We diversify our portfolios, our investments, and even our diets—but do we consider diversifying our skills? In today’s world, individuals frequently switch between two or three career paths—each requiring a distinct skill set. Being a one-trick pony no longer cuts it. You need the right technology skills to advance in any career—and expertise in them to succeed in any tech-related role.
But acquiring those skills can feel overwhelming. When you encounter the specialized languages of coding, or simply hear “Artificial Intelligence,” it’s easy to assume such skills are beyond your reach. Fortunately, platforms like Udacity aim to change that perception. Let’s explore this online course site in this Udacity review.
What Is Udacity?
Udacity emerged from an online learning experiment by two Stanford professors. Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig created a free online course “Intro to AI”—a class that attracted thousands of students globally. That experience birthed the idea of Udacity, a MOOC—a massive open online course platform. Today it serves over 11.5 million students utilizing its courses. Based in Silicon Valley, Udacity partners with several major companies in the region.
Udacity positions its platform as “where lifelong learners come to learn the skills they need, to land the jobs they want, to build the lives they deserve.” They seek to “power careers through tech education,” focusing on technology-related skills like coding, data science, and AI. They employ a student-first model and project-based learning approach.
How Udacity Works
To access Udacity, you must create an account using Facebook, Google, or your email. After completing your profile, you’ll reach your homepage, where you can view courses (primarily called Nanodegrees), applications, and other projects. Udacity highlights their top 6 most popular Nanodegrees, though you can browse their complete catalog.
You can search for specific classes by name or browse Udacity’s topics: Programming and Development, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Data Science, Business, Autonomous Systems, and Career. Each course displays covered skills and difficulty level: beginning, intermediate, or expert.
When you find your desired course, click to learn more. This page shows estimated completion time and any prerequisites. You’ll access the syllabus to view all lessons and instructor profiles. Each course features an enrollment countdown—simply determining your student cohort, as enrollment remains open year-round.
Only upon clicking enroll do you see course pricing—ranging from $279 to $3,000. While some courses offer one-time payments, most Nanodegrees operate on a monthly subscription basis.
After enrolling, you complete an “onboarding” process—Udacity’s method for ensuring student success from day one. This includes filling out a questionnaire, previewing your syllabus, scheduling your first two weeks of study, and setting personalized study reminders.
Once lessons begin, you can jump to any syllabus section. Lessons consist of 10-20-minute videos with quizzes at the end of each unit. These quizzes are stress-free—you can retake them unlimited times.
Each class includes projects to build your skills and portfolio—projects like creating blogs, search engines, games, or apps. These receive reviews and grades typically within 24 hours, according to a shared rubric between student and instructor.
There’s also a Udacity Community, their “social media” platform enabling students to connect and encourage each other through challenges like #30DaysofUdacity and #LevelUpChallenge.
To complete a course, you must finish all videos, pass all quizzes, and receive “meets expectations” reviews on your projects. Upon completion, Udacity uses NetVerify to verify your identity before issuing a completion certificate. After finishing, you maintain access for 12 months and can download videos permanently.
Additionally, Udacity provides career services access, including resume assistance, a personalized job search board, and help updating professional profiles like LinkedIn.
What Is The Difference Between The Udacity Tracks?
Udacity offers several different tracks and course types—each targeting different aspects and intended for specific users.
While not their primary focus, Udacity offers some free individual courses. With 200 courses available, you can still learn about various topics—though without real-world projects, instructor interactions, and career services that paid paths provide. However, these courses maintain high quality with substantial learning opportunities.
The next option involves taking a single paid course, a la carte style. These shorter courses can be completed within a month, include all standard features, and culminate in a graded project showcasing your learning.
Nanodegrees represent Udacity’s flagship—their most popular and promoted learning path. These nanodegrees guide you through a series of 3-4 connected courses designed to help you master complete skills. These nanodegrees emphasize practical technical skills: AI, Programming, Autonomous Systems, Cloud Computing, Business, and Self-Driving Cars.
