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E-Learning Platforms Last update: Jan 16, 2024

Pluralsight Review: Does this Platform Suit You?

Best For Tech Skills

Starting from

$29 USD a month

Best for

  • Tech Skills
  • Free Trial
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Written by

Catherine Cooke

Catherine Cooke

Upskillwise Advisor

I'm Catherine, originally from London, now living in Spain. My professional journey led me from being a certified teacher to a yoga instructor and then a freelancer designer. These changes were made possible by online learning platforms like Skillshare and Coursera. It wasn't always easy, but so worth it and inspired me to start Upskillwise.

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In 2004, Pluralsight was founded as a classroom training company involving sending instructors into a business or training event and by 2007 the company shifted its approach to online video training. It has an expanded library of over 7,000+ courses that are taught by one of its 1,500+ expert instructors. Pluralsight is a technology skills platform with a focus on developing the skills of tomorrow.

To provide a detailed and beneficial review of Pluralsight, I have invested substantial effort in thoroughly investigating Pluralsight’s courses, learning programs, instructor quality, pricing structure, and refund policies. I’ve also analyzed user feedback specific to Pluralsight. My educational background, which includes a Master’s degree in Teaching and Education, along with my extensive experience with online learning platforms, has equipped me to compile this in-depth review.

That doesn’t mean Pluralsight is the right platform for you. What exactly does Pluralsight offer? Is it good value for money?

Well let’s find out in this in-depth Pluralsight review.

Pluralsight Summary

Pluralsight is a technology driven online learning platform specializing in tech related subjects such as software development, data science, web development and much more. The platform aims to empower individuals with up-to-date skills and career advancement tools with on-demand video courses, hands-on projects and assessments. It’s diverse range of courses and programs meaning you can develop your skills in multiple ways with skill assessments, labs, hands-on learning and certification preparations.

All learning content is curated by industry professionals and is frequently updated to reflect current industry standards and practices. Pluralsight provides both the Standard and Premium plan for individuals, each include a complimentary free trial. For teams and businesses, options range from the Starter, Professional and Enterprise plans catering to groups of 2 to 11+ users. If your keen on developing the skills of tomorrow, Pluralsight’s free trial is a good starting point to explore the platform.

Visit Pluralsight

Pluralsight Pros & Cons

Pros

Free Account

A free account gives you access to 200+ free skill assessments to develop your technology skills.

Free trial

A 10-day free trial on individual plans and 14-day free trial on team plans.

Good support

Pluralsight offers email support which is available 24/7 plus phone support and the option to submit a ticket for any question or queries you may have.

Courses for Individuals & Businesses

Courses have been designed to suit the needs of individual learners and for teams.

Learning Paths

Pluralsight provides curated learning paths that guide learners through a series of courses on a particular skill or technology.

Certifications

Pluralsight offers certification exams that are recognized in the industry, these certifications can help learners to advance their careers.

Offline and mobile downloads

The option to download course material and videos and view offline makes it super convenient if you are on the go or taking a trip.

Cons

Limited topics

Courses focus on technology based subjects. If you are looking for a wider range of topics it is worth checking out Udemy or Coursera.

Subscription Only

Pluralsight offers only subscription models to access its content, so users may prefer to purchase a course individually instead of a monthly or annual subscription.

Limited Interaction

As its courses are pre-recorded so it means, there isn’t an opportunity for learners to interact and ask queations to instructors.

Who Is Pluralsight For?

This elearning platform offers a couple of courses libraries, the Core library (2,500+ courses) and the Expanded library (7,000 + courses). Its courses are organized into 3 levels Novice, Proficient and Expert.

All topics are related to technology skills such as Software Development, IT Ops, Information & Cyber Security. It focuses on giving everyone access and the opportunity to progress through technology to develop their skills for tomorrow.

Pluralsight is not only for individuals, it is also designed to help businesses. Its courses have been designed and created by Pluralsight who have collaborated with top industry partners like Adobe and Microsoft.

