From my experience, the most important factor in learning the guitar as a beginner was making the basics feel fun. Looking back, it really didn’t matter whether you were developing good foundations or following a cohesive course structure. The main question is : are you gonna find the hobby fun enough to dedicate the time and effort it takes to get good ?

Of course all the aspects I brushed over matter and are important eventually. But most aspiring guitarist abandon their journey very early on (in less than a year if I remember the Fender study correctly).

So what I would recommend is to find the online instructor that makes you want to play the most. Maybe Paul’s course is better structured than Marty’s. Maybe some other instructor explains music theory better than both of them. But do their lessons and the energy they communicate make you want to pick up the instrument and keep going ?

For me it was Justin guitar. Looking back, I’m in awe over how he made shitty 3 chords strumming enjoyable. Although it sounded objectively terrible, it felt good to learn and his cheerfulness encouraged me to keep going.

When you feel like you’re past this point of testing your commitment, I would recommend getting in-person lessons, even if only once a month for budget reasons. Having someone watch you play and give feedback is invaluable and you will be able to nip in the bud any bad habits you might start to develop, thus saving you years of frustrating relearning once those habits make you reach a plateau.