Udemy Review

PRAISE FOR UDEMY 👍

Cheap Courses

Perhaps the best thing about Udemy is that you can often find high-value courses for as little as $10. Occasionally you’ll even find an excellent free course on there.

As noted in our Udemy Coupon FAQs, Udemy has a sitewide sale running for customers in the USA approximately 60% of the time, and they rarely go more than 10 days without a sale.

This means you can regularly buy some of the best courses on Udemy for less than $20 each.

There are also some excellent courses on Udemy that you can take for free.

Here’s a shortlist of Udemy topics related to online business:

• Development courses (app, software, web)
• Marketing courses
• Consulting courses
• WordPress courses
• SEO courses
• Copywriting courses
• Graphic Design courses
• Copy Editing courses
• Sales courses
• Salesforce courses

Those are the skills/categories that rank highest on our list of best paying freelance jobs, but you can also find lots more courses related to building an online business on Udemy.

There are a couple of rare exceptions to this:

• Your Udemy account must remain in good standing (ie. try not to get banned).
• The instructor removes the course from Udemy, or Udemy has to remove the course due to policy or legal reasons.

As noted, those seem to be RARE exceptions, though I have come across some complaints about the latter:

However, Udemy seems to be pretty cool about making amends if a course is removed. Judging by this message it’s possible to receive a refund or Udemy credit when it happens:

There are some minor exceptions to this as well, but overall it seems pretty solid.

I tested out Udemy’s refund policy myself and had my money back within 48 hours.

See below for more info about requesting a refund on Udemy

CRITICISMS OF UDEMY 👎

Frequent sales may sound like a good thing, but they happen so often that the “regular price” Udemy lists for each course can’t really be considered the regular price at all…

Some claim that Udemy’s constant discounting strategy may in fact be illegal:

You’ll find complaints about Udemy’s pricing practices all over the internet:

I spent some time figuring out the most reliable way to get Udemy courses at the best possible price and posted my findings here:

Udemy’s rating system sounds great in theory:

But in practice, course ratings on Udemy can be very misleading.

Take this course, for example:

Average rating of 4.5 based on more than 5500 reviews – that’s gotta be a great course, right?

• Wrong.

The course has only three hours of content, the instructor shows ZERO proof that he’s earned good money from affiliate marketing himself, and the preview videos were recorded way back in 2015.

Despite that, you still get new students dropping 5-star reviews:

Notice anything strange about those reviews?

They offer generic praise for the course, with no indication that the students have successfully implemented what they’ve learned or earned ANY money from affiliate marketing themselves.

Further skewing the ratings is the fact that Udemy always asks students to rate a course within a few minutes of starting it.

For example, I was asked to rate this course after only 14 minutes:

And I was asked to rate this one after I’d seen only 18% of it:

This helps explain why Udemy ratings can’t be trusted:

Udemy solicits ratings from students at a point where enthusiasm is high and knowledge is low, making a fair assessment of the course almost impossible.

Yes, Udemy does give students the option to update their rating of a course once they’ve completed all the lessons.

But given that fewer than 20% of people tend to complete online courses (source), it’s safe to say that the majority of course ratings on Udemy come from students who barely showed up for class.

Imagine looking up viewer ratings for a movie, knowing that 80% of the people who rated it only watched the first twenty minutes.

Would you trust the average rating for that movie?

Udemy claims they give more weight to ratings from students who actually finish the course, but that doesn’t appear to be enough.

Because almost every Udemy student has had the experience of a popular and highly-rated course falling far short of their expectations.

I came up with a simple formula to better evaluate courses on Udemy, without relying on Udemy’s flawed rating system, and without having to spend any money or waste hours looking through course materials.

The formula can be applied to any Udemy course in ~3 minutes.

I noticed this while looking for the best affiliate marketing courses on Udemy. 

I researched a bunch of the instructors and found either NO or VERY LITTLE evidence that any of them had made good money from affiliate marketing themselves.

This was the best I found:

Unfortunately, the creator of that course earned his money by (a) using cracked software to scrape email addresses, then (b) spamming thousands of people with his affiliate links.

His course shows you how to do the same 😕

Hence this review:

Yet somehow, the course still has an excellent overall rating:

Here’s another Udemy affiliate marketing course with an impressive average rating:

Mr. Andrew Williams calls himself an SEO expert, which means he should be excellent at driving free traffic to websites from search engines like Google.

But I checked out two of Andrew’s sites – his ezSEONews site, and the showcase site he builds within his Udemy course – and found that they receive a combined total of only 5 visitors per day from search engines.

