Udemy vs Pluralsight: Which is better for developer teams?

We evaluate both platforms from the perspective of a software team.

As a bonus, we cover alternative platforms offering unique team learning approaches at the end.

This is part 2 of a 2-part series and focuses on teams. If you're a developer choosing for yourself, read this instead.

Content

Udemy

Udemy operates as an open marketplace where anyone can sell courses. Its business catalog curates 28,000 of them across various topics.

Your team members get to choose courses and set their own learning paths.

Developers have tons of options and can choose courses that match their learning style and goals.

The platform offers excellent beginner-level content, and will appeal to junior developers and employees transitioning into more advanced software roles.

However, experienced developers in your team may complain that many courses lack the quality and technical depth they require, and it is harder to find advanced courses which are suited for them.

Beyond programming, your team can use Udemy to explore new professional and personal topics, and improve their soft skills.

Pluralsight

Pluralsight operates as a closed marketplace. It partners with industry experts to create courses for software developers.

Pluralsight authors are industry veterans with years of domain expertise.

Courses focus on professional upskilling.

Its catalog will appeal to your experienced developers with its:

deep technical content
star instructors with credentials
coverage of emerging technologies

Courses are dense and to the point, with short videos and interactive elements for hands-on learning.

Guided exercises mimic tasks software teams tackle in the workplace.

Your developers train on tasks that are accurate representations of job scenarios.

Pluralsight also offers dedicated resources to help teams earn certifications from AWS, Google Cloud, CompTIA, and more.

Learning Experience

Udemy

Learning on Udemy is like attending a quality university course from your screen.

Some courses follow a traditional format with lectures, quizzes, and academic projects. Others take a hands-on approach with guided boot camp projects.

Exercises on Udemy can feel like university assignments rather than practical, hands-on training.

Since they serve a broad audience, the platform lacks dedicated features for software developers and often feels limiting for them.

There are no sandbox environments for writing code, and exercises and projects don't get any feedback.

On Udemy, your team can choose what and how they learn, even beyond their job scope. This can boost motivation to use the platform, and bring personal value.

Udemy includes some great courses in their business catalog that go beyond programming.

But if the goal is job-focused upskilling, this flexibility can dilute that focus and you might not see direct ROI in your team's day to day work.

Pluralsight

Pluralsight is built exclusively for software teams, and it shows.

Your team follows structured "paths" curated by industry experts, progressing from beginner to advanced levels to build job-ready expertise.

Exercises and projects run in Labs. These are sandbox environments that simulate the workplace and your team can train on job-relevant tasks.

These sandboxes are great for hands-on practice, but the in-browser tasks can still feel too basic for developers seeking a real challenge.

Team members can engage with the instructors in a closed community. If you opt for instructor-led training, you get real-time, personalized expert guidance.

Pluralsight is the better choice over Udemy if your team is looking to improve hard skills. It directly helps your developers improve at their job.

But to employees, it can also feel like an extension of work rather than self-driven learning. Rigid learning paths can further reinforce this feeling, and affect adoption on a case-by-case basis.

Admin Features

Udemy

Admins can assign courses to team members and track progress.

Learning journeys can be customized by combining Udemy courses, custom content, and external resources.

The course builder allows teams to host their own videos and files, and embed company-specific knowledge into custom courses.

They have comprehensive compliance management features.

Skill gap assessments exist but don't provide useful insights for developer teams, as there are no resources to evaluate advanced skills.

Pluralsight

Pluralsight offers similar user management functions but tailors some features better for developer teams.

For example, skill assessments are much more insightful. You can quantify proficiency and monitor gradual progress of each member in specific skills.

RoleIQ tests allow you to assess each employee's skills in relation to their specific job role.

Managers can use this data to create segments and recommend targeted courses to close knowledge gaps.

Custom learning paths with detailed reports help managers achieve team goals with precision.

Pricing

Udemy

Udemy uses a seat-based subscription model.

Team Plan (2-20 users): Access to 12,000+ courses but lacks most admin features.
Enterprise Plan: Access to 28,000+ courses with full platform features.

Both plans offer courses on a wide range of topics.

You can explore the full business catalog here.

Plans are 30-50% cheaper than Pluralsight. However, while the catalog offers programming courses, coverage and depth of technical topics is not as comprehensive as Pluralsight's modules.

