On this page
Learning new job skills online: the main course providers in the UK
From free courses to monthly subscriptions and full university qualifications, the options for learning a job skill online in the UK differ most on cost and on who stands behind the certificate.
Learning a job skill online in the UK can mean a free short course, a monthly subscription to a large platform, a professional exam course or a university qualification studied at a distance. Two questions help when choosing: who stands behind the certificate, whether a university, a company or the provider itself, and whether you can start a course for free before paying.
The fifteen providers below fall into six groups: the large platforms, university study at a distance, the schools for tech and data skills, the free courses, a community for creative skills, and professional certification training. Costs are in pounds where the provider prices in pounds for UK learners.
The large platforms
Coursera works with more than 325 universities and companies on job-relevant online learning. Coursera Plus costs £43 a month or £295 a year and covers more than 10,000 courses, Projects, Specializations and Professional Certificate programs in data science, business, computer science, health and more.
FutureLearn, run by Global University Systems, offers free and paid online courses, online degrees and microcredentials from universities and other organizations, and has more than 22 million registered learners. Some courses are free, and the Unlimited plan costs £249.99 a year. Learners can earn CV-ready certificates and build career skills.
Udemy is an online course marketplace where you can buy single courses or subscribe to a plan. The Personal Plan, from £22.00 a month, includes more than 28,000 courses, adds certification prep and goal-focused recommendations, and can be canceled at any time.
LinkedIn Learning has 26,400 business, technology and creative courses, plus Professional Certificates from providers such as Microsoft and Zendesk. More than 2,000 of its courses prepare learners for certifications, continuing education units and academic credits, and the first month is free.
edX was founded in 2012 by Harvard and MIT professors and offers online courses and certificates from leading institutions, with more than 5,300 career-relevant programs and 100 million learners. Its Professional Certificate programs combine several career-focused courses in one field and lead to a credential from a university or industry leader.
University study at a distance
The Open University is a UK university that teaches by distance learning, from certificates of higher education to honors degrees. Part-time study costs £4,088 a year, and a Certificate of Higher Education costs £8,176 over two years. Its fees page sets out the cost per year and the total cost of each qualification.
OpenLearn is The Open University's free learning platform, with hundreds of free courses in nine subject areas. Some cover academic subjects and others help you build skills for learning or work, and if you sign up you can work toward a statement of participation. For anyone weighing up a full qualification, it is a way to study a subject at no cost first.
Tech, coding and data
Codecademy teaches coding and tech skills and has more than 50 million learners. Its basic plan is free, and Plus costs £11.99 a month billed yearly or £23.99 monthly. Its Pro plan adds career features such as career paths, interview prep, professional certifications and an AI job-readiness checker.
Pluralsight teaches technology skills, including AI, cloud computing, software development, cybersecurity, data, IT operations and DevOps, plus soft skills for technical roles. It has more than 6,500 courses and reaches more than one million learners. Prices start from £15.75 a month billed yearly, with a 10-day free trial.
DataCamp teaches data and AI skills, with more than 790 courses and programs in AI, Python, SQL, Power BI and R. The free Basic plan gives you the first chapter of every course, and Premium costs £12 a month billed yearly.
Udacity, run by Accenture, teaches tech skills such as AI, data, cloud and programming through more than 500 courses and Nanodegree programs, with more than 700 industry experts in its mentor network. It prices in US dollars for UK learners: $249 a month, or $846 for four months.
Free courses and certificates
Alison, run by Capernaum Ltd, offers more than 6,000 free, CPD-accredited Certificate and Diploma courses in areas such as AI, data science, cybersecurity, digital marketing, project management, business operations and healthcare. All of its learning is free.
HubSpot Academy gives free online training for marketing, sales and customer service professionals. It offers certifications, single-topic courses and short lessons, and more than 250,000 professionals have been certified through it. Together with OpenLearn and the free tiers of Codecademy, DataCamp and FutureLearn, it is one of several ways to start learning without paying.
Creative skills
Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of classes for creative people, taught by more than 9,000 teachers, on topics including illustration, design, photography, video and freelancing, with no ads. It shows its price to UK learners in US dollars: $167.88 a year.
Professional certification training
Simplilearn offers online courses and certifications in project management, Agile and Scrum, data science, digital marketing and more, including Certified ScrumMaster and PMP exam training. Its certification training costs from £258 for PMP to £890 for PRINCE2, which makes it a different kind of purchase from a monthly subscription: a single course aimed at a single exam.
Choosing a provider
The certificate is the first thing to look at. The Open University awards university qualifications; Coursera, edX and FutureLearn work with universities and companies; LinkedIn Learning carries Professional Certificates from providers such as Microsoft and Zendesk; and Alison's courses are CPD-accredited. HubSpot Academy and Simplilearn are tied to particular professions and exams.
The second is how the price is set. Monthly plans such as Coursera Plus and Udemy's Personal Plan suit someone who can study steadily for a few months; a yearly plan such as FutureLearn Unlimited is paid for the whole year at once; and The Open University's fees run to thousands of pounds for a full qualification.
