Solely from looking at the TDI curricula - since I've not yet been able to attend
One big difference is that the Costa Ludus classes will not have the same physical facilities as TDI - the "tactics" portion that comprises each of the Handgun I-III courses at TDI will thus be absent at Costa Ludus, same goes with force-on-force. For Costa's school, that's currently in the "Tactical Operations" part of his house, which is not available to civilians.
Also absent from Costa Ludus are the lecture material regarding mindset and the shooting's aftermath, as well as weapons selection/maintenance. Costa's class is more purely about being able to run your gun and get your hits.
To me, it would seem that Costa's classes - as they exist now - are more tailored towards the beginning-to-intermediate shooter, at his "01"-level, whereas starting on the ground floor with TDI's "Handgun I" course, at least from what I can read online, is
also suitable for a complete novice to begin there. Costa's class, even at the "01"-level, is really not designed to hand-hold the absolute novice through the very basics (his recent Facebook posting, which I've been forwarded by another friend of mine, reflects this level of prerequisite skills mastery). Like
Quack said, if you've got the Magpul
The Art of the Dynamic Handgun DVD-series, it's pretty much the first disc: reaction/support/"weak"-hand manipulations are reserved for the "02"-level class.
Without knowing, fully, what kind of shooter you are, it's hard for me to make any kind of recommendations, either way. However, I will say that, honestly, had I lived closer to TDI, I would almost certainly have already taken their Handgun progression, and that it would likely have taken the place of my going to Costa's handgun classes this year. At the same time, though, I also find that I do have conflicting feelings about why TDI structured their curricula they way they did, in introducing tactics so early: Costa's classes teach what are perhaps truly the core "life-saving skills" needed to truly run a pistol without the complications of introducing tactics to the equation, forcing the students to focus purely on manipulations.
I envy that you have a choice.
But I don't envy you for the choice that you have to make.
No matter what, though, I do think it'll be time and money well-spent.
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Similarities?
Both schools are of the modern method. And from reading various AARs, I believe that both have a high round-count while yet insisting that the students get their hits. The fundamentals are the fundamentals, and aside from detail differences on preference/execution, it's going to be about the same.
