Top 10 Online Course Providers
We analyze 10 of the top online learning platforms that include a range of paid and free training programs, courses, professional certifications, and other resources.
1. Udemy
Pricing: $360 per user
The most popular courses include:
- Leadership & Management skills
- Tech skills
- Business skills
- Wellness skills
A personal learning company called Udemy offers courses at various prices. The majority of them are inexpensive, but they can increase as the subject matter becomes more complex or specialized. Once you begin taking several classes, the platform is a little more expensive than the other options on our list.
One of the best things about Udemy is that it offers a wide range of classes on traditional educational topics, business skills (such as how to use Microsoft Excel for financial analysis), and student class ratings.
Features of Udemy:
- 14 languages of learning.
- Partners with you to create and implement a long-term learning plan that is in line with your training and business objectives.
- Along with Udemy’s courses, custom content is created.
- A dedicated customer success partner and 24/7 customer support.
2. Udacity
Pricing: $249 Team
The most popular courses include:
- Data Engineer
- Product Manager
- Business Analytics
There are three learning segments on Udacity: individual, company, and government. These areas provide a variety of paid courses that you can take to advance your talents; however, before making a purchase, you can download a sample to test it out.
Users of the website can access free courses, mostly in the domains of business and technology. Classes can be tailored to each student’s needs, with different lengths and levels of difficulty, and you can complete assignments just like in-person classes to include in your portfolio and resume while looking for work.
Features of Udacity:
- L&D managers can get approval from their C-suite team if they use Udacity’s highly engaged customer success team to convert the value from training courses to directly reportable ROI.
- full lectures delivered in video courses.
- interviews with industry experts and instructors.
- exercises and quizzes with automatic grades.
3. FutureLearn
Pricing: Not available online
The most popular courses include:
- HR Fundamentals
- Copywriting Fundamentals
- A Beginner’s Guide to Fashion Design
Online courses from more than 260 renowned institutions, including the University of Glasgow and King’s College London, are available to subscribers on FutureLearn. At your own pace, you can earn certificates. A wide range of course options are available, including generative AI, biochemistry, content marketing copywriting, and personal development basics.
You can enroll in specific tracks to master various disciplines in addition to individual classes. For instance, the IT and computer science course Advanced and Applied AI includes four classes. The class is Microsoft-accredited, and it typically lasts 15 weeks.
Features of FutureLearn:
- Videos, audio clips, and articles are the main learning modes.
- The social learning methodology is used in FutureLearn courses. This enables students to benefit from the FutureLearn community’s ability to understand a single topic from a variety of viewpoints.
- Discussion within comments can be used to provide community assistance.
4. Codecademy
Pricing: $150 annual
The most popular courses include:
- Full-stack engineer
- Computer science
- Data scientist
- Front-end engineer
One of the most in-demand skills in the tech sector is computer programming, which is led by SAAS leader Skillsoft. This online course provider provides free coding fundamentals instruction as well as a number of professional development opportunities, including in-depth training and practice, career coaching, and certificates of completion. Students can learn all the popular coding languages, including Python, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Swift, and many others, through Codecademy.
Features of Codecademy:
- Hands-on coding exercises with instant feedback.
- Real-world projects to build a portfolio.
- Free access to basic courses; Pro offers advanced content, personalized plans, and projects.
- Easy navigation and a smooth learning experience.
- Tools to monitor learning progress and achievements.
5. Coursera
Pricing: $319/user/year for teams
The most popular courses include:
- Indigenous Canada
- Financial Markets
- The Science of Well-Being
- Introduction to Psychology
With more than 7,000 specialized courses available, Coursera is perhaps the biggest name in online education and courses. You can use the service to earn an online degree from a reputable university for free, or you can use it for other purposes.
Many of the certification exams and lessons offered by software companies are available on Coursera, which can assist you with using enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools and managing databases.
Coursera is likely to have the most classes, courses, and accreditation support of any on our list, with its free courses, paid degrees, and membership programs.
Features of Coursera:
- Selections from more than 170 of the world’s best colleges.
- High-quality certifications for the real world.
- Tools to monitor program and learner progress from a central location.
- Hands-on instruction, guided projects, and targeted quizzes for the courses are included on the platform.
- Coursera offers ongoing assessments and reminders to keep students accountable.
6. HubSpot Academy
Pricing: Free online courses
The most popular courses include:
- Data Management
- AI for Marketing Course
- CMS Data-Driven Content
HubSpot has surpassed its competitors in sales, customer service, and inbound marketing software development since its founding in 2006. With the online education platform HubSpot Academy, they hope to provide training for the next generation of marketing, sales, and development professionals to pursue fulfilling careers. Because of its affordable price and industry expertise, we suggest using HubSpot Academy for students looking to take online marketing and sales courses.
To help employees learn everything they need to know about the most sought-after business skills, the platform offers quick, practical courses and comprehensive certifications. Additionally, HubSpot Academy provides eBooks and templates for a quick introduction to relevant topics.
Features of HubSpot Academy:
- Offers free certifications and educational materials.
- The chapters are divided into brief, narrated video segments, and the lessons are then broken up into chapters.
