Pluralsight Review: Pros, Cons, and Best Courses in 2023

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Updated on: July 19, 2023
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In today's fast-paced tech landscape, staying ahead of the curve is crucial for businesses and individuals alike. That's where Pluralsight steps in as a dynamic online learning and workforce development platform. 

Would you like to become a pro in a field of interest or add more competencies to your CV? Would you like to know more about Tech and related topics? We can help you with that. In this Pluralsight review, you'll know the pros, cons, best courses, and instructors in this popular e-learning platform.

What is Pluralsight?

Pluralsight is an online learning platform with more than 7.000 courses and over 2.000 instructors, focused on building courses to develop the technical capabilities of professionals.

These are the categories of the courses:

  • Architecture & Construction
  • Business Professional
  • Creative Professional
  • Data Professional
  • IT ops
  • Manufacturing & Design
  • Information & Cyber Security
  • Software Development
  • Web Development

Founded in 2004 by Aaron Skonnard, Pluralsight now has 46.000 learners, 2 million hours of content and partners with top companies like Adobe, Microsoft, Oracle, Google, Unity, and StackOverflow.

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Who Should Use Pluralsight?

Pluralsight is a platform designed to empower a diverse range of professionals seeking to thrive in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

If you fit any of the following profiles, Pluralsight could be your ultimate learning partner:

  • Tech Enthusiasts and Aspiring Experts: Are you dedicated to developing essential tech skills demanded in the industry? Pluralsight offers a treasure trove of courses for software development, cybersecurity, IT operations, and much more.
  • Career Advancers: If you're eager to enrich your CV and stand out in the job market, Pluralsight has the tools and resources to help you add new competencies that can accelerate your career growth.
  • Companies and Their Teams: Pluralsight caters to businesses seeking to invest in their workforce's professional development. Companies can access tailor-made courses, ensuring their employees stay ahead of the curve in this digital age.
  • Programming Enthusiasts: Whether you're a seasoned coder or a complete beginner, Pluralsight provides a gateway to explore and master various programming languages.
  • Cybersecurity Seekers: Concerned about security threats in the digital realm? Pluralsight equips you with in-depth insights and best practices to safeguard digital assets effectively.

As you see, Pluralsight is a versatile platform that groups learners of all backgrounds, from tech novices to seasoned professionals. Our advice? Embrace the opportunities it offers, and unlock your full potential in the ever-evolving world of technology.

Features

Pluralsight goes above and beyond in enhancing workers' productivity through a comprehensive suite of features. Here's a breakdown of the platform's offerings:

  • Skills Assessment and Workflow Visualization: Pluralsight equips users with resources to assess their skill levels accurately and visualize their workflows, ensuring targeted growth in their areas of interest.
  • Two Distinct Paths: Pluralsight adopts a two-pronged approach, comprising the Skills and Flow paths. The Skills path focuses on honing and upgrading users' expertise while adapting to emerging tools and technologies.
  • Comprehensive Audience Coverage: With a keen eye on diverse audiences, Pluralsight caters to individuals, software development professionals, IT ops teams, and security teams.
  • On-Demand Video Courses: A vast library of over 7,000 on-demand video courses awaits learners, spanning everything from cloud computing and web development to architecture and cinematography.
  • Personalized Learning Programs: Individuals can chart their learning journey with personalized programs, engage in interactive projects, and even undertake practice certification exams.
  • Managerial Insights: For teams in software development, IT ops, and security, Pluralsight offers valuable analytics that helps managers identify skill gaps and empower team members to bolster their capabilities.
  • Mobile App Convenience: Access Pluralsight anytime, anywhere with the user-friendly app available for both Apple and Google Play.
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  • Advanced Computer-Focused Courses: Dive deep into complex subjects with various advanced computer-focused courses.
  • Free Trial: Experience the full potential of Pluralsight with a free trial, allowing you to explore its offerings before committing.
  • Quizzes and Challenges: Reinforce your learning through interactive quizzes and challenges, solidifying your grasp on the subject matter.
  • Pluralsight Free: Access a selection of free courses, giving you a taste of the platform's diverse content.
  • Skill IQ: Gauge your expertise level and benchmark your skills against industry standards with Pluralsight's Skill IQ assessments.
  • Resource Center: Tap into a comprehensive resource center filled with valuable materials and insights.
  • 24/7 Support: Count round-the-clock support to address queries or concerns.
  • Hands-On Labs: Dive into hands-on labs, providing practical experience and ensuring you're job-ready.
  • Practice Exams: Test your knowledge and prepare for certifications with practice exams, setting you up for success.
  • Role IQ: Understand the specific skills and competencies required for various roles in the tech industry.
  • Interactive Instructor-Led Courses: Benefit from interactive, instructor-led courses that foster an engaging and effective learning environment.

Plans and Pricing

Pluralsight offers various pricing and plans under two main usage modes: Skills, to empower technology teams to deliver key business results, and Flow, to help eliminate developer friction, create healthy development patterns, and minimize wasted effort. 

