Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: Which eLearning Platform is Better?

Are you comparing Udemy and LinkedIn Learning? Which online learning platform is better?

It’s not always easy to choose the right e-learning platform. This is especially true when the platforms share many common features. One of the most popular learning platforms is Udemy, while another is LinkedIn Learning (formerly called Lynda). Hopefully, this detailed comparison will help you decide whether you should sign up for Udemy or LinkedIn Learning.

If you have questions, such as: What are the prices? Is Udemy more affordable than LinkedIn Learning? How can I use it to advance professionally?

If you have questions, this report will answer them.

In this comparison of Udemy and LinkedIn Learning, we will cover the following topics.

Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: Popularity

Popularity is not really a category that should influence our decisions. We all know that popular products and services have their time in the sun. Do you remember blackberries? When did they lose their popularity?

Basically, it’s a good way to identify the most popular e-learning platforms among users and assess the market.

As you can see from the graph above, Udemy is ahead of LinkedIn Learning in popularity.

Founded in 2010, Udemy now has over 40 million students and offers more than 180,000 courses. Courses are available in 65 languages and range from business to health & fitness.

Lynda.com and LinkedIn merged in 2017 to form LinkedIn Learning. More than 16,000 courses are available in Business, Creative and Technology. Courses can be taken at your own pace as they are self-paced.

Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: User Interface & Ease of Use

Would not it be nice to have a clean, easy-to-navigate interface? You and I can probably agree on that. We will see which platform wins out.

The platform is easier to navigate if it has a clean and well-organised interface. Let us see which one is the easiest.

Registration

Signing up for Udemy is really easy. All you have to do is enter your email address, password and name. You just need to check and confirm your confirmation email from Udemy, which you will receive immediately or shortly after signing up.

With LinkedIn Learning, signing up is easier, especially if you already have a LinkedIn.com account. Signing up is as simple as entering your email address and password.

To sign in to LinkedIn.com, click Sign in now, enter an email address and password, and click Agree & Sign in.

Backend and design

You’ll quickly notice how easy it is to navigate Udemy’s clean design and find what you are looking for once you have registered. In the upper left corner of the landing page, you’ll see the categories and the subcategories Students are viewing and Top categories.

The LinkedIn Learnings platform has a modern and attractive design, similar to Udemy. I find the branding and illustrations particularly appealing.

The landing page lists several courses, including Trending Courses, Trending Illustration Courses, and Trending Spreadsheet Courses.

It’s hard to choose between Udemy and LinkedIn Learning because both have attractive, clean designs. It’s easy to find what you are looking for in both user interfaces, because they are clearly laid out.

Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: Courses

It’s hard to decide which platform offers the best courses. Let us compare Udemy and LinkedIn Learning and find out who is the winner.

Since there are so many categories and courses, it’s not always easy to find what you are looking for. On some e-learning platforms, you can find your desired course easier than on others.

On both Udemy and LinkedIn Learning, there are clear and concise course descriptions, along with

with details about the course content, but let us take a closer look at what else they offer below.

In addition to over 155,000 courses, Udemy offers dozens of categories and subcategories. Udemy lets you filter by ratings (I find this particularly helpful), video duration, topic, subcategory, level, and language.

It’s also helpful to read reviews written by previous students. New users can easily see the popularity of courses using the standard 0-5 star rating system.

In addition, each course includes a free video introduction that you can watch to familiarize yourself with the course structure and instructor.

LinkedIn Learning offers over 16,700 courses on business, technology, and creativity topics. Although the filtering system is not as detailed as Udemy’s, you can select Sort by, Level, Type, Time to Completion, and Software. This way you can easily find what you are looking for.

You can watch an overview of the introduction as well as the first few minutes of the first chapter. This course is the best way to get a feel for the material.

It’s a hard choice, but Udemy offers more courses and has a smarter filtering system, so the choice goes to Udemy.

Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: Free Courses

Where can I find the best free courses? is one of the most frequently asked questions.

Honestly, it depends on what exactly you are looking for in a free course. You can select subject, subcategory, level and language when searching for free courses on Udemy.

Udemy’s free courses offer a simplified learning experience compared to paid courses. There are some limitations, and you will not receive a certificate or be able to answer questions.

