If you’re an online learner, then you have probably already heard about Udemy.
It’s the largest e-learning platform in the world.
With more than 130.000 affordable courses on almost any imaginable topic and millions of users, it is a secure platform that helps you learn at your own pace.
But as you may know, Udemy doesn’t come without its faults.
It doesn’t offer certifications for its courses, and some of the courses are pretty low-quality.
So, you’re looking for the best sites like Udemy that offer the benefits Udemy doesn’t?
Grab your pencil and start learning with these Udemy alternatives.
15 Best Sites Like Udemy
Look at these Udemy alternatives if you want to start learning now.
1. Coursera
Coursera is known as one of the world’s most popular e-learning sites.
The biggest advantage of Coursera is that you’ll be able to get certifications for the courses you complete – provided you pay for the course.
You can audit almost any course for free on Coursera, although you won’t be taking tests and getting certifications.
Even though this site doesn’t have as many courses as Udemy, it’s fair to say that most of its materials are deeper.
Much deeper. In fact, most courses are taught by university professors from some of the biggest unis in the US, but also around the globe.
On Coursera, you’ll find courses on business, marketing, computer science, arts and humanities, data science, IT, and even some personal development courses.
Coursera is one of the best sites like Udemy, and you can give it a test ride by auditing courses first for free, and then get your certificates as you please (you’ll have to take the tests and assignments first inside individual courses).
Note: Check out our comparison of Udemy vs LinkedIn Learning vs Coursera here if you want to read more about how Coursera stacks up against Udemy.
Skillshare is known as a more creative Udemy alternative.
On this platform, you’ll find hundreds of free courses that will help you inspire your creative buds.
From animation, creative writing, to graphic design and illustration, Skillshare has it all.
On top of that, many of the courses are free, although you can unlock some longer courses with Skillshare Premium.
The great thing about this subscription is that it’s relatively inexpensive, and Skillshare often offers long trial periods for new users.
With this site, you’ll learn by doing.
The courses are taught by professionals in their fields – even though they’re not professors like on Coursera.
So if you’re a creative person, or you’d like to brush up on your creative skills or learn them from scratch, then Skillshare is your go-to Udemy alternative.
Here’s how it stacks up against Udemy in more detail.
3. Khan Academy
If you’re looking for a more affordable Udemy alternative, then Khan Academy will be right up your alley.
Khan Academy is the pinnacle of free online learning.
It works on a non-profit basis, so it only collects your earnings from donations.
This means that you’ll have hundreds of fantastic courses available completely for free!
Most of the courses are relatively short, and they’re divided into smaller chunks that are easily digestible thanks to a beginner-friendly approach.
Lately, Khan Academy has added a lot of materials for Elementary Grade and High School students, too.
So if you have a child eager to learn, then you can use this site, too.
So you can satisfy your learning needs with Khan Academy completely for free, although you might not achieve the same level of depth as you would on Coursera, for instance, or even on Udemy.
4. Masterclass
What do names like Gordon Ramsay, Steph Curry, Serena Williams, Malcolm Gladwell have in common? Money? Fame?
You could argue they have both, but there’s one more thing they have in common: they all have their own masterclass courses.
Masterclass is an online learning platform where superstars and celebrities teach their skills.
It’s the classic case of “been there done that” as they show us how they got to the top with their skills – and you can learn their secrets and skills with Masterclass.
So you’re taught by the best in the world, but at what cost?
Well, Masterclass is not that expensive considering the number of choices you have.
If you get a yearly subscription for just $180 per year ($15 per month), you’ll have access to ALL of the courses on Masterclass.
Most of the courses on this platform are for personal development, or for learning more about your hobby, for example.
You can learn everything from cooking, gardening, acting, to comedy, music, guitar playing, skating (Tony Hawk), negotiating (Chris Voss) – anything you like.
Read our Masterclass review to learn even more about this site.
5. LinkedIn Learning
If you want to sharpen your professional skills, then LinkedIn Learning is a lovely platform to learn on.
It’s available for a modest monthly fee ($29.99 after a month of a free trial), and you get access to all of the courses on the platform with this subscription.
This platform was formerly known as Lynda, but it became a part of LinkedIn a few years ago.
Today, it’s the go-to learning platform for those in business but also for people who want to learn new things to help them further their careers.
For instance, you can learn professional skills like writing, programming, or others, or you can go for courses like mastering interviews or perhaps improving your mindset.
LI Learning has three main course categories: Business, Creative, and Technology.
