MOOC Platform League Table - 2017

See MoocLab's MOOC Platform League Table - 2018

MOOC platforms offer MOOCs which stands for Massive Open Online Courses. A MOOC is a free educational course which is delivered online and is open to anyone wishing to enrol. MOOCs are often delivered by renowned professors from famous universities and typically feature a blend of video content, quizzes, discussion boards, downloadable readings, and peer-to-peer assessment of learning. The goal of MOOCs is to reach a much larger audience than traditional courses can accommodate. Often, MOOCs offer Certificates for a fee which are awarded on successful completion of a course, and in some cases transferable college credit. Some MOOC platforms also offer skill-based courses, some of which are paid.


See our Methodology

Click on the column headers to sort by criterion

Hover over titles for more information or click on the Provider Titles for full review.


See Comparison Table
Rank 2017PlatformNº Courses
Maximum score: 5
Weight factor: 5%

Quantity of courses offered:

1 = less than 30 courses
2 = 30 to 49 courses
3 = 50 to 99 courses
4 = 100 to 500 courses
5 = more than 500
Partner Institutions
Maximum score: 5
Weight factor: 15%

Quality & standing of the partner institutions providing the courses:

1 = Very poor
2 = Poor
3 = OK
4 = Good
5 = Excellent
 		Certificates
Maximum score: 2
Weight factor: 15%

Type of certificate offered:

0 = None
1 = Non-verified
2 = Verified
 		Pathways
Maximum score: 1
Weight factor: 15%

Learning pathways made up of a series of related courses:

0 = No
1 = Yes
 		College Credit
Maximum score: 1
Weight factor: 15%

Availability of transferable college credit on some courses:

0 = No
1 = Yes
 		Degree
Maximum score: 1
Weight factor: 15%

Availability of accredited university degree programs

0 = No
1 = Yes
 		Social Tools & Features
Maximum score: 5
Weight factor: 10%

Provision & quality of tools & features to facilitate social interaction with peers and staff (user profiles, forums etc):

1 = Very poor
2 = Poor
3 = OK
4 = Good
5 = Excellent
 		Interface usability
Weight factor: 10%

Quality of the interface & ease of navigation around the site:

1 = Very poor
2 = Poor
3 = OK
4 = Good
5 = Excellent
 		Overall
Maximum score: 5
Weighted average of all the ratings
1Coursera
Best for:Higher Education students, Professionals, General interest
Subjects: Sciences, Technology, Arts & Humanities, IT, Social Sciences, Business, Education
Type of learning: Academic & skill-based courses
Course type: Free. Scheduled & self-paced courses. Specialization courses.
Languages: Courses in multiple languages
Certification: Yes
Learning pathways: Yes
Degrees Yes
Mobile Apps iOS & Android
 5/55/52/21/11/11/14/55/54.90
1edX
Best for: High School students, Higher Education students, Professional, General interest
Subjects: Sciences, Technology, Arts & Humanities, IT, Social Sciences, Business, Education
Type of learning: Academic & professional education courses
Course type: Free & Paid. Scheduled & self-paced courses.
Languages: Most courses are offered in English
Certification: Yes
Learning pathways: Yes
College Credit Yes
Degrees: No
Mobile Apps: iOS & Android
5/55/52/21/11/11/14/55/54.90
2FutureLearn
Best for: Higher Education students, Professionals, General interest
Subjects: Arts & Humanities, Sciences, Technology, Social Sciences, Education, Business
Type of learning: Academic & Professional
Course type: Free scheduled courses
Languages: English
Certification: Yes (non verified)
Learning pathways: Yes
College Credit: Yes
Degrees: Yes
Mobile Apps: No, but the platform is designed to work on smartphones, tablets and desktop computers
4/55/51/21/11/11/14/54/54.38
3Udacity
Best for: Professionals
Subjects: Web Development & Data Science
Type of learning: Skill-based
Course type: Free & Paid Self-paced courses
Languages: English. Some courses have subtitles in other languages, including Spanish, Chinese, French, and Portuguese.
Certification: Yes
Learning pathways: Yes
College Credit: No
Degrees: Yes
Mobile Apps: iOS and Android
4/55/52/21/10/11/14/55/54.10
4Saylor Academy
Best for: K-12 Students, Higher Education Students, Professionals
Subjects: Arts & Humanities, Sciences, Technology, Social Sciences, Business, K-12 content Type of learning: Academic, skill-based
Course type: Free self-paced courses
Languages: English Certification: Yes
Learning pathways: Yes
College Credit: Yes
Degrees: Yes
Mobile Apps: Courseware available on iTunes U
4/54/51/21/11/11/12/54/54.03
5iversity
Best for: Higher Education Students
Subjects: Arts & Humanities, Sciences, Technology, Social Sciences, Business
Type of learning: Academic
Course type: Free & paid scheduled courses
Languages: English and German. Some courses offer subtitles
Certification: Yes, including ECTS Credits
Learning pathways: Yes
College Credit: Yes
Degrees: No
Mobile Apps: No
2/54/52/21/11/10/14/54/53.75
6Big Data University
Best for: Professionals
Subjects: Data Science
Type of learning: Skill based
Course type: Free mostly self-paced courses
Languages: English, Japanese, Spanish,Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin
Certification: Badges
Learning pathways: Yes
College Credit: No
Degrees: No
Mobile Apps: No
3/55/51/21/10/10/14/54/52.83
7Open2Study
Best for: Professionals, General interest
Subjects: Arts & Humanities, Business, Education & Training, Finance, Health & Medicine, Management, Science & Technology
Type of learning: Skill based
Course type: Free mostly scheduled courses
Languages: English
Certification: Certificate of Completion (non verified)
Learning pathways: No
College Credit: No
Degrees: Yes
Mobile Apps: No
3/54/51/20/10/11/14/54/52.68
8NovoEd
Best for: Higher education students, Business professionals
Subjects: Focus on Business, Finance, & Entrepreneurship + other courses in Education, Arts & Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences
Type of learning: Academic, Professional
Course type: Free & Paid scheduled courses
Languages: English
Certification: None
Learning pathways: No
College Credit: No
Degrees: No
Mobile Apps: No
2/55/51/20/10/10/15/55/52.23
9Janux
Best for: Higher Education Students, General interest Subjects: Courses have covered computer science, history, political science, chemistry, education and earth and energy
Type of learning: Academic, General interest
Course type: Scheduled free (non-credit) & paid courses (with credit)
Languages: English
Certification: Credit on paid courses
Learning pathways: No
College Credit: Yes
Degrees: Yes
Mobile Apps: iOS
1/53/50/20/11/10/14/52/51.85
10Canvas Network
Best for: High School students, Higher Education Students
Subjects: Arts & Humanities, Business, Education & Training, Health & Medicine, Management, Science & Technology
Type of learning: Academic
Course type: Free scheduled & self-paced courses
Languages: Mostly English (+ French, Spanish & Portuguese)
Certification: Certification is dependent on the institution providing the course
Learning pathways: No
College Credit: No
Degrees: Yes
Mobile Apps: iOS & Android
4/53/51/20/10/10/12/53/51.53

Please note that the results of the 2017 MOOC Platform League Table should not be compared to those featured in the 2016 League table due to a change in the parameters used.

Add you own Rating

Did you know you can now add your own rating & review of the platforms you use? Just go to MoocLab's MOOC Platform Reviews Page now and help others make the right choices.


Join the discussion...

See other League Tables by MoocLab:


Top