Coursera vs. Pluralsight Skills

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Coursera
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Coursera is an online catalog of learning content, available to businesses to help them to strengthen critical skills, Develop, retain, and advance critical talent, or use role-based assessments to identify skills gaps and advancement opportunities.
$399
per year per user (for less than 125 employees)
Pluralsight Skills
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Pluralsight Skills is a skill development solution that enables employees to build in-demand skills in a way that’s personalized to their current knowledge and preferred way to learn. The course library includes content on software development, DevOps, machine learning, security infrastructure, and cloud, as well as certification practice exams, hands on learning experiences and cloud labs, and skills assessments.
$29
per month
Pricing
CourseraPluralsight Skills
Editions & Modules
Coursera for Teams
$399
per year per user (for less than 125 employees)
Coursera for Business
Contact Sales
Individual - Standard
$29.00
per month
Individual - Premium
$45.00
per month
Team - Professional
$579.00
per user, per year
Team - Enterprise
$779.00
per user, per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CourseraPluralsight Skills
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CourseraPluralsight Skills
Considered Both Products
Coursera
Chose Coursera
Many other LMS systems, including Blackboard, and Canvas, have been examined or utilized by us in the past. Each has advantages and disadvantages, but I believe Coursera is an attractive option for any company because of its well-known brand and global presence of high-level …
Chose Coursera
We've looked at or used many different LMS platforms including Blackboard, Learnshare, Canvas, Cornerstone, SABA, and many others. Each has its pros & cons but I feel Coursera given its brand recognition and built-in following it's a great value for any organization. I would …
Chose Coursera
I like Coursera because it has lots of high quality contents I can use. I learn a lot from the professors from the top universities in the world. Coursera also has generous policy of financial aids. I am thankful for that policy that makes my learning on Coursera more reachable.
Chose Coursera
Coursera has been the only tool of its kind I've used intensively. I've seen video lectures from other learning providers and while they can be effective, what makes Coursera special to me is its interactivity and creative ways to allow the student to solve problems and gain …
Chose Coursera
Coursera has a wider variety of courses and more institutions as partners. The certifications Coursera gives, have more value than other brands.
Chose Coursera
I like Coursera much better than Udemy. The user interface of Coursera is much better. I also feel the content of Coursera is little bit better than udemy.
Chose Coursera
I think Coursera has the best overall interface. I think you will find that different platforms go in different directions, and have different specialities. For the most part the differences are more in the types of courses they offer than one being particularly better than the …
Chose Coursera
Coursera has wide range of disciplines and some subjects other MOOC platforms do not have. I am using Coursera along with other online educational platforms and courses to arrange courses on a complex schedule. Coursera has a free option (free listener) where students are able …
Chose Coursera

There is a Mentor Course, for those chosen that have been good at some courses. You can find almost everything (talking about courses), of lots of topics and categories. It's simply amazing. You can learn a lot, even if you don't pay for the certificate.


Chose Coursera
Obviously, Coursera lacks some of the formal credentials that a college or university degree offers. It also has limitations when it comes to a broad scope curated academic course that a university degree offers. However, it does afford users who couldn't afford a full-on …
Pluralsight Skills
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Lynda is a very similar experience. Used it for a very short time and it was tied to classes at a university that I was taking. I think overall it would be very comparable. We only watched small segments that the instructors of the class found to be relevant. It was also great …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
It had more discounted offers back then... and still, more marketing is done. It's cheaper than LinkedIn Learning.