We'll start by breaking down the Skills plans for individuals:

Standard: This option will cost you $9.50 a month, and you will get the following:

  • Limited library of 2.500 courses 
  • Skill and Role assessments
  • Curated learning Paths and channels

Premium: This option will cost you $119.00 a year ($14.50 a month), and you will get the following:

  • Access to an entire library of more than 7.000 courses, including advanced content, niche topics, and recording of past tech conferences.
  • Coding projects 
  • Certification exam-prep for industry-leading certificate
  • Coding challenges
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If you are interested in Skills for Teams, these plans are available in 2023.

Starter: This option is for 2-50 people and will cost you $33.25 per user/per month ($399,00 yearly), and it includes:

  • Limited core library of 2.500 courses
  • Limited Analytics
  • Skill and Role assessments
  • Curated learning paths and channels

Professional: This option is for 2-50 people and will cost you $48.25 per month ($579.00 a year), and it includes:

  • Access to the entire library of more than 7.000 courses
  • Team-level report and user analytics
  • Secure hands-on content, including sandboxes, labs, and real-world projects
  • Certification exam-prep for industry-leading certificate

Enterprise: This option works to train teams of more than 50 employees. Please contact the sales department for information about this plan's price since the webpage doesn’t show it publicly. However, the subscription previously could be as high as $65.00 per month and included:

  • Skill development and skill progression insights
  • Role customization.
  • Q&A with subject matter experts
  • Top-of-the-line skills, roles, and channels analytics
  • Access to advanced content, niche topics, and recording of past tech conferences.
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Flow:

Flow is all about efficiency. Your team can deliver high-quality results faster by fine-tuning development processes and deployment strategies. 

With Flow, you can ensure that your developers work on tasks aligning with your business strategy. By optimizing engineering investments, you can achieve maximum impact and stay on track with your goals.

If you are interested in this option, you can choose between these plans:

Core: $38.00 per month billed annually per contributor. These are the features:

  • Unlimited reports for your team
  • Up to 36-month data import
  • GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab, Jira, Rally, ADO
  • Email and Slack notification
  • Mob/Pair support to recognize and distribute credit
  • Email support
  • Core fundamentals 
  • Work log to visualize the details of the activity of your team
  • Ticket log 
  • Review workflow

Plus: $50.00 per month billed annually per contributor. With this option, you will accelerate the impact while using data. This plan includes:

  • Retrospective, compare your team metrics
  • Proficiency
  • Project Timeline
  • Investment profile
  • Sprint movement, ensure how well your team meets goals through a sprint 
  • Check-in report
  • API Access 
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Pros vs. Cons

This comparison table highlights the key pros and cons of Pluralsight to give a clear overview of its strengths and weaknesses for potential users to make an informed decision.

ProsCons
Free trial Courses focused on the IT field
24/7 service, phone, and email support It's not for beginners
Free account Some courses are outdated
Over 7,000 courses It's one of the most expensive platforms
Quizzes and challenges Varying quality due to numerous instructors
Options for paying Interface is hard to understand
Range of options for classes in the technology field Service does not attend 24/7
App for downloading courses
Expert instructors with years of experience

Top 10 Best Courses

The Pluralsight courses focus on Technology-related topics. Here are the most popular courses on this platform. 

STP and EtherChannel Operation and ConfigurationSkill Level: Intermediate
Managing Software in Linux with Debian Software ManagementSkill Level: Beginner
SCCM Current Branch: Deploy and Maintain Operating SystemsSkill Level: Intermediate
Configuration and Managing Microsoft 365 Workload IntegrationsSkill Level: Intermediate
Building Packet Tracer Labs for CCNA Study: FundamentalsSkill Level: Intermediate
Conducting Passive Reconnaissance for CompTIA PenTest+Skill Level: Beginner.
Advanced Creature-painting Techniques in PhotoshopSkill Level: Advanced
Maya Dynamic: Bifrost for Small-scale SimulationSkill Level: Intermediate
InDesign CC EPUB FundamentalsSkill Level: Beginner
Multi-pass Rendering with V-Ray and MayaSkill level: Beginner

1. STP and EtherChannel Operation and Configuration

In this course, you will learn how Ethernet works in an enterprise environment by creating redundant layer two networks with spanning tree protocol. 

After two hours and 46 minutes, you can design and implement redundant layer two networks that can converge in less than a second.

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3. Managing Software in Linux with Debian Software Management

This course will teach you the foundational knowledge of using Debian packaging tools. You will start from the basics of creating binary packages to create your Debian package finally. After one hour and 58 minutes, you will have the skills of Debian software management needed to manage your enterprise Linux Systems.

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3. SCCM Current Branch: Deploy and Maintain Operating Systems

In this course, you will learn how to automate the delivery of new operating systems, refresh old ones, manage updates, and maintain configuration compliance. 

After 4 hours and 15 minutes, you will know how to integrate Endpoint Protection, consolidate Windows Defender configurations and report to the SCCM console.

