Codecademy Review

Coding is, undeniably, a tough skill, and it can often prove to be challenging to find a reputable MOOC to be able to start learning it. In this Codecademy review, we’ll take a look at a platform that is often considered to be one of the better sites dedicated to learning how to code.

Obviously, that’s a pretty hefty title. Throughout my research, I’ve come across quite a few different course providers, many of which concentrate on the topic of IT. Admittedly, Codecademy is one of the names that keep popping up, again and again.

Naturally, with all the hype surrounding it, it’s worth checking out, and giving an honest take on.

That said, let me just say in advance - if you'd like to find some Codecademy alternatives (ones that might suit your wants and needs a bit better), check out DataCamp, Udemy or edX. These are among the best MOOC providers in the industry, and they house a variety of coding-related learning materials.

Verdict at a Glance: Codecademy is a popular online learning platform that’s oriented towards anyone and everyone who wants to get into coding and programming. On it, you can use different learning materials (courses, skill paths, practicing tools, etc.) to learn the aforementioned topics, whether you’re a beginner or an advanced student. Codecademy has both free and paid (subscription) options available, but certificates issued by the MOOC provider aren’t accredited.

Codecademy Review: Introduction

Let’s start this Codecademy review by taking a look at the company behind the code learning platform.

Codecademy came out all the way back in 2011, which makes it a veteran in the industry. It’s a New York-based MOOC company that specializes in providing people with courses centered around the topic of coding. You can view it as either an additional learning resource for university students, or simply - a platform that allows you to hone your skills in particular fields of expertise. With universities going through a lot of change in the postmodern era^[1], MOOC providers like Codecademy have become quite popular.

Codecademy offers students 12 different programming languages to learn at their own leisure. These include some of the most popular languages that are currently dominating the job market, such as Java or Python.

The company used to offer two more options, in addition to its basic learning plan - the Codecademy Pro, and the Codecademy Pro Intensive. That being said, the latter was discontinued on September 14th, 2021.

The former, however, has a myriad of features to offer to the students, with a lot of new ones having been added not too long ago. Examples include career paths, professional certifications, and different code challenges.

In addition to that, Codecademy also added a middle-of-the-road plan, called Plus. More on this later in the review, though.

At the very end of 2021, news came out about Skillsoft - an American technology company - planning to acquire Codecademy for around “$525 million in cash and stock”. This acquisition was made in April of the next year.

Reading through student Codecademy reviews, though, it doesn’t seem like the sale affected the quality of the learning materials (or the learning process, in general) - great news, for sure!

Codecademy Review: PROS

For the sake of keeping things structured and simple to follow, let’s do a “pro / con” overview of what Codecademy has to offer. Starting with the benefits of this MOOC provider, one thing that I noticed straight from the get-go is just how simple it is to navigate the platform, and use all of its main features.

Very Easy to Get Into

Now, the factor of just how easy it is to use and navigate the site is very important when it comes to an eLearning platform being successful and respected within the community. If a website is clunky and confusing, chances are that visitors are not going to get past the main landing page.

My first impressions upon visiting the main Codecademy landing page? Well, the website didn’t really stand out all that much, to be fair. The unique design choices reminded me of certain computer interfaces from the 2000s, which was a nice touch, seeing as code is what you learn here.

That being said, kudos to the company for keeping things nice and clean. While the platform might not be flashy, its layout is very welcoming, especially for those who aren’t yet certain about what it is that they want to learn.

This is in contrast to what the platform used to look like, a few years ago. Upon my initial Codecademy review, I found that the homepage was pretty generic -  it’s just that everything was so up close and in your face! Even back then, though, scrolling through it a few times, I quickly got used to it.

The current homepage itself is pretty plain, as far as educational platform landing pages go. You have the signup form, some popular course picks (to help you get started as soon and as simply as possible), a few testimonials, and some reasons why you should choose Codecademy as your online code-learning platform.

Overall, a pretty basic front page - in a good way, that is!

Back in the day, there were two sections that you could go to from the main page - the community section, and the full catalog. What I do recall from my previous experience with Codecademy is that the community section was frankly impossible to get to - after what seemed like minutes of waiting and not seeing the page give out any signs of possible life, I gave up.

