Pluralsight is an online learning and workforce development platform that helps businesses and individuals adjust to changing technology. Using a data-driven approach, the platform focuses on training for tech-based professions, such as IT operations, security and software development, as well as leadership, including managers and product leaders.

To improve workers’ productivity, Pluralsight provides resources for assessing various skill levels and visualizing workflows, and it educates users through video courses and certification exam preparation. The platform splits its approach into two paths, each with its own objectives: Skills and Flow.

The Skills path trains users to sharpen or upgrade their skills and adapt to new and developing tools. Pluralsight targets four primary groups: individuals, software development, IT ops and security teams. Individuals can learn at their own pace from thousands of on-demand video courses, which range from cloud computing and web development to architecture and cinematography. These users can also draft learning programs, engage in interactive projects and take practice certification exams. With the software development, IT ops and security team options, managers can use analytics to gauge where their team members need to improve, and members can bolster their skills through courses and projects.

The Flow path, on the other hand, streamlines engineering workflow. Teams can compare new code with old, identify and fix snarls in projects, and visualize pull requests. Managers can use data to better measure team members’ contributions and success, particularly when it comes to producing code. Likewise, product leaders and executives can examine analytics to understand team dynamics, support collaboration and sharing, and enhance the culture to create a more efficient workforce. In addition, individual engineers can build on data provided by the Flow path to improve their own work patterns and contributions.

Pluralsight has headquarters in Draper, Utah, and offices in Boston, Dublin and Sydney.

Individual users can purchase a Skills personal plan on a monthly or annual basis. The monthly plan costs $29 and includes access to the full course library, while the annual plan costs $299 per year and comes with learning paths, channels, guides, course descriptions and more. For interactive courses, exams and projects, Pluralsight offers the premium personal plan, which costs $449 per year.

Pluralsight offers Skills plans for teams, as well. The professional plan, which provides basic reporting and user analytics, costs $579 per user per year. The enterprise plan, which provides advanced analytics and cloud lab access, costs $779 per user per year.

Skills users can opt for a free trial, which lasts 10 days or 200 minutes of viewing, whichever comes first. With the individual free trial, you can access video courses, create channels, take notes and earn completion certificates. A premium free trial grants users additional access to interactive courses and projects as well as certification practice exams.

You may be able to find seasonal discounts for Skills subscriptions. For Black Friday, for example, an annual Skills plan for individuals was on sale for $179 per year. A premium subscription was $269 per user per year. Both plans came with the option to start with a free trial.

Flow plans are available in three options: standard, plus and enterprise. The standard plan starts at $499 per active contributor per year and includes operational insights, code fundamentals, phone and email support, and more.

The plus plan comes with a proficiency report and additional insights and reports. It costs $599 per active contributor per year. The enterprise plan, at $699 per active contributor per year, has advanced support, delivery insights, and the option to be self-hosted or cloud-hosted, among other features.

The standard and plus plans have a 30-day free trial option, and you can request a demo of the enterprise plan. Plan pricing is based on the number of active contributors and custom options are available.

Pluralsight does not offer refunds, but users can cancel at any time. After canceling, individual users with a paid subscription can continue to access their course library until their subscription expires. Once that subscription expires, users will not be able to access their courses unless they resubscribe. Skills business subscribers and Flow subscribers can cancel their plans by contacting Pluralsight. Those who explored Pluralsight with a free trial but decided not to continue must cancel within 11 days of starting the trial. If you don’t cancel within this period, the trial, which requires billing information, will switch to a paid subscription.

Pluralsight might be worth it for you if you work in tech and need to polish your skills, or if you’re a manager or leader wanting to boost your team’s performance and productivity. The platform has two unique tools: the Skill IQ and Role IQ measurements, which can help you narrow down what you or your team need to prioritize.

“Skill IQ is a dynamic assessment of a user’s proficiency in a given skill,” says Brandon Peay, executive vice president of skills at Pluralsight. “The Skill IQ measurement takes under 10 minutes to complete and gives a personalized skill analysis, enabling learners to get a benchmark of where their skills stand and understand where they should start their learning journey. We also provide a learning path to help increase a learner’s knowledge and skills.”

