When I first started using Codecademy, the price was $20/month whether you paid annually or monthly. And I want to preface this by saying that I still believe Codecademy is the best tool to learn. However, the decision to change the pricing is something that disappointed me.
Now, to quote from the announcement of the original pricing change.
“We still offer the $19.99 per month price point, but only for learners who commit to the annual plan. This new structure aligns with our long-term vision to inspire and support lifelong learning. We don’t believe learning is episodic or finite, but rather an ongoing and constantly evolving journey. As such, we want to reward learners who invest in long-term learning with us. That’s why we’ve structured our pricing to allow you to save 50% on a year of Pro when you commit to an annual plan instead of paying monthly for twelve months.”
While pricing is up to Codecademy, this basically told people who didn’t have the money or time to “learn full time” that Codecademy wouldn’t support their limitations because it didn’t match with their “beliefs” about learning. I honestly believe this has caused more people to look elsewhere for quality learning tools. Some people use coding as a hobby, so they put time in when they can. Some people just want to learn something new. Some people want to get their feet wet to see how it is. In any case, setting a $40/month price point for those people will send most of them elsewhere. If pricing stayed at $20/month I would probably still pay for the service even if I didn’t use it. Because I believed in Codecademy and their vision that EVERYONE should be able to learn to code. But it seems now they only want “committed” people.
This is not meant to dissuade people from getting pro, or saying that Codecademy is bad. I still believe it’s the best learning tool. But I feel like their core values that made them great are changing.
Long story short, more people are able to pay monthly (at $20/month) than annually. Especially during these covid times.