Udacity and Coursera are two of the most well-known online learning platforms in the world. Both offer thousands of courses, taught by professors of the best universities around the world.
What’s unique about these sites is that they aren’t based solely on instructors but on the course material they offer such as video material, written material, and gamified courses.
In this Udacity VS Coursera article, I will be looking at each of these learning platforms to see what they offer and to determine which one is the best for you. I will compare their free and paid courses or programs, degrees, students enrolled, university credit, support, app, if have a connection with lecturers, just to name a few.
Coursera
Coursera is one of the most reputed online learning platforms. They offer the best courses and certifications to help you acquire knowledge in your desired field. Here is a quick overview of the Coursera e-learning platform ;
- Currently, it has over 47+ registered learners
- Has over 1000+ specializations
- Has over 3900+courses
- Has 14 online master’s degrees
- Has 2 online bachelor’s degrees
- It has 15 professional certificate programs
One of the Best Online Learning Platforms
Coursera was founded in 2012 by Stanford University Computer Science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Today, it is one of the most popular online platforms that anyone can use to improve their knowledge and skills.
On this platform, you have the opportunity to learn from different reputable universities across the world, and specializations are divided into courses that allow you to gain valuable insight into a specific area of interest.
Learning Materials Offered
The university, depending on the specialization, offers candidates to earn a certificate that attests that they have completed the specialization. On Coursera courses, you will also find relevant video lectures, interactive quizzes, programming assignments, as well as exam simulators in order to demonstrate that you have completed the course successfully.
The courses are self-paced and in the same way as in-person ones. You should register, choose a course you want to take, take tests and complete them. Then you get a certificate of having finished the course.
Udacity Online Learning Platform
If you are a student in high school or college, chances are you have heard of Udacity. This is an online learning platform that offers classes for students of all ages and skill levels.
Udacity’s classes are also completely online and totally open to the public. Whether you’re a complete beginner or have years of experience, you can find a class that fits your needs.
One of the Top Online Educational Institutions
The company was founded in 2011 by Sebastian Thrun, David Stavens, and Mike Sokolsky with a very straightforward mission: to educate adult learners through technology.
Through the use of videos, assignments, and peer-to-peer feedback, Udacity makes it possible for people anywhere in the world to take classes taught by industry professionals without ever having to leave their homes or offices.
Udacity VS Coursera Online Learning Platform Comparison
1. Coursera and Udacity Courses
Coursera Paid and Free Courses
Coursera definitely is a great resource for everyone and not only digital marketing enthusiasts.
By combining the power of the web with the best universities and professors from all across the globe, Coursera offers over 3.9k courses which include specializations in various disciplines including marketing, computer science, media, and communication.
Has Accredited University Degrees
This online learning platform has also accredited university degrees and master’s degrees. The future of education lies in personalized/self-paced learning, much ahead of the traditional classroom settings.
Hence, Coursera’s approach to delivering education to everyone worldwide is a progressive move towards reaching out to new-age classrooms where students can learn from anywhere at any time. Coursera courses are mainly taught by professors from top universities like Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Princeton, etc.
Courses Offered at Udacity
Udacity is an online education company, just like Udemy Courses (see also 'Coursera Vs. Udemy' or Coursera compared to Lynda), that specializes in offering high-quality courses in various fields, primarily technology-related fields. Udacity’s focus is on computer science, digital marketing, programming, artificial intelligence, web development, data science, and graphics.
It has over 500 programs including individual courses, specialization courses, Udacity’s nanodegree, and other course offerings.
Those seeking to learn how things work might wish to check out their courses on programming for the web or learning how to program and create apps for Android.
2. Udacity VS Coursera: Registered Users
I have been trying to figure out how many people are actually using Udacity and Coursera. We can see that Udacity has 11.5 million registered users, compared to the 47+ million registered learners on Coursera.
It is obvious Coursera has more registered users than the Udacity learning platform.
3. Pricing of Coursera and Udacity
Both Academic platforms offer free courses plus paid ones. They also have a free trial; 1 month for Udacity and 7 days for Coursera so you can still test whether the educational programs or coursed offered are useful to you or not.
Coursera has a vast array of pricing if you’re looking into the different courses it offers. The range of prices is from $29 to $99 per individual course, and their online degrees go up to $25,000.
The payment methods are also diverse — there are one-time payments, monthly fees like Coursera Plus which helps students manage their course progress, and discounts for students who get university credit.
Udacity courses cost $199 per month. This is more costly when you compare to Coursera online courses.
Nanodegrees are some of the most popular courses on Udacity. They are divided into 5 or 6 different courses, each of them containing several smaller lessons. You won't be eligible to officially graduate from a Nanodegree until you pass all of its projects and lessons successfully.
Also, Udacity has partnered with Google and offers a variety of Nanodegrees on the Google technologies stack. You can choose between Android, Web development, Machine learning. Each of these programs has its own prerequisites and costs $199 per month. But the good news is that this price won’t increase at any point in time.
Udacity has received criticism for the way they offer its courses. Some users say they are expensive even though they offer free content on their platform. Coursera VS Udacity; in terms of pricing, the winner is Coursera since they offer courses that are affordable.
4. Coursera VS Udacity: Certificates Offered
Coursera provides 2 types of courses - MOOCs and Specializations. If you wish to get a certificate, you need to pay for it in most cases.
You can still access the courses without paying, but will not receive a certificate of completion if you do that. For most, an online certificate of completion will be enough to impress an employer hence you need to purchase it in order to show you have completed the online course.
I would recommend Coursera because their degree programs and their many courses are accredited by leading universities, unlike Udacity which has certificates that are not accredited. Coursera VS Udacity; in terms of certificates offered, the winner is Coursera since you will get a certificate from an accredited university.
5. Support
Udacity VS Coursera; support from educators. Looking for an E-learning platform with support from professors? I would recommend Udacity over Coursera.
If you’ve ever taken a course through some online education platforms, you may have noticed that they do not have real professors for you to get in touch with should you have any problems.
Personally, I see this as a big drawback to obtaining an online education. Think about your experience with professors at a college or university level. For the most part, they are there to help you when you are stumped about something. In many of my computer science courses, this took the form of meeting with my professor in person or talking to them on the phone, but on occasions, I would email them as well.
When I signed up for my first Udacity class offered by Georgia Tech, I was excited to see they have educators that you can connect with and answer your questions.
For Coursera, you will get support mainly from discussion forums, and other learners. Udacity VS Coursera: in terms of support, the winner here is Udacity since it offers personalized support.
Is Udacity Better than Coursera?
This will depend on the course that you are taking. Generally, Coursera is better than Udacity and not the other way round. Coursera offers more free courses; their courses are accredited and are affordable when compared to Udacity.
If support and technology subjects are your main priority, I would suggest you sign up for a course at Udacity, though you should also check out Udacity and Threehouse online platform comparison for more options.
Are Udacity Courses Worth it?
Yes, if you can afford them. It offers massive open online courses, plus micro-credential Udacity’s nanodegree programs which take mostly months to complete. It has courses for free and others are paid. You can get a certificate for free when you earn your online degree.
You can use our comparison to decide which platform is the best for your needs, but don't forget to check out our Udemy VS Lynda review, as well, to get insight into more online learning options.