Pluralsight Partners
Pluralsight Partners

When you have completed 100% of Pluralsight’s video course you will be able to generate a certificate of completion. These certificates can be submitted as CEUs (continuing education units) or CPE (continuing professional education). These credits can go towards various organizations, including CompTIA, PMI, ISACA and (ISC)2.

Note: You can get a certificate of completion for video courses, but not interactive courses, labs, projects or sandboxes. If you are looking for a verified certificate, it would be best to check out Coursera or edX.

Pluralsight for Business

Pluralsight doesn’t just offer plans for the individual learner, it also offers 3 different team plans for businesses. The plans vary in price and features which gives you the option to choose the one that fits the needs of your team.

Pluralsight Business Customer Stories
Pluralsight Business Testimonials

The most basic plan the Starter focuses on upskilling your team with the core library of courses. Then moving up the scale of price and features is the Professional plan that offers basic reporting and user analytics for the team and finally is the most extensive plan the, Enterprise that offers you flexibility and advanced analytics.

Pluralsight for Business

Pluralsight Free Account

Pluralsight Free Account
Pluralsight Free Account

Pluralsight allows you to create an account for free and the sign-up is really straightforward. The free account gives you limited access to the platform and its courses.

You will get access to 200+ free skill assessments to measure your proficiency in a particular technology skill and understand how to grow in your career. If you are curious to try out the Pluralsight platform, but not ready to financially commit, then this would be an ideal option for you.

Try It For Free

How Much Is Pluralsight?

Pluralsights only offers subscription-based plans, its extensive course library offers courses for complete beginners and those with experience. It offers two types of learning plans, Pluralsight Skills and Pluralsight Flow. Pluralsight Skills is a learning tool and designed for individual learners. Whereas Pluralsight Flow is an organization tool, to help optimize the workflow of your team.

Pluralsight Skills

  • Standard: The monthly subscription is $29 USD and the yearly subscription is $299 USD. You will have access to the Core course library (2,500+ courses), paths and skill assessments. A 10-day free trial is included.
  • Premium: The monthly subscription is $45 USD and the yearly subscription is $449 USD. You will have access to the expanded course library (7,000+ courses), exams, projects and hands-on learning. A 10-day free trial is included.
Pluralsight Individual Monthly & Yearly Plans
Pluralsight Individual Monthly & Yearly Plans

The free trial period for any of the above subscriptions is for 10 days or 200 minutes of content, whichever comes first.

Pluralsight Skills for Teams

Pluralsight also offers 3 different subscription plans for teams and businesses of different sizes. The Starter and Professional plans are for teams of 2–10 employees, and the Enterprise plan is for 11+ employees.

  • Starter: You’ll pay a yearly subscription of $399 USD per user a year. You will be able to upskill your team with access to the core library (2,500+ courses)
  • Professional: You’ll pay a yearly subscription of $579 USD per user a year. This includes basic reporting and user analytics for teams. A team trial is available with 10 subscriptions.
  • Enterprise: It is a custom priced plan, and you’ll need to contact sales. The Enterprise plan includes everything in the Professional plan plus access to advanced content, role customization, skill development plans, Q&A with subject-matter experts and more.
Pluralsight Team Yearly Plans
Pluralsight Team Yearly Plans

The Professional and Enterprise plans both offer a 14-day free trial which you can check out here.

Pluralsight Flow

  • Core: You’ll pay a yearly subscription of $456 USD per contributor (working out at $38/per month).
  • Plus: You’ll pay a yearly subscription of $600 USD per contributor (working out at $50/per month).
Pluralsight Flow Plans
Pluralsight Flow Plans

As a team, it means you can build more meaningful connections with your team members. Some of its benefits include:

  • Increase product delivery speed
  • Build a thriving team
  • Optimize your engineering investment

Does Pluralsight Offer Refunds?

