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Pluralsight or Codecademy? Which one Devs should use to learn the latest Tech skills?

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Pluralsight vs Codecademy
Continuous learning and keeping himself up-to-date with the latest technologies is the biggest challenge of Programming career, and that's why serious developers are always looking to level up their technical skills.

Being an author of a Java blog and editor of a Medium publication, I receive a lot of queries from Programmers and Developers. Many of my readers ask me for advice like which books to learn to code, which is the best site to learn to code?

Where should I go for preparing coding interviews and much more? One of the questions which keep coming to me was about Pluralsight and Codecademy? like which site is better to learn new tech skills and level up your current skill?

This is a very important question because learning is an essential part of professional programmers' careers. If you don't learn new things or upgrade yourself, you will leave behind in your job and career.

I constantly advise my readers and fellow programmers to invest some time and money on learning to keep themselves up-to-date with some platforms like Udemy, Coursera, OneMonth, Codecademy, Lynda.com, [Treehouse], and Pluralsight, many of them have asked me which platform they should choose between CodeCademy and Pluralsight?

While choosing between Udemy vs Pluralsight is easy because one is a marketplace of courses, and you literally buy the direction you want and only pay for that, Pluralsight has a subscription-based model and joining Pluralsight means you get access to all of there 5000+ online courses, quizzes, assessments and much more.

You don't need to choose and buy the course, you can literally take all the classes you want with just one subscription, which is kind of convenient.

But, when it comes to Codecademy and Pluralsight, both of them are very similar when it comes to payment and money, as both of them offer subscription-based models, but there are still some critical differences between them, which we'll explore in this article. Btw, If you buy any paid plans then I'll also get paid.

Pluralsight vs Codecademy --- Which is better for Programmers?

I'll give you three criteria to compare Pluralsight and Codecademy. These points will then help you to make a decision on which is the best online platform to learn new technologies based upon your interest and learning style.

1.Learning Style (Interactive reading vs. Watching videos)

The first and foremost difference between Pluralsight and Codecademy is the learning style or teaching style. Codecademy is 100% interactive, where you will be doing things while reading or learning. You will have information and practice console on the same screen, which literally encourages you to learn by doing.

While this is great, it's not always possible to do the exercise while learning online. For example, when I travel or commute to work, I prefer to watch online videos rather than coding on a terminal.

It's not only more comfortable for me to watch videos I tend to focus more on listening while sitting on a bus or train. So, if you want to best utilize your commute time and learn new technologies, Pluralsight has a lot of courses.

Since learning by doing is the best method of learning, and if you also prefer that, then Codecademy is a better choice than Pluralsight. But, if you prefer to watch videos, want to utilize your travel time better, and practice coding later in-home or office, than Pluralsight is a better choice for you.

2. Content and Course Quality

When it comes to content, particularly the amount of content, Pluralsight clearly outscores Codecademy. Pluralsight has more than 5000+ courses to learn almost anything from programming languages like Java, C++, Go, Swift, Python, JavaScript, Ruby, Kotlin, Scala, Groovy, C, C#, frameworks like Django, Flask, Spring, Spring Boot, Rails, .NET, and skills like SQL, Database, Data Science, Machine Learning, Linux and much more.

You can literally find a course to learn almost anything you want, including SVN and Git and some ancient and modern tools as well like Docker, Jenkins, Maven, Kubernetes, Gradle, WebPack, NPM, etc.

Another thing is that Pluralsight courses are mostly taught by experts in their area, which means you learn right from the authority. If you check Pluralsight instructor's profile you will find several renowned professionals there like [José Paumard], one of the Java champions has a course on Java Multithreading and Concurrency there.

[Richard Warburton] is another Java Champion who has written Java Collection courses on Pluralsight. Then you have courses from [Samer Buna], [Scott Allen], [Pinal Dave], and many other experts.

While Codecademy doesn't have that many courses or skill path, it has a cleverly designed curriculum for most of the essential skills like Web Development, Programming and Computer Science, Machine Learning and Data Science, and much more.

Their courses on Programming languages like Learn Java, Learn C++, Learn Python 3, and Learn Golang are also impressive. They have in fact created the Learn Go course together with Google, which makes it a really awesome and fun course. You learn by doing; you get instant feedback, which reinforces learning.

This means while Pluralsight provides you a one-stop-shop to learn any programming language, framework, tools, and technology, Codecademy has an ala-a-carta of some of the most popular skills. It's a unique learning methodology, and the interactive platform also helps.

While I am on content, let me point out one of thing which I didn't like about Pluralsight. Some of the courses are very old and you better stay away from them.

Since Pluralsight has so many courses and more up-to-date ones there are also courses lying from 2011 nad 2012, which is kind of old and not relevant anymore. This is not a decisive factor because they literally have many options but something worth knowing.

Pluralsight also has a well-defined Skills path which is very good to learn related skills in a quick time. They also provide IQ tests which you can use to find out how much you know about a particular skill and where are you compared to peers and fellow developers around the world. You can take their free assessment here to see how you stack up.

3. Price or Cost

When it comes to price, Codecademy is slightly less expensive than Pluralsight. The Codecademy Pro membership will cost you around $15.99 per month (billed as $191.88 yearly), which gives you $48 of saving, and that's also there most popular option.

They also have a 6-month plan, which costs around $17.99 per month, and a monthly plan, which costs approximately $19.99 per month but billed 6-monthly and monthly accordingly.

Their paid plan provides access to exclusive quizzes, projects, and customized learning paths, and community support because you get a chance to connect with other Pro members to collaborate, share resources, and more.

