The Most Popular Online Learning Platforms (LMS) in 2024

Oscar Leo

07 Mar 2024 — 2 min read

Introduction

There are many online learning platforms, but which is the most popular right now? In this post, I've examined the Google search volumes for the market leaders to see which ones are gaining popularity.

The competitors are:

Added on request:

LinkedIn Learning

Let's look at the results.

Results

Here's a data visualization showing the absolute and relative search volume for each online learning platform from January 2015 to March 2024. I've used a rolling mean over five months to better visualize the underlying pattern.

The big winner is Udemy, which is by far the most popular and still shows steady growth. Coursera is also doing alright, but Edx and Udacity struggle to stay relevant.

Coursera and Edx have the same approach to online learning, but the Coursera platform is superior, and it makes sense that the two can't coexist.

I'm more surprised that Udacity is losing, given that it has a unique concept compared to the rest. Their approach to developing a few high-quality courses doesn't seem to work.

I guess the Udacity certificates don't give as much bang for the buck as the professional certificates from companies like Google that you earn through Coursera.

Added on request

I've received a request to add LinkedIn Learning, so here's an updated version.

Conclusion

There are clear winners and losers among online learning platforms. Right now, Udemy seems to be winning the race for user-created content, while Coursera is taking home the gold for certifications.

I've completed many Udacity programs, but I will now turn my attention to Coursera and see what they have to offer.

Thank you for reading.

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