Most of the courses will belong to Business and Technology, but you’ll find some nice creative courses, too.
Most of them will be for work, so you probably won’t find many that will teach you about your hobbies.
If you haven’t used it yet, you can try it for a month for free, and then you can decide if you want to keep going for $29.99.
You’ll get certificates added to your CV and to your LinkedIn profile, so that’s a bonus.
6. Codecademy
Codecademy offers you the best shot of learning how to code for free.
It’s made by programming experts that have gone through the same learning processes that you’re about to embark on if you join this site.
Note that basic courses and most of the content is available for free, but you also have the Pro subscription at $14.99 per month, which grants you access to some additional courses, course contents, and more support from members, as well as real-life projects to help you learn even more.
You’ll be able to learn all of the 12 main programming languages: Python, HTML, PLC, CSS, Java, C++, SQL, Ruby, PHP, and others.
So it has a nice catalog for learning new programming languages, and if you’re serious, you can always upgrade to the Pro version to get even more contents.
You can also opt to pay $199 for certificates at the end of each advanced course. This certificate is very valuable, and it can be added to your CV, too.
There’s no doubt that Codecademy is arguably one of the best resources you’ll find online if you want to learn how to code.
7. edX
edX is much like Coursera in terms of the courses it offers.
Most of them are taught by professors from some of the largest universities in the world.
It has more than 3000 courses altogether on many different topics ranging from Law, Science, and many other topics you’d normally find at a uni.
Now, most courses are free for you to attend.
However, some courses might also cost anywhere from $50 to $300, depending on the topic of the course and how much you get from it.
These premium courses will provide you with a nice certificate upon completion.
These certificates are normally tied to the university or college that teaches them.
It will make a nice addition to your CV, but more importantly, you’ll take away a lot from them.
What’s more, you’ll be able to get feedback from students as well as from the teachers.
This is mostly seen in the paid courses, although it is also present in some free courses.
If you want, you can give some of the free courses a try first before you go to a paid one.
8. Pluralisight
Pluralsight is one of the older online learning platforms.
It was established in 2004, and it started as a modest learning platform on mostly business topics.
Today, Pluralsight has a sprawling community of hundreds of thousands of users from all over the world.
On this site, you’ll be able to learn mostly IT topics, as well as some business courses.
You’ll have courses in four categories: software development, IT Ops, Data Professional, and Cybersecurity.
Inside these courses, you’ll find smaller individual courses.
For instance, under the software development topic, you’ll mostly find programming language courses, such as JavaScript, AngularJS, Java, C#, and several others.
IT Ops is meant for aspiring IT professionals, while the data package offers everything you need for data analysis and management.
Under Cybersec, you’ll learn the basics of Ethical Hacking, and all the security fundamentals you’ll need to stay safe online.
You can access all of the courses for a monthly fee of $29.99, or a yearly fee of $299.99.
It’s one of the best sites like Udemy to learn professional computer skills, and it’s especially viable if you’re looking to add to your career skills.
Read our comparison between LinkedIn Learning and Pluralsight here.
9. Udacity
Udacity is among the best sites for learning that will teach you mostly digital skills, such as data analysis, AI, business, programming, and more.
It shares a similar name to Udemy, but its offerings are somewhat different.
On this site, you’ll find many free courses on various topics.
However, there are also hundreds of paid courses that will take you from a beginner in a topic to an intermediate user, each course taking several months to complete – especially the deeper ones.
However, learning with Udacity does come at a relatively high price.
You might have to fork out $199 to get a complete course that will last you several months.
You’ll also get a nice certificate that you can share with potential employers.
You won’t find nearly as many courses on Udacity as you would on Udemy.
However, it’s the quality that matters here with Udacity.
This site is trusted by some of the world’s largest companies for learning, such as Facebook, Salesforce, and Google.
So if you’re ready to go deeper with your learning and pay a decent chunk of money for comprehensive courses, then Udacity is a great option.
10. Alison
Alison is probably not as well-known as Udemy or some other online learning sites we’ve mentioned so far.
The biggest thing it has going for itself is the fact that most of the courses are free, and that you can use your certificates without paying a premium price for them.
On this site, there are more than 40.000 different courses with around 17 million learners from all around the world.
All of the courses belong to one of the nine categories they offer to their students: technology, language, science, health, humanities, business, math, marketing, and lifestyle.
You’ll be able to learn at your own pace.
