Treehouse is an online learning platform, that describes itself as an online technology school. It offers a wide range of courses in web development, programming, design, and other tech-related fields. Its subscription plans offer a free trial, and you’ll receive a certification after completing a course or program.
That still doesn’t mean that Treehouse is the right platform for you. So let’s dive in to find out all in this in-depth Treehouse Review.
Treehouse Summary
Treehouse is an online learning platform offering a big pool of courses on programming, design and more. Its teachers are full-time employees who are dedicated to teaching high quality interactive courses. Treehouse believes in offering affordable and self-paced learning courses and programs, so that learners can launch or enhance their careers. It offers different subscription plans that all come with a free 7-day free trial that gives you full access to the platform.
Pros
Free Trial
A 7-day free trial is offered with all subscription plans, giving you full access to the platform and its library of courses.
Real Project Experience
Treehouse courses are based around real-life projects like designing websites, web apps and mobile apps and more.
High Quality Courses
Its courses are created by the in-house expert teachers at Treehouse who create interactive and engaging courses.
Career Focused
Its Techdegree plan is designed to help launch your career through curated curriculum and projects.
Self-Paced Learning
Treehouses courses and programs are self-paced, giving you the flexibility to learn anytime and anywhere.
Cons
Limited Courses
Offering only 300+ courses, if you are looking for a wider range of topics and courses, then it may be worth checking out Coursera or MasterClass.
Credit Card Required
When signing up to any subscription plan, you’ll need to enter your credit/debit card (you won’t be charged until the trial ends) to get access to your 7-day free trial.
Who Is Treehouse For?
The Treehouse learning process is designed for learners looking to gain tech skills for a career in coding and design. Its courses have been designed around a proven system to get you the skills and knowledge to accomplish your goals. Its courses are taught in a really interactive way through on-demand videos, quizzes, challenges and coding workshops.
Sounds pretty appealing right?
Getting started isn’t always the easiest, well Treehouse has made that first step a little easier. When you first land on the Treehouse homepage, if you scroll down, you will be able to Take a Quiz (see image below). It will be led through a few questions for you to answer. The results of this quiz will help point you in the right direction on what courses you want to learn on.
If you do already have an idea of the course that you are keen to learn with, you can begin exploring the library of courses. You have 23 topics to choose from, ranging from Android, Computer Science to Java and much more.
Treehouse’s Learning Programs
Its learning plans are broken into 3 areas for individual learners. Starting with the Courses subscription that is ideal for anyone looking to give coding or design a try, then there is Courses Plus that is perfect for anyone looking to level up their learning. The Techdegee focuses on individuals wanting to launch or enhance their career.
- Courses: Access to the Treehouse catalog library of courses, Interactive quizzes and code challenges and access to learning tracks.
- Courses Plus: Everything from Courses, Access to additional content and the option to download videos for offline viewing.
- Techdegree: Curated curriculum and projects, Projects reviews, access to an exclusive slack community and everything from Courses Plus.
Be mindful that all Treehouse subscription plans come with a free 7-day free trial that gives you full access to the platform, plus the option to cancel at any time.
It’s important to add here that Treehouse doesn’t provide accredited certificates, if this is what you are looking for it may be worth checking out edX or Coursera.
Treehouse For Businesses
As well as courses for individuals, Treehouse offers an Enterprise plan for teams and businesses. The plan is designed for teams of any size, and ideal for any businesses wanting to upskill and develop their skillsets.
How Much Is Treehouse?
Treehouse works on subscription-based plans which you can pay for monthly or annually. The Courses plan is the most popular plan, giving you full access to the library of video courses and resources along with being a part of the Treehouse community forum. The Courses Plus plan also gives you full access to video courses and resources, plus bonus content, additional content and the ability to download course videos for offline viewing.
