Codecademy vs Udacity – Which is Better? Full Comparison

For first-time course creators, it’s a good option to post your course onto an already established platform rather than hosting it on your own website. 

Udacity and Codecademy are two great options for this if you’re creating a course related to technology and/or coding. 

In this post, we’ll compare Udacity and Codecademy to determine which platform suits new online courses creators better.

Features	Codecademy	Udacity
Potential Income	3 stars	4 stars
Marketing Efforts	Low	Low
Time Commitment	High	High
Risk of Failure	Low	Low

Let’s take a closer look at both platforms now that you have some idea of what each one has to offer. v

Codecademy Review – Best for Selling Programming Courses

Codecademy is an online learning platform that helps students learn how to create and edit code. 

Many courses are beginner-oriented and others are more in-depth. 

Some examples of coding languages you can hope to make courses on include: 

• HTML and CSS
• Javascript
• Python
• Java
• C++
• SQL
• Ruby
• C#
• PHP
• Swift

And many more. 

In addition to just coding, you can also choose to create courses on data science, machine learning, web development, etc. 

Becoming an instructor on Codecademy is referred to as Codecademy Coaching and it requires you to assist students with tasks and answer any queries they may have

Pros	Cons
• Marketing is handled for you • Responsive customer support • Reliable source of income • Option to have free or paid courses • Easy to use	• Difficult to qualify • Only tech-related courses

Benefits of Codecademy

To start off, Codecademy is very easy to get into.

Everything is done on the website and the interface is super intuitive. Nothing seems cluttered or difficult to understand. 

Its dashboard makes it super easy for you to upload different assets of your course and organize them in a neat manner.

Similar to platforms like Udacity, Codecademy provides you with security when it comes to the income you generate. 

Just because your courses are not popular does not mean you won’t receive adequate revenue for them. 

You’ll still be paid based on your expertise and skillset. 

Codecademy also allows you to bundle different courses you may have created so you can attract students who want to learn about similar topics. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Codecademy

Potential Income 

The income you can make from Codecademy will depend on your level of expertise and authority. 

This means you’ll have a reliable source of income even if your courses are not that popular.

Marketing Efforts

Marketing is a significant part of online course selling and if you don’t do it properly, you can jeopardize your whole business. 

This is because it will not matter if your course is amazing if you don’t market it properly because then, no one will even find out about it. 

Codecademy excels here because it handles the marketing for you. Thus, if you’re not confident about your marketing skills, then you don’t have to worry if you’re opting for Codecademy. 

Time Commitment

Codecademy is not an option for you if you’re looking to turn to sell online courses into a stream of passive income. 

Moreover, Codecademy requires its instructors to provide hands-on training to students and answer any queries they may have. 

You’ll be required to do this as long as your online course is available on the platform. 

Risk of Failure

Codecademy heavily vets its course instructors so it’s fairly difficult to get accepted onto the platform. 

That being said, if you are able to get accepted, the risk of failure on the platform is fairly low. 

There’s not a ton of competition and Codecademy markets your course for you. 

Both of these factors combined mean that you’ll definitely be able to find students that are look for what you have to offer. 

In addition to this, you’re still promised a reliable income with Codecademy too. So, even if your courses don’t become that popular, you’ll still be earning money. 

What Do the Customers Think?

We didn’t find a lot of user reviews for Codecademy by course instructors. 

However, we did find a blog from a Codecademy course instructor who details how Codecademy provides the dream job to instructors looking to empower others. 

Here are some snippets from the blog: 

Best Course Platform to Teach Programming Languages

The best course platform to teach programming languages is Codecademy as it allows you to create basic courses as well as in-depth courses. These can be related to programming languages or other tech-related topics such as data science and machine learning. 

Udacity Review – Robust and Reliable

Contrary to most e-learning platforms out there, Udacity takes a much more traditional approach to it. 

Unlike Codecademy which is primarily centered around programming languages and subjects related to computer science, Udacity offers courses in a wide array of niches. 

Hence, if your course is not related to computer science, then Udacity is definitely an option you can consider. 

What do we mean by “a more traditional approach”? 

Well, to put it simply, Udacity does not pay you based on how popular your course is, it pays you based on your expertise, technical experience and skillset. 

This is similar to the way a university would pay its professors. 

This is a double-edged sword in our opinion because, on one hand, you have a reliable source of income even if your courses aren’t that popular. 

On the other hand, you may be compensated a lot less in comparison to how many courses you’re selling (in the case that it becomes highly popular). 

It’s fairly difficult to get accepted into Udacity’s programs but if you’re able to do so, you’ll be able to reap a lot of benefits such as: 

• A dedicated content team that helps refine your online course 
• 24/7 customer support
• A dedicated marketing team for your online course 

Pros	Cons
• Wide library of tools to help you with course creation • Stell customer support • Reliable source of income • Marketing is handled for you • Udacity’s content team helps you refine your online course	• Difficult to qualify • You may not earn as much as other popular learning platforms assuming you have a popular course

Benefits of Udacity

Firstly, let’s talk about how easy to use Udacity is. 

It boasts a wide array of tools that make it super easy for you to upload your online course and manage its different assets such as: 

• Video lectures
• Images
• Infographics
• Text
• Lecture slides

And much more. 

Not only do you have access to Udacity’s content team that helps you refine your course but you also have a ton of resources at your disposal post-launch as well. 

These include Udacity Mentors which assist students of your online course by helping them out with any queries they may have. 

You’ll also be pleased to hear that you don’t have to worry about marketing if you opt for Udacity. 

