5 Best Coding Learning Sites You Should Know

There are many benefits to learning how to code, especially as it’s such a high-demand field. However, you may feel threatened by just how much there can be to know.

The good news is that learning to code is not nearly as terrifying as it looks. However, looking at the number of learning sites dedicated to coding can still be overwhelming.

But that’s why we’ve compiled a list of the best sites to learn about coding. For many of these courses, you can learn at your own pace and focus on the topics you’re interested in.

Whether you’re a beginner or looking for a new language to learn, have a look at these courses.

Codecademy

Codecademy (see also ‘Is Codecademy Good? Pros and Cons‘) is one of the best coding learning sites you can choose, with various free courses accessible to beginners.

If you want to work on your own, you can do so easily, and if you need help, you can always access the community forums to discuss your projects with other learners.

However, this is one way to improve your skills, but if you’re looking for accredited courses, you won’t be able to find them here.

Instead, Code academy is more suited to those who want to build up their portfolio and get practical coding experience with the help of video tutorials and workshops. 

Pros

• Free Courses: There are a variety of free courses available to choose from. 
• Community Support: There are community forums available that allow you to engage with other learners. 
• Beginner-Friendly: Numerous courses are great for introducing beginners to coding.
• App Available: CodecademyGo allows you to work on your code even while you’re on the move.

Cons

• No Accredited Certificates: Despite the price of Codecademy Pro (see also ‘Is Codecademy Pro Worth It?‘), you won’t receive an accredited certificate upon completion. 
• Progress Indicator: There are some bugs to the progress indicators, especially if a course is removed. While you can’t see where you are on a particular course section, you can see it for the whole course.
• Codecademy Pro is Expensive: While the free courses are great, Codecademy Pro is more expensive, and you won’t gain an accredited certification. 

Udemy

Udemy is one of those sites that give you so many options. Udemy has a wide range of courses, and it’s no surprise they have so many coding ones available for affordable prices.

You don’t have a set time limit for them either, so you can learn at your own pace without worrying about whether you’ll still have access to the course if you’ve stepped away for any reason.

They encourage community forums to help you and leave you to discuss your learning with other students. However, you’ll have to be careful about what courses you choose, so check their reviews, as not all are the same quality.

You’ll need to keep your eyes peeled if you’re also looking for accredited courses. After all, while not all courses are the same quality, some certifications won’t be accredited either. 

Pros

• Affordable Courses: All courses are affordable, with sales often occurring on Udemy. 
• Lifetime Access: You will have access to any courses you buy on Udemy, so you won’t have to worry about time constraints.
• Community Support: You can access community forums on Udemy to talk and get help from other learners.
• App Available: Udemy has an app that will allow you to work on your course on the go. As a bonus, you can access them offline if you’ve downloaded your courses.

Cons

• Course Quality: Each course on Udemy has varied quality, so you have to pay attention to which ones you purchase. 
• Not Always Accredited: If you’re aiming to get an accredited certificate, it’s not always possible. Each course has different standards, and not all of them will be accredited.

Udacity

Udacity (see also ‘Is Udacity Worth It in 2022‘) is a learning site where you can access free courses, and there are even practice quizzes to help you prepare for interviews if you want to take the next step in your career.

However, the courses that aren’t free are not as affordable. Unlike some of these other sites, they don’t have an app, so you must ensure you do your work on your laptop.

So if you’re looking for an accredited course, you’re likely to find one, but it will cost you more money. 

Pros 

• Professionally-Designed Courses: The courses on Udacity have been designed by Google, so you know that they’re intended for career progression and to bring you into the industry.
• Free Courses Available: While there are nanodegrees on Udacity, plenty of courses are available for free too.
• In-Depth Courses: Udacity courses aren’t only about video tutorials. They have a variety of quizzes and interview preparation questions also available.

Cons

• Expensive: Udacity is designed for career progression, so it’s not cheap. If anything, you probably want to look at other options if you just want to learn some beginner coding.
• Instruction: Instructions can be difficult to access; some teachers are hit and miss. Depending on your course, you may struggle with knowledge gaps. 

Coursera

Coursera is a learning site with over 5000 courses available on the site, with many available courses either free or at a very affordable price. However, you should keep an eye on the pricing, as it can sometimes be unclear.

The good thing about these courses is that they’re fully accredited, with many certificates available thanks to Coursera’s partnership with various universities.

Unfortunately, if you’re looking for beginner-friendly courses, you may be out of luck, as these are all better suited to experienced learners. 

Pros

• Affordable: A mixture of the courses are both free and inexpensive, so you won’t have to spend too much money to learn.
• Accredited Certifications: The courses on Coursera are affiliated with universities and are fully accredited. 
• App Available: Coursera has an app where you can access your courses on the go. 

Cons

• Not Beginner-Friendly: These have been designed for more experienced learners, so beginners will struggle with them.
• Unclear Pricing: Despite being a mixture of free and affordable courses, the pricing can be ambiguous when browsing. 

freeCodeCamp

The best thing about freeCodeCamp is that it’s completely free of charge, and many of the graduates of their courses have gone onto careers in tech.

It’s beginner-friendly and suited to anyone who wants an introduction to coding. However, it’s very practical and will introduce you to the use of GitHub so that you can work on your projects from scratch.

This means you can feel like you’re sometimes thrown into the deep end, as you have little instructor support, and they will only explain the basic concepts.

It can also feel more challenging to track your progress, as there’s no way to see where you are on your course. 

