If you’re considering a career change, flexible jobs, or remote work from home, Udemy might be on your radar. With options ranging from free Udemy courses to heavily discounted paid ones, it’s not always clear what you’re getting. How do free courses stack up against paid ones, and are there better Udemy alternatives?
In this concise Udemy pricing guide, I’ll break down the costs, discounts, and value to help you decide if it’s the right platform for your goals. Let’s dive in!
To ensure this article on Udemy’s pricing is both informative and useful, I’ve extensively researched Udemy’s pricing structure, refund policy, discounts, and how its costs compare to other online learning platforms. Additionally, my Master’s degree in Teaching and Education, combined with years of experience exploring online learning platforms, has enabled me to craft this comprehensive pricing guide.
Catherine CookeUpskillwise Advisor
Udemy Pricing Summary
Udemy offers the largest selection of courses among online learning platforms, with over 210,000 courses across 13 categories and numerous subcategories. Course prices typically range from $9.99 to $199.99 USD, depending on the instructor and content, but frequent promotions and discounts can significantly lower costs. In addition to individual courses, Udemy offers a subscription service for businesses called Udemy Business, with plans like the Team plan at $360 USD per user annually and the Enterprise plan, customized for 21 or more users. All courses include a 30-day money-back guarantee, making Udemy an accessible and risk-free way to learn new skills.
Table Summary Of Udemy Pricing
To sum up Udemy costs, you’ve got the option to buy an individual course $9.99 – $199.99 USD or if you prefer a subscription plan, then you can choose its Personal Plan for $20.00 USD per month. A 7-day free trial is included. All of Udemy’s individual plans come with a 30-day refund guarantee in case you change your mind. Plans are also available for teams and businesses starting at $360 USD
Free Courses |
Paid Courses |
Udemy Personal Plan |
Udemy for Business |
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Courses |
485 |
210,000 + |
11,000+ |
24,000+ |
Topics |
25 |
150+ |
150+ |
150+ |
Udemy app | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
QA with instructor & other students | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Learning Insights & admin functionality | No | No | No | Yes |
Refunds | N/A | 30-day refund policy | N/A | Â N/A |
Pricing |
N/A |
$9.99 – $199.99 USD | $20.00 USD per month (7 – day free trial included) | Team Plan $360 USD a month Enterprise Plan Custom Priced Leadership Development Programs Contact Sales |
Is Udemy Free?
Udemy made quite a significant change to its free courses as of April 2020. The platform used to offer thousands of free courses. Currently, you can find close to 500 courses for free on its platform. You may be thinking, darn, I missed out on a bunch of free courses. Well, that is true, but have you considered that quantity doesn’t always mean quality. This is just one of the reasons that Udemy made the change to its free courses, so that learners can really appreciate the value between free and paid courses.
Udemy’s new free courses are more limited than its paid courses, which makes sense, especially when you are trying to differentiate between free and paid courses. The new free courses must be no more than 2 hours of video content, and their option to direct message and QA with the teacher and other students is not available anymore. The objective of the free experience is to get a taste of the topic and the instructor before deciding on whether you want to commit to a paid course or not.
Udemy’s free coursesUdemy Paid Courses
Udemy’s paid individual courses are reasonably priced somewhere between $9.99 to $199.99 USD. It often runs promotions on its courses offering heavy discounts on its courses (see image below). If you want to be the first to be alerted about its course discounts, you can subscribe to its promotion emails to be notified. The only prerequisite regarding discounted courses is that the price cannot be any lower than $12.99 USD.
Some may think that the slashing of its prices is maybe a marketing strategy to encourage you to buy the course. But whichever way you look at it, you are still getting an absolute bargain.
What’s included in an Udemy Paid Course?
You may still be asking yourself; What’s actually included with a paid Udemy course? Let me highlight below what you actually get when you splash the cash.
- Certificate of completion
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Access to course via the Udemy app
- Lifetime access to the course material
- Learn at your own pace
Who decides the Cost of Udemy’s Courses?
As the instructor is the curator of Udemy’s Courses, it is their responsibility to determine the price of the course. Both the instructor and Udemy can offer discounts on courses at anytime.
Instructors can choose to participate in the Udemy Deals Program. This means that Udemy will use data to optimize your course discounting in different currencies. It isn’t always guaranteed that all courses are included in Udemy’s promotions, as a number of elements like course topic, enrollment, rating, reviews are considered before it is considered for inclusion in the deal.
Udemy’s paid coursesUdemy Personal Plan
If you’d rather subscribe than pay per course, Udemy’s Personal Plan gives you unlimited access to 12,000+ top-rated courses—including certification prep and AI-powered coding exercises.
It comes with a 7-day free trial, is billed monthly or annually, and you can cancel anytime. Perfect if you love learning at your own pace and want the freedom to explore a wide range of topics without the commitment of buying each course.
Udemy for Business
Udemy doesn’t only offer individual courses, it also has Udemy for Business. Udemy for Business focuses on upskilling and empowering your remote workforce to learn what they need and when they need it.