Sadly, Pluralsight doesn’t offer refunds on any of its membership plans. This is for both its monthly and annual plans. However, there is the possibility to downgrade your membership to a free plan at anytime to stop any future billing charges.

It’s important to note that citizens of the European Union, are entitled to a full refund within the first 14 days after purchasing a membership plan.

How to Cancel a Pluralsight Membership?

If you have decided to cancel your Pluralsight membership, then all you need to do is follow these easy steps:

  1. Go to the top-right corner and click Account settings
  2. On the Account page, click the Subscription & Billing 
  3. Click Manage Plan
  4. Choose Cancel
  5. Then choose your reason for canceling and click submit feedback, or click continue to cancellation
  6. Click Confirm cancellation

Once you have cancelled your subscription you’ll have access to courses until your subscription’s expiration date.

How To Open A Pluralsight Account?

Pluralsight Try for free
Pluralsight TRY FOR FREE

Opening an account with Pluralsight account is pretty intuitive, you only need to follow these steps:

  1. Visit pluralsight.com and click on ‘TRY FOR FREE’ (top right corner)
  2. You are then taken to the different individual plans to try for free
  3. Complete the Account details
  4. Add your account details including; First & Last name, Email, Country of residence and Company name (optional)
pluralsight create an account
Pluralsight create an account
  1. You then will be asked to add Payment details but won’t charge you anything until the free trial ends. You can cancel at any time within that free trial period and a reminder email will be sent to you 1 day before your free trial ends.
  2. Last step is to Review and confirm your account
pluralsight payment method
Pluralsight Payment Method

What Categories can I find on Pluralsight?

Courses

Pluralsight offers 10 different categories. They are broken up into Software Development, IT Ops, Data Professional, Architecture & Construction, Manufacturing & Design, Cloud Computing, Machine Learning / AI Business Professional, Information & Cyber Security and Creative Professional.

Pluralsight Categories
Pluralsight Course Topics


Its courses are regularly updated to ensure the skills you are learning are relevant and current.

Paths

Pluralsight doesn’t only offer individual courses, it also has the option of Paths which combine courses and tools into one experience to teach you a specific skill from start to finish. Paths are designed to an individual’s prior knowledge and will teach you a new skill in the right order.

Pluralsight Paths
Pluralsight Paths

Paths generally can be anywhere from 3 to 15 courses combined, in some cases more courses are combined. This will obviously mean a longer time commitment, but it will mean you are the job ready and have all the skills and tools needed to start or enhance your career.

Pluralsight Customer Reviews

For a comprehensive perspective on this Pluralsight review, I decided to delve into customer feedback from two review platforms, Trustpilot and Gartner. This approach gives us the insight into a vast array of user experiences, which provides us with a broad understanding from the viewpoint of many.

The Trustpilot review is collected from 927 users, below you’ll find a breakdown of ratings ranging from 1 to 5 star. With 60% of those users awarding Pluralsight with 5 stars. At Gartner, feedback was left by 60 users, 52% expressed their satisfaction with a 5-star rating and 0% left a 1-star rating.

Rating Trustpilot Gartner
5-star 60% 52%
4-star 14% 35%
3-star 6% 13%
2-star 3% 0%
1-star 17% 0%
Overall 1.7 out of 5 stars 4.3 out of 5 stars

Data gathered on 11/10/2023

As I dug deeper into the 5-star ratings, I found many users were happy with the content quality, focus on career development, engaging content. “The online course content was great. It was engaging and had plenty of quizzes to test my knowledge along the way” a happy five-star reviewer said.

On the downside, many of the 1-star ratings were disappointed in billing and subscriptions and poor support. “Very bad experience about the support service. I’ve some issues on the platform since almost two months, I have no updates about the issue…” an unhappy one-star reviewer said.

8 Tips To Find The Perfect Pluralsight Course

Like the majority of elearning platforms, there are some specific ways to find out if Pluralsight is the right platform for you. I thought it would be helpful to highlight some tips to help you make that decision.

