Coursera Vs Educative: Detailed Comparison 2025

Thinking of signing up for an online learning platform, but aren’t sure which is best? In this article, we will be taking a look at Coursera vs Educative and pit them against each other to find which is best.

Both of these platforms are incredibly well put together, and offer learners excellent free online courses. However, there are a number of notable differences that may make you prefer one over the other.

If you want to find out more about these online learning platforms and see which is best between Coursera VS Educative, keep reading.

Coursera Vs Educative: Which Is Better?

The overall winner between Coursera vs Educative is Coursera. There are more course options available, and it also covers a range of IT and tech-based degrees and courses.

However, you may find that there are courses on Educative that are not listed on Coursera. In this situation, you may find that Educative better suits your needs.

On an objective level, Coursera has more to offer to learners, and at a lower subscription price. Their degree-level courses are expensive, but also high quality, and will set you up for success in any job.

Overview Of Online Learning Platforms

Coursera

Number of users – 45 million users worldwide
Course level – beginner and advanced
Languages – 10 language options

Pros

• Timetables are flexible
• Services are professional
• Learners can get degrees
• Plenty of feature options

Cons

• So many courses may be too difficult for beginner-level students
• A more expensive option
• Instructors may be camera shy for some courses

Educative

Number of users – 1.6 million users worldwide
Course level – beginner and advanced
Languages – website mentions nothing of supported languages

Pros

• There are hundreds of in-depth IT courses for both beginner and advanced learners
• Lessons are taught by experts in the field
• Students can get 6-months of free access to the interactive courses

Cons

• Limited course types available, with a focus on IT skills and programming
• Only text-based courses
• Subscriptions are more expensive than some other options

What Do They Offer? The Basics Of Each Platform

Here, we will cover all the basic information that you need to know about both online learning platforms before moving on.

The information given here can give you the first insight into deciding which interactive learning platform would be better for your personal needs.

Coursera

Number of courses – 3.9k courses are available
Course types – wide variety available for all interests
Degree courses? – yes
Progress checker? – not available
Languages changing – done in the account settings
Certification for completion? – yes
College or university credit – yes
Exam needed to pass courses – yes
Accredited certification – yes
Free? – paid

Coursera is a popular online learning platform that learners can pay for via subscriptions and monthly or annual payments.

This platform has a very wide range of course options available for beginner and advanced learners. With almost 4k courses, there will be something here for everyone’s interests.

This online learning platform offers degree courses that can go towards college or university credit to help students achieve their dreams.

Not only that, but every course that gets completed is accredited, so learners never have to worry about future employers not recognizing their hard work.

Although there are no progress checkers for this site, the platform uses gamification to keep students engaged.

There are a number of language options available, which we will cover later, language settings can be changed in account settings to suit needs and preferences.

Educative

Number of courses – 550+ courses are available
Course types – IT skills, programming, and similar tech-based courses
Degree courses? – not available
Progress checker? – not available
Languages changing – no mention of languages
Certification for completion? – yes, for paying members
College or university credit – no
Exam needed to pass courses – varies
Accredited certification – yes
Free? – free 6-month access for students, but all other learners must pay a subscription to access the courses

Educative is an online learning platform that focuses on IT and tech-based courses. Although it is one of the newer learning platforms, it has quickly grown in popularity and has over a million global users.

Here, there is a strong focus on analytical thinking skills such as coding, web development, AI, engineering, and product management.

There are only around 550 courses available on Educative at the time of writing this, but course creators are adding more every month.

Information regarding college credit, degree courses, and language availability is not given on the website.

However, as this is a relatively new online learning platform, it can be assumed that these things are not yet included.

Certificates of completion are given to learners upon finishing a course, but it is uncertain if the courses are universally accredited or not.

This may be something that is important to learners, and anyone interested in taking a course from this platform should get in touch with those working at the company or the lecturers themselves.

Course Types – What Courses Are Offered?

The types of courses that an online learning platform offers will play a huge role in whether you decide to sign up or not.

Depending on your own personal needs and interests, the courses that are available will need to suit you and your intentions or goals.

In many cases, online learning platforms will lean towards particular fields, such as STEM or the arts. Other platforms may have a wide range of courses that cover all the bases.

Coursera

Music & Arts – yes
Math & Logic – no
Health – yes
Social Sciences – yes
Business & Management – no
Data Science – yes
Engineering – no
IT & Software Development – yes
Own Development Environment – yes
Philosophy – yes
Languages – yes

With its thousands of courses, Coursera covers a wide variety of topics. Their online learning degrees are beneficial to anyone, and are categorized into the following fields:

• Online MBA and Business Degrees
• Computer Science and Engineering Degrees
• Data Science Degrees
• Public Health Degrees
• Management Degrees
• Data Analytics Degrees
• Social Sciences Degrees

However, there are also thousands of non-degree courses that cover all the other bases, including dozens of art and philosophy courses.