Today, everything loads up, nice and fast! The lack of student Codecademy reviews complaining about laggy interfaces works to advocate this further, too.

All of your main navigation will take place from the menu at the top of the page. You have your catalog of courses, additional learning resources, a lot of community sections to check out, pricing, as well as a separate, dedicated section for teams.

The Codecademy course catalog is very interesting, I must say. Not many Codecademy reviews mention this when they discuss is Codecademy good, but I actually found their course layout to be very unique.

Courses are displayed by topic, in a unique and retro-futuristic aesthetic. When you enter any of the actual course pages, you have all of the relevant information displayed in front of you, accompanied by the same cool design choices I’ve just mentioned.

The catalog itself was very intuitive to navigate (you could sort the courses by learning level, price, type, as well as the number of lessons). It was refreshing, since it didn’t try to stuff a ton of information down your throat.

All things considered, I have to say that a lot of Codecademy reviews fail to mention that the user interface of the platform is both aesthetically pleasing, and very simple to navigate and use.

High-Quality Learning Materials

You probably don’t need my Codecademy review to tell you that, when choosing an MOOC for coding, nothing matters more than the actual quality of the learning materials that it comes equipped with.

Think about it - the platform can have the nicest and most inviting of designs, offer all courses free of charge and advertise like mad - if the content sucks, no one's going to spend time actually dealing with it.

I am thrilled to say that this doesn’t seem to be a problem for Codecademy, though. A lot of users mention this in their Codecademy reviews, but the content on the platform is actually up to par!

The company stresses that the learning quality is really important, and it seems that they’re rather serious about it! Codecademy constantly updates its courses and aims to bring new and relevant learning material to the site.

This is evident from simply visiting the course-listing page. Recently, Codecademy added AI courses to its roster - this is in line with the wants & needs of the industry, since AI has become a very relevant and sought-after subject^[2].

This is often where the question of “is Codecademy Pro worth it?” pops up, as well. While it’s something we’ll explore a bit later in the review, it’s a well-known fact that there are two types of courses on Codecademy - free, and paid ones.

Free courses can often give you a really good hint about what you can expect, if you do subscribe to a learning service. Once again, having tried my hand at some of the courses myself, I can say that Codecademy certainly puts a lot of effort and attention into creating a valuable learning experience.

All in all, the quality of the content presented on the site does seem to be in line with what the company says its values and goals are. Since good content is so important, this is great news, indeed!

Varied Membership Plans + Cool Features

Interesting and unique features are some of the bigger ways that online learning platforms try to distinguish themselves from their competition. Some offer interactive courses, others - different subscription plans, memberships and promotions. As many student Codecademy reviews state, this site is exactly one of such platforms.

Codecademy offers its users three different ways to learn on their site - free courses, Codecademy Plus and Codecademy Pro. As I’ve mentioned in the introductory part of my review, there used to be a “Codecademy Pro Intensive” plan, as well, but it was discontinued.

Let’s have a quick overview of the different plans, shall we?

• Free courses. For the longest amount of time, the majority of the courses on the platform were free of charge. All you had to do was register and start learning. Since the inception of the other two paid plans, however, the number of free courses has experienced a downfall (which is pretty obvious from most Codecademy Plus reviews and Codecademy Pro reviews). However, there are still quite a few courses on the site that can be accessed and taken free of charge.
• Codecademy Plus. If you’re already certain that Codecademy is “where it’s at”, then the Plus plan is like the generic, entry-level plan for studying on the platform. It unlocks access to all courses, and supports most other features, with the exception of career paths and career-related functionalities.
• Codecademy Pro. If you’re wondering “is Codecademy Pro worth it?”, imagine it like the “premium” plan that the website offers. This plan includes various quizzes, personal projects, learning paths, career-boosting features, and so on - things that would otherwise not be accessible to a free user. As Codecademy puts it themselves, Pro is designed for people who want to “develop the skills and experience to land a job in tech”.
• (DEPRECATED) Codecademy Pro Intensive. As a lot of Codecademy Intensive reviews will tell you, this was basically the hardcore version of Codecademy Pro. Here, you would have found (in addition to the previous features) extra curriculums, deadlines, designated Slack channels, exams, and so on. It was essentially a bootcamp version of what you want to learn.

