16 top online coding courses

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There comes a point in everyone's life when it's time to take more control of your destiny. If you've built your own site using free WordPress themes or Drupal themes, you might be craving more control. It's time to take an online coding course, learn to code yourself and build your site, your way.

Many accessible educational tools have popped up that make learning new skills more straightforward. The daunting task is finding one that's right for you and your learning style. 

We've tested and reviewed some of the most popular schools being talked about on the web today, to give you a better understanding of the pros and cons of each. Here's our list of the web's best online coding courses.

01. Code School

• $29/mo 
• 15 free courses available

Code School offers some free courses

Of all the tools we dug into, Code School – owned by Pluralsight – was one of the best. Not only does the site look great, but it offers quality content and a great student experience. You can follow a 'path', which will guide you through a succession of different courses, or you can opt for a single course on its own. 

The videos are quirky and fun in an after-school special kind of way, which is a refreshing break from typically dry video tutorials. It's like watching Bill Nye explain it, which is to say, comforting. After viewing a video, you work on your own tasks – relating back to the video if required. If you get really stuck you can 'buy' answers with points you've earned from other classes.

Code School offers 15 introductory courses for free, so you can try it out for size, or you can buy a monthly subscription for $29/month. If you're looking to splash a few bucks on a learning tool, we would recommend spending your money here.

02. Skillcrush

• $499 per 'blueprint'
• Free 10-day coding bootcamp

Skillcrush closely resembles learning in the classroom

Skillcrush is a unique online coding course, and the option here that most closely resembles an actual curriculum in a classroom setting. Users enrol in their chosen three-month 'blueprint' – a bundle of three courses that build on each other. 

There are four to choose from: frontend developer, visual designer, freelance WordPress developer or freelance business builder. Alternatively, you can embark on a nine-month bumper programme dedicated to helping you break into tech.

Once enrolled, students have access to not only a classroom setting chat forum with their fellow students, but also to office hours and one-on-one time with their instructor. Skillcrush is currently also offering a free 10-day coding bootcamp.

03. Udacity

• Large selection of free courses
• Nanodegrees from around €200 (approx $250)

Udacity covers a huge array of technical subjects

Udacity offers robust guides to many different topics, with seriously advanced courses on everything from robotics to design theories in everyday life. There's a big selection of free courses on offer here – and not just basic ones, either, but across all skill levels. 

Alternatively, Udacity has a range of 'nanodegrees', which cover in-demand skills. Current courses on offer include Design Sprint Foundations and VR Developer. Prices and lengths of course vary dramatically, but the cheapest courses start at around €200.

All courses are summarised before you even begin, outlining the difficulty level, why the course is important, any prerequisites for taking it, and the project you will complete at the end. This means you can easily scan through and choose what suits you best.

04. Code Avengers

• From $150 (6-month plan)
• Free 7-day trial

Code Avengers takes a simple step-by-step approach

This online code school offers courses teaching you how to code or build websites, games and apps. There are lessons for total beginners, or if you have a little prior knowledge, you can start at a higher level.

Code Avengers walks you through each process with very simple, step-by-step instructions, starting with minor tasks, while you watch what happens in a mini phone simulator next to your editor. The team has managed a good balance of difficulty: not so tricky you have to cheat, but not so simple you're just copy-pasting.

One interesting thing about this online code school is the Code Avengers Junior section. This teaches children basic programming and computer literacy skills, via gamified courses.

05. Khan Academy

• Free

Khan Academy is very straightforward and offers quizzes

Khan Academy is a free online school that's not just focused on coding – there are a wide range of courses on offer, from economics to arts and humanities. Under the Computing section, you'll find courses on computer programming, computer science, coding and animation, all of which are broken up into specific sub-sections.

What's interesting with Khan Academy is that you hear someone talking while they write the code, which feels natural, like you're sitting down with someone. The courses were straightforward, easy to follow and you can then transfer the concepts to the simple exercises.

Sometimes, there are mini-quizzes following a demo, which help you think about things conceptually and understand what the code is doing a little better.

06. Hack Design

• Free

This is a great source of aggregated content

The 'courses' here are just collections of aggregated content, whether that's blogs, books, games, tutorials or videos, from around the web. There isn't anything to ‘complete' by way of tasks, but if you're after some resource recommendations to help you learn more about a specific part of design, this is a good place to turn.