Free Account

Pluralsight does give you the option to create a free account which gives you access to a library of 50+ courses, assessments and guides. Plus the added perk of the Skill and Role IQ.

pluralsight free account
Pluralsight free account

This will give you a taste of the platform, but if you feel the limited courses available aren’t enough, then it’s probably worth signing up for the free trial as you will have access to the full library that is 7,500+ courses, I talk in more detail about this all below.

Free Trial

Pluralsight offers a 10-day free trial or 200 minutes of content, whichever comes first. It offers free trials for Individual and Premium subscriptions which gives you access to all skills video courses, create channels, certificates of completion, take Skill iQ assessments and take notes.

The course downloads, and offline viewing are only available to paid subscribers. If you do decide to purchase a subscription, you’ll be able to download video courses and watch them offline.

If you decide to continue with a paid subscription when your free trial expires, you will be charged on the 11th calendar day. For example, if you started your free trial on June 5th, you will be charged on June 15th.

However, if you decide to cancel your trial subscription you just need to go to the Subscription & Billing tab on your Account page and click Manage your subscription and then click Cancel. Once you have canceled your subscription, you will lose access to all the content.

Skill IQ

Pluralsight offers a Skill IQ with its free account subscription, which takes only 10 minutes and consists of 20 questions. The Skill IQ is to measure your proficiency in your chosen technology skill. You are then given a score from 0 to 300, and your percentile result is broken into 3 levels of either Novice, Proficient and Expert.

pluralsight skill IQ
Pluralsight’s skill IQ

This Skill IQ will identify your knowledge gaps and strengths and the result will tell you where to start with your learning path, so you develop the skills you need the most.

pluralsight skill IQ skill assessments
Pluralsight’s skill IQ skill assessments

Role IQ

Similar to Skill IQ, you can also assess yourself with Role IQ which will measure your skills relevant for a specific role. For example, if you wanted to assess your skills for the role of a “Cloud Architect (Google Cloud)” your skills would be measured to determine if you’re a Level 1, 2 or 3, and then you can focus on the skills you are lacking to further your career.

pluralsight role IQ
Pluralsight Role IQ

Pluralsight offers 50+ Role IQ for specific roles. The best part about it is once you have worked on the areas of knowledge you are lacking, you can retake the Role IQ and see how much you have grown.

pluralsight role IQ available roles
Pluralsight role IQ available roles

Free weekly courses

Another feature which makes Pluralsight stand out from the crowd is its five free weekly courses which change on rotation every week.

pluralsight free weekly courses
Pluralsight free weekly courses

Each week it has a new focus. You are shown the schedule for that week and the upcoming weeks. For example, This week – Data. Another great way to sample Pluralsight’s courses.

Pluralsight Authors

When you click on your chosen course or path you will have the option to select About, where you will see a list of Authors who have all contributed to the course or path. You can read a small bio about the author and follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn if you want to find out more. You will also be shown with a list of content they have authored with reviews, which personally I think is the most helpful part.

pluralsight author
Pluralsight Author

If you click on the Follow button in blue you will receive updates of when they release new content. Which can be pretty helpful if you like the sound of the author and want to keep track of other courses they are working on.

Resource Center

The Resource Center is a great place for new users and offers features like Articles and Customer Stories. The Podcasts are an interesting addition and offer episodes on ‘Learning to code and embracing failure’ and ‘Team building and growth’ to name a few. You can listen to these episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast and RSS feed.

Pluralsight Resource Center
Pluralsight Resource Center

Discount & Offers

Pluralsight regularly runs offers and discounts on its plans, where you can save money on its monthly and annual membership plans. It’s best to take advantage of these offers and not miss out of them.

Pluralsight Discounted Offer
Pluralsight Discounted Offer

Pluralsight in Detail

Criteria

Comment

Ease of Use ?

4

To register with Pluralsight is really simple; you just need to provide your first and last name, email address and country of residence.