Many of the courses are offered for free, such as this one. These courses can be beginner-friendly, or suitable for more advanced students who wish to get university-level learning.

Educative

Music & Arts – no
Math & Logic – no
Health – no
Social Sciences – no
Business & Management – no
Data Science – yes
Engineering – yes
IT & Software – yes
Personal Development – no
Philosophy – no
Languages – no

Which Comes Out On Top?

Coursera is the clear winner if we are judging this category by the subjects offered. Educative is a platform that focuses solely on IT-based and similar courses. They have no arts and humanities, or other similar courses like Coursera does.

This will be crucial in deciding which option will be best for you personally. If you intend to take a variety of courses, then Coursera will be the better choice for you.

However, if you want to focus on IT, tech, coding, and other similar things, Educative will have everything you need.

So, in terms of options, Coursera wins. You will never run out of new and interesting courses to take if you are after variety.

Pricing – Everything Money-Related

In this section, we will take a look at everything you need to know about the costs associated with both of these online learning platforms.

This includes whether there are free trials, refunds, and all the subscription options, if applicable. We will also look at whether the online learning platforms offer any free courses that students can make use of, or if they are all paid for.

Coursera

Is payment necessary? – no. Free, non-certificated courses are available
Free trial – yes, a 7-day free trial
Refund period – 14-day refund period
Cheapest subscription option – free
Number of free courses available – over 2k courses can be taken for free on this platform

Plans – there are several plan options available on Coursera, and are as follows:

• Free – dozens of courses can be accessed for free, but there is no certification upon completion
• Guided Projects – starts at $9.99 per month
• Professional Certificates – start at $39.99 per month
• Coursera Plus – costs $399 per year
• Full Degrees – start at $9,000 per full degree

Coursera has a range of courses that are free to take, but they do not come with accreditation or certificates.

In order for learners to get the certificates, they must pay for the course and the certificate.

Learners may also have the chance to pay one-off payments rather than subscriptions for courses or specializations they wish to take.

Prices vary greatly depending on what you would like to get out of the online learning platform.

Auditing is a good way to access the courses for free, but you will not get grades or assignments, and therefore no proof of completion.

Full degrees will cost several thousand dollars but are likely to still be more affordable than traditional college courses.

Educative

Is payment necessary? – no, students can get 6-months of free access
Free trial – yes, a 7-day free trial
Refund period – 7-day refund period
Cheapest subscription option – free for students / $16.99 per month
Number of free courses available – free course options are only available for students who get 6-months of free access to the online learning platform

Plans – there are several plan options available on Educative, and are as follows:

• Free – 6-month free plan is available for students
• Standard Individual Plan – $16.66 per month
• Premium Individual Plan – $24.99 per month
• Team Plan – $299 per user billed annually
• Enterprise Plan – $399 per user billed annually
• Enterprise Plus Plan – speak to Educative advisors for pricing

Learners are only able to take courses for free on Educative if they are students with a 6-month free pass. All other learners will need to pay for one of the available tiers listed above.

In terms of pricing, Educative is an affordable option for those who want access to in-depth courses about all things IT. A subscription gives you access to all the videos on the platform, so you can learn as much as you like.

Certification may vary for every course, but there are certificates of completion that come at no extra cost.

Every course will outline how long it is expected to take and tells you how many lessons are included in the course itself.

Enterprise plans cost significantly more and is reserved for large businesses that wish to do mass training.

However, most learners will only need the standard individual plan, or the premium is necessary. These are both affordable and have a lot to offer.

Which Comes Out On Top?

The winner here goes to Coursera. This online learning platform has a free option for learners to use, though it will not get you a certificate of completion.

The Guided Projects option on Coursera is more inexpensive than Educative per month and has a lot more courses to offer.

However, the price of Educative may be worth it if you wish to only focus on IT courses and coding.

This is because they have a more in-depth look at coding and all other associated courses. Educative also allows you to take unlimited courses.

So, depending on your reason for signing up for an online learning platform, you may prefer one over the other.

Accessibility And Availability – What You Need To Know

In this section, we will be looking at aspects related to both online learning platforms’ accessibility and availability.

This will look into how easy the site is to use and navigate, the format of the learning material, homework, and mobile app access, among other things.

There’s no point in having an online learning platform with thousands of courses to take if the site itself is not accessible or easy to use.

Things like offline availability and the supported languages will play a crucial role in deciding which option is best for you.