Not what you’d expect from an “SEO expert.”

I wish Andrew was the only fake “expert” teaching affiliate marketing on Udemy, but he seems to be the rule rather than the exception.

Out of the ten affiliate marketing courses I researched on Udemy, I failed to find a single impressive website or significant affiliate earnings proof for ANY of the instructors 😕

Which goes to show: just because an instructor has a popular course on Udemy doesn’t mean they know what they’re talking about.

For example, this course is labeled as having been updated in 2019…

But you’ll find reviews complaining that it actually hasn’t been updated since 2015 (which I found to be true):

It was a similar story for most of the affiliate marketing courses I researched on Udemy.

Given that, you really can’t assume a Udemy course is up to date just because the “last updated” date is recent.

Here’s how Udemy describe their certificates:

Which is great.

But to judge by some courses on Udemy, certification is kind of a big deal:

Pro tip: be wary of any course on Udemy that emphasizes certification.

Udemy: Frequently Asked Questions

• Which Udemy course should I do first?
• Is the Udemy mobile app any good?
• Is Udemy accredited?
• Is Udemy safe to pay?
• How to request a refund on Udemy?
• Does Udemy have fake reviews?
• Which is better Udemy or Skillshare?
• How to download Udemy videos?
• How to pronounce Udemy?
• Is Udemy good for instructors?
• How to speed up Udemy videos
• Udemy keyboard shortcuts

These are the best courses related to online business that we’ve personally reviewed:

For more tips and recommendations:

We also keep a list of free Udemy courses here, updated daily.

And this list of course topics might help you find what you’re looking for:

• Development courses (app, software, web)
• Marketing courses
• Consulting courses
• WordPress courses
• SEO courses
• Copywriting courses
• Graphic Design courses
• Copy Editing courses
• Sales courses
• Salesforce courses

FYI: those are the skills/categories that rank highest on our list of best paying freelance jobs.

As you can see, the Udemy app has an excellent overall rating on both stores.

However, I tried going through one course myself using the iOS app, and it froze repeatedly. 

At one point, after downloading one of the video lessons in the app, I got stuck with a black screen:

I thought this might just be a problem with my phone, but I found reviews on both app stores reporting similar:

I gave up on using the Udemy app after only three lessons.

Even if it works fine for you, I still wouldn’t recommend using it for courses related to working online, because it’s harder to take notes and reference bonus material.

Also, as per Udemy’s refund policy, they only offer credit refunds on courses bought with the iOS app. So if you want the option of a cash refund, you should buy your courses via udemy.com.

They state as much on their Certificate of Completion page:

While Udemy doesn’t always get favorable reviews from students, they do have an A- rating from the Better Business Bureau:

That would be impossible to achieve without secure payment processing.

If you’re worried about phishing attacks, just make sure that you see udemy.com and a 🔒 icon at the start of your browser’s address bar when you buy a course:

Here are the different payment methods supported by Udemy (source):

To request a refund on a Udemy course you bought within the last 30 days, click into the course and find the request a refund option in the top-right menu.

Once you select that option, you’ll have to fill out a couple of forms to request your refund.

This is what it looked like for me…

Once I submitted that, the refund was processed and showed up on my credit card statement within 48 hours:

You can find more info about Udemy’s refund policy at support.udemy.com.

Some key points to be aware of:

• Udemy only offer credit refunds for courses bought through their iOS app.
• If you want to request a refund via the Udemy mobile app, go into the Help or FAQ section and open a support ticket there.

I outlined the issues with Udemy’s review and rating system above.

In short:

• Many of the reviews are generic, and don’t speak to actual results students have achieved.
• Students are asked to rate each course only a few minutes after starting it.

Another factor to consider is that most students buy courses for only $10-20 during Udemy’s many sales. And when you believe you’ve gotten a bargain, you’re more likely to leave a positive review, even if the course you bought wasn’t very good.

Overall, I believe the ratings and reviews on Udemy are misleading. 

Not because students or instructors are purposely manipulating them. But because Udemy’s review system is horribly flawed.

For a better way to evaluate a Udemy course, check out our 3-Factor Rating Formula.

I’d recommend starting with free Udemy courses.

If you don’t find what you’re looking for there, sign up for Skillshare’s 14-day free trial. You can rip through a ton of courses that way.

Or see my breakdown of Udemy vs Skillshare below

Here’s the official word from Udemy:

You’ll see this message on the website when trying to download a course video when downloading has NOT been enabled:

Presumably, when a course can be downloaded, you’ll be able to do it from there.

