Pluralsight vs. Coursera: Comparing Two Online Learning Platforms

Pluralsight vs. Coursera overview: comparison table

Coursera and Pluralsight differ in a few key ways, such as their pricing structures, areas of topic focus, and style of delivery. As a result, they are targeted at different audiences.

Coursera is more like traditional post-secondary education, with more accessibility and subject options, but a more fixed course structure. So it tends to attract global learners who are okay with studying something over an extended period of time — especially because courses don’t always cost money.

Pluralsight is much more focused on cutting-edge technology. Its courses are also less time-sensitive; they’re ready for you whenever you’re ready to learn. Finally, it requires you to pay to use it, although it comes with a 10-day free trial. Taken together, this means that Pluralsight is aimed at tech enthusiasts who want to learn as much as they can in a limited period of time to jump-start, get ahead in, or stay on top of their careers.

Compare Pluralsight and Coursera at a glance below:

Pluralsight: the best for budding technology and technical workers

Pluralsight.com is the better pick if you’re looking to break into – or move up in – a career in emerging technologies. It’s definitely the more specialized of the two learning platforms, and it’s also more business-oriented — it’s geared towards giving people the skills to land top tech jobs, as well as helping current technology-based companies train their employees to be better at their careers. And you have to pay to use it, so you’d better be getting ahead with it.

What is Pluralsight and what are its benefits?

Best for: Assessing and improving skills with new and emerging technologies

Cost: $25-$37 per month for individuals; $48-$65 per month for teams (per user)

Pluralsight brands itself as “the technology workforce development company”. As such, it’s where you want to be if you’re looking to learn the skills to land a job with (or move up in) a business that deals frequently with computers, software, and other cutting-edge technologies. It also has some training programs for trades-based skills, such as manufacturing, architecture, and construction. Courses are on-demand, so you can take them anytime, anywhere, at your own pace.

In addition, Pluralsight has a product called “Flow” that helps to analyze and optimize workflows, helping business teams – especially those who do computer and software engineering – operate more efficiently.

Top benefits of using Pluralsight

Pluralsight aims to give you the skills you need to succeed in the technology industry, and its stand-out features are modeled around that goal. Here are a few highlights:

Pluralsight is better than Coursera when…

10 top Pluralsight courses to try

Here are some of the most popular courses on Pluralsight, as of the writing of this article. Remember, Pluralsight courses are often geared towards specific aspects of a particular technology, and some may be more advanced than others. You may want to try one of their Skill IQ assessments to see how much you know about a certain subject, and/or follow a curated learning path to make sure you’re learning the basics before moving on to something more difficult.

Coursera: the best for general learning from accredited institutions and businesses

Coursera.org is much more of a mixed bag than Pluralsight is, featuring a wider variety of topics for study and supporting a broader range of learning goals. You’ll find courses on art, healthcare, math, social sciences, and language alongside the sorts of technology training lessons you’ll find on Pluralsight. Coursera also allows you to take courses simply as passion projects, right up to earning a genuine academic degree online.

What is Coursera and what are its benefits?

Best for: Getting university-level education online as if you were actually on campus

Cost: Free courses available; $40-$100 to get a course certificate, $40-$90 / month for Specialization course packages or Professional Certificates; $2000+ for MasterTrack certificates; $9,000+ for Online Degree

Coursera is a learning platform that features thousands of courses sponsored by leading academic institutions and corporations from around the world. Many courses cost no money to take, though you can pay to get assessed on your performance in a course and receive a completion certificate if you pass. Some courses and programs even give genuine academic or technical accreditation, but they are rare and usually very expensive.

Also, because many courses on Coursera are based on real-world university programs, they often run concurrently to those programs when they’re being taught on campus. So courses often have specific time frames for when they’re available for enrollment, and when they should (reasonably) be completed by.

Top benefits of using Coursera

Coursera’s M.O. is to recreate traditional post-secondary education in an online format. So it’s not as flexible as Pluralsight in terms of when you learn, but its features give you more options when it comes to what you learn, how you learn it, and why you wanted to learn it in the first place.