Pros

• Free Courses: All of the courses are free of charge. 
• Practical Courses: You build everything from scratch and have a great portfolio of work and experience. 
• Beginner-Friendly: All courses have been designed for beginners, so your experience level doesn’t matter. 

Cons

• Progress Indicator: You can’t see how well you’ve been progressing, so it’s hard to track how well you’re doing and how much more you have left to learn.
• Instruction: There aren’t many instructions and not enough support from instructors for students. If you ask for help, you just have access to a Help button. 
• In-Depth: The courses aren’t as in-depth, so you will have to do some outside research. 

Buyers’ Guide

We’ve concocted this buyers’ guide to help you understand what we were looking for when we compiled this list of best coding sites. So why don’t we look at how we came to the solution to help you decide which of these sites is right for you?

Affordability

We know that the price is essential, especially if you want to begin learning about a brand new subject. If you’re unfamiliar with coding, you may be reluctant to spend too much money until you’ve learned the basics.

That’s why we made sure to include a mixture of free courses and paid courses.

In the case of most of these sites, you can expect there to be some free courses available, but you might want to have some warning of if it will cost you more in the future.

Are the Courses Accredited?

Depending on why and how you want to learn how to code, you might be leaning towards getting an accredited certification.

Not all these sites will give you a certificate in coding, so you must keep this in mind when starting a course if that’s what you’re after. If you’re only learning for fun, this might not be so much of an issue.

However, in some cases, it may make you wonder about the amount you pay if you’re not getting a certificate out of it.

Accessibility of Learning

Not everyone will have the same experience when it comes to coding, so knowing whether they’re accessible to beginners is vital.

Everyone has a different experience with coding, so it’s essential that you know what level you’re able to work with comfortably. 

Quality of Courses

When we talk about the quality of courses, we’re not only talking about whether the lessons are suitable. Instruction can be vital in deciding on the course that works for you.

Each has a different quality, so you should always check the reviews to know if you’ll learn well depending on the instructor.

Depth of Courses

While this may tie into the quality of the lessons, it’s important to note that each course has a different level of depth. Each one will go into more detail than another, so you should consider whether that will work for you.

Depending on your skill level and how you learn, you may benefit from how in-depth you’ll find out and if you’re willing to do more research in your spare time. 

Type of Learning

Both quality and depth can affect how you learn, so we’ve also considered the type of learning. While all of these courses will contain video tutorials, that doesn’t mean they will all work similarly.

Some courses are more practical and encourage you to work from scratch, while others focus on lectures. You may even have to install specific software to continue with some subjects.

Make sure you check out the courses they have before you participate.

How Long Courses are Available

Some courses do have a set time limit for how long you can spend learning from them, so you may need a carefully curated schedule to ensure it’s finished on time.

However, other courses are available forever as long as you buy them. Some courses may also update, and then your progress may change. Make sure you check whether you have time to finish your course before you buy.

Progress Indicator

One of the best ways to check if your course is going smoothly is by having a progress indicator. These can help you gauge where you are with your learning and can be a great way to check how much time you have.

Progress indicators can be a great motivator, but not all of these are available for these courses. If a progress indicator does work, it can be less than ideal and may not indicate the progress of a specific lesson.

Community Support

Monitoring your progress may be a way to measure your progress, but there’s another way. Many of these sites have community forums where you can get help or collaborate with other learners.

This can be a great way to get in contact with others to get support if you don’t understand part of what you’re working on.

Apps

Not everyone wants to work on their laptop all the time. If you prefer to work through apps, then some of these sites have their own apps available for download.

Then you can work on your course wherever you go, and you may even be able to access them offline too. 

Involvement in Courses

Some of these courses are professionally designed to help you take the next step in a coding career. In some cases, there have been companies, including Google (see also our article on Google certificates), involved in these courses’ development process.

Depending on who’s affiliated with it, the course may be more worth your time if you already have experience and plan to delve into a possible career.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I learn to code with no experience?

The answer to this is yes. You don’t need any experience learning to code, as so many resources are available. 

Is coding hard to learn?

While it may look daunting, learning a coding language becomes easier over time as you practice more. Some coding languages are more challenging than others, but it depends on which one you learn first. 

Why should I learn how to code?

Coding is a great way to improve your critical thinking. You’ll get better at problem solving and thinking up creative solutions to your problems. There are many careers available in coding as it’s highly in-demand and in various industries. 

What is the easiest code to learn?

If you’re new to programming, try to learn Python first. It’s one of the best languages to start with. It has a simplified syntax and uses fewer lines, so it’s easier to read and understand.

How do I start coding?

Before you start coding, you might want to consider why you want to learn and what language you want to learn. It’s best not to learn more than one code at a time.

Once you’ve decided, try out one of our online classes or find some video tutorials. There are numerous resources available online today. You can also check how other people code to see how other people do so. 

How many hours a day should you practice coding?

The average person should spend between two and four hours a day coding. It doesn’t matter what you’re coding, so long as you practice.

You could spend two to four hours a day working on a small project, and by doing so consistently, you can get much more experience.

How long does it take to learn to code?

Depending on how you learn, you can become proficient in coding in as little as three months.

In some cases, you may be skilled in coding for either web development or data science careers, but this again depends on how much you have been coding and whether you’ve been working on projects on a practical scale. 

Conclusion

These are some of the best sites to learn to code. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a beginner or not. Coding is not impossible to understand, and by studying it through courses, books, and practice, you may improve in six months.

You won’t be able to learn how to code overnight. However, once you know how to code, there are so many things that you can do with it. Coding is used for web design and gaming.

Regardless of why you learn, it’s a valuable skill, as it shows that you find creative solutions to problems.