learn something new online, you often want to know which is better. In this post, we will introduce Udemy and Udacity to you and compare them side by side.

-> You can read my comparison of Udemy vs Coursera to understand the differences between these 2 popular e-learning platforms.

-> or check out my guide and comparison of Skillshare vs Udemy here.

About Udemy

Udemy likes to refer to themselves as “The leading global marketplace for learning and instruction”. By connecting students all over the world to the best instructors, Udemy is helping individuals reach their goals and pursue their dreams.

Eren Bali, a successful software designer launched this California-based company – Udemy in 2010. Udemy has created a technological platform that allows novice instructors to plan, design, and produce video how-to instructions for almost any subject.

Now it has more than 9 million students, 57,000 instructors and 150,000 courses.

About Udacity

Sebastian Thrun, David Stavens, and Mike Sokolsky founded Udacity to offer massive open online courses (MOOCs). The name, Udacity, comes from the organization’s desire to be “audacious for you, the student.”

Udacity is one of the most famous course providers in the world. It has over 200 courses of which around a few dozens are Nanodegree. This platform focuses on bringing online courses in cutting-edge technology fields such as self-driving cars, blockchain technology, machine learning, and much more.

• Udacity Nanodegree. The Nanodegree that Udacity offers is a form of learning where you pay a payment each month and study a particular subject for around 6-12 months, after which you receive a certificate of completion.
• Udacity Nanodegree Plus. The Nanodegree Plus was a special form of learning that the students over at Udacity could partake in. The main distinguishing feature of the “Plus” program was that Udacity guaranteed* you a job after you’ve successfully finished the desired program.

Comparison of Udemy and Udacity

1.    Core Objective

• Udemy’s major aim is to help anyone learn anything, which is why it is tagged “an online learning marketplace.” Udemy targets anyone with study interest.
• Udacity, however, provides university-level education for people who is looking for alternative means of getting a university education.

2.    Course Topic & Quality

Udemy

Udemy offers a wide range of courses that cover almost every field of study. However, anyone can become a Udemy instructor – just join the platform and upload your course. That means the quality of the courses is variable and you can’t be sure they’re all led by experts.

Here is a broad categorization of Udemy courses:

• Business
• Marketing
• Test Preparation
• Languages
• Music
• Personal Development
• Office Productivity
• Information Technology
• Software Development
• Web Design
• Lifestyle
• Photography
• Teacher Training
• Health & Fitness.

Udacity

Udacity has more than 200 cutting-edge courses that are built in partnership with visionaries companies such as Google and Facebook, covering a wide range from entrepreneurship in technology to web design. The Udacity content quality is generally received very positively. 

Here is a broad categorization of Udacity courses:

• Web Design
• Virtual Reality
• Artificial Intelligence
• Data Science
• Computer Programming
• Mobile Device Development
• Digital Marketing
• Robotics

According to Udacity, the company’s most popular Nanodegrees in 2019 were the:

• Data Engineering Nanodegree
• Machine Learning Nanodegree
• Intro to Programming Nanodegree

3.    Course Time

The courses in Udemy has no specific or standard time duration. You will find video lectures here that are as short as a few seconds as well as ones that grow into long hours. In additional, you can finish the courses anytime you want after you have “bought” the course.

However, Udacity is trying to achieve a university kind of training. Their courses take longer time to complete. Each course has a unique time allotment and may last for as long as a few months, one, or even two years.

Tips: Udemy courses are primarily video-based, and you can download content for offline study.

4.    Certification

Udemy doesn’t offer courses accredited by educational institutions.

In contrast, after you’ve made your way through the Udacity Nanodegree of your choice, you can get the credentials that you need. The skill-based, project-oriented curricula allows for valid credentials as a result of achievement and displays that you have mastered the projects and completed the courses.

5.    Cost

This is an important factor to consider when choosing Udemy or Udacity as your online course platform – will consumers feel that your course is “worth it”?  

Udemy

The price of each Udemy course is determined by the instructor who posts it.  In the United States, the minimum cost to enroll in a course is $20; prices can increase in increments of $5, up to the maximum cost of $200.  Minimum and maximum Udemy course costs, as well as price increments, vary in other countries.

Udemy has been known to offer huge discounts for their courses. In fact, it is very common for them to run a promotion offering 80%-90% off for their course. Therefore, you can buy many course from $10.

Udacity

Udacity’s price range varies from $199 up to $3,000. A few Nanodegrees are on a monthly subscription, but the rest of the Nanodegrees are fixed price and term based.

There is no “set” pricing model or structure for Udacity or the courses that it offers. In fact, each Nanodegree runs off an entirely unique price and can largely depend on popularity, course structure, start dates and end dates.

6. Popularity Comparison

Conclusion

Udemy and Udacity both have their pluses and minuses.

Udemy can be an interesting website for the following categories of people:

• Lecturers who possess valuable knowledge and want to get some profit from it.
• Professionals in all possible fields who want to gain more knowledge about particular subjects.
• Everyone who is interested in self-development and online education.

Udacity is more likely to be chosen by:

• IT professionals who want to advance and learn new techniques of coding or gain other kind of knowledge.
• Everyone who wants to get started in the IT field.
• IT professionals who want to complete the Nanodegree program and find employment anytime soon.