These are the plans that Codecademy offers to its students. Well, most of them - you’d struggle to find Codecademy Intensive reviews these days, but at the same time, they’re not really relevant anymore, given the fate that this plan met.

Now, if there’s one thing that you might have noticed in this part of our Codecademy review, it’s the fact that there are quite a few features available with the platform in question, depending on the plan that you choose.

Naturally, you have your very basic stuff - community support (forums, Discord, various events, etc.), mobile app functionality, quizzes, personalized practicing, and so on. Many MOOCs that I’ve tried and used before provide these or similar features.

However, Codecademy also puts a lot of emphasis on practicing your skills, as well. Students can access portfolio-building tools, such as real-world project examples. Then, there are also skill and career paths, for a more optimized, topic-centric learning experience.

Evidently, there are plenty of additional features that you, as a student, can explore. I have to say that the platform does seem to have a good variety of extra activities to pick from, aside from the courses themselves.

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Codecademy Review: CONS

Nothing is perfect - coding-centered MOOCs aren’t an exception. While the general sentiment expressed in student Codecademy reviews found online is rather positive, it’s worth noting that the platform does appear to have some drawbacks, as well.

No other drawback is as emphasized as the lack of accredited certificates, though.

Certificates Available, but Not Accredited

Certification is, undoubtedly, one of the most important parts of any course platform on the internet. This was already the case years ago, when I first started paying attention to online learning platforms, and it’s something that hasn’t changed, to this day.

If you’re unfamiliar, there are essentially two types of certificates that you can get, from studying subjects of your choice on MOOCs - plain, as well as accredited ones.

Simple, “plain” certificates are what you can expect from the vast majority of course providers. In a strictly bureaucratic sense, they don’t really mean much - if anything, they just act as proof that you’ve completed a course on something.

	EDX	CODECADEMY
Skill Analysis
Course Recommendation Engine
Connection with the Lecturer
Personalized Learning Paths
	Visit site Read review	See TOP10 Brands Read review

Table: Some of the main features of Codecademy and edX

However, accredited certification is a completely different story. You might find student Codecademy reviews talking about how these certificates can be used to cover university or college credit, as well as how they are actually objectively useful when trying to get a job.

As you might have gathered up to this point, Codecademy does not have accredited certificates. When I first looked at the MOOC a few years ago, the situation was essentially the same, too.

Is this a big deal? Well, it depends.

If you’re simply looking to improve your skills, and aren’t too worried about accreditation, then - obviously - no, it’s not too big of a deal. That being said, if you’re looking for a bit of a more professional experience, or even university credit substitution, then yeah - perhaps some alternative platforms would suit you better. MOOCs such as edX provide accredited certification.

Pricing is Decent

Pricing is a bit of a contentious take, when it comes to MOOCs. Codecademy is often considered to be “somewhere in the middle” - the platform has free courses available, but, as we’ve discussed earlier in the Codecademy review, there are also paid plans, as well.

For individuals, Codecademy’s Plus membership costs $17.49 per month, billed annually, or $34.99, billed monthly. It’s a pretty standard price range to be in, granted all of the different perks and benefits that paying members receive.

The Codecademy Pro membership, on the other hand, costs $29.99 per month, billed annually, or $59.99, billed monthly - once again, a subscription-based pricing model.

The Codecademy Intensive plan used to cost $199 per course. Additionally, it could cost more depending on the subject matter, course topic complexity, etc.

Learner Codecademy Pro reviews are split on the pricing question - some think the subscription price is alright, while others complain about it being far too pricey.

However, if you’d come across Codecademy Intensive reviews, you would see a pattern - the “OG” users of the platform certainly weren’t too happy when Codecademy transitioned from mostly-free courses to many of them costing close to $200 each.

Here's what all pricing options look like:

Sure, there still are free courses that people can access, but some students point out an interesting potential issue with that, too.

