Udemy
Ranked 3 of 11 online learning platforms by recommenders
Recommended for practical courses on technologies, languages and soft skills, and for cheap certificates. Critics say many courses are outdated, low quality and bought but never finished.
Recommended for practical courses on technologies, languages and soft skills, and for cheap certificates. Critics say many courses are outdated, low quality and bought but never finished.
60 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 44
- approval share
- 27%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 10 years
Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful for learning technologies and languages
“I gained a lot from both Udemy and Coursera. Stuff that has helped me a fair amount in my career.”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” “I found Udemy useful to learn new languages and technologies.”
Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: What made you stop relying on tutorials?” “Udemy got me started in online dev education.”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” - Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy”
Practical, tactical courses for careers
“I use Udemy courses all the time; great for compliance, game engine training, and insightful training of soft skills.”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” “since Udemy is more about tactical courses in 10 out of 10 times”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” Occasional good courses found
“why not just find a good Udemy course after maybe a few hours of research”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “The death of web development education” “I've found the occasional good course on Udemy”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Coursera and Udemy are now one company” Cheap courses and certificates
“The first two can give certificates cheaply.”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” “give them $15 to spend on Udemy”
Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “Excel now supports multiple values in a single cell”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Outdated courses
“old courses with outdated info are a major frustration on the platform”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” “the videos were 10 years old and most of the content was woefully out of date”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” Low quality, no quality control
“so much utter trash. There should be some kind of quality control.”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Coursera and Udemy are now one company” “the quality level was okay-to-mediocre but better than nothing”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” “the instructor could barely speak English, audio seemed to have been recorded out an internet cafe”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” - Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Coursera and Udemy are now one company”
Bought courses often left unfinished
“Buying them is an easy way to feel good in the moment and it's easy to tell yourself that you'll do the courses later.”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” “You buy the course and then it sits there. You get a dopamine hit when you buy, and you can finish the course later.”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” “I bought quite a few courses at udemy, none at coursera though, but I ended up not taking them”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” - Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy”
DRM makes some videos hard to watch
“Except for the DRM crap for some of the videos, that I need to watch in another browser”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Coursera and Udemy are now one company” “most of the big names (Udemy, Coursera, ...) are using encrypted streaming with DRM”
Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Tolaria – open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases”
Other online learning platforms people recommend
The four most recommended other online learning platforms, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khan Academy | 67 | 17 | 80% | 12 | 7 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Coursera | 26 | 37 | 41% | 6 | — | — |
| UdemyThis page | 16 | 44 | 27% | 5 | 10 yrs4 owners | — |
| MIT OpenCourseWare | 14 | 2 | 88% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Brilliant.org | 12 | 3 | 80% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 63 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“instead of paying some random bootcamp to sit throught the $10 Udemy course and $20 Coursera certificate”
“Platforms like Udemy are even worse because they actively incentivize low information density by paying by length.”
“why not just find a good Udemy course after maybe a few hours of research”
“give them $15 to spend on Udemy”
“I found Udemy useful to learn new languages and technologies.”
“they STILL have not acknowledged the recent data leak / hack - and I've asked them twice. Shitty customer service.”
“Udacity and Udemy were definitely more industry-focused.”
“Except for the DRM crap for some of the videos, that I need to watch in another browser”
“mostly bad practices and misinformation on nearly all subject matter”
“so much utter trash. There should be some kind of quality control.”
“I've found the occasional good course on Udemy”
“Udemy's vast catalogue made it hard to actually pick a course”
“The subscription plan they've been pushing makes no sense financially.”
“most of the big names (Udemy, Coursera, ...) are using encrypted streaming with DRM”
“I say this as someone who has spent a small fortune buying Udemy/Coursera videos, but ultimately the concepts never sink in”
“since Udemy is more about tactical courses in 10 out of 10 times”
“the videos were 10 years old and most of the content was woefully out of date”
“something always irked me about udemy, especially those fomo sales”
“I've gotten a lot of utility from Udemy.”
“old courses with outdated info are a major frustration on the platform”
“I gained a lot from both Udemy and Coursera. Stuff that has helped me a fair amount in my career.”
“these tutorial based job training courses, designed to teach you framework N+1 were as useful as more fundamentaly and in depth courses”
“Udemy got me started in online dev education.”
“they are still anchored in earning in the past”
“the quality level was okay-to-mediocre but better than nothing”
“udemy course link spam was one of the higher volume sources of spam”
“Buying them is an easy way to feel good in the moment and it's easy to tell yourself that you'll do the courses later.”
“You buy the course and then it sits there. You get a dopamine hit when you buy, and you can finish the course later.”
“Udemy never sold knowledge. They are selling that feeling of a new beginning, of a better future”
“the instructor could barely speak English, audio seemed to have been recorded out an internet cafe”
“income was low and most enrolled students did not even start the courses they purchased”
“Udemy does that "promotion" nonsense to "encourage" to "buy it now" which I think is lame”
“User ratings are unreliable since beginners aren't really in a position to evaluate a teacher's expertise.”
“Something never felt right with how Udemy promoted courses.”
“The first two can give certificates cheaply.”
“They don't do anything. It is like the app store but for courses.”
“The platforms lost because they enshittified and everyone left because of it”
“I bought quite a few courses at udemy, none at coursera though, but I ended up not taking them”
“I use Udemy courses all the time; great for compliance, game engine training, and insightful training of soft skills.”
“Udemy is famous for the fuck off style for paying customers.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.