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4. Configuring and Managing Microsoft 365 Workload Integrations

In this course, you will learn how to configure and manage Microsoft 365 Workload Integrations. You will work with multiple services such as Yammer, Stream, Delve, Power Apps, Power Automate, and more. 

After 4 hours and 39 minutes of this course, you can effectively manage multiple services inside Microsoft 365.

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5. Building Packet Tracer Labs for CCNA Study: Fundamentals

In this course, you will learn the fundamentals of data networking protocol knowledge using Cisco's free Packet Tracer lab simulator. 

First, you will explore MAC Addresses and ARP and walk through VLANs, Trunking, and InterVLAN routing to examine Static Routing and Dynamic Routing. 

This course lasts 5h 20m.

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6. Conducting Passive Reconnaissance for CompTIA PenTest+

In this course, you will learn about adequate untraceable information and gathering, referred to as surveillance. 

You will start by learning how to gather information about your target using apps designed for surveillance. After 3 hours and 1 minute, you will know how to conduct a penetration test. 

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7. Advanced Creature-painting Techniques in Photoshop

This course will teach you how to paint compelling and great-looking characters. This course covers painting realistic musculature and eyes to creating believable cloth and metal textures.

By the end of this course, which lasts 1 hour and 57 minutes, you can take your character sketches and polish them to a professional level.  

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8. Maya Dynamics: Bifrost for Small-scale Simulations

In this course, you will learn how Bifrost, traditionally used for large-scale simulations, can also be used for small-scale simulations. 

You will start by looking at how to change the typical large-scale behavior of Bifrost liquids; next, you will learn how to change the adaptations of Bifrost. And finally, you will light and render fluid in Arnold in Maya 2017. 

After 3 hours and 6 minutes, you can suit your needs for small-scale simulations adapting Bifrost.

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9. InDesign CC EPUB Fundamentals

In this course, you will learn how to use Adobe InDesign CC to create, format, and edit EPUB files, as well as prep them for publication. 

In addition, this course covers teaching you how to properly set up an InDesign document for EPUB and prepare your eBook for publication on prominent eBook renders, like Kindle, Kobo, and Nook. 

This course lasts three h 3m.

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10. Multi-pass Rendering with V-Ray and Maya

In this course, you will learn how to separate rendering passes with V-Ray and Maya that can be combined with simple compositing to create the full beauty render.

By the end of this course, you will be able to fulfill deadlines, collaborate smoothly with colleagues, satisfy creative clients, and make changes quickly and efficiently using multi-pass rendering.

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Is Pluralsight Worth It?

Pluralsight is a platform designed for professionals to develop their skills, be it technical, communication, or interpersonal. Pluralsight has many training videos to help you create them.

So for us, Pluralsight is worth it. The platform provides high-quality online learning for Technology related topics like IT, Data, Information & Cyber Security, and much more. 

Besides this, the Pluralsight courses are self-paced; you can learn whenever, wherever, and however, you like with the most updated courses in technical training. 

FAQ

How is a class in Pluralsight?

As we mentioned before in this Pluralsight review, this platform has more than 7.000 courses dictated by experts with years of experience. 

Because of this, each course is dictated with different views, but generally, you can expect this in all courses: 

- A table of contents showing you what you will learn in each class and their length.
- Info on the course, including the level and duration.
- Information about the instructor.
- Preview of the course before enrolling
- Skill and role assessments 
- Curated Paths and Channels
- New quizzes every week
- Guides and articles for you to learn more
- Activities and questions to check knowledge.

Although all classes have something distinct, the format is the same, you see classes via video, receive extracurricular material, and present a project at the end of the course.

Who are the instructors of Pluralsight?

Pluralsight uses the term Author for their instructors; there are more than 1.400 authors, all experts with years of experience in their fields.

To ensure that the quality of its courses is the highest and matches the platform's estimates, Pluralsight tracks all authors and their classes on its platform. 

If you have something to teach in the tech industry world, Pluralsight can be the place for you. You need to create a tutorial of 10 minutes maximum, send it, and the Pluralsight team will contact you. 

For more information, you can check the website.

What is a Learning Path in Pluralsight?

Learning Paths combine specific courses and tools into one experience to teach you skills from start to finish. These combine individual courses and tutorials. You can find Development, ITOps, Creative, Security, and Certifications.

You can even find curated learning paths. These provide guidance when you need help figuring out where to start.

What are Interactive Instructor-led Courses?

This option allows you to practice as you learn with hands-on coding challenges and guided feedback. The video tutorial-prominent coding challenges are organized by level, so you can do them whenever you feel ready.

You will practice as you learn, you can submit your code during challenges, and Pluralsight will recognize incorrect coding. In addition, the platform will give you feedback and help you work through the challenges.

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Carolina Builes is a technology writer with more than 3 years' experience covering artificial intelligence, digital media, and tech innovations. She distills complex topics into accessible, engaging content to educate broad audiences. Carolina believes that quality STEM education resources should be available to all, and her informative writing helps demystify topics like coding, cybersecurity, and emerging tech.
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