A Cloud Guru (discontinued) vs. Pluralsight Skills

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
A Cloud Guru (ACG) was a cloud learning resource that offered access to updated courses, labs, and learning paths. In 2021 the company was acquired by Pluralsight, and its training is no longer available.N/A
Pluralsight Skills
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Pluralsight Skills is a skill development solution that enables employees to build in-demand skills in a way that’s personalized to their current knowledge and preferred way to learn. The course library includes content on software development, DevOps, machine learning, security infrastructure, and cloud, as well as certification practice exams, hands on learning experiences and cloud labs, and skills assessments.
$29
per month
Pricing
A Cloud Guru (discontinued)Pluralsight Skills
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Individual - Standard
$29.00
per month
Individual - Premium
$45.00
per month
Team - Professional
$579.00
per user, per year
Team - Enterprise
$779.00
per user, per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
A Cloud Guru (discontinued)Pluralsight Skills
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
A Cloud Guru (discontinued)Pluralsight Skills
Considered Both Products
A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
For me, A Cloud Guru was the best platform for learning and retaining what I've learned. I really enjoyed taking courses at A Cloud Guru. Other platforms where too slow, or seemed to be trying too hard, and I never felt like I was learning much compared to A Cloud Guru.
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
We have not evaluated any other providers besides ACG as the original offer we got quite a few years ago was so nicely matching and working for us. Therefore we did not have any requirements to look at any other providers besides ACG. Commercially we have not yet seen any …
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
A Cloud Guru is better focused on cloud-native technologies.
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
WE have tried taking free training courses directly from Amazon but their LMS is difficult to naviate and the video are not engaging. Pracitce Exams are too easy vs the actual exams.

Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
The main differentiator was the contents as we were interested in a cloud platform other similar platforms did not have the below: it is very good to establish cloud learning development plans and then track them and manage them for the team. The platform supports learning …
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
We did POC with three companies [including Pluralsight Skills] and selected A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy).
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
I have used both A Cloud Guru and Udemy for business and I feel A Cloud Guru does a better job. With Udemy you have to purchase your modules. With A Cloud Guru you get everything in one place. This work[s] better for me as I can move from one certification to the next.
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
Compared to O'Reilly in general, the ACG [A Cloud Guru] content is more specific to AWS and with more examples and real-world use cases. O'Reilly is broader in terms of technologies you can learn, but none of them go deep into the details. Another thing is that O'Reilly focuses …
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
Cantrill.io gives far more content and lab work to build skills within the certification boundaries. If there was a similar vendor for both Azure and Google, we would have considered going with targeted vendor training vs a generalized provider.
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
Course choice is much smaller than Udemy but the quality feels a lot higher. There's accountability for them being accurate and you can see them being regularly updated. The labs and playgrounds are really useful for getting to grips with technical concepts.

I think the …
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
We compared A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy) with Cloud Academy and Udemy for Business. The content for A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy) was much more engaging and interactive. Cost was on par with Cloud Academy.
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
We have tried LinkedIn learning but there are a lot of older courses and not too many for the IT Pro. I think it is great for management and soft skills, but nowhere near the depth of A Cloud Guru. I know for my team, we like the many different and up to date courses for a vast …
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy) was the only platform we evaluated for the vast majority of our cloud training, however we have found other providers are better in certain areas and use them to supplement A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy). For example, TutorialsDojo and WhizLabs both …
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
Udemy has a wider and broader range of topics for your users to browse and choose from whereas A Cloud Guru (Linux Academy) has more finely tuned or a more carefully selected and curated range of videos and courses for your users to browse and choose from. I think each one has …
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
I don't know any alternatives to A Cloud Guru. There is a LOT of videos around the web for training ourselves to cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP), but none of them are proving us private access to a real cloud platform for practicing during the training. Who else provides …
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
We have tested Udemy and Coursera, but (specifically), in terms of cloud technology, we prefer ACG.
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
Have not used any others. A Cloud Guru is the original and leader in this field.
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
ACG has more focused and relevant content to meet the needs of the business
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
ACG contents are more relevant to the future of technology and a bit more advanced.
