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Coursera was formed in 2012 to transform lives through open access to world class education. Today, with 92 million learners and 7,000+ courses from top institutions such as Yale, Stanford and Google, Coursera has come to symbolize the very best in eLearning.
But is Coursera worth it? What are the best Coursera courses? Can I get Coursera for free? Can I get a refund if I don’t like Coursera?
I’ve spent several weeks delving deep into Coursera to answer these questions and more in this in-depth Coursera review.
First, a quick overview.
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Quick summary
Features:
- 7,000+ courses and degrees
- 250+ prestigious partner institutions
- 11 Categories
- Teaching from leading academics, Nobel prize winners, c-suite executives and leaders in their respective fields
- Various subscriptions as well as the ability to buy single courses
Pros
- The chance to earn a certificate from the world’s top organisations
- Lots of free content to sample risk free
- Well structured and resourced courses and excellent teaching
- Huge catalog of courses
- Prestigious education at affordable prices
- Learn offline
- 81% of learners give its courses a 5* rating
Cons
- Confusing pricing
- Courses vary in quality
Best for: Anyone who is intellectually curious or is looking for promotion, a new job, a career change or just wants to open new doors into the future.
Cost: Check Coursera for latest prices
Overall: Coursera offers the opportunity to learn from the world’s most respected institutions and universities. Institutions that students take on mountains of debt to attend on campus. Coursera brings this education to you for a fraction of the price. If you’re serious about investing in yourself, you’ll find it difficult to find a better platform than Coursera. And with lots of ways to sample Coursera for free, you have nothing to lose by checking it out.
In this detailed Coursera review I’ll be covering:
- What is Coursera and who are their instructors?
- How does Coursera work and how much does it cost?
- Coursera free trial
- What a Coursera lesson is like
- Best Coursera courses and offerings
- How I reviewed Coursera
- What I liked and thought could be improved
- Who Coursera is for and whether you can buy it as a gift
- How to find the best courses on Coursera
- Alternatives to Coursera
- What others have said about Coursera
- Is Coursera worth it?
- FAQs
So, let’s get started
What is Coursera?
Coursera is one of the largest learning platforms in the world.
It was started in 2012 by two Stanford professors with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning.
Just seven years later Coursera achieved unicorn status (a valuation of $1bn+).
In 2020 alone, it attracted as many learners as its closest competitor did in its entire existence.
Today, Cousera has 92 million registered users and is partnered with 250+ leading universities and industry educators to offer over 7,000 courses and degree programs. Much of its content can be accessed completely free.
In addition, over 100 Fortune 500 companies, and more than 6,000 businesses, campuses and governments use Coursera to upscale or reskill their employees, students and citizens.
Who are Coursera’s instructors?
Coursera’s aim to provide access to world class learning is reflected in the quality of its instructors.
These include:
- Nobel prize winners
- Best selling authors
- Academics from prestigious universities such as Princeton and Yale
- C-suite executives from the world’s leading companies
- Practising experts in their respective fields
How does Coursera work?
There are many different ways to learn on Coursera. Basically you can:
- Buy individual courses and certifications outright
- Take some content for free (without certification)
- Subscribe on a monthly or annual basis
The first thing to do is sign in. This is easy and free. Just provide an email address and password (or use your existing Facebook or Google details):
You can then explore the platform to find the option that best suits you. I’ve summarized them here along with what to expect from each one:
| Option | Goal | Length | Billing | Includes |
| Courses | Gain knowledge | 4-12 hours | Free with option to buy certificate | High quality video content, transcripts and supporting resources |
| Guided Projects | Learn a practical skill | 1-2 hours | Per course | A split screen workspace to complete a project with step-by-step video guidance. Certificate |
| Specializations | Master a Skill | 1-3 months | Monthly or per unit | Several course units, hands-on projects, assignments and Certificate. |
| Professional Certificates | Get job ready for an in demand career | 4-7 months | Monthly | Several course units, projects & assignments, recognized professional certificate & access to job search resources. |
| Coursera Plus Subscription | Access 90%+of Coursera content | various | Monthly or annually | Unlimited access to Courses, Guided Projects, Specializations and most Professional Certificates |
| MasterTrack Certificates | Learn at Master’s level and earn credit towards a full degree | 4-7 months | Per course orMonthly | Live teaching, office hours, video content, feedback, team-based learning and real world projects. The certificate counts towards the full Master’s should you choose to progress |
| Degrees | Earn a Degree | 2-4 years | Pay as you go | Online lectures, direct live interaction with peers and tutors, access to a dedicated online student support team and full certification |
Signing in gives you access to the Coursera community where you can start a conversation with other students, ask questions, showcase your work, etc.