Its 24,000+ course collection are chosen by the content team, ensuring they are of the highest quality for businesses. The process for choosing the courses can be based on Course reviews and ratings, Number of enrollments, Instructor reputation and more. As well as that, the content team keeps an eye on the market, ensuring new courses are added weekly so that new skills and demands are up-to-date.
Udemy for Business Plans
Each of the plans that Udemy for Business offers are to meet the needs of all organizations, no matter the size.
- Enterprise Plan: (21 or more users) = Contact sales for customized pricing
- Team Plan: (5 – 20 users) = $360 USD/ user/ year (plus applicable taxes)
- Leadership Development Programs: (Open & Private Programs) = Contact sales
International Collection
Udemy for Business doesn’t only offer courses in English. Its courses are for global employees with content available in French, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Japanese.
The international content is taught by subject-matter experts in their native language in courses ranging from IT, web development, soft skills, business marketing and design.
Accepted Payment Methods & Currencies
You can purchase an Udemy course using most major international a credit or debit cards like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB and Discover.
Other payment methods may include the following (this does depend on your device, location and what country you have your Udemy account in).
Boleto Bancario: in addition to our other payment methods, Brazilian students can purchase Udemy courses using a Boleto Bancario.
Cash Payments and Bank Transfers may be an option for students in several Latin American nations, as well as some countries in Europe and Asia.
PayPal is a supported method of payment for Udemy courses in most countries.
Can I Get a Refund from Udemy?
If you aren’t satisfied with your purchased course at Udemy, you are entitled to a refund within 30 days of purchasing. The easiest way to request a refund is through your web browser. All you need to do is navigate to your purchase history, locate the course you wish to refund and click Request Refund (see image below).
Then you will select Refund method (see image below) where you can choose to have the refund to your original payment method, or you can choose to receive Udemy credits instead.
Before clicking Submit, you just need to select a Refund reason and a brief description as to why you are requesting one.
Then, after your refund request has been submitted, you will be sent an email confirming it has been processed. It usually takes 5-10 business days for the refund to appear in your account.
Udemy Cost Comparison
I wanted to compare Udemy’s Costs and all things cost related alongside other online learning platforms. I thought that way we can easily see how it compares to its competitors.
Costs | Udemy | Skillshare | MasterClass | Coursera | Mindvalley |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Free Trial | 7-days | 1 month | N/A | 7-days | N/A |
Individual Courses | Starting at $12.99 USD | N/A | N/A | Starting at $49 USD | N/A |
Annual Price | $199 USD | $168 USD | Starting at $120 USD | $399 USD | Â Starting at $499 USD |
Monthly Price | $16.58 USD | N/A | N/A | $59 USD | $99 USD |
Refund Policy | 30-days | 14-days | 30-days | 14-days | 15-days |
Number of Courses | 210,000+ | 35,000+ | 185+ | 7,000+ | 100+ Programs |
As you can see from the table above, Udemy is the only platform that offers the option to purchase individual courses, as well as a subscription plan that can be paid both annually and monthly. Alongside that, a free trial is available and a generous refund policy. If one or more of these cost factors are important to you, it’s worth considering all of this before choosing an online learning platform.
Udemy Alternatives
Hopefully, now you have a clearer picture of how Udemy’s cost and pricing works. That could have left you feeling unsure about the platform whether it’s right for you. If that is the case, I have together some alternative platforms for you to consider.
Skillshare: If you prefer a platform that offers an annual subscription plan and a generous free trial, then Skillshare could be the answer. This e-learning platform is aimed at creatives and entrepreneurs with access to 35,000+ classes. In case you’re looking for a completion certificate, be mindful that Skillshare doesn’t offer this, but some of its courses are created by top industry professionals and big companies like MailChimp, Google or Moz.
MasterClass: If you like the idea of your course being taught by a celebrity, then MasterClass has you covered. This online platform is currently offering 185+ classes across a wide range of exciting categories from Food, Design & Style, Science & Tech, Sports & Gaming and more. It offers 3 different subscription plans that are all billed annually, starting with the Individual for $120 USD. If you change your mind, MasterClass offers a generous 30-day refund policy. New classes are added every month, and you can download and watch its classes offline with the MasterClass app.
Coursera:Â If it is important for you to receive an accredited certificate on course completion, then Coursera may be the right option as it partners with Universities and Companies like Stanford, The Imperial College of London, Google and IBM. You can join most Coursera courses for free, however, if you are looking to get a certificate, you will need to pay for the course (or program). There are different types of learning programs available: individual courses (start at $49 USD), Specializations (start at $49 USD), Coursera Plus Subscription ($59 USD/month or $399 USD/year) and complete degrees (starting at $9,000 USD).
If you’d like to read in more detail about the alternative platforms to Udemy, you can check them out here.
Udemy pricing: Last Thoughts
As we sum up this detailed cost and pricing guide for Udemy, you should have a comprehensive understanding of how it all works. Let me briefly summarize below;
If you only want to commit to an individual course, that is reasonably priced and with the possibility of it being discounted, then Udemy has you covered. It has a course catalog of 213,000+ courses on pretty much any topic you desire (within reason). Its courses are constantly being added to and updated by its instructors.
