The New Zealand-based Code Avengers remains an easy-to-use coding education service. Its built-in tools make it a breeze to check and correct your code, test your knowledge, and see your code come to life. In addition, Code Avengers offers helpful live chat support, online courses, and in-person code camps around the world where students can get together for one-to-three days to learn together. Even better, Code Avengers is simple enough for learners of all ages, and its colorful interface and large buttons mean even young kids can follow along. Code Avengers is a good starting point if you want to learn to code, though it falls slightly short of our Editors’ Choice picks, Codecademy and Treehouse.
(Credit: Code Avengers)How Much Does Code Avengers Cost?
The Code Avengers subscription plan costs $29 per month, $150 for six months, and $240 for a year. Each subscription includes access to more than 100 guided projects, 100 quizzes, and 500 lessons. It also includes course certificates. Code Avengers offers course libraries targeting children under 12 (Junior), adults (Pro), and educators. Educator pricing requires a quote. Junior pricing now starts at $60 for three months, $84 for six months, and $96 for 12 months.
Depending on the plan, that's pricier than Treehouse, our Editors’ Choice pick for paid coding services ($25 per month), and the paid version of Codecademy ($17.49 per month), our Editors’ Choice pick for free coding services. Both of those highly rated coding services include superior video content and community forums (the latter is something that Code Avengers lacks).
Code Avengers offers a free, 7-day trial, and you don't have to supply payment information—a nice touch. During the trial period, you can try up to five lessons per course, and you get unlimited access to brief demo courses.
Teachers can sign up for a free, 30-day trial that includes access to all courses, as well as several intro lessons to use with their class. The cost of an annual license depends on the student number. Custom plans are available if you want to roll out Code Avengers to your entire school. After taking the proper courses, and paying the fee, you become certified to teach the computer science curriculum in elementary school, middle school, or high school.
Code Avengers offers eight tracks, including HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and Python, as well as more broad offerings, such as Web Dev, Design, and Computer Science. Each track offers multiple course levels, made up of digestible lessons. As you progress, you can take quizzes that test what you've learned; completing lessons and quizzes earn you points and badges.
It's easy to navigate the site. Once you've registered, you're directed to your profile page, which acts as a dashboard that shows your progress in each course, projects and challenges that you've completed, and badges earned. Accessing support is simple; your dashboard includes a prominent link to FAQs, and support contact information. Code Avengers has project areas, where you can write your own code and build programs.
(Credit: Code Avengers)Class Selection, Features, and Help
Code Avengers has eight educational tracks, including coding languages and other related skills. The first HTML course lasts 15 hours, and is spread across 20 lessons. Code Avengers also has a feature called Hour of Code that walks you through one-hour projects, such as creating a video game, building an app, and learning graphic design.
Like other services, Code Avengers' courses offer a mix of challenges and quizzes so you can test your skills. The Intro to Python course starts out with simple commands that you build upon as you progress. After each lesson, you take a quiz; the tenth lesson is a recap of all that you've learned in the course.
Code Avengers has a great built-in text editor, where you can write your code, check its accuracy, and see it in action. If you get stuck, you can access hints, and even compare your code against the solution, so you can see if you forgot to close a bracket, for example. Hints and solutions cost points, though, so you should use them judiciously.
(Credit: Code Avengers)In the intro classes for HTML & CSS, you watch videos that give you a basic overview of each lesson or simply rely on the text instructions. You can switch between video and text mode at any time from the dashboard.
The first HTML lesson truly starts at the basics. Where other learn-to-code services, including Codecademy and Treehouse, dive right into title and style tags, Code Avengers demonstrates how in HTML, spaces and line breaks don't show up as they do in a text editor. In fact, it tasks you with typing two sentences without using the line-break tag. This is good guidance for beginners who may be used to a WYSIWYG interface.
Code Avengers walks you through different mastery levels, but for the most part, its focus is on teaching beginners. There aren't, for example, any advanced courses covering other programming languages or web technologies, such as Ruby, Java, or even PHP. However, Code Avengers previews upcoming courses in Beta form, so be on the lookout for future changes.
(Credit: Code Avengers)While taking lessons, you can view the whole curriculum, take notes, and access coding tools. Within the HTML track, there is also a reference guide to HTML tags. There are lessons devoted to identifying and fixing mistakes in your code, which is a great tool for coders of all levels.
Unlike Treehouse and Codecademy, Code Avengers lacks course-specific forums. That's unfortunate, because they're great resources to have if you're struggling with learning to code. That said, the Code Avengers has a responsive support team that answers tech support queries and programming help requests. Messaging and phone support are available from Monday to Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m (NZST).
Finally, Code Avengers offers the Digital Navigators program, in-person workshops for underprivileged children around the globe. Code Avengers partners with various private and government entities to make this happen. Like Free Code Camp, it's a good way to remind students how coding is a part of real life, not just a computer screen.
A Great Resource for Learning How to Code
Code Avengers' wide offerings appeal to children and adults trying to learn code, as well as educators trying to teach it. Its built-in tools make learning fun, help you figure out your coding mistakes, and understand how your code works in the real world. It's a fine choice for learning how to code, and comes close to matching our Editors' Choice picks, Codecademy and Treehouse, in terms of instruction.