Downside, PluralSight is more [theoretical] than hands-on.
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Before using Pluralsight, staff was using YouTube to help them with developing certain aspects of their knowledge. However, YouTube is much less structured/organized than Pluralsight. Pluralsight has a very wide offering of courses and it has lot of good content. One quick …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight does a much better job of delivery and course paths.
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight is simply more robust and makes more sense for an organization like ours where we want our employees to have the freedom to explore a wide variety of disciplines, and the adaptability to start/stop courses at any skill level. On a trial basis, the feedback from our …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
They provide a lot of courses, but not every course is given and explained in detail like Pluralsight does.
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight offers a much stronger technology learning opportunity than Lynda.com, but lags behind Lynda.com in its soft skills training. As a technical manager, I often recommend Pluralsight to my engineers for learning new skills but will use Lynda.com myself for improving my …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Although alternative e-learning platforms, such as Coursera, offer a wide variety of learning topics, their broad reach and extensive list subject matter clutters their platform. Unlike Pluralsight, Coursera offers a more classic / regimented style of online learning. It's very …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Treehouse and Pluralsight are in similar realms: video content for technology professionals. They're different in that Treehouse is geared towards beginners and people looking to switch careers to break into the industry and Pluralsight is better suited for seasoned …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight offers a broad range of courses with high-quality content and features that surpass those of Udemy. My organization has adopted Pluralsight and built trust in it, especially with its strong offerings at the organizational level. In contrast, Udemy focuses more on …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
I think pluralsight's price point is a little better, and I think the depth and breadth of classes offered is oriented more towards my field than Coursera. While Coursera has a nicer interface, Pluralsight, at the time, had more classes and seems to be designed for enterprise …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight has a broader offering, from design and drawing to enterprise software development. It offers content from professionals to professionals on well known technologies.
Most other competitors focus on few technologies and the offering is not as rich. They also don't …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
I often purchase courses on from Udemy when I don't see the content I need from Pluralsight. For example, When I needed to learn AngularJS, Pluralsight had many courses but the ones on Udemy quickly explained what they were going to build in the course and they provided small …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight is a great training resource and it was offered at the college. Before being a faculty member, I found free videos from Pluralsight (then, digital tutors) via YouTube and thought they were very helpful.
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Lynda is only a half-assesed online course whereas Pluralsight has a robust catalog of courses.
Features
CourseraPluralsight Skills
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Coursera
8.8
Ratings
3% above category average
Pluralsight Skills
7.9
Ratings
8% below category average
Course authoring8.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Course catalog or library9.10 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Player/Portal8.90 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Learning content9.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications9.20 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics8.00 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Social learning8.90 Ratings4.50 Ratings
eLearning Content
Comparison of eLearning Content features of Product A and Product B
Coursera
-
Ratings
Pluralsight Skills
10.0
Ratings
17% above category average
Structured Learning00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Course Searches00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
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Enterprises
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User Ratings
CourseraPluralsight Skills
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
CourseraPluralsight Skills
Likelihood to Recommend
It's absolutely ideal for programming. Today, most programming environments are available for free and enthusiasts can tinker with programming on their own. But Coursera structures that process and presents iteratively more complex assignments to the student. I found it useful for non-programming. I took a refresher Calculus course and the user was able to enter solutions symbolically which I found impressive.
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Awesome tool for teams looking to gain new skills or refine and update existing skills. I love the convenience of using this tool for recertification credits (i.e. PMP). Instead of identifying which classes I need to take, I can identify my interests and have recommendations presented for what paths I should take. It is a really helpful tool to create ladders for my team to transition from one role into the next. I think this is going to be a really beneficial tool.
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Pros
  • Coursera's courses are extremely good. They are well designed and being a full time employee I really appreciate the fact of how well they are designed.
  • They have made sure that everybody gets enough time to complete it.
  • There is an active community which is very helpful. No matter how good a teaching material is, you might always need extra help. This community can answer your question. And also this becomes extremely relevant if you are taking programming courses
  • There are assignments to test your skills. This is a great way to evaluate yourself. At this point if you feel like you haven't understood something, you can always go back and refer the videos. Most of these assignments can be applied to real world problems as well which is great
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  • Pluralsight courses are delivered at a self-directed pace, enabling users to stop, rewind, or fast forward, depending on their familiarity with the content.
  • Pluralsight offers a wide variety of technical courses, providing opportunities to explore new skill areas beyond engineers' current responsibilities.
  • Pluralsight is available on most platforms, providing a high level of accessibility to the content.
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Cons
  • If you leave the projects for the weekends, your Sunday nights could be a drag. But I list this as a benefit also, it enforces discipline on the learning process.
  • I hope Coursera continues to offer no-cost and low-cost learning opportunities.
  • I honestly can't think of any serious deficiency in the product. I am a huge fan.
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  • Finding ways to make courses more interactive and less lecture oriented would be helpful.
  • Quality of video and audio lectures could use updating to meet current expectations.
  • Continuing to stay on the bleeding edge of technology. Some classes can be outdated.
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Likelihood to Renew
It’s marvelous.
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Great product and service so far. Awesome new content almost every week.
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Usability
User-friendly and developer-friendly Web UI.
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Very, VERY easy to use.
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Support Rating
I’ve used it a couple of times and... that did great. They take their time, but in the end they solve your issues.
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Each feedback I do for them, I get no response. Minimal communication and followups!
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Implementation Rating
Coursera is familiar, intuitive, compatible and easy to use and implement.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
We've looked at or used many different LMS platforms including Blackboard, Learnshare, Canvas, Cornerstone, SABA, and many others. Each has its pros & cons but I feel Coursera given its brand recognition and built-in following it's a great value for any organization. I would not want to build out an entire MBA or other MASTERS level online program on it but it is a great way to allow potential students to experience your institutions content for a low price (of free).
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Treehouse and Pluralsight are in similar realms: video content for technology professionals. They're different in that Treehouse is geared towards beginners and people looking to switch careers to break into the industry and Pluralsight is better suited for seasoned professionals that want to hone skills and learn enterprise-level topics. Treehouse is able to really simplify a topic for almost anyone to understand. They clearly have a standard that all teachers ("authors") must follow. After a section, there's a good chance you'll take a short quiz to make sure you understand what you heard. Quizzes are not just multiple choice, you might also have to write a piece of code that accomplishes a goal that was just discussed. Pluralsight has professional and expert level content that Treehouse does not. There's not a strict standard that all authors ("teachers") must follow for providing content. Authors tend to have their own style of teaching. Very few of the courses will quiz you on comprehension. You are more responsible for your understanding of the information.
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Return on Investment
  • The greatest benefit of Coursera is access to quality courses on various subjects that you can either browse or dive in deeply. Customizable, flexible and accessible.
  • Helps our department to recommend trainees courses on this website and gain important knowledge. Also, the courses are provided by big-name universities which helps students in their careers
  • Developing and exploring professional skills.
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  • Pluralsight is truly cost-effective for staying relevant. An annual Pluralsight subscription for an entire team is far more cost-effective than sending one individual to in-person training for a week.
  • When we need to get up to speed on a technology, our Pluralsight subscription is right at hand. One quick search and we can get started. This helps us shorten the learning curve. Trying to find an in-person course has become difficult because the market has mostly transitioned to online courses.
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