Pluralsight

Pluralsight also follows a seat-based subscription model.

All plans include full platform features and a core library of ~4,000 courses spanning software development, IT ops, business, product, and UX.
Expansion packs (AI, Data, Security, Cloud) and add-on features can be added to customize the plan.

They offer self-serve plan templates, and you can talk to sales for custom deals.

Pluralsight is more expensive than Udemy, and businesses often end up purchasing more seats than they need or use.

There are a bunch of add-on features you can include in your plans.

Flow is Pluralsight's intelligence platform that tracks your software team's work and provides insights. Not included in plans and needs to be bought separately.

Our Take

Udemy gives your team access to an enormous catalog covering everything from programming to business, marketing, soft skills, and even non-work topics like gardening and art.

Your team members can choose what and how they learn based on interest, and junior engineers appreciate the beginner-friendly content.

But for your experienced developers, inconsistent technical depth and the lack of dedicated features will feel limiting. If serious upskilling is the goal, a developer-focused platform is the better investment.

Pluralsight, on the other hand, is built for developer upskilling. Its courses, taught by industry veterans, provide a more comprehensive coverage of advanced topics.

Labs help developers refine skills in simulated job scenarios. Skill assessments are insightful and measure proficiency and progress against learning goals.

Pluralsight is expensive. Only a fraction of the vast catalog will be relevant to your developers. Teams struggle with adoption as Pluralsight's job-focused approach can make learning feel like work rather than a self-driven experience.

Other platforms worth checking out

Both Udemy and Pluralsight rely on passive learning. Seasoned developers in your team will find video-based learning ineffective and boring, as they often already know much of the content.

Also, both platforms have massive third-party catalogs which are plagued by inconsistent quality and outdated content.

As an alternative, these platforms offer unique approaches to team learning.

DevPath by Educative

DevPath is a developer upskilling platform like Pluralsight, but with a key difference. It replaces video with interactive, text-based courses.

This format benefits experienced developers, who don't have to waste hours scrubbing through videos just to find few relevant insights.

Exercises are embedded within the content. Developers can apply concepts without breaking focus.

Admins get standard management tools—content assignment, skill assessments, real-time reports. They can also tailor onboarding plans to help new hires ramp up faster.

The catalog is smaller, with only a few hundred courses. The material is rigorous and challenging, so it is less suited for junior developers.

DevPath borrows some content from Educative (parent platform), which focuses heavily on technical interview prep. Engaging with this content doesn't always translate to on-the-job expertise.

Also, some projects are underwhelming and not an accurate reflection of real workplace challenges.

They feel like side projects or resume boosters rather than job-focused upskilling.

In terms of pricing, DevPath subscription plans are more affordable compared to Pluralsight.

CodeCrafters

Most developers in software teams need more than tutorials to keep advancing their skills.

CodeCrafters is built entirely in-house for experienced developer teams. Its coursework consists of challenging and fun projects that develop every muscle required to build great software.

Challenges dive deep into advanced programming concepts and software design principles.

The projects are broken into manageable story points. Instructions are minimal and encourage developers to rely on specs, research, and problem-solving rather than step-by-step guidance.

The platform creates a repository where your team pushes code, runs tests, and gets feedback. They work in their local environment with their usual setup.

This workflow is an accurate representation of software development at the workplace, and your team practices all aspects of it while staying engaged. They read documentation, think about design, write code, and debug issues.

Teams use language tracks to quickly onboard experienced developers in new languages.

Unlike other platforms, the catalog is built in-house and vetted by top developers and leaders of software teams.

CodeCrafters offers subscription plans, and your team can try out the first two stages of any challenge for free.

Final Thoughts

Udemy gives your team freedom to learn a broad range of topics while casually improving their programming skills, and it has great beginner-friendly content.

Pluralsight is the better choice for focused professional upskilling, with deep-dive courses, realistic labs, and insightful skill assessments.

CodeCrafters offers a unique approach suited for experienced software teams looking to seriously level up their skills or onboard in new languages.

Engineers at top teams love learning the CodeCrafters way.

Jeff Lawson, co-founder and CEO of Twilio, asserts in Ask Your Developer that strong engineering cultures thrive by granting developers autonomy.

Instead of top-down mandates, make sure your engineers have a say in selecting the platform that best aligns with their learning styles and goals.