DataCamp Vs Coursera 2020: The In-depth Comparison (Our Pick)

Posted on the 04 June 2020 by Jitendra Vaswani @JitendraBlogger

DataCamp and Coursera are the two most popular online platforms for easy learning and things might get tricky when you have to choose only one among them. Data Science is one of the most trending fields right now and everyone is keen to learn it. Data Science can be said to be a new method to obtain insights from analyzing various data and hence it is a skill worth having.

I always felt that adding data science to my resume would put me ahead of the crowd by enhancing my pre-existing skill set. Despite your reason to learn this course, I am just glad that you decided to enhance your skills and that's what brings you here.

We always wish to choose what's best for us and in this blog I'll help you choose the best among them.

So let's not waste any more time and dig deep in comparing DataCamp Vs Coursera in detail.

Overview: DataCamp Vs Coursera

About DataCamp

DataCamp has some free beginner-level courses available on their website. DataCamp also offers annual and monthly subscription plans to access all the premium courses available on their website. Learners can pay $25 per month or $250 per year to get access to all the premium courses.

The first chapter of these courses is free to access in order to give you the essence of the course before paying. Courses available on DataCamp are beginner-level. After completion of the course, you will be issued certificates and these certificates can be used by the students to upload it on any professional network sites like LinkedIn.

About Coursera

Coursera offers a large number of courses based on every topic and every branch right from mathematics, biology to business. Coursera works with different universities and organizations and helps learners to gain knowledge through the courses available.

Coursera offers you courses right from beginners level to advanced level. Courses offered by Coursera can be accessed for 10-12 weeks depending on the course you take. Each Course is divided into several weeks with 1-2 hours of video lecture along with the e-material to read about the topic. After completion of every week, an assignment is given for the students to solve. These assignments are further evaluated and given grades to the students based on your performance. Some of the courses available are accessed at our own pace but for some courses, you have to match the instructor's pace.

Coursera allows you to learn anytime and anywhere according to your convenience and therefore learners find it super flexible to take the course on Coursera. The discussion forums available on Coursera allow you to interact and these forums are actively seen by the professors. After completion of the course, you will be issued certificates and these certificates can be used by the students to upload it on any professional network sites like LinkedIn.

1] DataCamp vs Coursera: General difference DataCamp

DataCamp started in 2011 and offers 325 courses on various topics on its website. It also offers you an annual subscription plan through which you can complete as many courses as you want.

Coursera

Coursera started in 2012 and covers a wide range of topics. Coursera provides courses based on arts and humanities, data science, computer science, health, etc. They have collaborated with more than 190 Universities and companies including Stanford University, Michigan University, Google, etc. You can also earn a certificate from various universities and companies on completion of your course either free or by paying a nominal amount.

My say: Both DataCamp and Coursera are great platforms and the module designs and visualizations are the best in both of them. Datacamp is more based on IT and Data Science skills whereas Coursera offers courses on all topics including technical skills.

DataCamp: DataCamp has both monthly as well as annual subscription plans with various services available according to the type of plan. DataCamp has 3 subscription plans: Basic, Premium, and Free. Along with these 3 plans for individuals, DataCamp also has 2 plans for teams: Professional and enterprise. I will tell you about all the features offered by each plan in detail as you read further in this blog.

Coursera:Coursera offered by Coursera are mostly free. You can watch videos of the course you have taken and complete the course in a given period of time. But if you want to issue the certificate of the course you have taken you have to pay between $0 to$99. Some specialized courses are available on Coursera and they can be only taken by paying a certain amount. Usually, subscriptions are priced from $39 to $89 per month to access one specialization course. Subscribing to a specialization course gives you full access to all contents in that course till your subscription is active.

My say: I feel that although Coursera offers free courses, DataCamp is more transparent and cheaper as compared to Coursera and hence has the cost at its advantage. You can access more courses once you subscribe and the same courses might be a bit costly on Coursera.

DataCamp:DataCamp seems to be more engaging for beginner level students. It offers 325 courses based on Data Science and R programming. Each course is for 4 hours. To help you with the selection of the course, DataCamp has also introduced skill track and career track.