Some Codecademy reviews state that the free courses are basically a “one glove fits all hands” type of a deal. They do not take into account a user’s skill level and can jump from being super-basic in one lesson, to really advanced in the next.

It’s worth noting, though, that reviews are conflicting - on the flip side, other students are very happy with the learning materials (even the free courses), stating that Codecademy is definitely beginner-friendly.

General Learning Experience - Is it Worth it?

We’ve covered a lot of different aspects and features of the MOOC provider, in this Codecademy review.

That’s great and all… But what is the learning experience with this platform *actually* like?

Even though this is probably the most abstract and subjective criterion of them all, it does play a huge part both in the student’s opinions about Codecademy, and thus, the Codecademy reviews you see online, as well.

In a very generalized sense, the consensus about the learning experience in Codecademy seems to be relatively positive. And, to be honest, I can see why. Right from the get-go, the platform offers an easy-to-understand-and-interact-with interface, a wide variety of different courses to choose from (after all, 12 programming languages make up a decent choice pool), and different options that would suit everyone, according to their wants and needs.

Also, the company strives to deliver some of the most relevant courses on topics that would not only be interesting to the students, but would also benefit the job market. AI is the most recent and obvious example of that.

That being said, the “cons” discussed in this Codecademy review don’t really ruin the learning experience itself, either. While accredited certification is a separate issue, even if you don’t like the pricing model of the platform, you can always opt to try out the free courses, first, and then see where that takes you.

I remember how, a few years back, students used to complain about instructors not being very understanding, and course pages crashing, from time to time. And, indeed - while I cannot confirm or deny the claims about the instructors, I remember seeing where the “courses crashing” came in.

Even while writing my initial Codecademy review, all those years back, I remember experiencing technical difficulties with their video player (it lagged like hell), as well as their “Community” tab, which just wouldn’t load.

All of that being said, in a general sense, Codecademy seems to provide a smooth and fun learning experience, for most students. So, if you’re thinking about is Codecademy good, that should serve to answer that question.

Top Codecademy Course Picks

Say that you’ve decided to try the platform out, after reading my Codecademy review. That’s great - granted that there’s a free version available, you really don’t have anything to lose.

That being said, and assuming that you’re looking to learn coding, which courses should you be looking into?

Well, to help you pick, I’ve gathered some of the popular picks from a few different categories. Obviously, these are just suggestions, but they can really help answer the question - is Codecademy worth it?

My free Codecademy course picks are:

• Learn Java. A Java course for complete beginner. With 1,5 million enrollments, it’s safe to say that this is defintely one of Codecademy’s more popular free courses.
• Intro to ChatGPT. If you’re looking to get into AI, this course is a must - it covers the fundamentals of ChatGPT, the most popular language-processing chatbot application.
• Learn Python 2. A beginner introduction to Python. If this programming language is what you’re looking to learn, many student Codecademy reviews will point you to this particular course.

As far as paid courses are concerned, I’d suggest checking out these:

• Python 3. A continuation of Python 2 - a course for anyone who’s serious about learning and understanding the fundamentals of Python.
• Machine Learning and AI Fundamentals. This isn’t a course per se, but rather - a skill path. Codecademy skill paths are like clusters of different courses and learning material, on dedicated topics. Anyone who’s serious about learning AI will likely enjoy this!
• Code Foundations. Yet another skill path, this time - for anyone who’s seriously considering a programmer’s career, and wants to learn the general basics of the field.

Codecademy’s roster of courses, skill paths, and other learning material is quite large - you should be able to find something of interest, no matter how niche your preferences are. Try the MOOC provider out for yourself, and decide if it’s the right pick for you!

Codecademy VS Competitors

Codecademy being as popular as it is, it will probably be of no surprise to you that the MOOC is often compared to other popular online learning platforms, as well.

It makes sense - if you’re looking for the best of the best, chances are that you’re going to compare the pros, cons, and features of each of the top players. Well, let’s see how they actually compare, then!

Codecademy VS edX

If you’re not familiar with edX, it’s one of the leading online course providers in the industry, and has been for quite a few years now.