Below are just some of the topics and subcategories where Udemy offers free courses:

• WordPress (17)
• Excel (13)
• HTML (10)
• Personal Productivity (10)
• Meditation (9)
• Goal Setting (8)
• JavaScript (8)
• Personal Development (8)
• HTML5 (7)
• Investing (6)

LinkedIn Learning does not officially offer free courses, but it does offer a 1-month free trial. Monthly or annual membership gives you 14 days of free access to over 16,000 courses.

Best of all, you actually get full access, including completion certificates, practice files, and quizzes, as well as full access to LinkedIn Premium.

LinkedIn Learning offers a free one-month trial that gives you full access to all the tools. Plus, the 1-month time frame is a real incentive to try out the courses. This award goes to LinkedIn Learning.

Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: Available Languages

There are localized versions of Udemy for Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and Thai. However, as a Udemy teacher, you can create a custom language for any course you want.

On YouTube you can find videos for LinkedIn Learning courses in English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese (simplified) and Portuguese. It’s important to note that some courses and features are not available in every language.

On the LinkedIn Learning home page (see image above), you can change the language of your account.

This one goes to Udemy.

Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: Certificates

The course itself is great for most students, but having a certificate to show for it is even better.

Regardless of whether most platforms offer this certificate, its overall value in job search or career advancement is best determined by the online institution that carries the most weight upon completion of the course.

LinkedIn Learning’s certificate of completion seems to carry some weight or relevance in the marketplace, but you are sorely mistaken. Neither do the courses transfer to a real school, nor are they of much relevance to a resume, as they are not accredited.

However, the fact remains that earning a certificate after completing an educational course has more than a few benefits. Some of the school’s courses qualify for CEUs, also known as continuing education units, which can count toward some of the school’s other courses.

Similarly, students who complete a course receive a badge that appears on their LinkedIn profile. It’s not a sure-fire way to get a job, but it carries real weight and is taken into account.

The Udemy platform does not have many of these qualities. Since the course instructors are not verified, there is no way to verify that the course was completed. In the real world, the certificate is weaker when it comes to negotiating for a job.

LinkedIn Learning wins again. Although this certificate is not as strong as Udemy’s, it is much more weighty and credible.

Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: Course Quality & Instructors

When choosing an e-learning platform, it is not only important to choose the right course. An inspiring teacher or instructor who delivers top-notch content can not only make your learning experience memorable, but also engage and motivate you.

You can teach courses on Udemy if you have a passion for the subject and are knowledgeable about it. When you click on your chosen course, you’ll find a short article about the instructor, as well as ratings and reviews from students. You can even send a message to some course instructors.

After the instructor creates the course and its content, Udemy reviews the course and you receive feedback. All Udemy courses require a minimum of five lectures and 30 minutes of video content.

Since anyone can become a Udemy instructor, the quality of instructors and courses on the platform is not always consistent.

To become a LinkedIn Learning instructor, an application form and sample video are required. You will work closely with LinkedIn Learning’s production, direction, and editorial teams to create high-quality course content if you are accepted as a course instructor.

The point goes to LinkedIn Learning because they have higher quality guarantees for accepting course instructors and work closely with you to produce the course content.

Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: Customer Support

As for the platforms, the fact is that they need good support, both from the help and support staff themselves and from the trainers.

In most cases, it does not matter how good your content is, if little help is provided, the benefit is limited.

As for support, you will not find as much as you would expect. LinkedIn Learning is not the worst provider on the market, but it’s not the best when it comes to making sure you actually “get” the material. Support cannot be contacted via chat, but is mainly available via email or the main support page.

Students get a little better support from their instructors, but that’s not great either. The instructors can answer the students’ questions, but not so much in a personal conversation.

Instead, the courses have a forum where students can ask the instructor questions after class. This is helpful, but not on a platform such as Coursera.

On the other hand, Udemy is not nearly as effective. While LinkedIn Learning offers the same method of contacting support, Udemy has been consistently reported to have long wait times between responses, meaning you will not hear back from Udemy for several days, likely with the need for a follow-up taking a bit longer.

The reason for this is the extremely high number of students compared to the small support base. Still, you will not hear from them for quite a while.

There is a larger mix when it comes to instructors. However, since anyone can become an instructor on this site, students are likely to encounter instructors who are simply trying to talk them into a foreign course instead of making sure they understand the material.

And even if an instructor is reputable, that does not change the fact that they probably do not have the same knowledge as a LinkedIn Learning instructor who has been vetted for suitability before teaching.