Subjects covered by Coursera include:
- Data Science
- Computer Science
- Information Technology
- Physical Science and Engineering
- Business
- Social Sciences
- Health
- Personal Development
- Math and Logic
- Language Learning
- Arts and Humanities
Once you’ve made a choice, you’ll be able to find everything you need to know before committing yourself. And, of course, you can ask questions of the Community if you need any additional information.
The average course rating for content on Coursera is 4.7/5 with 81% of learners rating Coursera content as 5*
Coursera costs, refunds, discounts and free trials
In summary, Coursera Courses can be accessed for free, Guided Projects start at $9.99 and Specializations and Professional Certificates from $39.99 a month. A Coursera Plus subscription is $399 per year and Full degrees start at $9,000.
I’ll now go into more detail below about the costs of each of the following offerings:
- Coursera Plus Subscription
- Courses
- Guided Projects
- Specializations
- Professional Certificates
- MasterTrack
- Degrees
- Business
Coursera Plus Subscription
CourseraPlus gives you unlimited access to Courses, Guided Projects, Specializations and some Professional Certificates for as long as your subscription is active.
The cost for Coursera Plus is either $59 monthly, or $399 up front for the year (an annual saving of $309 over the monthly cost).
This works out to just over $1 a day to be taught by the world’s best and brightest which is amazing value and a sound investment in you and your future.
For the latest valid Coursera Plus discounts check here.
Courses
Coursera’s 1,800+ Courses can be taken for free. If you wish to receive a certificate you can purchase the course. Coursera Courses start at $49.
Coursera Guided Projects
These short (2 hour) projects are designed to teach a specific skill and start at $9.99 each.
They are intended to help learners develop in-demand skills in a meaningful context and mimic one to one tutoring sessions.
Coursera Specializations and Professional Certificates
Both these options start at $39 per month.
Specialializations teach career relevant skills and are designed to build mastery. They take up to three months (sometimes more) to complete. You can audit individual course units in most Specializations for free.
Professional Certificates are designed to get you job ready for an in-demand career and can take up to six months to complete.
Coursera MasterTrack
A Master Track is a comprehensive online module taken from a full Master’s program. They take between 4-7 months to complete and count towards the full Master’s degree if you want to take things further. MasterTracks start at $2,000 for the full program.
Coursera Degrees
Coursera Degrees are full online bachelor’s degree and master’s programs from leading universities that take between 2-4 years to complete.
Tuition fees for a Coursera degree start at $9000 for the full program. They can be as much as $40,000, but this is a fraction of what it would cost to complete that degree in-person.
You pay as you go for the courses you are enrolled in each term.
Coursera refund
Coursera refund and money back policies vary depending on whether you have made a one-time payment or are subscribing on a monthly or annual basis.
The table below explains how these work:
| Monthly subscriptions | Cancel before the 7 day free trial ends and pay nothing. Cancelling an active subscription takes effect just before the next renewal date |
| Coursera Plus | To get a refund for a full annual payment of Coursera Plus, submit a request within 14 days of purchase. Refunds are not available after this period |
| One time course | Claim a complete refund for up to 14 days after payment or within 14 days of the course launching if you have pre-enrolled. |
| Guided Projects | No refund available |
| Degree & MasterTrack programs | Refunds are set up and run by the content provider offering the program and communicated to students by them. |
If you make a purchase through a third party, their own refund policies apply.
For more detail on this you can check out our Coursera Refund guide.
Coursera free trial
There are lots of ways to experience Coursera for free. So you can sample much of what’s on offer without spending a cent.
