Before we begin, I would like to bust a popular myth about the best Coursera certificates. Coursera offers many courses for free, but to unlock a course certificate, you must pay a fee. Do not believe anyone who tells you can get a Coursera Certificate for free.
That being said, let’s dive into my list of Best Coursera certificates. To make this list, I enrolled in a few of these courses and went through an ocean of reviews. This list was curated for you, so you don’t have to go through the same.
I found Coursera’s time estimate to finish a course slightly unrealistic. So, in this article, I suggest realistic timelines to complete each course with a detailed description of what benefits learners get from a respective course.
Top 10 Best Coursera Certificate Courses
Here is a quick list of 10 best Coursera certificate to take.
| Sr. | Best Coursera Courses | Best For | Ratings |
| 1. | Google Cybersecurity | Python Programming, SIEM tools, SQL, Linux, IDS | 4.8 |
| 2. | Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce | E-commerce, Marketing | 4.8 |
| 3. | Google UX Design | Research, mockup, Figma, usability testing, and Design | 4.8 |
| 4. | Machine Learning specialization | Logistic Regression, Artificial Neural Network, Linear Regression, Decision Trees, Recommender Systems | 4.9 |
| 5. | Key Technologies for Business Specialization | Data Science, Business, Cloud Computing, Technology, AI | 4.7 |
| 6. | Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate | Brand Management, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Performance Advertising | 4.9 |
| 7. | Business Foundations Specialization | Accounting, Six Sigma, Marketing, HR, Operations Management | 4.7 |
| 8. | AI in Healthcare Specialization | Healthcare providers and computer science professionals | 4.7 |
| 9. | Intuit Academy Bookkeeping Professional Certificate | Double-entry bookkeeping System, Bank reconciliations, Accounting concepts, and measurement | 4.6 |
| 10. | HRCI Human Resource Associate Professional Certificate | Employee Relations, Training Development, Performance Management, Recruitment, Compliance strategy | 4.8 |
Note: All the ratings are taken from Coursera and are given by actual course takers on the platform.
Let us find the details of each course, which will help you acquaint yourself with the course and ultimately decide which course you would like to take.
1. Cybersecurity Professional Certificate By Google
| Duration | 6 months |
| Level | Beginner |
| Modules | 8-course series |
| Skills you gain | Python Programming, SIEM tools, SQL, Linux, IDS |
| Pricing | $300 |
| Ratings | 4.8 |
Google’s cybersecurity course requires no prior degree or experience. Upon completing this course, you earn a shareable certificate (which you can add on LinkedIn).
Google’s cybersecurity certificate is an industry-recognized course that will help you prep for the CompTIA Security+ certification exam.
Upon receiving this certificate, you can apply for jobs with Google, American Express, Mandiant, and 150 other U.S.-based companies.
If you want to pursue a career in Cybersecurity, invest 10 hours a week in this course. By the end of 6 months of professional training, you will qualify for in-demand jobs like –
- Cybersecurity analyst
- Security analyst
- Security operations center (SOC) analyst
What you will learn from the course?
- Foundations of Cybersecurity
- Managing Security Risks
- Networks Security
- Linux and SQL
- Assets, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
- Detection and Response
- Automation of security tasks with Python
2. Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate By Google
| Duration | 6 months |
| Level | Beginner |
| Modules | 7-course series |
| Skills you gain | SEO, E-commerce, Email marketing, Display Advertising, Marketing |
| Pricing | $294 |
| Ratings | 4.8 |
Digital marketing is taking a leap globally, with 213,000 digital marketing and e-commerce jobs that pay an entry-level salary of $59,000. This course will help you enter this job market.
Even though the course is self-paced, I recommend you put in 10 hours per week and practice what you have learned daily.
With no prior experience or degree required, prepare for a career in Digital marketing with Google’s top in-house instructors.
When you finish the course, get exclusive career resources from Coursera to help you improve your resume, prep for an interview, and let Coursera Guide act as a job search engine.