This is because Udacity’s marketing team handles the marketing aspect of things for you. 

It’s a major part of online course selling that you won’t have to think about at all. 

Compared to other online course platforms, Udacity is usually chosen by students who know what they want and are on a much more focused career path. 

They don’t just want to develop skills but want to become experts in their field. Hence, you’ll have the opportunity of working with highly talented students that may become useful partners to you later on. 

Speaking of partners, you’ll also get the opportunity to network and collaborate with other Udacity instructors in your field. This can be a great chance to increase your influence and prominence within your niche.

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Udacity

Potential Income 

As we briefly mentioned above, Udacity is a double-edged sword when it comes to the potential income you can make. 

On the one hand, the income is highly reliable because you don’t have to depend on the popularity of your online course and how much it sells. No matter what its sales look like, you will be compensated for your expertise and skillset by Udacity. 

However, if your online course becomes highly popular and sells a ton, then you won’t receive any bonus or additional revenue. You will still be paid the same amount. 

Marketing Efforts

This is one aspect of Udacity that gives it a huge edge over other online course platforms. 

If you’ve read other posts on our website, you most likely see the emphasis we put on importance of marketing your online courses. 

It’s not enough to just create your online course and publish it, you have to spend a ton of time and effort marketing it too. 

If you don’t do it well, then you can risk your entire online course business and cause it to fail. 

With Udacity, you don’t have to worry about any of that since the marketing is handled by Udacity itself. 

Time Commitment

If you want to turn selling online courses into a passive source of income, then Udacity is definitely not the right choice for you. 

Udacity requires its instructors to spend at least 7 to 10 hours a week maintaining their online courses. 

This could mean updating outdated content and also, helping out students with any problems they could face. 

Hence, it’s not an option where you can just publish your online course, forget about and watch the revenue roll in. You have to participate actively in it as long as your online course is upon the platform. 

Risk of Failure

The eligibility criteria for Udacity are fairly high since you need credentials and proof that you’re an expert in your field. 

That being said, if you fulfill those criteria and are able to have your online course accepted onto the platform, then the risk of failure is extremely low. 

Udacity is highly curated which means there’s not a ton of competition in different categories on the online learning platform. 

Furthermore, since Udacity will be handling the marketing, your online course is almost guaranteed to find an audience.

What Do the Customers Think?

Course instructors love Udacity’s neat interface and how intuitive it is to use. 

By far, the most popular aspect of Udacity when it comes to instructors is its reliability. Your revenue does not depend on course sales but is guaranteed through your expertise. 

Here are some reviews we found online:

Best Reliable Online Course Platform

The best reliable online course platform is Udacity thanks to the fact that it doesn’t pay you based on course sales but rather on your expertise. It’s very easy to use and you have access to a ton of resources to refine your course and make it the best it can be

Codecademy vs Udacity – Buyers’ Guide

With so many different online course platforms out there, it can be difficult to choose the best one for your online course creation business.

Many of them feature cryptic price models with vague features. Oftentimes, unprepared course creators find they’ve opted for a platform that does not suit their needs. 

Luckily, there are some important factors you can consider which can help you reach an informed decision on which online course platform to go for. 

These factors are: 

Potential Income 

Firstly, you’ll have to think about your profit margins. 

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What kind of revenue do you hope to achieve? 
• Can your chosen online course platform help you achieve it? 
• How much effort will it take? 

Of course, it’s a good idea to consider the pricing models that different course platforms offer. 

Some platforms allow you to publish courses for free but take a percentage of revenue from all course sales you make. 

Other platforms let you have 100% of the revenue but charge a monthly (or yearly) subscription fee. 

In most cases, the latter option is better because no matter how much your online courses grow in popularity, you’ll still be paying a flat monthly or yearly fee. 

In the former’s case, the amount of money you’ll have to sacrifice will increase as your course sales increase. 

Marketing Efforts

We’ve said time and time again on this website how the marketing and promotion of your online course are just as important, if not more, as the course creation process. 

There’s no point spending months of effort developing your online course if you’re not going to market it properly. That will just result in no one finding out about your course and thus, no one buying it. 

Marketing takes a ton of effort and research and you’ll most likely have to delve into uncharted territory such as:

• Developing email marketing campaigns 
• Developing social media marketing campaigns 
• Writing blogs to attract traffic 
• Conducting webinars
• Recording podcasts
• Collaborating with other experts in your niche. 

If you’re not prepared to do all of this or feel you won’t be able to do it effectively, then you can opt for a platform that handles the marketing of your online courses for you. 

Time Commitment

Many people who opt to get into the business of selling online courses go into it with the intent of turning it into a source of passive income. 

In this case, while it does require a lot of time commitment at the start. However, once your courses start to gain tractions and become popular, you don’t have to spend any more time on it. 

Hence, it’s the perfect way of generating passive income.

With that being said, many online course platforms don’t let you do this. 

Udacity, for example, requires online course creators to actively participate and help students as long as their online course is available on the platform. 

Risk of Failure

It can be disastrous if you spend months to perfect your online course only for it to be published and no one to buy it. 

This can happen if the online course platform you choose has a lot of competition and the value you provide is already established by other creators. 

Codecademy vs Udacity – Final Verdict

This brings us to the conclusion of Codecademy vs Udacity. 

In the end, both online course platforms are fairly similar in that both of them are tech-focused and provide a reliable income regardless of your course sales. 

In terms of ease of use, we feel Udacity’s dashboard does a better job since it helps you manage different assets of your online course and allows you to upload them. 

Which platform do you think is better? Let us know in the comments below.