You will need to enter a credit or debit card or paypal information, to start your 10 day free trial.

The interface of Pluralsight’s design uses dark and contrasting colours. The design is stylish and the site is intuitive and easy to move around.

Convenience ?

4

Pluralsight is an online learning community offering courses for Technology related topics like Software, IT and Business.

The 10-day free trial or 200 minutes of access that Pluralsight offers gives you access to its core (2,500+ courses) or expanded library  (7,000+ courses).

When you have a subscription, you will be able to download course material via the app, so you can learn at your own convenience.

Available Platforms

5

Pluralsight can be accessed with laptop, desktop or via smartphones. You can also use the mobile apps (Android and iOS) with a rating of 4.4 and 4.8.

It can also be assessed via TV apps Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Beta with a purchased subscription.

Certifications ?

Pluralsight is not accredited with any educational institution (e.g. University or Partner)

It does have a reputable relationship with large companies and works with many companies providing courses for businesses like Telefonica and Fujitsu.

After completing a video course you will be able to generate a certificate of completion (not accredited). You are only able to get certificates for some courses, but not for projects or interactive courses.

It’s Premium subscription has practice exams to help you prepare for industry certifications, including CompTIA, ITIL, PMP and others.

Categories ?

3

Pluralsight offers an expanded library of 7,000 + courses which are broken into 10 Technology related categories; Software Development, IT Ops, Data Professional, Information & Cybersecurity, Architecture & Construction, Manufacturing & Design, Cloud Computing, Machine Learning / AI, Business Professional and Creative Professional.

Its courses are all self-paced and vary in difficulty level; Novice, Proficient and Expert. You can check your level through the Skill IQ assessment.

If you are looking for a wider variety of course topics, it may be worth checking out other platforms like Udemy or Coursera.

Free Courses

3

Pluralsight does offer 50+ courses on the free subscription. Aswell as the 10 day free trial or 200 minutes (whichever you use first) gives you access to the full library of courses and resources. This definitely gives you time to get to know the platform and get a feel for its courses.

Content Quality ?

4

Its video courses range in length from 9 to 50 hours and combine multiple video courses and tools to teach specific skills.

One feature that I think makes Pluralsight stand out from the rest is the Skill IQ which is a short 10 minute assessment that will measure your proficiency and will give you guidance on the right course for you to start with. This will help to ensure that you are taking the right course for you.

Languages ?

2

Pluralsight courses are all in English, but they do offer captions or subtitles in other languages for 100% of its video courses. You will need to select language from the video menu and then google translate will translate captions or subtitles of the video courses

For you to get the most out of the courses on Pluralsight you will need a proficiency and feel comfortable learning in English.

Instructors ?

5

Courses are taught by one of its 1,500+ experienced authors who have years of real-world experience in their fields.

On average, Pluralsight accepts less than ten percent of applicants who apply to join the author network. They are selected based on their expertise and teaching ability.

Course Requirements ?

4

The course production process goes through two reviews; a review of audio and video quality and a peer review performed by a trusted Pluralsight author. Peer reviewers use Pluralsight’s course expectations and design guidelines to base their feedback.

Course Structure ?

3

Pluralsight Monthly and Annual subscriptions consist of video courses, certification practice exams, channels, Skill & Role IQ, discussions, exercise files.

The Premium subscription has the same structure with the added certification practice exams, interactive courses and projects which have a hands-on approach and guided feedback.

All its courses are self-paced. The course description and structure is well detailed. Taking the Skill & Role IQ before you start the course will set you off on the right path.

Quizzes and Tests ?

2

The Skill and Role IQ are seen as more of an assessment than a test to assess your skills. The premium subscriptions offer industry-leading practice tests for Microsoft, CompTIA and more.

Payments and Refunds

3

Pluralsight works on a subscription model. You pay a fixed fee every month (or year) to have unlimited access to the course library and resources.

Individual Plans are based on 2 models; Standard $29 USD per month or $299 USD a year or Premium $45 USD per month or $449 USD per year.