On the Udemy mobile app, you’ll see a menu like this to control your downloads:

When spoken quickly, Udemy almost sounds like you-to-me.

Others say it sounds more like you-dummy 😜

Here’s a video from Udemy’s official YouTube channel highlighting that their name is frequently mispronounced:

Another video from Udemy’s official YouTube channel starts with a clear pronunciation of the name:

For example, this instructor has earned as much as $15,000 per month from Udemy, and says the platform has been “totally life-changing”…

Meanwhile, you’ll find plenty of people saying that Udemy is terrible for instructors and should be avoided at all costs.

Like this guy:

You’ll find it in the bottom left corner:

You can also speed up and slow down videos on the mobile app.

(If for some reason the native Udemy speed control doesn’t work for you, try this speed hack.)

BOTTOM LINE

Is Udemy Worth It?

Never buy a course at full price because Udemy has a sitewide sale running approximately 60% of the time.

So if the course you want costs more than $20 right now, you can probably get it for less than that if you just wait a few days.

Check out this article for more money-saving info:

You should also be very selective about the courses you spend time on.

Because, as noted above, ratings and reviews of Udemy courses can be very misleading.

Here again are the best courses related to online business that we’ve personally reviewed:

Related articles:

• Best Udemy Courses
• Free Udemy Courses

I’ve researched and summarized the following sites like Udemy:

• Udacity
• Coursera
• LinkedIn Learning
• Skillshare
• YouTube

But first, let’s do a quick recap of Udemy itself…

Udemy Overview

Who’s Udemy for?

With 150,000+ courses on almost every subject imaginable, Udemy has something for everyone, from professionals to hobbyists.

Is Udemy any good?

The quality of courses vary greatly. Udemy is generally considered a decent place to start learning about a topic, but not to master it.

How much does Udemy cost?

Course prices vary, but most courses are available for $10-20 during frequent sales.

How many courses does Udemy have?

More than 150,000.

Who are the instructors on Udemy?

Anyone can become an instructor on Udemy. No professional credentials are required to create and publish a course on the platform.

What’s the deal with certification on Udemy?

Students receive a certificate of completion once they’ve finished going through all the materials in a course. But Udemy certificates are generally considered worthless.

How long are Udemy courses?

It varies a lot. 

Some contain only any hour of lessons, while the most popular digital marketing courses on Udemy run from 4 to 85 hours.

What’s the deal with reviews on Udemy?

They can be very misleading, as outlined here.

What’s the learning format on Udemy?

All the courses are presented primarily in video format, but some may have the occasional text lesson, PDF download, and/or quiz.

Can I get help from the instructors on Udemy?

Each course does have a place where you can post questions or comments, but there’s no guarantee an instructor will reply to you.

Udacity vs Udemy

Who’s Udacity for?

Udacity is geared more towards serious students looking to gain employment or start a business in the tech industry. 

Many of the courses are taught in collaboration with big-name tech companies like Amazon and Google.

Is Udacity any good?

The courses on Udacity are generally very high quality. Think college-level curriculum.

How much does Udacity cost?

The majority of the courses on Udacity are actually free.

(You’ll also find quite a lot of free course material posted to Udacity’s YouTube channel)

Nanodegree programs on Udacity cost $399 per month.

That price can vary depending on the program, some programs offer a free trial, and there are also payment plan options and the occasional special offer.

See here for more info on Udacity pricing »

How many courses does Udacity have?

Exact number unknown, but I counted 240 different courses listed on Udacity’s program catalog page.

Who are the instructors on Udacity?

Udacity has world-class instructors from big-name companies and institutions.

Udacity appears to have much stricter requirements than Udemy for becoming an instructor. You even have to include a resume as part of your application.

What’s the deal with certification on Udacity?

Free courses on Udacity don’t come with any certification (source). Nanodegrees do offer a certificate of completion (source).

Like Udemy, Udacity is NOT an accredited education institution (source), but a certification from Udacity is more likely to impress.

How long are Udacity courses?

It varies, but they are generally pretty long.

This big data course comes in on the low end at 10 hours, while this Web Developer Nanodegree clocks in at 4 months (5-10 hours per week).

What’s the deal with reviews on Udacity?

Having read through several reviews on multiple courses, student ratings and reviews on Udacity seem to be a reliable indicator of course quality.

Each course page shows you the total number of reviews and the average student rating.

What’s the learning format on Udacity?

Primarily video.

Nanodegree programs also consist of real-world projects and mentor interaction. 