Talking about Coursera:Coursera, it has more than 5400 active courses based on different topics. Coursera offers you the courses from beginner level to the advanced level. Recently Coursera started offering you a bachelor's degree as well as a master's degree which is well recognized by the universities and companies which can help students for their jobs or higher studies.

My say: If you are a beginner and want to learn some basics then Datacamp is perfect for you but if you are precisely looking for degrees and certificates then you should choose Coursera.

DataCamp: DataCamp offers 325 courses along with 43 skill tracks and 13 career courses.

Along with the normal purses offered the skill tracks are specifically designed to enhance your skills and the career tracks are designed to boost your career. To have a better understanding regarding the same let us have a look at the various courses available in some more detail.

Here are a few examples of courses that are available on DataCamp
  • Introduction to R
  • Intermediate R
  • Introduction to Machine Learning
  • Data visualization with ggplot2
  • Text mining with Bag-of-words in R
  • Introduction to python
  • Introduction to SQL
  • Python Data Science Toolbox
  • Introduction to Network Analysis in Python
Here are a few examples of skill track: Here are a few examples of career track

Coursera:Coursera offers a variety of courses from various fields like Arts and Humanities,

Business, Computer Science, Data Science, Information Technology, Health, Math and Logic,

Physical Science and Engineering, Social Sciences, and Language Learning.

Here are a few courses available on Coursera :
  • Python for everybody
  • Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python)
  • Applied Data Science in Python
  • Market Research
  • Excel skill for Business
  • fundamental of Project Planning and Management
  • Introduction to Psychology
  • Social Psychology
Some of the Degree programs available on Coursera
  • MSc in innovation and Entrepreneurship by HEC Paris
  • Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences by the University of North Texas
  • Master of Computer Science by Arizona State University
  • Master of Science in Electrical Engineering by University of Colorado
  • Master of Applied Data Science by the University of Michigan
  • MSc in Machine Learning by Imperial College of London

Along with these courses, Coursera offers you a bachelor's degree as well as a Master's degree program which you can take and get your degree online which is well recognized by Industries, Companies, and Universities.

My say: Coursera has an edge over DataCamp as along with normal courses you get to have a degree in the subject or topic of your choice and having a degree benefits your career growth.

The instructors available on DataCamp:DataCamp are from various organizations and Universities. DataCamp has a profile of all its tutors under the bio of each one. You can easily find out more about the person who is going to teach you from there.

The instructors available on Coursera: Coursera are from renowned top Universities and many of them are still employed at those universities. Along with the bio of the instructors, you will also get to know about the degrees, certifications, and all information about their certifications.

My say: While comparing the tutors in these two platforms I found out that some tutors in DataCamp had " Data Scientist at Datacamp " written in their bio which I think is very vaguely written and I found it a bit hard to trust them. Coursera has all university teachers as instructors who have uploaded all their degrees and certificates in their bios and hence it becomes difficult to doubt their credentials.

Cost plays a vital role in deciding any learning platform. So let us look at the subscription plans of DataCamp.

  1. The free plan will help you get a clear idea of whether to apply for the course or not. It also offers 7 projects and access to all coding challenges and 1 skill assessment.
  2. The basic plan will cost you $29 per month. This includes All FREE content, plus:

Data Camp basically offers 5 different plans to its users. 3 plans are for individuals and 2 are for teams. First, let us have a look at the plans offered for individuals.

    The premium plan will cost you around $33.25 per month if taken as an annual subscription. This will include all BASIC content, plus:
For teams, the two plans available are premium and enterprise.
    The professional plan will cost you 25$ per user per month for 5 users which would be billed yearly. This plan includes all premium content plus:
    The enterprise plan offers all professional plan content and features along with:
Coursera
  • Pay per user or pay per hour of learning
  • Tableau and Oracle content
  • Custom learning tracks
  • Advanced reporting
  • Data export
  • Single sign-on
  • LMS integrations
  • Data integrations
  • Priority support
  • Dedicated Customer Success Manager (available for 20+ users)
  • Early Access Program

In order to study the subject in-depth one must opt for a yearly subscription which will cost you $300 and can save up to $48.