Google’s digital marketing course opens up job opportunities as a marketing coordinator, E-commerce associate, and search specialist.
What you will learn from the course?
- Foundation of Digital Marketing
- Attract and engage customers
- Interaction with customers online
- Marketing analytics and Measurements
- How to Build, Launch, and Manage E-commerce Stores
- Developing customer loyalty online
3. UX Design Professional Certificate By Google
| Duration | 6 Months |
| Level | Beginner |
| Modules | 7-series Course |
| Skills you gain | UX, Prototype, Wireframe, UXD, UX research, mockup, Figma, usability testing, and UX design |
| Pricing | $234 |
| Ratings | 4.8 |
Get involved in the UX community and industry with the Google UX Design course, which will help narrow the gap between the market research role and the UX research process. Use the case study from the course to create a strong portfolio and showcase your experience in designing.
The UX design course by Google is top-rated, so make sure you enroll fast. For the UX course, you must put in 10 hours of work every week.
Even though Google claims that this course will get you job-ready, you need to put in time to practice and hone your skills.
What you will learn from the course?
- Foundation of UX Design
- Empathize, Define, and Ideate the design process
- Building Wireframes and Low-Fidelity Prototypes
- UX research and testing early concepts
- High-Fidelity Designs and Prototypes in Figma
- Building Dynamic UI for Websites
4. Machine Learning By Standford
| Duration | 3 Months |
| Level | Beginner |
| Modules | Three course Series |
| Skills you gain | Logistic Regression, Artificial Neural Network, Linear Regression, Decision Trees, Recommender Systems |
| Pricing | $98 |
| Ratings | 4.9 |
Folks at Stanford created this course in collaboration with DeepLearning.AI. The course is beginner-friendly as it does not require knowledge about deep learning concepts and ML.
The course is split into three parts for easy understanding, followed by assignments and quizzes.
By the end of this specialization, you will be left with a wealth of knowledge on the practical know-how and application of ML in the real world.
Many students enroll in this course for the instructor, Andrew Ng, Andrew Ng is known as the father of machine learning and teaches how to data mine, research big data, and Machine Learning (ML) at Stanford.
This specialization course is a tough nut to crack, but if you put in 10 hours per week
to study and 1 additional hour to research daily, you are likely to pass this course more quickly.
American Council of Education recognizes this Coursera Course. Check this link to find out more about the course accreditation awarded by ACE.
What you will learn from the course?
- Course 1: In this 33-hour course, you will learn about Regression and Classification
- Course 2: In this 34 hours course, you will learn about Advance Learning Algorithms
- Course 3: This 27-hour course will teach you about Unsupervised Learning, Recommenders, and Reinforcement Learning.
5. Key Technologies For Business By IBM
| Duration | 1 Month |
| Level | Beginner |
| Modules | 3 course series |
| Skills you gain | Data Science, Business, Cloud Computing, Technology, Artificial Intelligence |
| Pricing | $47 |
| Ratings | 4.7 |
Through this course, you get to learn about all the buzzwords mentioned above related to business technology and get some taste of what it is to experience them in real-time through the applied learning project.
The course is divided into three parts; each part at the end requires the learner to finish a hands-on assignment, which fits a person even without any IT or programming skills. For instance, a task assignment will ask you to utilize Computer Vision to show AI’s power, or you will asked to provision an instance of Cloud Object Storage.
In this course, IBM will cover three key technologies (Cloud Computing, Data Science, and AI) at the foundational level, guaranteeing growth and innovation for any business.
Taught by IBM experts themselves, this course is recommended for anyone (from a professional to a student) in the technology field looking to level up their skills.
What you will learn from the course?
- Course 1: In this12-hour course, you will be given Introduction to Cloud Computing
- Course 2: In this 8-hour course, you will understand the basics of Artificial Intelligence.
- Course 3: This 11-hour course will be a foundation course on Data Science.
6. Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate By Meta
| Duration | 7 Months |
| Level | Beginner |
| Modules | 6 course series |
| Skills you gain | Social Media Marketing, Brand Management, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Performance Advertising |
| Pricing. | $273 |
| Ratings | 4.9 |
Meta and Aptly crafted this course in collaboration with Digital Marketing newbies, business owners, and content creators.
As the course progresses, you will pick up on skills and tools essential to grow online, especially on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok. I recommend you use these skills daily to practice and see real-time results.
Upon course completion, you must present the results of a campaign you created online as an assignment to achieve a certificate. The certificate also gives you an ACE credit recommendation on course completion.
Invest 2 hours daily in this course, which requires no prior knowledge or experience in the field. Unleash your potential to build and create a brand identity across various social media platforms.
This course will help you gain insight into building an online presence, a loyal following, generating influential content, and managing an account. By the end of this course, you can apply for jobs such as:
- Social Media Manager
- Social Media Specialist
- Social Media Coordinator
What you will learn from the course?
- Introduction to Social Media Marketing
- Social Media Management
- Fundamentals of Social Media Advertising
- Advertising with Meta
- Measure and Optimize Social Media Marketing Campaigns
7. Business Foundations By The University Of Pennsylvania
| Duration | 7-Months |
| Level | Beginner |
| Modules | 6 course series |
| Skills you gain | Accounting, Cash flow analysis, Corporate finance, Six Sigma, Marketing, HR, Operations Management & more |
| Pricing | |
| Ratings | 4.7 |
These 6 courses will help you learn the basic principles and lingo used in MBA.
You must prepare a capstone project using the analytical skills you learned during the course. The project will enlighten you on preparing and evaluating a go-to-market strategy required in a real business.
Look at this course as the short, intensive crash course you must finish before starting a full-time college.
The concepts and topics covered in this course revolve around the basics of business skills in marketing, finance, accounting, and operations.
If you want to clear concepts taught in an undergraduate program or are an entrepreneur seeking to launch your business, this course is heaven for you.
What you will learn from the course?
- Marketing
- Financial Accounting
- Social and Human Capital management
- Corporate Finance
- Operations Management
8. AI In Healthcare By Standford
| Duration | 1 Month |
| Level | Beginner |
| Modules | 5 course series |
| Skills you gain | Learning how to use AI ethically and safely in Healthcare |
| Pricing | $79 Per month |
| Ratings | 4.7 |
The course looks into the future of AI in healthcare while slicing knowledge about how to use AI in today’s day and age.
You will have to finish an Applied Learning Project as the final test. In this project, you will follow a patient’s journey from the POV of collecting Data using a unique dataset created for this specialization.
AI in healthcare is taking firm but baby steps. This course by well-known instructors at Standford will help healthcare workers and care providers understand the application of AI in healthcare.
Going a step further, I would also recommend this course for computer science experts in the healthcare sector.
The specialization can be completed in a month, as Coursera recommended, but I advise you to navigate this course slowly. Invest 2 hours per week in the course and use the rest of the week to research and apply what you learned in the course. This will help you imbibe as well as master your course syllabus.
What you will learn from the course?
- Introduction to Healthcare
- Introduction to clinical data
- Machine Learning for Healthcare
- Evaluate AI Application in Healthcare
9. Bookkeeping Professional Certificate By Intuit Academy
| Duration | 4 Months |
| Level | Beginner |
| Modules | 4 course series |
| Skills you gain | Double-entry bookkeeping System, bookkeeping, Bank reconciliations, Accounting concepts and measurement |
| Pricing | $39 per month |
| Ratings | 4.6 |
With this course, you get to learn theory and practical ways involving bookkeeping hand-in-hand.
You need to have basic knowledge of how to use Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers, and other spreadsheet equivalents, as you will have to use them often during and after lessons.
The applied learning Project will test your bookkeeping knowledge by presenting you with a realistic customer scenario where you must review and reconcile accounts, transactions, and balance books to produce financial statements.
If you want to learn how to analyze and produce financial statements, this course by Coursera and Intuit Academy is for you. This course is also a good way to prepare for the QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor Certification exam.