Team Plans are based on 3 models; Starter $399 USD per user/year, Professional $579 USD per user/year and Enterprise $779 USD per user/year.

If you decide to cancel your subscription, you will still have access to the course library until your subscription’s expiry date.

Support ?

4

They have an email support support@pluralsight.com which is available 24/7 and a phone support (801) 784-9007 from Monday-Friday 8am-5pm (GMT-7).

There is also a submit a ticket where you can type a topic or question and any related common answers will show.

Overall Rating ?

4.2

Pluralsight offers such a wide variety of technology focused courses that you can learn at your own pace. They focus on building your skills and advancing you in a particular role.

Sadly, they don’t offer courses on every topic, other platforms like Udemy have courses about pretty much everything. If you are looking for an accredited certification it would be best to explore Coursera or edX.

Will Pluralsight Help Me With My Career?

Although you won’t receive a formal accredited certificate when you complete a course with Pluralsight. You will find that they focus on gaining skills that you are lacking for particular Job Roles. The Role IQ is an ideal feature to assess your technical proficiency in a specific role.

pluralsight role IQ how does it work
Pluralsight Role IQ how does it work?

Building your knowledge for a specific role is one of the most valuable ways to advance your career and make you stand out from the crowd. I have reviewed many other elearning platforms and haven’t seen any feature quite like the Role IQ which has to give Pluralsight an edge in my book.

I would say that Pluralsight is ideal for someone thinking or already working in the Tech industry and wanting to gain specific skills for a role. Its Premium subscription gives you unlimited access to industry-leading practice tests and to work on projects in real-world scenarios.

So, even though you won’t receive an accredited certificate you are able to fill in gaps of knowledge which makes you a valuable team player and successful within your job role.

Is Pluralsight Legit?

It is something that crosses most of our minds especially while we are entering our card details and committing to a subscription. Is this course legit?

Pluralsight was founded in 2004 as a training company which sent instructors to a business or training event, in 2007 it shifted its focus to an online video training for the Tech Industry. The founders are Aaron Skonnard, Keith Brown, Fritz Onion and Bill Williams and the company headquarters are in Farmington, Utah.

So yes, Pluralsight is legit and it’s safe to use and I promise you won’t be scammed.

Pluralsight Alternatives

Udacity

Best For Career Services

4.6

Coursera

Accredited Certificates

4.8

edX

Best for Verified Certificates

4.2

Udacity: offers just under 100 Nanodegree programs that focus on topics related to business and technology. Its subscription plans give you full access to its catalog of courses and programs.

Coursera: With over 113+ million students and more than 5,800+ courses and learning programs. There is plenty of choice for learners and when you successfully complete a course you’ll receive an accredited certificate from one of its 300+ Universities and Organizations.

edX: offers over 4,000 + courses that are created by its partners like Harvard and Microsoft. It offers courses either self-paced or instructor led, and like Coursera, you will receive an accredited certificate on course completion.

Pluralsight Conclusion

So, let’s round up this in-depth Pluralsight review.

If you are looking for a course to improve skills or gain knowledge for a particular job role within the Tech Industry then Pluralsight is definitely the right platform for you. It has such a wide range of courses that are really focused on you getting the most out of your learning experience, which you are guided to through the Skill and Role IQ assessments.

However, if you are looking for an accredited certification then elearning platforms like Coursera or edX would be a better fit.

You will love Pluralsight for its:

  • Courses for Individuals and Businesses
  • Good support system
  • Download course material for offline viewing
  • Free trial
  • Career Focused courses

Please leave a comment below if you have any questions, and I’ll do my best to help you out.

Pluralsight FAQs

Pluralsight is a reputable online learning platform. It has expert instructors teaching its courses, and it is trusted in the technology and business industry.

Pluralsight offers a free account which you sign up to and get access to several courses in software development, IT ops, data and more. This is a great way to get started with Pluralsight.