Peay adds that Role IQ, which uses Skill IQ assessments, determines a user’s proficiency for a particular job and how their skill levels fit the job description. “From that point, we make recommendations on what they need to learn to strengthen weaknesses and take their skills to the next level,” he says.

Pluralsight also has an arm dedicated to providing tech-focused content to nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations. Pluralsight One offers three plans – spark, elevate and amplify – and each offers varying access to a curated library of foundational courses, basic and advanced analytics, projects, and interactive options. Prices start at $40 per seat per year. In addition, the platform has partnered with the Computer Science Teachers Association to provide free course content for educators.

Before subscribing to Pluralsight, consider checking out reviews of the platform on third-party sites. More than 800 Trustpilot users, for example, rate Pluralsight with an average of 3.3 out of 5 stars, with a minority complaining about payments after the free trial or difficulty in canceling their subscriptions. The Better Business Bureau has not accredited the platform, though a small group of users has rated it an average of 1 out of 5 stars.

Pluralsight and Udemy are both online learning platforms, but they diverge in their volume of content. Pluralsight offers focused courses on subjects such as cloud computing, manufacturing and design, and information and cyber security. The platform also has more than 1,500 instructors, all of whom are highly vetted, according to Peay.

Udemy, on the other hand, has a more extensive course library. Currently, Udemy boasts 130,000 online courses and has 57,000 instructors. Udemy courses include personal development, music, business and photography, and it has a subset of courses on IT- and software-related topics. The most popular courses within that subset, according to Udemy, are on ethical hacking, certification preparation and programming.

The two platforms also offer additional features. Pluralsight provides data and assessments, as well as hands-on learning, while Udemy has practice tests, coding exercises and quizzes as well as classes in a variety of languages.

Pluralsight is a subscription-based service. Udemy, however, offers individual courses for purchase; software and IT courses start as low as $19.99 and may go up to $150.

Coursera offers bite-sized video-based courses like Pluralsight, and the two have some overlap in goals. Pluralsight targets existing tech teams and works to upskill team members to help businesses meet their objectives. Coursera, meanwhile, partners with academic institutions and businesses to provide course content on a range of subjects, including IT and cloud engineering. The platform, like Pluralsight, aims to upskill users with on-demand content, and it also prepares students for careers in IT.

Coursera differs from Pluralsight on specific learning plans. While both platforms offer professional certificate options, Coursera also has several degree options, including online bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.

Coursera for Business targets organizations and provides guided projects and curated content to help measure employees’ skills. While Pluralsight offers a similar approach with its Skills path, its Flow path offers more in-depth, visible and actionable data.

Coursera for Business costs $400 per user per year for smaller groups, and custom pricing is available for larger teams. Many Coursera courses for individual users are free, and those that require payment start at $39. Guided projects cost $9.99, and professional certificates start at $39. The cost of Coursera’s academic options vary, but online degrees start at $9,000.

Codecademy is an interactive learning platform that focuses exclusively on coding. While Pluralsight covers various aspects of technology, largely for professionals, Codecademy is geared toward learners of all stages. Users can take a quiz to see at which level of learning they should begin, and they may subsequently choose their own courses or follow a recommended path. The platform’s most popular courses, for example, are beginner-friendly lessons on Javascript, HTML and Python, and Career Path classes on the skills needed to be a front-end engineer or full-stack engineer. Codecademy users get hands-on experience and instant feedback on their coding. They can also test their skills with quizzes and projects.

Codecademy for Business follows a similar approach as Pluralsight, with videos, learning paths, and advanced reporting and analytics. Users choose a learning outcome, and Codecademy sets out a plan for how users can meet their goals. The platform delivers weekly reports, and users receive a certificate for every course they complete.

Codecademy is a subscription-based platform with multiple plan options available. The basic plan for individual students, which includes interactive lessons, is free. The pro plan costs $19.99 per month, billed annually, and comes with additional exercises and quizzes as well as real-world projects. A Codecademy for Business teams plan, for five to 49 members, costs $240 or less per seat per year; teams with more than 50 members need to contact Codecademy for pricing.