Most of the courses are video-based courses, and there will also be some other additional resources for the courses themselves.
You’ll get a complete learning experience with Alison.
You can get any course you want entirely free.
You’ll also get tutorials that will teach you how to use the platform itself.
Overall, it’s one of the most complete learning sites you’ll find, and it has a major advantage that all of the courses are free, as well as the certificates that belong to the courses.
11. Stanford University
Stanford University is one of the largest providers of online courses.
It offers some amazing courses that you’ll find on various platforms, such as edX, Coursera, and others.
They offer courses in four major categories: health & medicine, education, engineering, and arts & humanities.
Now, you’ll be able to access some of those courses straight from the Stanford University site.
However, some courses are available through other platforms such as edX or Coursera.
The best thing is that they’re free, and some even offer credits.
But not all of the courses will be open all of the time.
They have limited availability, although you can express your interest by enrolling in the course and you’ll get notifies by the University on when the course will take place.
This option is a perfect Udemy alternative for those who want to learn from real-life professors from one of the largest universities in the world.
It has courses on many different topics, and they’re also quite deep.
They’re done on a self-paced basis, although some also have various assignments that you can do in your own freedom.
12. Harvard Online Courses
Like Stanford, Harvard also offers some online courses for their students, as well as for external students.
You’ll find some great courses for completely free, such as CS50 (computer science), which is among the most popular computer science courses online.
But you’ll be able to find several other free courses.
Harvard teaches things such as data visualization, machine learning, programming, AI, data science, and much more.
Most courses will take anywhere from 4 weeks to 16 weeks.
You might also find some courses that require payment on your part.
These courses can cost up to $1600, although you’ll be able to get quite a lot out of them.
Some courses are available on Harvard’s site, although many of them will link you to external course sites such as edX or Coursera.
If you want to learn from some of the world’s best professors from Harvard, then this is your chance.
13. Iversity
Iversity is not among the most well-known online course providers.
However, it’s certainly a popular platform if you want to get some courses from Europe’s best colleges and universities.
Many consider it to be a European version of Coursera, where you can learn from real-life professors from the largest European unis.
And it takes a similar approach to Coursera, too.
You can take most of the courses at no charge at all, although you might need to pay for the certifications.
A major advantage of Iversity is that you’ll have a large community of other learners at your disposal.
It works more like a social network rather than most other e-learning platforms.
This gives you a great chance to connect to other people who’re taking the same courses as you.
And if you want to have a nice reference in your CV from some of the top universities in Europe, then it’s definitely worth buying a course from this site.
It’s a very deep learning platform that will certainly help you out greatly.
Note that some courses might only be available in foreign languages, such as German or French.
14. Memrise
With Memrise, you’ll be able to learn up to 22 different languages.
It’s known as a free language learning site, so it will give you most of the language courses for free.
It’s the best learning site for those who want to learn the basics of a language.
It’s a similar site to Udemy, only for languages.
You need to select the language you want to learn, then select your learning level.
You’ll only need to make an account, and you can start learning easily.
The courses are interactive, as you’ll have to learn not only by reading but also by writing and speaking.
There are around 200 different courses altogether on this platform, although the learning only comprises the 22 selected languages.
Overall, it’s a great alternative to Udemy if you want to learn a new language from scratch, or even if you’re an intermediate learner already.
If you’re a language buff and you want to add a new language to your arsenal, then you can try Memrise and select from its amazing selection of courses.
15. Academic Earth
Academic Earth is another great site like Udemy where you’ll be able to learn about a wide variety of topics.
The great thing about this site is that it features support and courses from some of the biggest and most well-known universities from all over the world.
You can choose your favorite program or degree, and even complete an online degree on this site.
Or, you can choose to take an individual course.
Most of the courses are offered for free from one of the 18 categories they have on offer – anything from professional skills, science, various studies, as well as to more personal courses.
You’ll be pleased to hear that the professors and the teachers are all certified professors from some of the biggest establishments from all over the world.
This includes universities such as Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Oxford, Notre Dame, and several others.
Most of the courses are done through video content.
There are millions of users using this learning site, so you can try it out now and see if it’s right for you.
Conclusion
Online learning is spoiling us with choice.
Today, you have the ability to learn new skills from scratch at home, thanks to the many great sites like Udemy.
You can now learn anything you want, from professional skills to your personal development skills.
So if you’re not sure about using Udemy anymore or if you just want to explore some of the best alternatives to Udemy, then you can consider these 15 amazing e-learning sites.