There are:
- 1,800+ Coursera free courses that you can take in full without certification
- Individual Specialization units that can be audited for free
- Seven day free trials with:
- Coursera Plus monthly subscription
- Specializations
- Professional Certificates
As well as this, Coursera offers 14 day money back guarantees on most of its products.
Coursera discounts
From time to time, Coursera offers discounts and promo codes on its subscription program, Coursera Plus. For the latest discounts check here.
Can I buy Coursera as a gift?
No, Coursera doesn’t offer gift cards or any way of making payments for another user. A Coursera account is always automatically linked to the name of the payee.
What a Coursera lesson is like
Given the number of different course types and partner institutions on Coursera, I’ll have to generalize a little here.
But overall, at the course start you will get a basic outline of the syllabus and topics to be covered by the course. Then, in a typical lesson you can expect:
- High quality video lectures that build in difficulty and link to prior learning
- Accompanying transcripts
- Quizzes, questions, projects and assignments to check and reinforce understanding
- Opportunities to connect with other students to discuss problems and share experiences
- Access to a wide range of supporting resources such as podcasts, pdf files, e books, readings, Ted talks, case studies and examples, etc.
Best Coursera courses
Some of the most popular and highly rated courses from each of Coursera’s offerings are:
- Course: Machine Learning | Stanford University
- Guided Project: Google Ads for Beginners | Paid Media
- Specialization: Excel Skills for Business | MacQuarie University
- Professional Certificate: IBM Cyber Security Analyst | IBM
- MasterTrack: Social Work: Practice, Policy and Research | Michigan University
- Coursera Degrees: Bachelor of Science in Computer Science | University of London
Of course, the best course for you depends on what you’re interested in!
But to give you a clearer idea of what to expect from Coursera’s different learning paths, I’ve reviewed the top classes in each category below:
Top Coursera Courses
Supervised Machine Learning
Machine Learning | Stanford University | Rating: 4.9/5
Instructor: Andrew Ng’s many achievements include founding DeepLearning.AI, and the Google BrainTeam. Given this, and the fact he’s an adjunct professor at Stanford and author of 100+ papers on machine learning, he’s more than qualified to deliver this course.
Learn: What learning is, how machines do it without explicit programming, the most effective machine learning techniques, how to implement them for yourself and how to practically apply the techniques to new problems.
Includes: 45 Video lessons divided into 4 sections (totalling 7 hours), 40+ readings, 9 quizzes and a certificate if the course is purchased.
Best for: Anyone who is curious about how a car can drive itself and what the future looks will find this course fascinating and will be made to feel comfortable with the technical language thanks to plenty of examples and case studies.
See also our Best AI courses review.
The Science of Well Being | Yale University | Rating 4.9/5
Instructor: Laurie Santos is a Professor of Psychology, host of the Happiness Lab podcast and director of the Comparative Cognition Laboratory and the Canine Cognition Center at Yale.
Learn: Why our ideas about what will make us happy often turn out to be wrong, how to overcome annoying aspects of the mind that misdirect us, and the practical steps you can take to make a positive change and be happier and more productive.
Includes: 26 video lessons divided into 4 sections (totalling 4 hours), 18 readings and 3 quizzes, and a certificate if you purchase the course.
Best for: Given that this course is delivered by a Yale Professor of Psychology and can be taken for free, I can’t see anyone losing out by giving it a go.
See also: Best online psychology courses
Top Coursera Guided Projects
Building a Business Presence With Facebook Marketing | Coursera Project | Rating: 4.6/5
Instructor: Kathleen Bergner is a veteran of driving strategic and marketing communications for global businesses. Her guided project walks you through the process of setting up digital marketing for a fictitious company.
Learn to: Set up a business page to establish your company, navigate Facebook, Set up ads, Boost your reach and grow your audience.
Includes: A split screen workspace and step-by-step video guidance for doing everything from setting up a business page, right through to mastering the tools to grow your audience (and everything between) you will get to grips with applying digital marketing on Facebook in just over an hour.
Best for: A complete novice will get everything they need to get up and running. Many students with more experience felt it explained a few tricky things they had been wrestling with.
