Online learning has exploded in popularity in recent years, with learners around the world taking advantage of the convenience and flexibility these platforms provide. Two of the biggest names in online learning are Skill Success and Udemy. But which one is better for your needs?
Here we’ll compare the key features and differences between Skill Success and Udemy to help you decide which platform is right for you.
A Brief Comparison Table
Category | Skill Success | Udemy |
Course Quality | Very consistent, high production value | Uneven, depending on instructor |
Course Variety | Narrow focus on tech skills | Massive selection on all topics |
Instructor Quality | Hand-picked, thoroughly vetted | Mixed, uneven expertise |
Pricing Model | Subscription or individual courses | Pay-per-course |
Mobile Experience | Full-featured apps, but no downloads | Robust apps with offline viewing |
Community Features | Limited to Q&A | Active discussion forums |
Credentials | Strong focus on certifications | Completion certificates optional |
Special Features | Skills assessments, project reviews | Offline viewing, exercise files |
Overview of Skill Success
Skill Success is a relatively new entrant to the online learning space, having launched in 2019. The platform focuses specifically on technical skills training, offering courses in software development, IT and cybersecurity, data analytics, graphic design, and more.

Some key things to know about Skill Success:
- Course quality – Skill Success prides itself on having rigorous vetting and approval processes for instructors. All courses must meet a certain production quality and design standard. This helps ensure you’re getting a polished, high-quality learning experience.
- Industry focus – The course topics are heavily concentrated in tech/IT fields. You won’t find much variety outside of professional IT skills.
- Pricing – Courses are available individually or via subscription. Individual courses start at around $50, with subscription plans at $29/month. Discounts are offered for annual subscriptions.
- User experience – The platform has a sleek, modern design intended to keep you engaged. Courses integrate quizzes, coding exercises, and other interactive elements.
Overview of Udemy
Udemy is one of the pioneers of the online learning space, founded way back in 2010. It’s a massive open marketplace platform with over 130,000 courses on just about any topic imaginable.
Some key things to know about Udemy:
- Course variety – Udemy has courses on programming, graphic design, photography, marketing, business, personal development, health and fitness, music, and so much more. If you can think of a skill, there’s probably a Udemy course for it.
- Instructor quality – Since anyone can create and sell courses on Udemy, the instructor quality varies greatly. Some are excellent while others are subpar. Check reviews and instructor bio to get a sense of their expertise before purchasing.
- Pricing – Courses are priced individually, often discounted up to 90% off the full price. Course prices range from $10 to over $100.
- User experience – The platform is easy to navigate with a clean, uncluttered student dashboard. But some older courses have a homemade feel in their production quality.
Also Read: Comparison Between SNHU And Phoenix University
Key Differences Between Skill Success And Udemy
Now that we’ve covered the basics of each platform, let’s do a detailed comparison of their key features.
- Course Quality and Offerings
When it comes to course content, Skill Success and Udemy take very different approaches.
Skill Success emphasizes high-quality courses with a focus on in-demand tech skills. Their vetting process for instructors is rigorous – they must submit an in-depth course proposal and pass a technical interview. The production value of Skill Success courses feels uniformly polished and professional.
However, the selection is limited predominantly to IT topics like programming, data science, cybersecurity, and graphic design. Subject matter outside of professional tech skills is nearly non-existent on the platform.
In contrast, Udemy operates like an open marketplace. Literally anyone can create and sell a course – over 60,000 instructors contribute content. This means you can find courses on pretty much any hobby, skill, or topic imaginable from gardening to tarot reading to mixology.
But it also means course quality varies greatly depending on the individual instructor. Some courses feel polished and professional while others come across informal and homemade. Most instructors are experienced professionals in their field but not necessarily skilled educators.
Overall, Skill Success will provide a more consistent, high-quality educational experience but with fewer topics to choose from. Udemy offers massive variety but uneven quality.
- Interactivity and User Experience
Skill Success and Udemy also take differing approaches when it comes to platform user experience and course interactivity.

Skill Success courses incorporate lots of interactive elements to engage learners and reinforce concepts. Courses feature integrated quizzes, coding exercises, simulations, and more.