Udacity estimates nanodegrees require 3-4 months to complete—though you can progress faster or slower as needed. However, Udacity advises against taking multiple nanodegrees simultaneously—they’re designed as intensive courses. Upon completion, you’ll have finished projects and earned an awarded certificate demonstrating your achievement.
Udacity’s Executive Program resembles Nanodegrees but targets business leaders. Rather than focusing on specific skills, these programs teach concepts and fundamentals, helping leaders understand practical applications. These courses, requiring 4-8 weeks to complete, help leaders evaluate decisions affecting entire departments and determine key questions when implementing AI across specific areas. Executive Program learners receive personal career coaching and project reviews from industry professionals.
Is Udacity Accredited?
No, Udacity lacks accreditation—it’s not affiliated with universities and offers no academic credits. However, partnerships with major Silicon Valley companies like Facebook and Google make Udacity certificates valuable to those employers and carry weight in other tech-related industries. While you won’t earn college credits from Udacity courses, they may still advance your workplace prospects.
Is Udacity Cheap?
You must dig deep to find Udacity pricing—and there’s a reason. Courses range from $279-$3,000, representing substantial investment compared to other MOOCs. Courses may be fixed-price or subscription-based—with Nanodegree subscriptions typically costing around $399 monthly.
There are money-saving opportunities with Udacity. Some 50% coupons exist for Executive Courses, and they advertise available scholarships. You can reduce subscription costs by completing courses quickly, since faster completion means fewer monthly charges.
Is Udacity Reliable?
Udacity’s course quality remains exceptionally high—taught by industry leaders who ensure top-tier information delivery. This drives their decision to limit post-completion access to 12 months—they continuously update courses to maintain accuracy and reliability.
Regarding customer support, Udacity provides extensive help pages, FAQ sections, and their Knowledge Community for personalized content assistance. They offer direct customer service contact, though no phone number or email is publicly listed.
They provide a 2-day refund window on Nanodegree resources, and you can cancel subscriptions anytime. However, you cannot pause subscriptions and return later with saved progress. Be careful to cancel subscriptions before deleting your account, or charges will continue.
Udacity Alternatives
Udacity vs. Coursera
Coursera represents another high-quality online learning library—though they emphasize academic subjects over technological ones. Because Coursera partners with and receives backing from accredited universities, their certificates can count toward college credits or carry resume weight. Like Udacity, Coursera offers different tracks for various learners—but you can audit nearly all courses free, learning without accessing assignments or full community features.
Coursera’s MasterTracks compare to Udacity’s Nanodegrees—but Coursera’s pricing for that track starts at $2,000, while Udacity begins as low as $279. However, testing waters proves easier with Coursera—you can audit courses in interesting topics and take individual courses before making substantial financial commitments.
Coursera offers broader topic coverage—though mostly academic, they include technology classes and artistic ones. Furthermore, it provides learners greater schedule flexibility and course selection freedom. You can read our complete Coursera review here.
Udacity vs. LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning offers many identical tech-related courses that Udacity provides—but instead of paying per course, you purchase a subscription granting entire library access. This subscription costs significantly less at $29.99 monthly, or $220 annually, providing access to video courses, community features, and mobile app functionality—something Udacity lacks. While LinkedIn Learning costs far less, they maintain Udacity’s quality—their instructors are industry professionals, and earned certificates display on your LinkedIn profile for employer visibility.
LinkedIn Learning may offer more general courses, while Udacity’s courses are designed for comprehensive depth. Udacity also centers all courses around graded projects, which isn’t universal across LinkedIn’s offerings. You can read our complete LinkedIn Learning review here.
Conclusions For Udacity
Udacity is expensive—because it targets committed learners. These courses aren’t casual Saturday afternoon interests in learning new topics. Rather, Udacity demands college-level commitment—while delivering equivalent in-depth preparation and learning you’d expect from such courses. It represents an investment for serious learners, one that could enable you to master technical skills for launching careers in new industries.
