Pros & Cons
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- Many free courses
- Exercises include building real websites
- YouTube video lessons
- Professional certifications
- Dedicated, active community
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- More features and later courses are locked behind paid tiers
Codecademy Specs
| Built-in Tools | |
| Free Courses | |
| Free Trial | |
| Quizzes | |
| Starting Price | Free |
| User Forums | |
| Video Tutorials |
Codecademy has a bold mission to rethink education from the bottom up, and it's working on that through a handful of nonprofit initiatives. The service offers courses to make learning to code and designing websites fun and easy. You can learn a specific language, such as JavaScript, or take a crash course in cybersecurity. Even better, many classes are free, though the paid plans offer additional learning tools, courses, community support, and professional opportunities. In all, it's enough to earn Codecademy our Editors' Choice award for free online coding classes.
Plans and Prices
After you sign up, Codecademy offers recommendations on where to start based on a short quiz that determines your programming personality. You can also view the service's full course listing. We previously criticized Codecademy for its lack of video lessons, but you can now watch more than 250 video tutorials on the company's YouTube channel (note that these lengthy videos are geared toward adult students, rather than kids with short attention spans).
(Credit: Codecademy/PCMag)Codecademy also offers two paid tiers. For $29.99 per month (or $14.99 per month with an annual subscription), the Plus plan includes additional courses, a personalized learning plan, regular quizzes, real-world projects, unlimited code practicing on mobile, and enhanced community resources. The Pro plan ($39.99 per month, or $19.99 per month if billed annually) adds useful professional perks, such as career services, professional certifications, and technical interview prep.
First-time subscribers can take advantage of a seven-day free trial, and college students can sign up at a reduced rate. Android and iOS apps called Codecademy Go are also available. Businesses can get Codecademy specifically for their teams (you must contact Codecademy to receive a price quote, however). These prices are roughly in line with paid coding services without free options, such as Code Avengers (starting at $29 per month) or Treehouse (starting at $25 per month).
Codecademy sells tickets to live learning virtual bootcamps hosted by industry experts. These sessions occur at scheduled times, with limited availability, and cover topics such as full stack development or various AI tutorials. Classes last several weeks, with multiple sessions per week, and you can read a brochure full of information before committing. At $500 per ticket, though, it's a big commitment. At least that ticket includes a year of Codecademy Pro.
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Class Selection, Features, and Help
When it launched, Codecademy focused on teaching beginners. That's still the case, especially for free users. Still, its courses now include more advanced options, such as C++, Ruby, and PHP. You may even learn how to make a video game. Premium users can dive into higher-level course topics, such as Python and mobile app development, as well as Career Path courses that bundle multiple courses under a shared theme like Front-End Engineer. At the end, you receive a certificate.
(Credit: Codecademy/PCMag)When you select a course, Codecademy offers a syllabus overview that highlights prerequisite courses. After the intro, you're brought to a new environment to start building. You slowly expand your skills and complete challenges to move forward with the lesson. Your progress is saved as you go, so you can stop at any time without worrying about losing your work. The home screen displays your current lessons so you can quickly resume.
If you opt for introductory classes on specific programming languages, you'll receive more details on how each language works. In addition, you'll perform more basic tasks before moving on to bigger projects. The classes are on par with Treehouse's offerings, though neither goes into quite as much detail as Code Avengers.
Codecademy keeps you motivated by awarding badges for various achievements. On the dashboard, you can see all the skills that you've mastered, as well as your current class progress. Each lesson includes clickable hints, in case you get stuck, and additional hints if you submit incorrect code. The text editor is clean and stylish, with adjustable visual options to keep everything readable.
(Credit: Codecademy/PCMag)If you run into trouble, Codecademy has a dedicated community platform. There, you interact with students on your level and troubleshoot code together, a cheaper alternative to pricey virtual bootcamps. For example, you can schedule meetups with nearby students in your city. There's also a page of resources with forum rules, language glossaries, cheat sheets, blog posts, and access to the help center, where you can get general questions answered. Premium subscribers can study more advanced and detailed project examples. In that regard, Codecademy bests CodeHS, SitePoint, and Treehouse by a notch. Codecademy has a Discord server, but it's managed by fans instead of the company itself.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: Codecademy)
Codecademy
Codecademy makes learning to code online fun and rewarding by offering free basics for beginners and paid help for professionals.