- The final certification exam is conducted on a short quiz at the end of the majority of the video chapters to assess the learner’s comprehension of the content.
- Based on pre-assessment results, create personalized course recommendations or suggested learning paths.
- Contains projects designed to help students practice their skills in real-world situations.
7. LinkedIn Learning
Pricing: $29.99 monthly
The most popular courses include:
- Time Management: Working from Home
- Strategic Thinking
- Developing Emotional Intelligence
- Communicating with Confidence
Veteran online educator Lynda.com changed its name to LinkedIn Learning in 2020. A comprehensive video tutorial and skill library are provided by LinkedIn Learning. Linked In’s Premium Career features are included in your monthly subscription and can help you advance your career.
The service primarily concentrates on programming languages across multiple languages. LinkedIn will provide courses and recommendations based on your current job, your skills, and what professionals like you are learning, according to the company’s website.
Features of LinkedIn Learning:
- Suggests individualized learning based on the function of the employee.
- Determines employee learning activities, skill gaps, and learning pathways for different learner groups.
- Provides tests and skill evaluations to gauge how well students are understanding the material.
- Offers certificates of achievement to students who have completed a course or learning program.
- Enables students to look for pertinent stuff on LinkedIn and share it with their professional contacts. When looking for material, you can utilize advanced filters to focus your search results.
- Students can pose questions to their course teachers and the greater learning community by using the Q&A tool.
8. Alison
Pricing: €12.99 month
The most popular courses include:
- Python Programming
- Digital Network Security
- Biological System
- English for Tourism
Alison’s free learning platform covers a wide range of topics relating to personal development, health, language, finance, and science. The platform is designed to accommodate users of all skill levels, from beginner to expert, and it gives learners the flexibility to take the courses whenever and wherever they want. Additionally, the website offers two different types of courses, giving you the option to choose between a certificate and a diploma.
Take a free personality assessment on the website to determine the best career path for you, a well-being assessment to find out what’s up in your mood, and a self-help guide to help yourself.
Features of Alison:
- Learning materials include discussion forums, additional reading materials, and movies.
- Some courses offer quizzes continuously, while others collect them at the conclusion of the course.
- Provides tools for program management to encourage staff participation in the courses and promote effective learning outcomes.
- Students can choose classes that closely align with their needs and plan material consumption to fit around their job schedules.
- Offers more than 3000 courses for on-demand access along with high-impact virtual training.
- Provides a customized business course catalog called SmartSkill, which is intended to teach learners ever-evolving abilities and make suggestions on how to advance more quickly and intelligently.
9. edX
Pricing: $349 Year
The most popular courses include:
- How to Learn Online
- The Science of Happiness
- Remote Work Revolution for Everyone
Harvard and MIT founded the online learning platform edX. The international nonprofit organization offers courses taught by instructors and universities on subjects like marketing, computer science, languages, engineering, psychology, writing, electronics, biology, and programming. The majority of courses are free. You can still purchase a verification certificate that proves your academic performance, though. The platform is also useful for conducting degree research…
Features of edX:
- Robust admin and student dashboards offer valuable information about the paths and advancements of learners.
- Integration via the edX API directly, or via SAP SuccessFactors, Degreed, EdCast, Cornerstone, and other systems.
- renowned institutions and organizations throughout the world offer in-demand courses in over 30 areas, with certifications that are both shareable and identifiable.
- MicroMasters programs are a set of graduate-level classes offered by famous universities that offer in-depth knowledge of a particular subject.
- Adaptable learning programs to meet the unique requirements of an enterprise.
- Useful learner data to assess the effectiveness of a training and enhance staff productivity.
- For maximum benefit from each course, self-paced video modules with additional reading are included.
- Discussion boards for edX offer peer learning and community assistance.
- Learners can monitor their progress with the use of graded homework assignments, quick quizzes, and comprehensive evaluations.
10. SkillShare
Pricing: $168 Year
The most popular courses include:
- Find Your Style
- Art Journaling for Self-Care
- Start Your Creative Career
There’s a good chance that Skillset has sponsored your favorite independent musicians, YouTubers, or podcasters because it is a community marketplace for new skills. Skillshare offers an online catalog of video-based creative courses in categories like music, drawing, painting, creative writing, photography, and video with a wide range of subjects. In addition, workshops can be held in person in several cities.
Without a membership, there are many free classes. Because these instructors make money off of online training, some classes have a cost. You can purchase them separately or as a premium member.
Features of Skillshare:
- The easily assimilated, adaptable, and practical information generates twice as much engagement as the industry standard.
- SkillShare’s discovery system begins tailoring its course recommendations as more lessons are taken by users.
- Icons, authorities, and industry titans who are prepared to impart their knowledge, insight, and reliable resources to learners are known as Skillshare teachers.
- The support staff at SkillShare arranges keynote addresses, private lessons, and online workshops.
- There are no project deadlines, assessments, quizzes, or certificates offered by SkillShare to indicate the extent of their learning objectives. On Skillshare, however, learning is dependent on peer and learner feedback on projects that facilitate individualized learning.
