Online education has come a long way in recent years, and it’s no longer just for college students. The proliferation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has made it possible for anyone to take world-class courses from leading universities—and get paid for them. Coursera is one of the most popular providers of MOOCs, but there are plenty of other options out there if it doesn’t suit your needs.
Coursera Competitors & Alternatives
Before we dive deep into Coursera competitors and alternatives, here are some other Coursera alternatives in a nutshell.
| Sr. No. | Coursera Alternatives | Ratings | Best features/courses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Udacity | 4.6/5 | Tech-related courses |
| 2. | LinkedIn Learning | 4.8/5 | Professional certified courses |
| 3. | Udemy | 4.6/5 | Software related courses |
| 4. | Edx | 4.7/5 | Computer Science and Management |
| 5. | Khan Academy | 4.1/5 | Academic Learning |
| 6. | FutureLearn | 4.5/5 | Business courses |
| 7. | DataCamp | 4.5/5 | Machine Learning and Data Analyzing |
| 8. | Alison | 4.1/5 | Job oriented skills |
| 9. | MIT OpenCourseWare | 4.4/5 | MIT courses and material |
1. Udacity
Udacity is a MOOC provider that offers courses on a wide range of topics. Udacity was founded in 2011 and has over 1.5 million students. The company offers over 100 courses, including those in computer science, programming, business, and data science.
Some courses include introductions to web development languages like HTML5 and CSS3 with JavaScript; building iPhone apps using iOS SDK; Introduction to Machine Learning; and more advanced topics like Artificial Intelligence: Foundations of Computer Vision or Deep Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction.
2. LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is an e-learning platform that offers a wide range of popular courses. It keeps users up-to-date on employment prospects and enables them to learn and search for jobs at the same time. Additionally, the platform provides comprehensive video lectures for each course in order to ensure accessibility for beginners.
Furthermore, non-English speaking users can benefit from LinkedIn Learning’s support of five different languages. The course library of LinkedIn is well equipped with all the lectures that would be perfect for your career advancement or to build professional abilities.
Read our detailed Coursera vs. LinkedIn Learning comparison.
3. Udemy
Udemy offers a potpourri of affordable and high-quality courses. It is highly beneficial for those looking to acquire and learn a new set of skills or polish their existing ones. Udemy has over 213,000+ courses from various categories like Business, Personal Development, Software Engineering, Photography, etc. The courses on Udemy are designed to suit one’s schedule and pace. After completing the paid course, you receive an official certificate acknowledging that you have completed the course and lifetime access to the same.
4. edX
edX is a nonprofit online learning platform that delivers courses from over 100 institutions. In 2012, edX was founded by Harvard University and MIT to provide high-quality learning experiences to learners everywhere.
edX currently offers more than 1,800 individual courses in everything from Computer Science to Public Health, with new courses added regularly. The content is free of charge, and although it’s not necessary, you can pay a fee to receive a certificate of completion after completing your coursework (the cost varies by institution).
5. Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a non-profit educational website that provides practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard to help students study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. Khan Academy has been praised for its ability to offer free education to students around the world. It was launched in 2006 by Sal Khan as an alternative method of teaching mathematics after he realized that his cousin Nadia’s math methods were not being taught in school.
Khan Academy offers thousands of practice problems across its various subjects including math, science, economics, and finance. Each subject contains different levels of difficulty so you can begin with basic tutorials before moving on to more advanced ones if you’re ready for it!
6. Futurelearn
FutureLearn is a social learning platform that offers free online courses from top universities and institutions around the world. The platform has partnered with more than 100 universities and organizations to offer more than 1,000 online courses in subjects such as business, languages, health, and law.
Like other top MOOC providers like Coursera, FutureLearn will let you watch lectures and view study materials on your desktop computer or mobile device – but it also lets you interact with fellow learners through forums as well as take part in peer-to-peer learning activities such as quizzes or surveys.
7. Datacamp
DataCamp is a learning platform that provides courses and certifications in data science, AI, machine learning, programming, and statistics. The classes are designed to help learners understand and implement the skills in their respective fields. The platform provides high-quality content with detailed information on coding exercises and other related topics. It is an excellent platform for beginners who want to pursue a career in data science.
Datacamp also assists in job placements by helping in interview prep and providing personalized resume reviews—the certificates provided by Datacamp in the partnership which many industry leaders and are recognized globally. The methodology of Datacamp is to grasp, practice, practical application, and lastly, assess.
8. Alison
Alison is a UK-based online learning platform offering over 1,200 courses to students in over 190 countries. The platform focuses on business and technology, with a secondary focus on healthcare.
Unlike Coursera and other MOOCs, Alison does not have any subject-specific degrees but instead offers certificates in several areas of study, including project management and digital marketing. They are also compatible with CMI qualifications as they offer courses structured similarly to them, such as the Professional Certificate in Management Accounting or the Diploma in Business Excellence.
Alison claims to be open enrollment but there are some requirements before being able to take certain courses, such as having at least 600 hours of working experience for subjects like finance or IT; however, it does not appear that you need any specific qualification for most subjects so long as you meet the minimum professional requirements needed (which varies from the course).
9. MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT OpenCourseWare, or OCW for short, is a free publication of virtually all MIT course content. It includes materials from all academic disciplines, including the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, and engineering.
MIT OpenCourseWare was launched in 2001 by MIT’s open learning initiative to encourage worldwide access to knowledge via online education. Since then, it has grown into a collection of more than 2000 courses and over 600 lecture series from MIT professors that can be accessed online by anyone around the world.
The aim of these courses is not only to educate students but also to help them develop their own independent thinking skills. These courses will allow you to teach yourself new concepts in your field of interest without having any prior knowledge about what they are teaching in class.
MIT OpenCourseWare also provides instructors with guidelines on how they should go about designing their lectures so that they are engaging enough for students who have been following them online as well as those who are attending class live.
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Conclusion
There are plenty of other alternatives to Coursera if it doesn’t meet your needs. Udacity and edX both offer courses for free, but you’ll need to pay for certificates and credits. MIT OpenCourseWare offers free access to all their course materials (not just lectures), including textbooks and video lectures on topics like “Introduction To Psychology.”
Alison is a great resource for anyone looking at pursuing nursing or medicine as a career path because they offer hundreds of programs designed specifically for nurses seeking advancement within their field. Khan Academy offers online lessons in over 30 subjects ranging from history, math, and science, so if you’re looking for something different than what Coursera has offered thus far – check out some of these other options!