Can I get help from the instructors on Udacity?

Not in the free courses. But the Nanodegree programs are quite heavy on teacher interaction and mentorship.

So is Udacity better than Udemy?

If you want to quickly explore a certain topic or understand the basics, choose Udemy. But if you’re looking to master a topic, Udacity will likely serve you better.

Coursera vs Udemy

Who’s Coursera for?

Coursera is geared more towards serious students looking to take university-level courses online.

Many of the courses are taught in collaboration with top academic institutions (eg. Stanford, Yale) and big-name companies (eg. Google, IBM).

Is Coursera any good?

The courses on Coursera are generally high quality. Think college-level curriculum.

How much does Coursera cost?

Coursera has several types of “learning program” and the costs break down like this:

• Course – $39+
• Specialization – $39+
• Professional Certificate – $39+
• MasterTrack Certificate – $2,000+
• Online Degree – $15,000+

There’s also a Coursera Plus plan, which gives you unlimited access to all courses, specializations and professional certificates for $399/year.

You can avail of a 7-day free trial on some courses, but note that most of the complaints I’ve seen about Coursera seem to be from people who still got billed after canceling their free trial.

Finally, Coursera does offer a handful of free courses, listed here.

How many courses does Coursera have?

Last I checked, an empty course search on Coursera returned a list of 4,436 courses.

Who are the instructors on Coursera?

All the instructors on Coursera seem to be from third-level educational institutions or big corporations. There is no info on the Coursera website about how to become a partner. 

What’s the deal with certification on Coursera?

You receive a certificate for completing any paid course on Coursera. But, according to Coursera, those certificates “do not provide professional or academic credits.”

However, it’s noted on Coursera’s about page that MasterTrack Certificate courses “can count toward a master’s degree,” and Online Degree course, allow you to “earn an accredited university bachelor or master’s degree.”

How long are Coursera courses?

It varies.

On the low end you have a Data Analysis with Python course that takes ~12 hours to complete.

On the high end, an online degree via Coursera can take four years to complete.

What’s the deal with reviews on Coursera?

You can see the total number of ratings and the average rating for individual courses on Coursera.

I didn’t find an easy way to click through to all the reviews, but if you add /reviews to the URL of the course info page, you should be able to see them all.

Example: https://www.coursera.org/learn/python/reviews

From what I’ve seen, the ratings and reviews on Coursera are trustworthy.

What’s the learning format on Coursera?

Many of the individual courses are in video format.

Expect a lot of written course material and practical project work in the MasterTrack Certificate and Online Degree programs.

Can I get help from the instructors on Coursera?

Don’t expect any help in the free courses. Generally speaking, the more you pay, the more personalized help and instruction you’ll receive.

So is Coursera better than Udemy?

In some ways, yes. 

Coursera courses are much more professional and in-depth, and if you sign up for Coursera Plus at $399/year you stand to receive a lot more value so long as you put the time in.

Udemy is a better choice if you want to quickly explore a certain topic or understand the basics.

LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) vs Udemy

Who’s LinkedIn Learning for?

While Udemy provides a broad range of courses for hobbyists and professionals, courses on LinkedIn Learning are focused on professional development.

Is LinkedIn Learning any good?

Lynda.com was acquired by LinkedIn in 2015 and merged with LinkedIn Learning in 2017. 

Reviews of Lynda.com were mixed but reviews of LinkedIn Learning have been generally positive.

However, it’s hard to tell if a specific course on LinkedIn Learning is worthwhile, as ratings and reviews are not shown.

How much does LinkedIn Learning cost?

For $20-30/month you can get access to their full course catalog, or you can buy lifetime access to individual courses for about $20 apiece.

There’s a 1-month free trial, so you can take a whole bunch of courses for $0 if you like.

Some LinkedIn Learning courses are freely available aside from the free trial, but there doesn’t seem to be a complete list of them. Best I could find was this list of ten free courses via the LL blog.

How many courses does LinkedIn Learning have?

15,000+

Who are the instructors on LinkedIn Learning?

Anyone can apply to be an instructor. Applicants must submit a sample video and there’s no guarantee they will be accepted.

What’s the deal with certification on LinkedIn Learning?

You will receive a certificate of completion for every course you complete on LinkedIn Learning (source).

LL certificates will probably make more of an impression than Udemy certificates, but ultimately none of them mean very much.

That said, LinkedIn Learning does offer some certification prep and continuing education units (CEUs). See here for more info.

How long are LinkedIn Learning courses?

It varies.

