Coursera Reviews & Pricing

by Coursera | Founded 2012, Mountain View, CA

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What is Coursera?

Industry Specialties: Serves business, education, enterprise, government and technology.

Coursera is an online content library and learning platform with thousands of free and paid courses. Among them are eight MasterTrack certificates, 15 professional certificates, 17 degrees, 430 specializations and 4,100 classes. It serves over 53 million students and works with more than 190 universities and companies.

In terms of corporate uses, it allows businesses to teach new skills to their staff. Employees can also take learning paths for a more comprehensive look at arts, business, computer and data science, engineering, health, humanities, languages, logic, math, personal development, physical science and social sciences.

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User Sentiment

Based on 526 reviews:

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Coursera Pricing

Based on our most recent analysis, Coursera pricing starts at $399 (Per User, Annually, Freemium).

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Starting From: $399
Pricing Model: Per User, Annually, Freemium
Free Trial: No

Training Resources

Coursera is supported with the following types of training:

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars

Support

The following support services are available for Coursera:

Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Help Desk
Knowledge Base
Tickets
Training
24/7 Live Support

Coursera Benefits and Insights

Why use Coursera?

Key differentiators & advantages of Coursera

Upskill Workers: Bring new competencies to an organization. Increase employee efficiency, especially for teams looking to soak up new information in fast-evolving industries. Customize an option for unique situations and identify national or regional skill gaps.
Improve Efficiency: Teach new technology to the staff and company as a whole. Save time and money by educating the employees in new competencies rather than hiring new workers, adding automation to the workflow or dealing with costly freelancers and consultants. Nurture and identify competencies such as graphic design, business analytics or other specialties.
Demonstrate Mastery: Learn new competencies and prove themselves through certificates, degrees and MasterTracks. Use industry-driven programs that are connected to specific jobs and taught by experts.

Professional Certificates: Share and post certificates to LinkedIn upon completion of specific courses or fields of study. Teach essential skills to prepare learners to take industry certification exams. Access the professional certificate community to give and receive advice and tips. Get support with resumes and interviews with several hiring partners or consortiums recognizing such certificates. Study applied project management, construction engineering and management, IBM customer engagement specialist, IBM data science, instructional design, machine learning for analytics and spatial data analysis and visualization.
Specialization: Tackle specializations that take a more hands-on approach to the business arena. Empower employees who are more interested in a specific set of competencies. Complete courses to possibly earn a specialization certificate.
Degrees: Learn from partners with colleges so students can study self-paced units and earn credit from various assignments. Study with university instructors and earn industry-relevant credentials from a university. Earn an accredited bachelor’s or a master’s degree during a period of one to four years in fields such as AI, cloud engineering and IT. Complete programs for business degrees, bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering degrees and other online degrees.
MasterTrack: Study for a master’s certificate from a real university through various online modules. Collaborate with peers and get feedback from experts and use their skills for projects and work samples. Earn a certificate from a top university and can add it to the LinkedIn profile. Those who are accepted into a full master’s degree can use this coursework to fulfill requirements. Undertake master’s programs like data science, electrical engineering, information technology, public health, a master's in machine learning and an MBA.
Portfolio: Showcase work for future job opportunities. Share course certificates, professional certificates, MasterTrack certificates or diplomas with their networks.

Industry Expertise

Founded in 2012 by two professors from Stanford, Coursera offers over 4,100 classes. In the middle east, enrollments have grown exponentially, according to The National’s article, “Coursera reveals most popular courses in Middle East as it leans into machine learning.” According to the Jakarta Post article, the platform offered over 100 free classes from April to May 2020 in the wake of coronavirus, “Coursera offers 100 free online classes taught by universities, tech giants.” Students can audit some lessons for free. Users can take classes but can’t earn college credit for them. This includes the top-rated offering from Yale professor Laurie Santos called, “The Science of Well-Being,” according to POPSUGAR.

Coursera Reviews

Average customer reviews & user sentiment summary for Coursera:

526 reviews

89%

of users would recommend this product

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Based on an aggregate of Coursera reviews taken from the sources above, the following pros & cons have been curated by a SelectHub Market Analyst.

Pros

Variety of Courses: Coursera offers a wide range of courses from top universities and institutions, covering topics like data science, business, and computer programming. This allows learners to explore different fields and find courses that align with their interests and career goals.
Flexible Learning: Coursera's courses are self-paced, allowing learners to study at their own convenience. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for individuals with busy schedules or those who prefer to learn at their own pace.
Affordable Options: Coursera offers a mix of free and paid courses, making it accessible to learners with different budgets. The platform also provides financial aid options for those who qualify.
Interactive Learning: Coursera courses often incorporate interactive elements like quizzes, assignments, and discussion forums, enhancing the learning experience and promoting engagement.
Industry Recognition: Completing a Coursera course can demonstrate a commitment to professional development and enhance career prospects. Some courses offer certificates that are recognized by employers.

