The Best 11 Websites For Online Education

Universities are not the only place you can get an education from. Online Education websites became increasingly popular nowadays and there are a lot of topics covered now from programming languages to design and even social skills and lifestyle courses. Those websites may be for adding new experience or education for your current one, or for learning a new skill. It is proven also that some people who only used online education sources became able to work in any place in the technical world. Moreover, the giant tech companies started to discard the university degree from the requirements of employment. In other words, self-education using online learning websites may represent the future of learning.

But with all different websites, which one you can trust for getting the correct information? which one is the cheapest and which one is the most popular. In this article we will cover the top 15 websites for online learning, with the key features, pros and cons.

Quick Comparison

Platform	Courses	Students	Pricing
Udemy	100,000	30 million	Free Courses 10.99$/Course
Edx	2,400	20 million	Free enroll 50$ per certificate
Coursera	3,600		+29$ / Course
Lynda	13,000		29.99$ / Month
Udacity			Free Courses 399$ /Month/Course
Khan Academy			Free
Skillshare	22,000	4 million	15$ / Month
Codecademy		45 million	Free enroll 40$/month premium
Future Learn			269$ / year
Google Digital Garage			Free
Alison	1,000	13 million	Free Enroll +25$ per certificate

Udemy

Udemy is one of the biggest online course websites in the world, with more than 100,000 online courses in possible topics. 30 million students studying courses provided by Udemy and 42k instructors publish there courses there. If you want to get free online courses, then Udemy is one of the best places, especially with free udemy coupons. (Check the courses we provide)

Key Features:

• Wide range of courses
• Pay per course (Usually 10.99$ in repetitive discount campaigns)
• 30 days money-back guarantee.
• Lifetime access.
• Individual instructors create and publish the courses.

Pros

• Easy to access from all devices
• Certificate of completion even for the free courses
• Possibility of finding Udemy Coupons to get paid courses for free.

Cons

• Some courses have low education quality.
• Individual instructors may not be educated about the topics.
• Wither it is 30 minutes or 50 hours long, still the same price in the discounted campaign.
• Certification is not widely recognized because in most cases no tests are done.

Edx

Edx was founded by Harvard and MIT as a platform where universities and institutes can offer their online courses for the students. Later on, some big names joined the platform like Microsoft to offer educational courses for their products. Edx has more than 2400 high-end courses +20 million students, most courses are academic courses with content similar to what is being taught in the actual universities.

Key Features:

• Enroll for free, Pay for Certificate.
• The certificate price usually 50$.
• Institutions create and publish the courses.

Pros:

• More recognized certificate.
• Content similar to colleges.
• High-quality courses.
• Easy to access from all devices.
• I can get the knowledge without paying anything.

Cons:

• Certificates are slightly expensive.
• Sometimes it is hard to pass the tests. You need 60/100 to get a certificate.
• Not many online courses are available.

Coursera

Coursera is also a well-known online course platform. It has different kinds of programs from single courses to fully online degrees. A lot of high-class universities use Coursera to offer their courses. Also, some giants in the tech world do, like Autodesk, Cisco, and Google. Coursera has +3600 courses.

Key Features:

• Courses from 29$-99$
• Specializations from $39-$79 per month
• Online Degrees from $15-$25,000, 1 to 3 years long, Need admission.
• Institutions create and publish the courses.

Pros:

• More recognized certificate.
• Content similar to colleges.
• High-quality courses.
• Easy to access from all devices.

Cons:

• Can’t access for free (You can click on Audit when trying to buy, but that only gives you limited-time access.)
• Slightly expensive
• Not many online courses are available.

Lynda (Linkedin Learning)

Lynda (or Linked in Learning now) is a website by the famous professional network Linkedin which is owned by Microsoft now. Lynda has more than 13,000 courses. The big names of Microsoft and Linkedin behind it gave it a push toward success even though it is still not famous enough comparing to the previously listed websites.

Key Features:

• 1 month Trial.
• One subscription fee for all courses.
• 29.99$ monthly fee subscription (299.99$ Annual)
• Individual Instructors create and publish the courses.

Pros:

• High-quality courses.
• Plenty of topics.
• Easy to access from all devices.

Cons:

• Not suitable if you want one course only.
• Other platforms have better discussion dashboards.
• Individual instructors may not be educated about the topics.

Udacity

Udacity offers Nanodegree programs and free courses. Some courses are being taught in collaboration with big names like Google, AWS, and IBM.

Key feature:

• Focus on Web Development, Machine Learning, AI and Industrial Engineering.
• Nanodegree monthly subscription 399$ per month.

Pros:

• High-quality courses.
• 1 to 1 follows up.
• Free courses available.
• Easy to access from all devices.

Cons:

• The very commercial platform, promise more give less.
• Some Nanodegrees content is outdated.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a free online learning platform that lives on donations. it is mainly focused on the education of students from primary until high schools. With some courses for the upper level.

Key Features:

• Completely free.
• A lot of Math, Chemistry, and Languages Courses.
• International Tests are covered like GMAT, SAT.

Pros:

• It is Free.
• Very good for young students.
• Easy to access from all devices.

Cons:

• Not a wide range of topics.
• Less creative than other platforms.

Skillshare

Skillshare is also one famous online course platform. More than 4 million students and over 22,000 courses are available.

Key Features:

• A monthly subscription to access all courses.
• 15$ per month, or 99$ annual fee for subscription.
• Institutions create and publish the courses.
• Easy to get 2 months free trial.

Codecademy

The Codecademy website has more than 45 million learners. If you want to learn to code, this website must be your friend.

Key Features:

• Free to enroll in courses.
• A monthly subscription to access quizzes and other benefits.
• Fees are 39.99$/month or 240$/year.
• Wide range of programming language courses.

Future Learn

Future Learn follows also the strategy of a fixed fee to get access to all courses. A lot of universities offer their courses on the website. But the names are not as fancy as the names that publish in Edx.

Key Features:

• Short courses, In-Depth programs, and Online degrees.
• The price is 269$ per year to access all courses.

Google Digital Garage

Opened recently, Google Digital Garage is a free online course platform that offers courses mainly by Google. It also offers courses from well-known universities like Yale, Illinois and Michigan University.

Key Features:

• Free to access all courses.
• Free certificate in Digital Marketing by Google.
• Still new, more courses are being added every day.

Alison

Alison platform has more than 13 million students around the world and 1000 courses. You can access a wide range of courses for free, but you need to pay for the certificate from 25$ depending on the course.