Chose A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
A Cloud Guru provided better freshness of content and was priced more competitively than other cloud training platforms. A Cloud Guru also had training paths that other providers did not have on their platform. I also enjoyed the fact that there are reports that you can run on …
Pluralsight Skills
Chose Pluralsight Skills
It had more discounted offers back then... and still, more marketing is done. It's cheaper than LinkedIn Learning.

Downside, PluralSight is more [theoretical] than hands-on.
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Before using Pluralsight, staff was using YouTube to help them with developing certain aspects of their knowledge. However, YouTube is much less structured/organized than Pluralsight. Pluralsight has a very wide offering of courses and it has lot of good content. One quick …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight does a much better job of delivery and course paths.
Chose Pluralsight Skills
They provide a lot of courses, but not every course is given and explained in detail like Pluralsight does.
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight is simply more robust and makes more sense for an organization like ours where we want our employees to have the freedom to explore a wide variety of disciplines, and the adaptability to start/stop courses at any skill level. On a trial basis, the feedback from our …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight offers a much stronger technology learning opportunity than Lynda.com, but lags behind Lynda.com in its soft skills training. As a technical manager, I often recommend Pluralsight to my engineers for learning new skills but will use Lynda.com myself for improving my …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Lynda is a very similar experience. Used it for a very short time and it was tied to classes at a university that I was taking. I think overall it would be very comparable. We only watched small segments that the instructors of the class found to be relevant. It was also great …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Although alternative e-learning platforms, such as Coursera, offer a wide variety of learning topics, their broad reach and extensive list subject matter clutters their platform. Unlike Pluralsight, Coursera offers a more classic / regimented style of online learning. It's very …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Treehouse and Pluralsight are in similar realms: video content for technology professionals. They're different in that Treehouse is geared towards beginners and people looking to switch careers to break into the industry and Pluralsight is better suited for seasoned …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight offers a broad range of courses with high-quality content and features that surpass those of Udemy. My organization has adopted Pluralsight and built trust in it, especially with its strong offerings at the organizational level. In contrast, Udemy focuses more on …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
I think pluralsight's price point is a little better, and I think the depth and breadth of classes offered is oriented more towards my field than Coursera. While Coursera has a nicer interface, Pluralsight, at the time, had more classes and seems to be designed for enterprise …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
I often purchase courses on from Udemy when I don't see the content I need from Pluralsight. For example, When I needed to learn AngularJS, Pluralsight had many courses but the ones on Udemy quickly explained what they were going to build in the course and they provided small …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight is a great training resource and it was offered at the college. Before being a faculty member, I found free videos from Pluralsight (then, digital tutors) via YouTube and thought they were very helpful.
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Pluralsight has a broader offering, from design and drawing to enterprise software development. It offers content from professionals to professionals on well known technologies.
Most other competitors focus on few technologies and the offering is not as rich. They also don't …
Chose Pluralsight Skills
Lynda is only a half-assesed online course whereas Pluralsight has a robust catalog of courses.
Features
A Cloud Guru (discontinued)Pluralsight Skills
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
-
Ratings
Pluralsight Skills
7.9
Ratings
8% below category average
Course authoring00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Course catalog or library00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Player/Portal00 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Learning content00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics00 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Social learning00 Ratings4.50 Ratings
eLearning Content
Comparison of eLearning Content features of Product A and Product B
A Cloud Guru (discontinued)
-
Ratings
Pluralsight Skills
10.0
Ratings
16% above category average
Structured Learning00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Course Searches00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
A Cloud Guru (discontinued)Pluralsight Skills
Small Businesses
iSpring LMS
iSpring LMS
Score 9.5 out of 10
iSpring LMS
iSpring LMS
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Infosec Skills
Infosec Skills
Score 9.9 out of 10
Infosec Skills
Infosec Skills
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Infosec Skills
Infosec Skills
Score 9.9 out of 10
Infosec Skills
Infosec Skills
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
A Cloud Guru (discontinued)Pluralsight Skills
Likelihood to Recommend
9.9
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
A Cloud Guru (discontinued)Pluralsight Skills
Likelihood to Recommend
If your organization is technical-based and offers its employees different online courses to enhance their knowledge, then A Cloud Guru will be perfect for you. There are multiple courses available from different cloud platforms. The platform is easy to use and navigate and does not require much knowledge. Even if you do not have basic technical knowledge, the courses available in A Cloud Guru are designed in such a manner that a non-technical person will understand the concept easily.
