Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Educative.io vs DesignGurus.io: Which is Better for System Design Interview Prep in 2025?

Hello guys, Preparing for system design interviews has become one of the toughest challenges for software engineers. Unlike coding interviews that focus on algorithms and data structures, system design questions test your ability to architect large-scale systems, think about trade-offs, and apply distributed systems principles to real-world scenarios. Over the past few years, several platforms have emerged to help engineers crack these interviews. Two of the most popular ones in 2025 are Educative.io and DesignGurus.io. 


Both provide high-quality, hands-on content designed to teach you the fundamentals of system design while preparing you for real interview scenarios. But which one is the right choice for you?

In this article, I’ll give you a detailed comparison of Educative.io and DesignGurus.io, highlight their flagship courses, and help you decide which is the best platform for your system design interview prep this year.




Educative.io for System Design Interview Prep

Educative.io is well-known for its interactive, text-based learning platform. Instead of video lectures, Educative courses rely on in-browser coding environments, quizzes, and hands-on exercises, making them perfect for developers who prefer learning by doing.

For system design interviews, Educative offers some of the most popular courses in the industry:

Why Choose Educative.io?

  • Ideal if you like interactive, self-paced text-based learning.

  • Covers both high-level and low-level design interviews.

  • Lifetime access to courses (no expiration once you purchase).

  • Great for developers who want a strong foundation in design concepts.


By the way, you would need an Educative subscription to join this course, which cost around $14.99 but also provide access to more than 1200+ courses, projects, and cloud labs to learn in-demand tech skills including web development. You can also use 7 days free trial to get this course for FREE. 




DesignGurus.io for System Design Interview Prep

DesignGurus.io is a specialized platform focused entirely on interview prep for system design and distributed systems. Similar to Educative.io, DesignGurus offers a structured, text-based learning experience taught by engineers who have worked at FAANG and other top tech companies.

Their system design courses are designed to simulate the actual interview process, with mock problems, whiteboard sessions, and detailed trade-off discussions. 

Top courses include:

Why Choose DesignGurus.io?

  • Perfect if you prefer text-based learning and instructor-led walkthroughs.

  • Great for simulating the real interview environment.

  • Focuses heavily on modern system design patterns (microservices, event-driven systems, etc.).

  • Ideal for engineers targeting FAANG-level interviews.


And, if you like these Grokking interview courses from DesignGurus, you can get all of them for a big discount by purchasing their All course bundle. This bundle include their most popular Grokking courses like Grokking System Design Interview, OOP Design, Coding Patterns, as well Grokking Dynamic programming interview.  You can also use code GURU to get 30% discount. 




Educative.io vs DesignGurus.io: Head-to-Head Comparison

Here’s how the two platforms stack up against each other in 2025:

  1. Learning Style

    • Educative.io: Text-based, interactive, self-paced.

    • DesignGurus.io: Text-based, self-paced.

  2. Depth of Content

    • Educative.io: Strong fundamentals, covers both low-level and high-level design.

    • DesignGurus.io: Focuses more on high-level system design and real interview simulations.

  3. Best For

    • Educative.io: Beginners or engineers who want to build conceptual clarity through interactive exercises.

    • DesignGurus.io: Engineers preparing for senior-level or FAANG interviews who need mock interview–style prep.

  4. Course Updates

    • Educative.io: Regular updates, but primarily focused on evergreen content.

    • DesignGurus.io: Faster updates reflecting modern architecture trends (like Kafka, event-driven design).

  5. Pricing

    • Educative.io: Buy once, own forever; or subscribe to their Educative Unlimited Plan for access to 1200+ courses.

    • DesignGurus.io: One-time purchase per course, with lifetime access.


Final Verdict: Which is Better in 2025?

Best Strategy for 2025: Many engineers actually combine both platforms — start with Educative.io for fundamentals, then use DesignGurus.io for advanced practice and interview simulations. This way, you’ll be prepared from all angles.

Other System Design Interview Resources you may like

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like this review of Educative.io vs DesignGurus.io for System Design interview preparation then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop a note. 

P. S. — If you need an alternative then you can also join  join ByteByteGo and start learning Coding patterns and System Design Concepts and practice coding interviews you will thank me later. It’s one of the most comprehensive resource for coding interview now.
    By javin paul at September 10, 2025
    Labels: course review , Review , System Design

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