- Courses: $25/monthly OR $250/annually
- Courses Plus: $49/monthly OR $490/annually
- Techdegree: $49/month
- Enterprise: Contact Sales
The Techdegree plan is designed to help you launch which includes curated curriculum and projects, peer reviews, hands-on projects and more. At the end of each program, you will take a final exam to make sure you are prepared to launch a potential new career.
All of the Treehouse subscription plans offer a 7-day free trial, so you can try out the platform and its courses before you financially commit. On top of that, all the plans give you the option to pause your subscription at anytime.
Note: If you do not want to continue with a paid Treehouse subscription plan, you must make sure that you cancel your membership before the end of your free trial.
How To Open A Treehouse Account?
The registration process for Treehouse is pretty intuitive. There are a couple of ways to sign up. I thought it would be helpful to take you through the registration process.
- Open a browser and visit www.teamtreehouse.com
- Click either Free Trial (right corner) or add your email and click Join Now
- Then you will be taken to select which Treehouse plan you want to choose from
- You will need to complete Your information (see image below)
- You will then need to complete your payment details (see image below)
- Finally, click Join Treehouse
Once you are all signed up. You will begin your free trial and be able to access the platform and its courses and start learning on your chosen course, track or techdegree.
Most Popular Treehouse Courses
It can sometimes be hard to know where to start when looking for a course. Along with individual courses the teachers at Treehouse have put together Tracks, a series of curated courses designed to help guide you in learning the right concepts and skills in the right order for a potential new career.
So I thought it would be helpful to highlight which courses and tracks are the most popular amongst Treehouse users.
- Front End Web development – This is a track which consists of 56 hours and ideal for a beginner. You will learn to build beautiful, interactive websites with 3 common coding languages (HTML, CSS and Javascript). The track consists of 28 video courses taught by a variety of expert led instructors.
- Introduction to HTML and CSS – A course that is 134 minutes where you will learn to create web pages with HTML and CSS, the basic building blocks of web development. This course is for beginners and taught by Treasure Porth, a web developer, Javascript enthusiast and education professional.
- Beginning Python – A track which consists of 16 hours where you will learn Python a popular programming language. You will learn the building blocks of Python and more so you are ready to use it in real world scenarios like web applications and data science. The track consists of 10 video courses taught by a variety of expert led instructors.
- CSS Layout Basics – A course that is 170 minutes where you will learn to work with common layout and positioning methods used in web design. This course is for beginners and taught by Guil Hernandez, a full stack Javascript and Front End Web development instructor.
- Full Stack Javascript – This is a track which consists of 45 hours where you will learn Javascript a programming language which powers the interactivity and user experience on every major website. You will learn the basics and functions and much more. The track consists of 27 courses and workshops taught by expert led instructors.
7 Tips To Find The Perfect Treehouse Course
If you are not sure on the best way to pick the right course for you. I put together 7 tips to help you to choose the perfect course.
Take Quiz
If you are a complete beginner to coding and design, then taking the Quiz can be a really effective way to point you in the right direction.
Once you have answered a couple of simple questions you will be given the results based on your answers which will highlight the right course or track for you to learn the skills for a new career.
Choose filter and Topic
A quick and useful feature is the Filter (see image above) which you will find on the right side of the search bar. You will have the option to search either Newest, Oldest, Alphabetical and Difficulty.
As well as the filter, you can search directly with the specific topic, you are interested in, you can choose the specific topic (e.g. Android), this will then show all the courses related to that topic. This can be a really effective way to see all the courses under the topic area.
Watch Trailer
Every course that Treehouse has in its library has a trailer for you to watch. This is an ideal way for you to get a taste of the course and what it has to offer. The trailer gives a description and what to expect.
You will also get an insight into the instructor teaching the course, which really is an important factor to consider before choosing your course.
About this Course
When you select a course you are able to read About this Course you will read a small description about what you will learn on the course and what skills you will gain if you are considering a potential career.
A short bullet point list about What you’ll learn is a nice digestible way of seeing what you will learn during the course.