Some courses run less than 10 minutes. The longest course I’ve seen clocks in at almost 27 hours.

I’d say the average course is 2-3 hours.

What’s the deal with reviews on LinkedIn Learning?

They don’t show you any ratings or reviews for the courses.

All you can see are the number of people who have viewed the course, and how many members have liked it:

What’s the learning format on LinkedIn Learning?

Mainly video.

Some courses have quizzes and practice files.

Can I get help from the instructors on LinkedIn Learning?

There is a Q&A section inside each course, where you can ask the instructor and/or other students questions related to the course.

But there’s no guarantee you’ll get a response.

So is LinkedIn Learning better than Udemy?

It’s hard to tell since LinkedIn Learning don’t show course ratings, but it’s fair to assume that the courses on LL are generally better than those on Udemy.

It’s also tough to beat the $20-30 monthly fee for full access to the entire LL catalog.

Given all that, I’d recommend signing up to the free trial of LinkedIn Learning before buying any course on Udemy.

Think of it this way: 3 courses on Udemy will cost you at least $30, whereas you can get 2 months of access to all the courses on LinkedIn Learning for the same price.

Skillshare vs Udemy

Who’s Skillshare for?

Skillshare is similar to Udemy in that it has courses on almost every topic imaginable.

However, Skillshare does lean a bit more towards creative-oriented topics, such as animation, design and photography.

Is Skillshare any good?

Like Udemy, anyone can create and publish a course on Skillshare.

Which means the courses are hit and miss 😕

How much does Skillshare cost?

• You can get 14 days free with this link

After that, it’s $15 per month or $99/year ($8.25 per month).

There’s no option to buy courses individually so once you stop paying your Skillshare subscription you lose access to all courses (source).

How many courses does Skillshare have?

About 30,000 according to Wikipedia.

Who are the instructors on Skillshare?

Anyone can create and publish a class on Skillshare, so any random Joe can be an instructor on there.

Skillshare does have some famous instructors though, like Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk.

What’s the deal with certification on Skillshare?

There is none (source).

How long are Skillshare courses?

It varies a lot.

For example, web development courses on Skillshare range from 20 minutes to 12 hours.

What’s the deal with reviews on Skillshare?

Skillshare doesn’t show an overall rating for each course.

Instead they show you this kind of thing:

That system isn’t great, but it’s enough to give you a decent feel for each course.

What’s the learning format on Skillshare?

Primarily video.

Can I get help from the instructors on Skillshare?

There is a discussion area within each course, but there’s no guarantee your question/comment will get answered.

So is Skillshare better than Udemy?

Because the quality of the courses is so varied on both platforms, it’s hard to say.

But I’d recommend starting with Skillshare since you can rip through a ton of courses with their 14-day free trial.

YouTube vs Udemy

Who’s YouTube for?

Anyone who wants to watch video online.

Is YouTube any good?

For learning stuff, it can be.

But the content quality on YouTube varies even more widely than on Udemy.

You can find some incredible instructional videos on all kinds of topics on YouTube, but overall you’re less likely to find gold here than you are on Udemy.

How much does YouTube cost?

It’s free.

But the free version of YouTube means you’ll be constantly exposed to a ton of advertising. 

YouTube Premium costs $12/month and gets rid of the ads.

How many courses does YouTube have?

Complete courses are few and far between on YouTube.

But apparently 500 hours of content are uploaded to the platform every minute (source), so there’s a very good chance you’ll find a video covering the topic you need help with.

Who are the instructors on YouTube?

Anyone can create and publish a video on YouTube.

They can even do so anonymously.

What’s the deal with certification on YouTube?

That’s not a thing.

How long are YouTube videos?

It varies a lot.

You’ll find plenty of short instructional videos on there, as well as multi-hour tutorials and walk-throughs.

What’s the deal with reviews on YouTube?

You can usually tell if a video is worth watching based on:

• Number of views
• Number of likes vs dislikes
• How many subscribers to the channel

What’s the learning format on YouTube?

All video.

Can I get help from the instructors on YouTube?

You can comment on the videos and you might hear back. 

You might also be able to find contact info for a YouTuber via their channel, and can try asking them a question that way.

So is YouTube better than Udemy?

For some things, yes.

YouTube is quick and easy to use, and the sheer volume of content means you’re likely to find something helpful on there.

The trouble with YouTube though is that the content is all over the place. There are very few step-by-step video courses on there. 

If you don’t mind scattered, patchwork learning, then YouTube is great. 

Otherwise, it can be worth paying for a solid course on Udemy.