Udemy vs. Coursera

Coursera vs Udemy: A Side-by-Side Comparison

If you’re thinking about taking online courses you might have considered 2 well-known sites: Udemy and Coursera. Online learning has become more popular than ever. It is convenient and often works well with your work and family obligations. Best of all, you can find courses that suit your specific needs. Both Udemy and Coursera are great places to find online courses but let’s talk about some of the differences between them so you can best decide where to find the course you are looking for.

What is Udemy?

Udemy is known as an online learning marketplace. Created by a successful software designer named Eren Bali, the site was officially launched in 2010 by Oktay Caglar and Gagan Biyani in Bali. Udemy has grown tremendously over the years. Now more than 9 million students take over 35 thousand courses taught by dedicated and expert instructors. All Udemy courses are offered on-demand through video learning. Courses are available on many topics from business, languages, software, hobbies, personal development and more.

What is Coursera?

Coursera‘s mission is “We provide universal access to the world’s best education.” At this site you’ll find courses from U.S.A. and international colleges and universities. Most are offered on academic topics but there are some on personal interest/hobby topics as well. Courses are given through videos that instruct and students take quizzes and do assignments. They are taught by leading professors at top universities and colleges. You’ll find more than 1500 courses and 140 educational partners (universities, colleges and other learning centers) and more than 16 million students registered at Coursera.

First Off: What’s Similar About These Two Sites?

Both sites instruct students using video lectures.

You’ll find experts in their field teaching at both sites. Coursera has college professors mostly as course instructors. Udemy has business professionals and teachers as course instructors.

Courses are budget-friendly when cost is involved. Both sites do have free courses as well.

Let’s talk a bit about what is different about the sites:

The Costs:

Udemy – Most courses cost $29 to $299. Some courses are offered for free and others are higher than $299. Note that Udemy also offers specials such as discounts and coupons, do the original price can drop lower than expected.

Coursera – Many of the courses at Coursera are free. Some of them have a fee but a budget friendly one, between $50 to $100. The courses with a fee typically offer a certification for the skill you learn. Some of the courses you can pay for a certificate to post at your LinkedIn profile to show employers you have taken the course or a printed certificate to put in a frame.

Pros & Cons with Pricing:

Both sites do keep one’s budget in mind while considering creating the cost of courses in our opinion. The cost is not exorbitant.

If you sign up for an account with Udemy, they will e-mail you specials and discounts (or you can check right here for ongoing promotions!), notifying you when higher priced courses are available for $10 or $15 for example.

Some instructors at Udemy may offer discounts on their courses privately.

The majority of courses at Coursera are free.

The Courses:

Udemy – Courses are available in topics that cover Development, Business, IT & Software, Office Productivity, Personal Development, Design, Marketing, Lifestyle, Photography, Health & Fitness, Teacher Training, Music, Academics, Language and also Test Prep. Courses cover business and personal interest topics too.

Courses we saw featured included:

Goal Setting the SMART Way and enjoy the life of your dreams
From the course description: Turn your dreams into reality by following the Step x Step smart goal process – Learn everything in about an hour for free

Instructed by Steve Ballinger, MBA

Cost of Course: FREE

LinkedIn – Win at LinkedIn the 80:20 Way

LinkedIn – Leads? Jobs? B2B Networking? Discover how to Use LinkedIn the Smart Way – Become a LinkedIn Ninja

Instructed by John Colley

Total Cost of Course: $197

Brand New You: A Personal Branding Masterclass

Attract Floods of Your Ideal Clients & Be The #1 Authority In Your Field With A Powerful Personal Brand

Instructed by Marisa Murgatroyd

Total Cost of Course: $97

Coursera – Courses covered topics that include Arts and Humanities, Business, Computer Science, Data Science, Life Sciences, Math and Logic, Personal Development, Physical Science and Engineering and Social Sciences. They are offered from top universities and courses that provide their courses online to encourage continued learning.

Courses we saw featured included:

Conflict Management Specialization

From the University of California, Irvine

Cost of Course: $49

Python for Everybody

From the University of Michigan

Cost of Course: $79

Chinese for Beginners

From: Peking University

Cost of Course: FREE

Pros & Cons with Courses:

Some Coursera courses begin on a certain date and others are on-demand so you can start them immediately. You need to pay attention to which type the course is when signing up.

Both Udemy and Coursera’s courses are taught by dedicated experts.

Coursera’s courses often have added expenses, beyond the course fee. There can be a textbook to buy for the course and sometimes recommended reading. Not every local library will carry these books.

Udemy is an excellent choice if you wish to improve specific skills. Coursera is the site to consider if you would like to take courses that are similar to a college course and may not always teach you a technical skill you can use right away.

What It’s Like to Use Each Site

Udemy – This is a well-organized site with sections to help you decide which courses you want to take. The Sections also have sub-sections to help streamline them as well. The search results at this site are excellent if you type in a phrase for something you are looking for such as “mobile app course” or “learn Italian.”

When you get into the Sections and the sub-sections you’ll first see the course headings with a sub-heading, describing what the course is about. Click on the course and a longer description will appear too.

It would be ideal if there was a longer bio of the Instructor. But you do see a photo of them and a brief introduction to who they are and what qualifies them to teach this course.

To take your course it is as simple as 1-2-3. Sign up and then at the top of your screen you’ll click on a button that says “Lecture 1.” As you go through your course Udemy will often ask you to rate the instructor and the course on a scale of 1 to 10. It is great they want students’ feedback the entire way through the course.

Coursera – It will not surprise you that the sections remind you of a college’s course catalog. Because the majority of the courses you see offered at Coursera come from top colleges and universities. Don’t be shy about using the general Search box to try to locate your course that interests you as sometimes this is simply easier. There are no sub-sections here, courses are simply listed by general sections.

The first thing you’ll see is the course name and the college/university that provides the course. When you click on this, you’ll want to notice 1st if the course is on-demand or offered on specific dates. Quite simply, if the course does not mention specific dates then the course is always on-demand. You’ll also see the instructor’s name and their photo.

To sign up for a paid course you click on Enroll. Financial Aid is available for courses, simply follow the steps to request information. Free courses are available and you register by clicking the blue button to start them.

In Summary:

Udemy is the online learning marketplace most often to pick if you want to learn specific skills for work or personal/hobby interest. Coursera’s courses are typically academic in tone. Both offer excellent opportunities for online learning for interested students.