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Awesome tool for teams looking to gain new skills or refine and update existing skills. I love the convenience of using this tool for recertification credits (i.e. PMP). Instead of identifying which classes I need to take, I can identify my interests and have recommendations presented for what paths I should take. It is a really helpful tool to create ladders for my team to transition from one role into the next. I think this is going to be a really beneficial tool.
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Pros
  • The team at A Cloud Guru is excellent at responding to user feedback that is submitted through their website.
  • The content created is well organized and aligns to certification paths.
  • The content is accessible on mobile and web platforms, which is great for learning on the go.
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  • Pluralsight courses are delivered at a self-directed pace, enabling users to stop, rewind, or fast forward, depending on their familiarity with the content.
  • Pluralsight offers a wide variety of technical courses, providing opportunities to explore new skill areas beyond engineers' current responsibilities.
  • Pluralsight is available on most platforms, providing a high level of accessibility to the content.
Read full review
Cons
  • More material on other cloud providers GCP, Azure, Huawei.
  • Extend the sandboxes to other cloud providers not only AWS.
  • Include more material for non-technical people, sometimes the sales teams are completely lost in the platform but they would like to learn about it.
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  • Finding ways to make courses more interactive and less lecture oriented would be helpful.
  • Quality of video and audio lectures could use updating to meet current expectations.
  • Continuing to stay on the bleeding edge of technology. Some classes can be outdated.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
Great product and service so far. Awesome new content almost every week.
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Usability
No answers on this topic
Very, VERY easy to use.
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Support Rating
The support team of A Cloud Guru is quite quick. There are scenarios where A Cloud Guru was not working in my organization. We reached out to their support team and they quickly resolved the issue. Also, if any individual is facing issues accessing A Cloud Guru, their support team is quick to resolve the issue.
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Each feedback I do for them, I get no response. Minimal communication and followups!
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Alternatives Considered
The main differentiator was the contents as we were interested in a cloud platform other similar platforms did not have the below: it is very good to establish cloud learning development plans and then track them and manage them for the team. The platform supports learning tracks, exams, and sandboxes with all major cloud providers guarantees that you don't get an accidental charge as a result of [the] testing and exploring the cloud
Read full review
Treehouse and Pluralsight are in similar realms: video content for technology professionals. They're different in that Treehouse is geared towards beginners and people looking to switch careers to break into the industry and Pluralsight is better suited for seasoned professionals that want to hone skills and learn enterprise-level topics. Treehouse is able to really simplify a topic for almost anyone to understand. They clearly have a standard that all teachers ("authors") must follow. After a section, there's a good chance you'll take a short quiz to make sure you understand what you heard. Quizzes are not just multiple choice, you might also have to write a piece of code that accomplishes a goal that was just discussed. Pluralsight has professional and expert level content that Treehouse does not. There's not a strict standard that all authors ("teachers") must follow for providing content. Authors tend to have their own style of teaching. Very few of the courses will quiz you on comprehension. You are more responsible for your understanding of the information.
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Return on Investment
  • Engagement scores around investment in L&D have increased.
  • There's excitement around upcoming changes to our technology instead of fear we have seen in the past.
  • We feel confident we will be able to deliver these new technologies - although we are at the start of our journey.
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  • Pluralsight is truly cost-effective for staying relevant. An annual Pluralsight subscription for an entire team is far more cost-effective than sending one individual to in-person training for a week.
  • When we need to get up to speed on a technology, our Pluralsight subscription is right at hand. One quick search and we can get started. This helps us shorten the learning curve. Trying to find an in-person course has become difficult because the market has mostly transitioned to online courses.
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