	EDX	CODECADEMY
Overall Score	9.4	7.9
Best For	Best for Learning New Skills & for Developing a Career	Learning to Code
Headquarters	4.7 of 5.0	4.0 of 5.0
Latest Coupons	GET 30% OFF All edX Coupons	7-Day All Codecademy Coupons
Verdict	An online learning platform that works in collaboration with prestige universities and institutions.	A well-established and beginner-friendly IT course provider.
	Visit site Read review	See TOP10 Brands Read review

Table: Some general information about Codecademy and edX

One advantage that Codecademy has over edX is that the former platform is “specialized” - in other words, it’s focused on IT-specific courses, and that’s it. Well, to be fair, whether or not that’s an advantage depends on your point of view, but many students do view this as a benefit.

On the flip side, edX does have a lot more courses to offer to its students, and is often seen as being far more prestigious. This notion is furthered by the fact that edX actually has accredited certificates - something Codecademy lacks.

Codecademy VS Coursera

In addition to accredited certification, Coursera is often viewed as the better alternative to Codecademy due to it having both professional, high-level instructors, as well as a “more streamlined student experience”.

	COURSERA	CODECADEMY
Course Level	Begginer to Advanced	Beginner to Advanced
Certification Practice Test
Certification Exam
Headquarters
Non-degree Courses
Certified Courses
Specialization
Degree
University/College Credit
Accredited Certification
	Visit site Read review	See TOP10 Brands Read review

Table: Information about the courses on Codecademy and Coursera

On the other hand, Codecademy might be a better pick if you’re looking to learn coding-related topics, specifically, whether it be web development, programming, or anything in between.

That said, do note that Coursera might have better choices as far as career paths are concerned.

Codecademy VS Datacamp

DataCamp is often hailed as the leader in the space, as far as data- and programming-related courses are concerned. And, it’s pretty easy to see why.

	DATACAMP	CODECADEMY
Full Company Name	DataCamp	Codecademy
Headquarters	New York, USA	New York, USA
Year of Origin	2014	2011
	Visit site Read review	See TOP10 Brands Read review

Table: Information about the companies behind Codecademy and DataCamp

While DataCamp can be more expensive than Codecademy, the platform’s courses are considered to be more thorough (in a general sense), as well as a bit more engaging.

DataCamp is also often viewed as a course provider for the “more experienced” learners. Naturally, the MOOC has introductory courses, but the sentiment still stands - on the other hand, Codecademy might be a little more inviting for complete beginners.

Pros

• Easy to use with a learn-by-doing approach
• Offers quality content
• Gamified in-browser coding experience

Main Features

• Free certificates of completion
• Focused on data science skills
• Flexible learning timetable

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Pros

• High-quality courses
• Nanodegree programs
• Student Career services

Main Features

• Nanodegree programs
• Suitable for enterprises
• Paid certificates of completion

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Pros

• A wide range of learning programs
• University-level courses
• Easy to navigate

Main Features

• University-level courses
• Suitable for enterprises
• Verified certificates of completion

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Conclusions

With time, there are more and more online education and learning-based companies popping up in various different parts of the internet. Some are based locally, but most of them try to get a broader reach and attract a global audience in any way that they can.

This is why eLearning platforms have to constantly show their A-game, update their content, and offer students various promotions & other incentives.

That being said, it’s actually a great thing if you’re a student looking for an online-based learning platform. This guarantees that you’ll receive some of the best deals around, since all of these companies are competing for your attention.

Codecademy chose the route of specializing in a single, niche topic - coding and programming. Their whole content and ideas revolve around it - and that's great!

Being a niche product or service provider means that you can target a very specific audience, which then translates into a bigger retention rate than if you would, for example, offer students to teach them everything and anything. Well, at least in most cases. If you're in need of some alternative course providers - ones that also have a broader range of topics, too -, you should turn to platforms such as Udemy or edX.

That being said, we have reached the end of this Codecademy review. Thanks for reading, and best of luck in your search for online education!

Scientific References

1. José Gómez G., Antonio H. Martín Padilla, César Bernal B.: 'MOOC Courses and the Future of Higher Education'

2. Sonia S., José C., Paulo M.: 'Challenges and Trends in User Trust Discourse in AI Popularity'