Cons

Limited Customization: Some users find the platform's customization options for course design and branding to be limited, making it difficult to create a truly unique learning experience for their employees.
Lack of Offline Access: The absence of offline access to course content can be a challenge for employees who need to learn on the go or in areas with limited internet connectivity.
Integration Challenges: Integrating Coursera for Business with existing Learning Management Systems (LMS) can be complex and time-consuming, requiring additional effort and potentially causing compatibility issues.
Pricing Structure: The pricing structure for Coursera for Business can be perceived as expensive, especially for organizations with a large number of employees or those seeking to implement multiple courses.
Limited Reporting Features: Some users have expressed dissatisfaction with the reporting features, finding them insufficient for tracking employee progress and measuring the effectiveness of training programs.

Researcher's Summary:

User reviews from the past year paint a mixed picture, with some praising its robust features and others finding it lacking in key areas.

One of the most common strengths cited by users is the platform's comprehensive suite of tools for tracking employee skill development. Users appreciate the ability to monitor progress in real-time, identify skill gaps, and measure the impact of training programs. For example, one user, a Chief Digital Officer at a large consulting firm, highlighted the value of the Skills Dashboard in understanding the fast-changing skills landscape and informing their talent development strategy. However, some users have expressed concerns about the platform's user interface, finding it clunky and difficult to navigate. They also point to a lack of customization options, which can make it challenging to tailor the platform to their specific needs. For example, one user, a Senior Director of Applied Machine Learning at a tech company, noted that the platform's rigid structure made it difficult to integrate with their existing learning management system.

Coursera for Business also faces competition from other LMS platforms, such as Skillsoft and LinkedIn Learning. While Coursera boasts a wider selection of courses, some users find the quality of the content to be inconsistent. They also point to the platform's lack of robust reporting features, which can make it difficult to track the return on investment for training programs. For example, one user, a Director of Human Resources at a multinational corporation, expressed frustration with the platform's limited reporting capabilities, which made it difficult to demonstrate the value of their training programs to senior management.

Overall, Coursera for Business is best suited for organizations that are looking for a comprehensive platform to track employee skill development and provide access to a wide range of online courses. However, it's important to note that the platform has its limitations, particularly in terms of user interface, customization options, and reporting features. Organizations with specific needs or a strong preference for a particular LMS platform may want to consider other options.

Key Features

Courses: Give users access to content tied to a position from over 200 universities and companies. Access classes with multiple languages on videos, readings and assignments on PCs or mobile devices. Access free classes with community discussions, exercises and video lectures. Take paid courses with more testing projects and are eligible for a completion certificate in arts, business, cloud computing, computer science, data science, engineering, humanities, healthcare, IT, physical science and professional development technology.
Course Creation: Use the platform to make and scale an online course or learning program with over 3,800 classes. Map job-relevant skills to subjects and access them online, offline or on mobile. Weed out plagiarism and make assignments customized for specific needs. Make content private and customize lessons, assessments or classes for particular students.
Integration: Integrate with university systems and other learning and central administration programs. Access the solution with a single sign-on option to cut down logins and passwords.
Analytics: Measure the impact on learners’ skills against industry benchmarks and dashboards of competencies. Analyze the impact and ROI of education and measure how employees are developing.
Mobile: Use the mobile app to stream video lectures or download class content for later use. Access assignments, readings and videos on iOS or Android.
Testing: Take tests on their schedule and use hands-on projects to demonstrate and verify competencies. Get feedback from the wider community.
Accessibility: Accommodate students with disabilities with tools for visual and hearing impairments, different native languages and learning disabilities. Use tools like closed-caption subtitles in native languages, transcripts of videos, screen readers, the ability to save drafts, no grade penalty for late submissions, the ability to retake quizzes, re-watch videos and more. Customize for private groups or custom courses and request additional accommodations to help learners succeed.
Coursera for Business: Train, upskill or qualify staff with training materials developed by top universities and companies and mapped to users’ needs.
Affiliate: Join an affiliate program for individuals looking to sell classes for a commission. Put a custom banner or text links on a site, track traffic and earn between 20% to 45% commission on purchases.

Limitations

While the platform comes with plenty of features and benefits, it also comes with a few limitations that buyers should keep in mind when considering this product:

Peer review function doesn’t work well
Classes are too big
Course certificates don’t include final grades
Direct contact with instructors is limited

Suite Support

Students can request support through peer reviews, the community and the learner support team. There’s a community blog with general information. For developers, there’s catalog metadata and course lists for the affiliate program. There are also many video tutorials, FAQs and live chat with the support team.

Email: There’s no general support email. Users can post questions to the community website, follow the video tutorials or use the FAQ. By navigating through the troubleshooting section, students can eventually get to the live chat where they can consult with support staff.

Phone: There’s no phone number listed for support.

Training: There’s no training listed for the solution.

Tickets: There doesn’t appear to be a ticketing system.