The platform also gamifies the learning experience with points, badges, and leaderboards to motivate learners. The user interface has a modern, polished look and feel that’s easy to navigate.
Udemy courses vary widely in their interactivity depending on the instructor. Some incorporate quizzes, coding exercises, and demonstrations, while others simply present material via lesson videos.
Udemy gives instructors the flexibility in how interactive they make their courses. The platform itself has a practical, no-frills interface that prioritizes functionality over flair. Navigation and the student dashboard are generally intuitive.
For the most engaging, interactive learning experience, Skill Success excels over Udemy thanks to standardization across courses. But some individual Udemy courses still manage to achieve an immersive user experience depending on the instructor’s design.
- Instructor Quality and Expertise
The expertise and teaching skills of the instructors on each platform is another area where Skill Success and Udemy diverge.
Skill Success hand-selects instructors who are experts in their field and vets them for quality assurance. The platform focuses on working with experienced instructors who know how to teach technical subjects effectively online.
Most hold industry credentials and practical real-world experience. The vetting process helps ensure instructors meet Skill Success’ standards for knowledge and teaching ability.
Udemy has a massive pool of over 60,000 instructors since anyone can create and offer courses. Self-taught hobbyists teach right alongside industry professionals.
Backgrounds, qualifications, and teaching skills vary widely. Quality instructors exist, but researching an instructor’s bio is crucial before enrolling in a course.
Some instructors create and post courses without putting much thought into curriculum design or teaching methods. Ratings and reviews can help identify the best Udemy instructors.
For consistent instructor expertise and teaching quality, Skill Success is the safer choice. But Udemy still has some exceptionally knowledgeable instructors if you vet them carefully before purchasing a course.
Also Read: Comparison Between NFPT And NASM Fitness Certification.
- Cost and Pricing Models
When it comes to cost, Skill Success and Udemy take very different approaches. Skill Success charges a subscription fee while Udemy sells courses individually.
Skill Success uses two pricing models:
- Monthly subscription – $29/month gives you unlimited access to all 2,000+ courses as long as your subscription is active. Discounts offered on annual subscriptions.
- Individual courses – Courses can be purchased individually with prices ranging from around $50 to $100+. Subscribing is cheaper if taking multiple courses.
Udemy uses a pay-per-course model with a unique pricing structure:
- List price – Courses are individually priced, typically from $99 to $200. But…
- Discount price – Sales and promotions drop course prices significantly, often over 90% off. Most cost between $10-$20.
- Free previews – You can access a portion of any course for free before deciding to enroll.
For budget-conscious learners that want to sample from a variety of courses, Udemy’s pay-per-course model usually works out cheaper. But Skill Success is a better value if committing to an in-depth tech skills curriculum over several months. Their subscription grants unlimited access at a reasonable monthly rate.
- Mobile Learning Experience
Mobile compatibility is important to consider if you want the flexibility to learn on the go. Both Skill Success and Udemy are accessible via iOS and Android apps in addition to web login.
The Skill Success app provides a seamless experience that mirrors the desktop platform. Browsing, enrolling in courses, course playback, and tracking progress all work great on mobile. One limitation is downloading courses for offline viewing is not yet supported in the app.
Udemy also provides full course access via mobile app across Apple and Android devices. The app experience is fast and reliable for browsing, enrollment, playback, and more.
Udemy does allow course downloads for offline viewing. One downside is notifications and messaging don’t sync between app and desktop, which can be confusing.
For the most flexible mobile experience, Udemy has a slight edge over Skill Success thanks to offline course downloads. But both are quite polished and make it easy to keep learning from anywhere.
- Social Learning and Community
The social elements and learner community aspects of each platform are worth comparing.
Skill Success places more focus on social interaction. Learners can post questions and comments to course Q&A sections where instructors typically respond promptly. However, learner-to-learner discussions are minimal. The platform doesn’t offer ways for enrolled students to interact beyond the Q&A sections.
Udemy offers similar Q&A functions for engaging with instructors. But a majority of courses also have dedicated discussion forums where learners can interact, share advice, critique each other’s work, and form study groups. The forums foster a sense of community around courses.