Treehouse Tracks
Another great way to help you decide on where to start looking for the courses is to check out Treehouse Tracks. The tracks are a combination of curated courses to teach you the skills you need for a particular job role or to learn a new coding language to add to your resume.
The most popular tracks and recently added tracks have been highlighted, which are really helpful for new users. The track option is definitely right for someone willing to commit time and energy into a potential new career.
Treehouse Community
You can find the Community tab in the header once you are signed in and will be able to read other users’ questions and answers or even leave any questions about doubts you may have.
You can search for particular questions you may have or select the filter on the right-hand side for (Newest, Active, Unanswered and Featured) or select from the Topics (see image below).
Free Trial
Treehouse offers a 7-day free trial for everyone when you first sign up giving you full access to the platform. It really is the best way for you to try out the Treehouse and see if its courses, tracks or tech degrees are right for you.
Remember you will have to enter your debit/credit card details when you first sign up and won’t be charged. You will be able to cancel before the end of the free trial if you decide not to continue with the paid subscription.
Treehouse In Detail
Will Treehouse Help My Career?
Treehouse courses are ideal for someone who is wanting to start or develop their career in programming, design or other tech related topics (23 tech topics in total). The fact that Treehouse courses are project-based and relate to something a client or employee will ask you to do, is a really great stepping stone for starting a new career.
The Techdegree are rigorous project-based programs that provide the skills you need to start a new career. At the end of the program, you will take a final exam to ensure you are ready to start your new career and you will earn a certificate as proof of this.
You will receive a certificate for successfully completing the techdegree which is in a PDF format and is printable. All the learning programs at Treehouse are self-paced which means they are flexible and would be ideal if you already have a job or a busy schedule and are looking to change careers or develop existing skills.
Treehouse prides itself on its courses and making you job ready. It has had hundreds of graduates from the Techdegree program who have gone on to have careers in companies like Mailchimp, Adobe, Airbnb, Nike and more.
Is Treehouse Legit?
Treehouse was founded by Ryan and Gillian Carson in 2011, and they opened their first office in Orlando, Florida and then in 2012 opened its second office in Portland, Oregon where they moved the Treehouse HQ. It has had over 50k users and 43 full-time employees.
So to put your mind at rest, Treehouse is legit, and it’s safe to use, you won’t be scammed.
Treehouse Conclusion
Ok, so let’s conclude why Treehouse is worth it.
If you are a complete beginner or wanting to develop your skills in programming and design, then Treehouse is definitely a great option for you. It offers a range of learning programs from Courses, Tracks to Techdegrees, plus the option to curate a program for you and your team. The fact that you have a 7-day free trial with full access to the platform really is the best way for you to know if it is the one.
However, if you are looking for an accredited certification, then it is worth checking out platforms like Coursera or edX as they may be a better fit.
You will love Treehouse for its:
- Focused tech learning
- Self-paced courses
- Hands on support and community
- Curated programs for teams
- 7-day free trial
Treehouse Alternatives
Datacamp: offers close to 350 courses and specializes in topics like data science and analytics. Its courses and track programs focus on gaining new skills for a career path.
Coursera: Probably the best option if you are looking to earn accredited certificates from leading universities such as Duke, Michigan or The University of Texas (among others). It also has a broader range of courses for free and a more comprehensive list of available topics.
Udacity: offers learning programs called Nanodegrees on topics related to technology and business, focused on gaining skills for careers in tech and business. It offers close to 200 courses for free and a monthly or annual subscription plan to access the full platform.
3 comments
charlotte treehouse
2 June 2022, 19:24
I could say that I love reading this article because I was able to gain a lot of advices or suggestions about this topic. I found it very helpful because it is also informative and reliable.
Catherine Cooke
8 June 2022, 12:11
Thanks Charlotte 🙂
AJ Berry
14 December 2021, 04:45
Hi catherine,
do you know if treehouse projects can be failed and if yes can they be redone as many times ?
thanks and love your content
AJ