Overall, LinkedIn Learning is rather mediocre in terms of support. There is no live chat support and most instructor support is given to other students immediately after a lesson.

That said, Udemy is even worse as a support structure with its uncertified instructors and long wait times.

LinkedIn Learning is the winner in this area.

Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: Business Plans

It has become quite popular for companies and organizations to offer training and development opportunities to their employees. LinkedIn Learning and Udemy offer these services.

At Udemy for Business, Team and Enterprise plans are available.

Small businesses and growing teams (5-20 users) benefit from the Team plan. Access to more than 5,500 courses is included in this plan and costs $360 (plus tax) per user per year (minimum 5 users required).

Larger companies and organizations (21+ users) benefit from the Enterprise plan. More than 5,500 courses, custom themes, user groups and more are available. For pricing and a free demo, contact Udemy Sales.

LinkedIn Learning offers business-related content just like Udemy. LinkedIn Learning sales can provide more information if you and your team are interested in this offering. Learning at LinkedIn focuses on personalizing content, driving engagement, and creating a seamless learning experience. Pricing is individual and you can only get a quote by contacting sales.

Udemy offers a range of business plans for small and large teams. Again, the pricing is transparent.

Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: Pricing

Your platform should have a reasonable price level. A high price discourages students from taking full advantage of the course, making all of its benefits insignificant.

LinkedIn Learning is a subscription-based model. Instead of paying for individual courses, students pay for full access to their content library.

It is possible to choose between two options. Rates can be paid either monthly or annually. The monthly rate is approximately $29.99. The annual rate, on the other hand, is $220. That’s a savings of $139 and definitely worth considering.

Alternatively, Udemy offers a “one-time payment” option. Instead of paying for the entire library, students pay for each individual class. The price ranges from $20 to $200 or more.

As a result, Udemy often offers numerous discounts on its courses, often at 95% off, and some are even free. The result is that Udemy is by far the most affordable MOOC platform available to students today.

Even though LinkedIn Learning is an affordable option for most students, it simply does not offer the same variety.

Udemy, on the other hand, offers thousands of courses that are either heavily discounted or completely free. Plus, since there’s only one payment per course, students can keep the courses forever without worrying about losing them.

Overall, Udemy offers the best price-to-content ratio of all online course providers.

Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning: Best Alternatives

After reading this article, you may have realized that neither Udemy nor LinkedIn Learning are what you were looking for. Do not worry, because I have considered some other highly regarded platforms for you.

Skillshare

With its subscription plan, LinkedIn Learning is similar to Skillshare. With its paid premium membership, Skillshare offers a one-month free trial. Skillshare stands out from other platforms because of its highly engaged community of learners. Many of the courses are interactive and fun thanks to participant ratings.

Anyone who wants to develop new skills or improve existing ones can take a course on Skillshare. Skillshare offers not only individual courses, but also business and team plans.

Coursera

Coursera can be an attractive option for students seeking an accredited certificate, as it partners with post-secondary educational institutions such as Stanford, Imperial College London, or Duke College.

You can take most Coursera courses for free, but if you want to earn a certificate, you will have to pay for it. There are different types of e-learning courses, including individual courses ($29 to $100), specializations ($39 to $89 per month), and Coursera subscriptions ($399).

edX

The edX platform offers courses from world-class universities such as MIT, Berkeley and Harvard. Because it is an accredited organization, edX offers official degrees.

There are a variety of free courses on the platform, but if you want an edX certificate of completion, you will have to pay for the course (between $50 and $300).

Final Verdict: Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning

Now that you have learned about the Udemy and LinkedIn Learning platforms, you can understand them better. We have answered any questions or concerns you may have had. Let me briefly summarize each platform.

There are over 180,000 courses available on Udemy, and prices for individual courses range from $9 to $199. LinkedIn Learning offers individual courses at prices ranging from $20 to $50 (including VAT); there is also a monthly subscription plan for $39.99 or an annual plan for $26.99.

With a catalog of more than 16,000 courses, LinkedIn Learning specializes in business, technology and creativity.

Udemy is for you if you want:

• A wide range of courses available
• Courses at a reasonable price
• Refund policy of 30 days

LinkedIn Learning is for you if you want:

• The topics you are interested in are Business, Creative and Technology.
• Try 16,000+ courses for free for a month
• View courses offline with the mobile app