You do not need any prerequisites to begin this course. This course will provide you with all the knowledge you need to apply foundational concepts related to drafting a financial statement using Inuit’s accounting software (QuickBooks).
What you will learn from the course?
- Basics of bookkeeping
- Assets in accounting
- Liabilities & Equity in Accounting
- Analysis of Financial Statements
10. Human Resource Associate Professional Certificate By HRCI
| Duration | 5 Months |
| Level | Beginner |
| Modules | 5 course series |
| Skills you gain | Employee Relations, Training Development, Performance Management, Recruitment, Compliance strategy |
| Pricing | $49 per month |
| Ratings | 4.8 |
Learn techniques for retaining and recruiting talent to help an organization reach its full potential. It will take you around 5 months to finish this course if you dedicate 6 hours to it daily.
You will work on four projects, which your peers will review. These projects can be attached to your portfolio later, enhancing your chance to land a job or create a good name for your HR firm.
By the end of this course, you will be able to design training programs for employees and learn to create an inclusive culture in an organization.
I did the free course to write this review, and I learned so many things that I missed out on while reading law. This course taught me the process behind recruitment, retaining & managing employees.
So, this course is highly recommended if you seek to make a career in HR. You must take the paid version if you want to access assignments and grades for it and eventually the certification for the same.
What you will learn from the course?
- Talent Acquisition
- Learning & Development
- Compensation and Benefits
- Employee Relations
- Compliance and Risk Management
Financial Aid For Best Coursera Certificate Course
Coursera provides financial assistance for a few courses to make education accessible to all. To be fair, Coursera gives aid only to the needy after a thorough check. You can find out if a course offers financial aid by checking the space below.
To redeem financial aid, you will have to fill out a simple form and write in a few words why you need financial aid. Coursera will send you a confirmation mail if you are selected for their financial aid program. This usually takes a duration of 15 days at least.
If you are unable to seek financial assistance, you can apply to a Non-Profit organization that collaborates with Coursera to give out Scholarships. A few US-based organizations that provide scholarships are mentioned below (check their official website for more information)
- The College Board
- Scholly
- Fastweb
Tips To Save Money On Best Coursera Certificate Courses
Coursera is running a limited-time offer on their Annual Subscription of Coursera Plus (originally priced at $399) for only $199. If you like savings as much as I do, avail yourself of this offer and save $200 today.
Before this offer was introduced, I would always opt for the Annual Subscription anyway. This is because the monthly subscription fee of Coursera Plus is $59, which adds up to $708 for 12 months. With the Annual Subscription of $399, you save $309 that you would waste by opting for a monthly plan. If you wanna know more about the pricing of Coursera, then check our page on Coursera pricing.
Another tip I always give is to sign- up for a free trial of 7 days on Coursera. This free trial helps you understand the worth of the platform and the courses it offers.
Verdict: Access The Best Coursera Courses On Cybersecurity, Marketing & AI
If you want to launch your career or make a great impression on your college application, these courses are meant for you. The courses mentioned above will help you clear a lot of foundational concepts and create a solid base for work and school.
Here are my top 3 picks:
- Cybersecurity Professional Certificate By Google
- Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate by Google
- AI in Healthcare by Standford
I encourage you to finish at least 2 short courses every month along with your usual courses to get the most out of your Coursera subscription. To make additional savings, sign up for the limited-time offer using this link and save $200 today.
FAQs
Yes. Coursera certificates are worth it as they are offered by renowned Colleges (like Standford, Brown, and Penn) and by industry experts ( like Google, Meta, and IBM).
Coursera Certificates alone can not get you a job. You will have to work on your soft skills and invest time, money, and effort in traditional education, too.
Employers are influenced by micro-credentials and professional Certificates. A Coursera certificate shows your employer that you are a keen learner who is updated with the skills required to perform at work.
The top-rated course with a 4.9 rating and numerous positive reviews is “Algorithms I and II” offered by Princeton University.
No, Google does not own Coursera or any part of Coursera. Coursera is simply a host of courses offered by Google.
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