40 Best Online Learning Websites in 2023

Alison offers over 3,000 free online courses and training for professionals. Learners can gain career skills and earn certificates across a number of industries like business, engineering, healthcare, IT, and academics.

Recommended for: Industry Professionals, Career Skills
Pay Type: Free Courses; Paid Subscriptions, Certificates (more info)

Khan Academy is a nonprofit organization and a free online learning platform with K-12 and college-level courses. The site has video-based lessons for many subjects, including math, science, ELA, computing, and more.

Recommended for: Students, Life Skills, Free Learning
Pay Type: Completely Free

Coursera is one of the largest providers of free, massive open online courses (MOOCs). Paid subscriptions are also available to earn certifications and online degrees from some of the world’s leading universities and companies.

Recommended for: Career Skills, Accredited Certificates & Degrees
Pay Type: Free Courses; Paid Subscriptions, Certificates, Degree Programs

edX, created by Harvard and MIT, is another major provider of massive open online courses. You can choose to audit courses for free, or pay for unlimited access, course certificates, verified tracks, and online degree programs.

Recommended for: Humanities, Career, Accredited Certificates & Programs
Pay Type: Free Courses; Pay Per Certificate or Course Track

SkillShare features on-demand learning from some of the world’s best practitioners. They offer video-based courses and a wide range of creative, professional, and hobby-based topics. Free and paid memberships available.

Recommended for: Aspiring Creators, Designers, and Artists
Pay Type: Free Courses; Paid Subscriptions (Monthly or Annual)

Udemy has the world’s largest selection of MOOCs at 130,000 and growing. The huge course offering means that you should be able to find almost any subject you can think of on this platform. Free and paid courses available.

Recommended for: Skill Development and Affordable Single Course Offerings
Pay Type: Some Free Courses; Pay Per Course

Udacity provides highly-rated MOOCs to develop tech skills like programming, data science, artificial intelligence, and more. Most courses require enrollment in a nanodegree program, currently priced at $399/month.

FutureLearn is a UK-based platform that delivers MOOCs from leading universities and organizations. Most courses are free to join but paid options provide additional benefits like certification and unlimited access.

Kadenze provides free and paid online courses that are focused on STEAM subjects, including Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. Courses are developed by top universities and industry partners.

Academic Earth helps visitors find the best free online courses, lectures, and videos from the world’s leading universities. Explore online education options and filter by subject or the type of degree you wish to pursue.

Class Central serves as a directory and search engine for MOOCs and online certifications. The platform includes course ratings, skill levels, and a lot of other useful information to help you choose your next online course.

MIT OCW publishes nearly all educational content from their undergraduate- and graduate-level courses online, making them available for free to anyone. It is a great source of teaching and learning materials across many subjects.

Stanford Online offers a variety of free online courses, online degrees, professional certificates, and e-learning opportunities. Many of their free courses are now offered on edX, a platform created by Stanford and MIT.

Open Yale Courses provides free content from select undergraduate courses at the distinguished university, including recorded lectures and course materials. There is no registration required to start learning.

The Open Learning Initiative (OLI) at Carnegie Mellon offers dozens of college-level online courses. Learners can choose to take open and free courses or paid versions of courses led by an instructor.

Codecademy is a widely popular platform for learning to code online. It offers free coding classes for 14 different programming languages. There are also paid subscriptions available that include additional practice and projects.

SoloLearn features free interactive lessons, courses, and “on-the-go” practice for learning how to code. Their apps are available on all major devices and platforms. SoloLearn PRO removes ads and unlocks social features.

BitDegree offers a valuable knowledge base for aspiring coders. Use the platform to learn about a new programming language or see ratings of popular courses from MOOCs like Coursera, Udacity, edX, and more.

freeCodeCamp delivers thousands of videos, articles, and interactive coding lessons – all available at no cost to learners. The nonprofit platform offers free certifications and an engaged community to help learners at all levels.

Hackr.io uses a crowdsourced community approach to help aspiring coders identify the best online programming courses. Learners can filter different options by coding language, cost, experience level, and more.

The Odin Project offers a free open source coding curriculum and encourages aspiring web developers to work together. The platform provides regularly updated online courses, tutorials, blogs, and an engaged online community.

Coding Dojo is a well-established provider of online and in-person coding bootcamps. It offers both full-time and part-time programs with a focus on full stack development and data science.

Pluralsight delivers video-based training and online courses by industry experts. The platform helps learners develop strong tech skills and covers various topics including software development, IT, cybersecurity, and more.

Hack Reactor offers a variety of coding bootcamps to learn software engineering. Students can choose to learn online or onsite in major cities like Austin, Boulder, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, or Seattle.

Masterclass offers online classes from some of the world’s leading experts and personalities. Learn cooking from Gordon Ramsay, acting from Samuel L. Jackson, or tennis from Serena Williams; starting at $15/month, paid annually.

LinkedIn Learning, formerly known as Lynda, has thousands of online courses that fall into three main categories: business, creative, and technology. Membership starts at $30/month; or $20/month, paid annually.

CreativeLive specializes in online classes for creative fields like photography, art, design, DIY, marketing, business and entrepreneurship. Subscriptions are currently priced at $39 a month or $129 billed annually ($10.75/mo).

Treehouse is an online technology school that features expert-led video courses on coding, programming, and web design. Instruction is great for learners at any skill level and pricing starts at $25/month for a basic plan.

General Assembly specializes in online and in-person bootcamps that help students develop skills in areas of design, marketing, technology, and data. Their full-time and part-time courses cover a wide range of different studies.

Flatiron School offers immersive bootcamps and online courses that teach software engineering, data science, programming, and cybersecurity. The school offers 1:1 coaching and job placement assistance to help students.

Springboard offers online courses and bootcamps with a focus on data, design, coding, and cybersecurity. They supply mentors and many programs also include deferred tuition and job guarantees for graduating students.

Thinkful, by Chegg, is a career accelerator that helps graduates gain entry into the tech field. The platform also offers mentorship, deferred tuition, and a job guarantee in areas like software engineering, data science, and design.

CareerFoundry provides everything needed to go from a beginner to a fully-qualified designer, developer, or analyst. They have flexible, online programs for UI/UX design, web development, data analytics, and more.

Skillcrush features online courses and bootcamps to help students pursue a career in coding, web design, marketing, and more. It is one of the more affordable options available, with many courses under $1,000.

BrainStation is another well-established option for digital skills training and career development. Their courses and bootcamp options can help students prepare for a career in data, design, web development, marketing, and more.

App Academy is a highly-rated coding bootcamp that helps students transition to a career as a software engineer. They offer 16-week and 24-week immersive courses with deferred tuition available until you find a job.

The Great Courses Plus is a streaming platform with hundreds of educational courses across a variety of subjects. Access starts at $20/month and includes content from partners like National Geographic, History®, and Smithsonian.

Creativebug offers online classes and workshops for learning about different arts and crafts. This subscription-based platform is perfect for anyone looking to learn skills like sewing, quilting, knitting, embroidery, and art-related crafts.

Kajabi is an all-in-one platform that helps its users create and sell online courses, membership sites, and coaching. It provides necessary business tools to assist with web design, marketing, payment processing, and more.

Teachable is an online business platform that helps people transform their knowledge and expertise into successful online courses and coaching. It has built-in tools to assist with design, payment processing, support, and more.