Build a Full Website using WordPress | Freedom Learning Group | Rating:4.5/5
Instructor: Stacey Shanklin-Langford is a tutor from Coursera Project Network, teaching 20 online courses on Coursera, such as Create and Design Digital Products, Using WordPress to Create a Blog for your Business and Basic Game Development.
Learn: How to create an attractive and user friendly full website from scratch, utilize themes and plugins, update your homepage, edit content and add links and social media buttons.
Includes: A split screen workspace and step-by-step video guidance for doing everything from setting up a new website through editing and using links. A certificate
Best for: A complete WordPress novice as this is basic introductory course
Coursera Specializations
Excel Skills for Business | MacQuarie University | Rating: 4.9/5
This course features in our review of the Best Online Excel Courses 2025.
Instructor: Four tutors led by Nicky Bull, a corporate trainer, consultant and lecturer with over a decade of experience designing and delivering educational programs. She has also received the Coursera Outstanding Educator Award for Student Transformation in 2018.
Learn: How to apply Excel skills and techniques to solve a range of business problems, design sophisticated spreadsheets, perform complex calculations and operations, and use advanced Excel features and techniques confidently.
Includes: Four courses that start with the essentials and incrementally build in stretch and challenge. A hands-on project that needs to be successfully completed to earn the certificate.
Best for: Students with a working understanding of Excel will get the best value as although the course begins with Excel essentials, three of the course units focus on developing advanced Excel Skills.
Python for Everybody | University of Michigan | 4.8/5
Instructor: Clinical Professor Dr Charles Severance, who teaches technology related courses including programming, database design, and Web development at the University of Michigan.
Learn: The basics of how to program using Python, how to use Python’s built-in data structures such as lists and dictionaries to perform data analysis, how to use Python to access data from the web and how to use databases in Python.
Includes: Four course units that start with the basics and slowly build in difficulty. A hands-on project that needs to be successfully completed to earn the certificate.
Best for: Anyone with computer experience who is new to coding will get huge value from this Specialization as It starts at ground level and builds gradually to cover more complex techniques.
Features #1 in our best Python courses review.
Coursera Professional Certificates
IBM Cyber Security Analyst | IBM | Rating 4.6/5
Instructor: Tutors at IBM Security Learning Services
Learn: All the content you need to get job ready for a role in the Cybersecurity industry. Including basic Cybersecurity concepts and terms, key processes and frameworks, basic network security, vulnerabilities, incident response protocol and defence tactics.
Includes: 7 course units, assessments, a real-world security breach hands-on collaborative project, access to virtual labs, sites and industry tools. Completion also means you are eligible to earn the Introduction to Cybersecurity Tools & Cyber Attacks IBM digital badge.
Best for: Anyone considering a role in Cybersecurity who is comfortable working with computers and willing to learn new technical skills. Also those who want to understand Cybersecurity from the bottom up and enjoy collaborative problem solving.
Facebook Social Media Marketing | Meta | Rating 4.9
Instructors: Anke Audenaert, CEO & Co-Founder of online education production company Aptly and adjunct Professor at UCLA, and Daniel Kob, Chief Marketing Officer at Meta.
Learn: How to build an online presence, create and manage advertising campaigns, attract a following, manage your social media accounts and evaluate your efforts.
Includes: Six linked courses, hands on collaborative projects that help you apply new skills practically and (on successful completion) a Coursera and Facebook Digital Marketing Associate Certificate – plus exclusive access to the new Facebook Network job search platform.
Best for: Anyone interested in preparing for an entry level role in social media marketing, whether they are total beginners or have some informal experience.
Coursera MasterTrack
Social Work: Practice, Policy and Research | Michigan University
Instructor: Tutors from the #1 school for social work in the US.
Learn how:
- Social workers effect positive change with individuals, families and communities
- Key research, knowledge, policy and frameworks guide social work practice
- Social work policy has evolved over the last century
- To understand the connection between social work and social justice and how to use a social justice lens
- To appreciate the different roles of social workers in a range of settings
Includes: Six rigorous and linked courses, live sessions with instructors and peers, flexible and personalized learning, quizzes, assignments, collaborative projects and case studies. Passing this MasterTrack successfully results in a University of Michigan Certificate and allows you to complete the full Masters for 45 instead of 60 credits.