The cost of the enterprise plan is not yet disclosed on the official website but if you wish to opt for this plan then you would directly have to contact the DataCamp team for the pricing details.

So, now coming to our main question- which is the best platform for learning DataScience courses? I would simply like to answer this by saying, to know this answer you should be clear about what you seek from these courses. For beginners with just basic or no knowledge of data science, Datacamp would be a great platform to start from and for intermediate level learners, learning from Coursera would do wonders.

I myself started with a Data Science course from DataCamp and ended up getting a more professional certificate from Coursera. To form a better opinion let us have a look at the pros and cons of each of these platforms.

DataCamp Support

Let us have a look at the pros and cons of DataCamp and Coursera.

It offers more frequent discounts and promotions than DataCamp.

Offers teacher discount policies.

Offers a course in enrollment policies.

Offers Affirm Financing support.

Offers international shipping policies.

Specialized instruction provides a more detail-oriented approach to learning.

Courses offered by Coursera are from some of the world's top universities.

Certification, as well as a capstone project, are included in specializations.

High video quality content.

Well structured learning platform.

Financial aid is available.

Lack of repetition makes it less ideal for students who rely on rote learning.

The advanced level course requires a financial investment.

Fixed dates to enroll for the course.

Certification validity is not known.

When you click on "Your DataCamp Account", this window will open

When it comes to choosing the best online learning platform, support plays a very important role in the discussion. Learning should never stop due to some problems that we encounter and troubleshooting should always be easy. Let us have a look at the support offered by each of these platforms.

Coursera Support

The support page of DataCamp looks like this.

After clicking on the account setup the help options appear as follows:

Here you can find in detail help and also articles related to your problems.

When you click on the "help" tab on its website the Coursera help page appears looking like this:

These help articles easily help you in troubleshooting your problems.

My say: DataCamp and Coursera both have their dedicated support teams continuously working for better support for their users and contacting their support teams is also an easy task. When the support provided by both of them is great, whichever platform you choose, learning will always be fun.

Some honest and reliable recommendations for you:

MICHAEL GRACIE: I would recommend Coursera [Specializations], particularly in the fields of math, computer science, and other STEM-oriented subjects, to those with self-discipline and a desire to learn new skills simply for the sake of it.

HENG LIM NG: Anyone that has a desire to improve and to learn. For those especially interested in machine learning the Andrew Ng course is a must.

PATRICK GRAY: Coursera is good for people that want to take fun courses from credentialed professors at known institutions.

As I discussed in the pros and cons of both DataCamp as well as Coursera it is very difficult to say which one is the best.

DataCamp Reviews

DataCamp is clearly designed for learners who are new in the field of Data Science and will help you to learn the basics of Data Science. That is why for beginners DataCamp is so far the best platform.

Coursera Reviews

On the other hand, Coursera is designed for intermediate and advanced learners. Coursera helps advanced learners to get in-depth knowledge about the course. It helps you to grasp the subject completely which can help to get a job in this field. Coursera comes with a variety of courses and therefore both platforms are unique in their own way. The learners who want to achieve a degree in the field they desire should opt for Coursera as the degrees provided here are from top universities all over the world.

Customer Reviews & Testimonials

I personally liked Datacamp more due to its subscription facility and self-paced learning.due to its subscription plan I also feel that Datacamp is more transparent and learning through it would be cheaper than Coursera.

Quick Links:

The above comparison must have given you some proper insight into DataCamp and Coursera.

  • Coursera offers certificates and degrees in various fields whereas DataCamp is majorly for learning DataScience.
  • Coursera is a free platform that gives access to all and has some paid courses too whereas DataCamp has 3 plans for individuals and 5 plans for teams.
  • Coursera offers self-paced as well as scheduled learning courses while Datacamp has only self-paced courses.

I hope I did my best to explain to you and help you to choose between the two platforms according to your need and level and also what you wish to learn. Keep learning!

FAQs of DataCamp and Coursera?

All the pros and cons and differences have been covered up until now. so let's give a glance at the major differences between the two.

The above stated were the major differences between DataCamp and Coursera. Both being very efficient and offering precise excellent courses, so choosing one among them would be difficult.