Full Coursera In-depth Review 2024: Is Coursera Worth It?

Taking up online courses is one of the best steps for your growth. You get to learn skills anytime and anywhere. They just do not add up to your information but also help to upgrade your career skills. There are a lot of platforms where you can find such courses and one of them is Coursera. But is Coursera worth it?

Don’t worry, here I will help you to know if you should use this platform and what are the things that you will get from it.

Quick Takeaways

• Coursera is an online platform that provides various courses, degrees, and certificates to help students. 
• It means that you will not only gain knowledge but will also be able to complete the degree on this platform. 
• There are different services that you get on Coursera  – Courses, Guided Projects, Specialization, Professional Certifications, etc.

What is Coursera?

Coursera is an online platform that provides various courses, degrees, and certificates to help students. They are in collaboration with 150 universities and more than 4000 courses are offered on the platform. The platform includes both free and paid courses for you. Its mission is to make everyone transform with their learning ways. You can access the courses anywhere and at any time. There are around 82 million joiners who have taken advantage of courses on the platform. You may find 2-week or 4-week duration courses that will help you to learn the content in a short time.

Is Coursera worth it?

Certificates earned on Coursera are given by various institutions from all over the world. Having Coursera certification helps you in your career path. They are also affordable and you can get the course content from prominent universities like Harvard. Also if you want a career change then you can avail of the Coursera certification. It will increase your chances of getting a job. Not only this if you’re going to learn a new skill just for fun, then you can use the benefit of Coursera. You will be getting these courses in different professions like data entry, coding, etc.

Services offered by Coursera?

Coursera offers the following services – 

1. Courses 

There are around 1700 paid and free courses available on this platform. Although you will not get a certificate from the free courses, you can upgrade it to the paid course and get the certificate. The duration of courses generally lies between 4-12 hours.

2. Guided Projects

There are around more than 2000 projects from which you can choose. You will get to know job-related skills from subject matter experts. The duration of this project is approximately 1 to 2 hours.

3. Specialization

When you are thinking about mastering a career-related skill then there are various aspects that you need to know about. In this service, a series is created related to a specific skill. You can either take up all the courses in the series or could take a single course. The duration of this course is generally 1-3 months.

 4. Professional Certifications

If you want to train yourself with skills that are required in your field of job then you should take a professional certificate. It included training programs that help you to prepare for your job. It may take 4 to 7 months to get completed.  

5. Master Track Certificate

You can use it to get credit for your degree program.

6. Degree

Coursera is in link with various universities. These universities offer low-cost degrees with everything covered in the traditional degree program. 

How much does a Coursera certificate cost you?

There are around 11 areas that are covered on this platform which include Business, Data Science, Art and Humanities, Math, and much more. Also, four different services are offered on this platform. The cost of Coursera will depend on the type of service you are taking and in which subject. The starting price according to the service you take is given below –

• Courses – $49 per course
• Guided Projects – $9.99 per project
• Specialization – $39.99 per month/ or per unit
• Professional Certificate – $39.99 per month
• Master Track Certificate – $2000 per course/per month

Advantages of Coursera

Following is the list of advantages that you get from using Coursera-

• It provides flexibility in using it. You can use it anytime and anywhere that suits you. 
• You get free and paid courses both. You get certificates with paid courses that are beneficial in your career.
• The cost of the paid courses is affordable. The starting price of courses is $49. Although it varies with which subject you are taking.
• You get the course content from top universities all around the world. 
• You can also download the course content and watch it offline.

Disadvantages

Following is the list of disadvantages that you get from using Coursera-

• Some courses need some prior knowledge of the related course. This restricts the student to choose that course.
• You only get certificates with paid courses. 
• Different services have different pricing options. It may make the user confused about choosing the course.

Conclusion

Coursera is one such platform where you can find more than free and paid 1700 courses. However you will not get certification with the free course, but you can upgrade it to the paid version. The certifications that are available on this platform are legit and can be used help to get a job. There are so many services that are offered on this platform that will upgrade you to get better career skills.