Udemy for Business offers three different plans depending on the size of your team. For smaller businesses, the Team Plan would be ideal for 5 – 20 users, costing $360 USD/ user/ year. For larger organizations, the Enterprise Plan is for 21 or more users, and you would need to contact sales for a customized price. Finally, the Leadership Development Programs offer a couple of options for 5 or more seats or 50 or more seats. For this, you will need to contact sales for a quote.
Lastly, if you do decide that your purchased course isn’t for you, you are entitled to a 30-day money-back guarantee. The refund request is really straightforward to do, and you can expect the money to be back in your account with in 5-10 business days. I’ve highlighted below Udemy’s Pros and Cons, so you can see easily see the platform’s strengths and weaknesses, if you want to read in more detail you can check out our Udemy Review Article.
Udemy’s Pros
- Affordable: Udemy’s courses are reasonably priced, ranging from $9.99 USD and go up to $199.99 USD.
- Free Courses: Udemy is currently providing almost 600 courses for free, covering a good selection of categories.
- Refund Policy: Udemy offers a generous refund policy of 30 days, if the course isn’t what you were expecting, you are entitled to your money back in the first month.
- Wide Selection: Udemy offers the biggest pool of courses, more than 213k+ over 13 categories.
Udemy’s Cons
- Not Accredited: Udemy’s courses are not accredited by an external body or organization, if you are looking for this it’s best to check out Coursera.
- Quality Assurance: In some cases, the quality of the course may not be the highest as anyone can create a course at Udemy and the quality can vary from course to course.
Udemy Pricing: FAQs
Yes, Udemy offers a monthly option with its personal plan costing $16.58 USD per month. The plan includes access to 8,000+ courses and 4,000+ practice exercises and a 7-day free trial is included which you can cancel at anytime in case you change your mind.
Please leave a comment below if you have any questions, and I’ll do my best to help you out.
If a more comprehensive review on Udemy is what you are looking for, then give it a read here. I hope you have a clearer understanding of Udemy’s costs are and what’s right for you.
23 comments
Kiyoko Murrill
28 April 2025, 21:09
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I have a question
18 January 2023, 02:12
Hello,
Do I need a subscription to have a lifetime access to one course that I pay for?
Catherine Cooke
18 January 2023, 20:12
Hey, When you purchase an individual course at Udemy you will get full lifetime access to it. Which course is it that you are wanting to purchase?
Qhamani
23 August 2022, 12:30
Hello,
I bought a new course at an 85% discount I think I paid R179 but the original price of the python course by Dr. Angela is R1200.
I would like to ask if will I get the Certificate after Completion.
Catherine Cooke
23 August 2022, 14:34
Hey Qhamani, Thanks for your comment. When you successfully complete a course you should be able to download your certificate of completion. You can read this support article from Udemy to show you how. Hopefully, that helps 🙂
Kristine
23 February 2022, 16:58
What if you have a single person LLC and want to expense this. $399 a month is way too much! They should make this scale with number of employees.
Catherine Cooke
26 February 2022, 18:19
Hey Kristine, It is true it is a lot of money for one person. I imagine you are looking at the Team plan for $360 per user. It is maybe worth contacting Udemy and requesting a demo to see if it is even something you would enjoy. Good luck with it 🙂
bernice hanney
1 January 2022, 14:41
i want to know how to get my refund back into my payment method account instead of what ive been given,credit for courses.i do not want another course.i have emailed three times and no response
Catherine Cooke
1 January 2022, 20:09
Hey Bernice, Thanks for your comment. Udemy offers a 30-day refund guarentee you can read its policy here. I hope that helps you 🙂
Me Here
30 November 2021, 11:58
Personal plan???
Catherine Cooke
30 November 2021, 13:33
Hey Steve. What is it you want to know? 🙂
salesforce admin training
1 October 2021, 02:38
Thank you for sharing such a good information.
Catherine Cooke
1 October 2021, 11:04
You are welcome. Happy it is helpful 🙂
Anonymous
30 September 2021, 09:05
Nice article, thanks for sharing informative content. I like the content of the post.
Catherine Cooke
30 September 2021, 12:11
Happy you like the content and hopefully helps you on deciding what’s best 🙂
Apoorva Gupta
28 September 2021, 12:47
Nice article, thanks for sharing informative content. I like the content of the post.
Catherine Cooke
20 October 2021, 15:13
Thank you, Apoorva. Happy to hear you like the content of the post 🙂
salesforce training
27 September 2021, 06:40
Nice article, thanks for sharing informative content. I like the content of the post.
Catherine Cooke
27 September 2021, 08:08
Thank you. Happy the content is informative and helpful 🙂
Pankaj Nagla
24 September 2021, 06:44
Thankyou for Sharing. Very easy to use. Time effective.
Catherine Cooke
26 September 2021, 10:56
Thanks Pankaj. Happy it is helpful 🙂
salesforce training
23 September 2021, 16:33
Nice article, thanks for sharing informative content. I like the content of the post.
Catherine Cooke
23 September 2021, 16:41
Thanks so much. I am happy the content is so informative and helpful for you 🙂