Overall, Udemy provides more community interaction thanks to discussion forums being a core part of most classes. Skill Success is more limited socially, focusing exchanges between learner and instructor.
- Credentials and Certifications
When it comes to credentials, Skill Success places more emphasis on offering certification. Udemy Certificates are optional for its courses.
All Skill Success courses come with Certificates of Completion. Additionally, some courses offer industry-recognized certifications like CompTIA and AWS. Completing certification prep courses earns you vouchers to take the official exams. The platform markets its credentials and career benefits heavily.
On Udemy, course Completion Certificates are optional, with learners able to easily generate them upon completing a class or passing a test. Third-party certifications are rarer but do exist, usually for tech skills like Cisco, IBM, and Microsoft. Most courses don’t connect directly to any official credentialing.
So Skill Success is the better choice if you want to build credentials toward a certification goal or professional advancement. But for casual learning, Udemy Certificates still provide a nice sense of achievement and record of accomplishment.
Watch This Review Video:
- Special Features and Tools
A few other special features worth highlighting:
- Skills assessment – Skill Success offers free coding and data skills assessments you can take to gauge your proficiency before selecting courses.
- Project reviews – Get feedback by submitting your finished projects from coding and design courses to Skill Success’ community for constructive reviews.
- Offline viewing – Download courses for offline viewing on Udemy desktop app (not Skill Success).
- Exercise files – Udemy frequently includes exercise files, templates, and other extras with courses for practical application.
- Speed controls – Udemy allows speeding up video playback up to 2x which is helpful for reviewing material quickly.
These extras provide some nice added functionality, with Udemy having a slight edge in special tools and bonuses.
- Summary of Key Differences
Looking at all the factors compared, here is a quick summary of the main differences:
- Skill Success has more consistent course quality but fewer topic options. Udemy has massive variety but uneven quality.
- Skill Success courses are more interactive and the platform is more modern. But some Udemy courses achieve high interactivity depending on the instructor’s design.
- Skill Success vets instructors rigorously resulting in greater expertise. Udemy has mixed instructors so thorough vetting is required.
- Skill Success costs less for unlimited subscription access while Udemy’s pay-per-course model provides more à la carte flexibility.
- Both platforms have polished mobile apps. Udemy edges out with downloadable content.
- Udemy has more community features like discussion forums for learner interaction.
- Skill Success focuses more on credentials and certifications while Udemy Certificates are optional.
Neither platform is objectively “better” overall. The right choice depends on your learning goals, topic interests, budget, and other factors. Evaluate what matters most for your needs.
Also Read: Comparison Between FLVS And Connections Academy
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Udemy is better than Skillshare for professional skills training, given its massive course selection focused on career topics like programming, business, marketing, design, and more. Skillshare skews more toward hobbies. But Skillshare has better quality control since Udemy has uneven instructor expertise.
Coursera and Udemy both offer extensive topic variety. Coursera partners with major universities making it better for rigorous academic learning. But Udemy’s marketplace model has benefits too – flexible pricing, downloadable content, speed control, etc. Coursera is better if you want accredited education while Udemy excels at hands-on practical skill building.
Skill Success is a subscription-based online learning platform focused on IT and technical skills. You can access all 2,000+ courses in their catalog via monthly or annual membership, or purchase individual courses without subscribing. Courses feature video lessons, readings, quizzes, coding exercises, and discussion forums. Completing a course earns you a certificate of completion to document your learning.
If you are unsatisfied with a course on Skill Success, you can request a full refund within 30 days of purchase by contacting customer support. For subscription plans, you can cancel auto-renewal at any time but already paid fees are non-refundable. Single course purchases can be completely refunded if you don’t log any streaming time. Unused prepaid months can be refunded subject to a small admin fee.
Conclusion
Both Skill Success and Udemy have their merits, with distinct models and approaches. Skill Success offers exceptional quality control and interactive courses but limited topic selection. Udemy opens the doors to endless topics but uneven instructor expertise. Your learning objectives and priorities should drive the platform choice. Sample free content from both to see which learning style suits you. For professional tech skills, Skill Success provides guaranteed quality while Udemy grants flexibility across disciplines. Now equipped with this comparison, you can determine which platform best fits your needs as a lifelong learner.