There are also tool lists with recommendations from people who use them. This is an excellent catalogue of design resources for all levels. It offers great introductory content for beginners and more advanced techniques for those who do this full-time.

07. Udemy

• Courses from free

Udemy has a hude catalogue of courses and topics

Udemy is an expansive catalogue, filled with thousands of other topics besides web and technology, with prices ranging from free to hundreds of dollars. We would venture to say you could find just about anything you wanted to learn about on here.

The vast number of courses available (around 65,000 at time of writing) does make it tricky to dig out the good stuff. 

08. Envato Tuts+

• $29/mo

If you want to keep growing your skills, Tuts+ is a great choice

With online code school Envato Tuts+, you can learn about a number of aspects of design, from coding and web design to 3D and illustration. Users can select from courses (video-based lesson), tutorials (write-ups about different topics) or ebooks (including the popular A Book Apart series), depending on their particular learning style. Envato Tuts+'s content is access via a monthly subscription that also gives you access to design resource library Envato Elements.

Next page: eight more top online coding courses

09. Treehouse 

• $25/mo
• Free 7-day trial

Treehouse is, hands down, one of the best learning tools around

Treehouse has one of the most comprehensive libraries of educational materials on this list, while also being one of the most relevant. Not only does it offer a large variety of coding courses, but it also includes 'workspaces' you can use to try out new projects in your own time, as well as a library with videos of talks from industry professionals. It offers an iPad app to continue your learning, too.

The structure is simple: learn from the video courses (which are regularly refreshed to reflect industry changes), practice your new skills though quizzes and challenges, and earn badges to reflect the skills you've already mastered.

You can try a free seven-day trial on Treehouse, from then on it's $25 (£20) per month for access to all of the site's content.

10. Codeacademy 

• Free

Codeacademy is easy to use and it's free

Codecademy is free and easy to set up. Straight away you can create 'goals' for yourself and find the skills you want to learn. These could range from applicable things like creating a portfolio site to silly, fun things like animating your name or building a CSS galaxy.

11. Lynda.com

• From $19.99/mo
• Free 30-day trial

Lynda offers solutions for businesses, higher education and government

Lynda.com is one of the more popular video tutorial sites. It offers an abundance of content that's constantly added to with new and up-to-date technologies and software. Lynda.com is a trusted resource that many turn to when they're after a tutorial to pick up a new skill.

12. Skillshare

• Plenty of free classes
• Premium access from $15/mo

Skillshare offers over 18,000 classes

Skillshare is a subscription-based service that offers thousands of classes taught by industry professionals. Courses come complete with material that's been created by the instructors, and there are projects for you to apply your skills. There's also an iOS or Android app that enables you to steam courses on the go, for more flexible learning.

13. Mijingo

• Free

Mijingo is aimed at web professionals

Mijingo is an online learning resource that features step-by-step video tutorials for both web design and development. These online coding courses aren't for beginners: they're aimed at helping web professionals get up to date with the latest developments. 

Current courses focus on things like ExpressionEngine and Twig. Alternatively you can pick a 'lesson' – these cover small, specific elements of broader topics. 

Stream the videos or download them to any device to watch at your leisure. The courses are cohesive and thorough, and some offer transcripts, starter files and additional resources.

14. Pluralsight 

• From $29/mo
• Free 10-day trial

Pluralsight offers a 10-day free trial

No discussion of online training would be complete without a mention of Pluralsight. Following an acquisition spree, it now offers the world's biggest online training library.

The company owns Code School, Smarterer and Digital-Tutors. Such is the size of the Pluralsight stable, if it doesn't offer a certain course then it's unlikely anybody does. A nice feature is Pluralsight's  'IQ tests', which help you determine which course is the right level for you.

15. Sitepoint

• $99/year

Sitepoint offers a range of 'paths' to teach you particular coding skills. These lay out a clear journey through a specific subject, such as HTML and CSS, Angular 2, or full-stack JavaScript. You follow them at your own pace to complete your goals. It also offers a range of books, courses and screencasts to supplement your learning.

16. StackSkills

• Courses from free

StackCommerce was founded in 2011

StackSkills is an online learning centre built to serve the StackCommerce community. It offers courses in a huge variety of subjects, including advanced JavaScript, Python, digital marketing and web development, all with the aim of developing a publisher's ecommerce potential. 

Courses range from free to $300, so no matter what your experience level or budget, it's certainly worth having a look.

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