Best for: Anyone with a strong interest in pursuing a career in social services. If you wish to take the full Master of Social Work degree, previous human service experience at post degree level is preferred.
Coursera Degrees
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science | University of London
Instructor: tutors from Goldsmiths (University of London)
Learn how to:
- Master in-demand computing skills
- Solve complex problems
- Sharpen your innovation and creativity
- Develop technical and transferable skills
- Shine in one of 7 specialist fields (for example AI, Machine Learning, Games Development, etc.)
Includes: A range of resources on computers, tablets and other mobile devices through a Virtual Learning Environment. 16 compulsory modules, 6 elective modules, two projects resulting in a portfolio of work and exams. Fully online tuition with academic support and feedback from the University of London as well as access to student forums. The option to attend classes in-person. A full degree certificate from the University of London.
Best for: Anyone aged 17+ with relevant high school qualifications and/or work experience wanting to pursue a career in computer science. A performance based admission route is available if you don’t meet the requirements for direct entry.
Coursera for business
There are two membership accounts for businesses who want to offer their employees world class continuing professional development.
Coursera for Business includes access to 5,000+ courses, 100+ SkillSets, and 1,900+ Guided Projects from top universities and companies. With Enterprise you also receive access to other benefits including job-based learning programs, private authoring tools to create your own courses, an account manager, skill metrics and user analytics.
Coursera for Teams is suitable for small/medium companies and teams at $399 per user per annum and Enterprise for larger companies which has custom pricing.
How I reviewed Coursera
I’ve spent a lot of time navigating every corner of Courser’s platform to investigate the range, quality and cost of what’s on offer.
I also sampled several specific courses. This included topics I felt confident in which helped me gauge the quality of the teaching. And courses I knew little or nothing about to see if claims that no prior experience was necessary were backed up by good introductory content and incremental teaching that kept me engaged and learning.
What I liked about Coursera
The chance to earn a certificate from the world’s top organisations
Coursera is partnered with 250+ of the world’s most prestigious institutions and universities.
To have the chance to receive a certificate from one of these organisations could really make you stand out from the crowd if you are in the market for a promotion, a new job or a career change.
Given the cost, and the fact that you can sample much of this content for free, this is a real benefit of Coursera.
Lots of free content for you to sample risk free
Coursera offers almost 2,000 courses for free, and the opportunity to audit course units from its more complex programs for free.
This gives you the chance to get all the information you need to know about the quality of the teaching and the suitability of the course to make an informed decision before making any financial commitment.
You don’t receive a certificate for free content, but you will have the option to upgrade at any point.
Well structured and resourced courses and excellent teaching
A key element of good teaching is the structuring of tasks to incrementally build skills or the understanding of key concepts.
Coursera does this well and provides opportunities to apply new skills and ideas practically with assignments, projects and challenges.
Learning is supported with a variety of resources including podcasts, YouTube videos (such as TED talks), graphics, animations, e-books, etc. Key takeaways are emphasized and there is an easy option for capturing screens and making notes.
The courses I experienced were so much more than just ‘talking head’ video lecturers. That said, when they do take this format, the instructors are high calibre and include renowned experts in their fields, academics from universities such as Yale and C-suite executives from the world’s leading companies.
Huge catalogue of courses
Coursera has the largest catalogue of courses of any learning platform and, though there is a strong emphasis on career relevant topics and skills, there are courses in every subject imaginable.
The choice within each subject is wide ranging, from introductions, overviews and very specific deep dives. There is also a wide range of learning paths, from short 2 hour guided projects through to full blown bachelors’ and masters’ degrees.
The keyword here is choice.
Prestigious courses at affordable prices
Course costs are affordable and, for the quality, excellent value.
Degree courses are, of course, in the thousands of dollars. But even so fees are significantly lower than taking exactly the same degree on campus. Especially bearing in mind accommodation costs.
And financial aid is available to students who are unable to meet the full cost of a Coursera course or progam.
Learn offline
You can download materials to learn offline using the Coursera App. This gives you real control over when and where you learn and allows you to slot sessions into your schedule wherever you are.