Coursera is better than Pluralsight when…

10 top Coursera courses to try

These are some of the most popular courses on Coursera as of the writing of this article. Remember that some courses are part of bundles that can get you ready for professional certification, earn you credit towards your Master’s degree, or even give you an authentic Bachelor’s or Master’s degree online! So if you like what you’re learning, you might be able to take it even further — maybe all the way to a new career!

5 alternative e-learning services to Pluralsight & Coursera

Of course, there are many more online learning platforms out there besides just Pluralsight and Coursera. Each has their own specialties and quirks, so it may be worth looking into a few of them before you make your decision. Here are some popular ones:

1. Udemy

Best for: Learning niche subjects, often at low prices

Cost: $20-$200 per course (lifetime access)

Udemy is the largest open education marketplace on the Internet today. Almost anyone can be a teacher on Udemy; with over 130,000 courses, you can find lessons on some subjects here that can be difficult to find anywhere else. Prices are also set by instructors on a per-course basis, but are often subject to numerous sales and discounts. Purchasing a course comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, and gives you permanent access to that course as long as it’s up on Udemy.

2. Skillshare

Best for: People who want to learn by doing

Cost: $12-$20 per month; some courses are free

Skillshare is for those who believe actions speak louder than words. Specializing in creative industries like animation, photography, and graphic design, Skillshare puts less emphasis on simple reading and lectures. Instead, they prefer that you practice what they preach, from completing daily challenges to working on group projects together with other users. Whether you want to learn how to put together a website or even build a business from the ground up, Skillshare can teach you how to make something you can be proud of.

3. MasterClass

Best for: Learning from successful people who have the star power to prove it

Cost: $180 per year

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to do something the way your favorite celebrity does it, then MasterClass is for you. MasterClass features nearly 100 courses (and counting!) taught by some of the world’s most recognizable professionals in their fields: music icon Alicia Keys, skateboarding pioneer Tony Hawk, award-winning novelist Margaret Atwood, science guru Neil deGrasse Tyson, and even gourmet chef Gordon Ramsay. Follow along with video lessons anytime, anywhere, and then complete assignments in a downloadable workbook to submit for peer review and critique. You may even get a chance to have your work assessed by the course instructor themselves!

4. LinkedIn Learning

Best for: Learning both professional competencies and job-specific skills

Cost: $25-$35 per month; one month free trial

The website formerly known as Lynda.com is now part of the business-oriented social network LinkedIn. That should give you a hint as to what LinkedIn Learning is all about: over 15,000 courses geared towards equipping you with the skills to thrive in the modern working world. These include not only skills specific to certain jobs or industries, but also those that generally help you look and act like a professional: critical thinking, emotional intelligence, time management, habit-building, body language, and more. You can then display completed course certificates on your LinkedIn profile to show off your work.

5. Codecademy

Best for: Learning computer coding through practical application

Cost: $20-$40 per month; free plan available

Codecademy has seen its popularity skyrocket as computer programming has become an incredibly in-demand career skill. It offers specific lessons on how to write in over 15 of the most popular modern programming languages, including HTML, CSS, Python, JavaScript, Ruby, C++, and PHP. It also offers advanced “Career Paths” that string together lessons on the skills you should know to succeed at jobs in web design, data science, A.I. & machine learning, developing video games, and more! Like Skillshare, you learn by doing: virtual sandboxes allow you to practice your coding syntax and receive real-time feedback on your skills.

That wraps up our Pluralsight-Coursera comparison! If you want to see details of how Pluralsight stacks up against some of the other alternatives we’ve listed here, give our Udemy vs. LinkedIn Learning vs. Udacity vs. Pluralsight (https://techboomers.com/udemy-vs-lynda-udacity-pluralsight) review a read. You can also check out our list of websites like Coursera (https://techboomers.com/sites-like-coursera) for a few other suggestions that we haven’t included here. Now get studying!