Coursera

Easy to use? – the site is intuitive and easy to use and navigate
Learning material format – written, gamification, and short video clips
Are courses available offline? – yes, paid courses can be downloaded to be accessed while offline
Discussion board availability – yes
Is homework given? – yes, homework is delegated to learners by professors
Grades are given for work? – yes
Mobile app access? – yes. Coursera has a mobile app that can be used in Android, iPhone, and iPad devices
Ability to connect with the lecturer? – yes, Coursera allows learners to connect with their professors via email, chat, or another method for communication and aid
Language availability – 10 language options are available

Coursera is available in the following languages, and language settings can be changed in account settings:

• Arabic
• Russian
• Chinese (simplified and traditional)
• German
• Japanese

• French
• Korean
• Portuguese (Brazilian)
• Spanish
• English

Educative

Easy to use? – site is intuitive and easy to use and navigate
Learning material format – written content and student interaction
Are courses available offline? – yes, paid courses can be downloaded to be accessed while offline
Discussion board availability – yes, there is a discussion board
Is homework given? – possibly
Grades are given for work? – unknown
Mobile app access? – yes, Educative is available on iPad, iPhone, and Android devices
Ability to connect with the lecturer? – unknown
Language availability – no mention of available languages on the website

No information about language availability is given on the Educative website.

As this is a relatively new online learning platform that only appeared in 2015, it may be assumed that there are not a wide variety of languages available to learners yet.

Which Comes Out On Top?

In terms of accessibility and availability, Coursera is the winner of these two learning platforms. Coursera states that it supports 10 languages, which is a huge step up from the information given by Educative.

Not only that, but Coursera also has both text and video-based learning for learners to use, while Educative is text-only.

Both online learning platforms allow paying customers to have offline access to their courses, which is a plus. However, Coursera has the added benefit of learners being able to get in touch with professors or lecturers if needed.

Finally, Coursera also gives lecturers the ability to give homework and grades, neither of which are discussed on Educative.

If more information about Educative was widely available for the points listed above, our answer might be different. However, as none is provided, Coursera easily takes the win.

Suitability – Who Would Benefit From Each Platform?

Coursera

Coursera is an online learning platform that primarily targets young and working adults. The courses available on the site typically lean toward work skills, which topics such as data analysis, business and management, and much more.

Because of this, working people, or those who are going to college, are likely to get the most out of the platform.

There are beginner-friendly courses, as well as courses on arts and humanities, among others. However, with the number of online degree courses available, the target audience for this platform is clear.

The courses offered here are a good fit for any adult who is looking to learn their desired skills like development articles, IT, and much more.

Everything is flexible and 100% online, which allows everyone to participate equally. With the option for certified courses, this site can also help learners get the skills needed for their dream job.

Educative

Educative is an online learning platform that targets young adults and working adults who have an interest in IT, coding, and software.

The whole platform has a strong focus on topics such as website development, programming, data analytics, engineering, and coding.

Courses are suitable for beginners, intermediates, and advanced individuals. Other courses such as project management, machine learning, and AI are also popular courses on this site.

As you may tell, this site is catered to a very specific audience. There are no arts and humanities classes like Coursera offers.

However, the subjects that Educative does focus on are thoroughly covered by experienced professionals in the field.

Because of this focus, Educative will be an excellent fit for learners who wish to learn about everything IT-related 100% online. Here, you can learn the skills needed for any IT-based job or career.

Which Comes Out On Top?

There is no winner between Coursera and Educative in terms of suitability.

This is because these two online learning platforms cater to two very different groups of people.

While Coursera has a diverse range of courses that cover topics such as art, history, philosophy, and more, Educative is focused on IT.

This is not a good or bad thing in either case. If you are someone who is looking for diversity in their studies, then Coursera will be better suited to you.

If you want to learn about coding, AI, and technology, then Educative is likely to be the better choice.

With that being said, Coursera does have a wide range of IT and tech-based courses. On top of that, it has degree-level courses in areas such as data analysis, data science, and computer science and engineering.

If you need degree-level courses, Coursera will be the logical option to do with. However, both sites are beneficial to different groups of people and come at different price points.

Which One Is Best?

Overall, we would say that Coursera is the better option of the two. This is because they have a wider variety of courses available, some are high quality but some low-quality courses are also available, but they are also the less expensive option.

Coursera has a number of high-quality IT and tech-based courses like data analytics and programming available on the site. These are available both at degree level and more casual learning levels.

Educative, on the other hand, focuses on a niche topic at a higher price. While their courses are high quality, they are also likely to be less accessible based on the information given on the official website.

Because of these factors, Coursera is the winner in this battle and is certainly something that is worth the money.

Final Thoughts

Coursera and Educative are both excellent online learning platforms, but they are also vastly different.

If you are choosing between these platforms, consider what your personal needs are, and go from there. You may find that Educative better serves what you need, but don’t overlook Coursera, either!