Here is a snapshot of Codecademy Pro subscription plans:

When it comes to Pluralsight, their annual subscription cost around $299 (14%) saving compared to their monthly subscription, which cost around $29 per month. But, if you are lucky, you can also get a Pluralsight membership is $199 when they run their 33% OFF SALE OFFER, which is the one they are running now.

That's pretty close to CodeCademy's $191.88 plan, but you will get access to a lot more courses and content. Their annual program allows access to their entire course library, learning paths, channels, course learning checks, course discussions, exercise files, mobile and TV apps, and offline viewing, which is pretty awesome.

They also have a Pluralsight Premium plan which costs around $499 in general, but they are offering a 33% DISCOUNT, which means you can get this plan for just $299. This plan provides access to certification practice exams, interactive courses, and real-world projects, which is what Codecademy Pro delivers.

Here is a snapshot of Pluralsight Personal and Premium Plans:

So, definitely, CodeCademy is slightly cheaper; Pluralsight also is not too far behind in Price considering the amount of content they have.

That's all about Pluralsight vs. CodeCademy and which online platform should you choose for your learning. Ultimately everything comes on what you want? Which kind of teaching or learning style works for you?

There is a little bit of difference in price, but when you compare the content and a sheer number of courses on Pluralsight compared to Codecademy, that's completely justifiable.

If you prefer interactive learning and have a tight budget join CodeCademy Pro, while if you want access to a diverse online training platform and can pay $299 (because of the 33% off offer now), join Pluralsight Premium Plan.

Other Programming and Development Articles you may like:

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like this comparison between Pluralsight and CodeCademy or any other online learning platform then please share with your friends and colleagues, they will appreciate. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop a note.

P. S. --- What about me? Which subscriptions I have? Well, I have a pretty diverse learning requirement, and I learn a lot, so I have a subscription to not only CodeCademy and Pluralsight, but also, I have bought many courses on Udemy, Coursera, OneMonth, CodeCademy, Lynda, and some other online course platforms. Though, my go-to places are Pluralsight and Udemy.

P. P. S. --- If you want, you can also try both CodeCademy and Pluralsight and stick with the one you like, but don't miss the Pluralsight 33% OFF OFFER, it doesn't come every day, signup for their personal or premium plan to take advantage of this offer.

Top comments (11)

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anaknickerbocker profile image
Ana Knickerbocker • Edited

I’ve personally enjoyed Frontend Masters more than any other platform. If you participate in a live workshop, you’re able to ask the instructor questions. Since it is filmed in front of a live audience, there are a lot of really good questions asked/answered during the course.

Additionally, there are always hands-on activities throughout every course.

I’m not affiliated with FM, I’ve watched 7 or 8 of their courses (2 of those in-person), and they’ve all been extremely valuable.

frontendmasters.com/

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javinpaul profile image
javinpaul

I have checked frontend masters and yes, they are awesome, quality of course and filming makes you watch them without switching too much. It's a great platform if you are learning frontend skills, but they don't have much for others, that's the biggest limitation in my opinion.

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anaknickerbocker profile image
Ana Knickerbocker

I absolutely agree with you!

They’ve been doing a lot more backend stuff, and there are a couple cloud and security videos.

Marc, the owner, is great about responding to messages regarding suggestions. Let him know if there are topics you want covered. I’ve been asking him to do more around Cyber Security, so maybe if more people express interest, he’ll have incentive!

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javinpaul profile image
javinpaul

That's great to hear, maybe they could add some for JAva developers like on Spring Boot, Spring Cloud and DevOps tooling like Docker, Kubernetes.

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canu667 profile image
Canu667 • Edited

I do not want to advertise any company, but Pluralsight, is better in my opinion. While learning by doing sounds great, the courses I saw at Codecademy were pretty basic eg. on Codecademy I found only 'Learn GO', while on Pluralsight, apart from 'Go Fundamentals', you can find 'Building Distributed Applications with Go' or 'Object-oriented Programming with Go' etc. These are much more advanced topics. What is more, I did not find anything for Spring Boot or AWS. For Python I found courses dealing with Best practices or using the Flask framework. The range of courses is bigger, but Pluralsight is much longer on the market.

I did not check the Codecademy's Pro program. Maybe somebody can expand, if it is worth looking into, for somebody that already has some experience?

BTW. while writing this post, I have found out that Pluralsight also has some Hands-on learning. I did not check it, though.

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cjtaylor1990 profile image
Corbin Taylor

I definitely learn by doing, so I prefer the CodeCademy model, but your point about it being impractical (and likely impossible) for learning while commuting is a very good point.

I do have a bias towards CodeCademy, I must admit, since I started using it in 2013 when I first started to get really serious with coding.

I've not tried Pluralsight too much, though I may try it sometime down the road.

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metalmikester profile image
Michel Renaud

I've only used Pluralsight and liked the courses I used. Unfortunately my employer has a habit of not renewing in time and wasting months starting from scratch, and I've now had my access cut off "mid course" one too many times (none of Pluralsight's fault, of course). The 33% off offer is certainly appealing.

I'll take a look at CodeCademy, though from the article and comments, it looks like Pluralsight will still be the best fit for me. I do agree that some of their courses are outdated. Maybe it's time for some culling...

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javinpaul profile image
javinpaul

Yes, 33% OFF really makes it attractive and their premium plan also have some interactive courses and projects which means best of both world.

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cjtaylor1990 profile image
Corbin Taylor • Edited

Oh, it's definitely more for beginners. Since it is for beginners, that's also why their learn-by-doing style works so well.

I think that, if you're looking to go into a subject or technology that you're unfamiliar with, CodeCademy is great. I think of it as a spring board though rather than an all-in-one platform.