How to sign up for a Coursera course?

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Written by Dhawal Shah Last updated on March 17th, 2023

Looking for a listing of Coursera courses?

  1. Find the course you are interested in by browsing Class Central’s catalog of Coursera’s online courses.
  2. When you find a course that interests you, click on its name to go to Class Central's description, then select the "Go to Class" button to go to the course page on Coursera.
  3. You need to create an account with Coursera before enrolling in any courses.
  4. On Coursera’s page click on the enroll button and it should provide you with different enrollment options.
  5. If the course is part of a Specialization, you will see a popup to enroll for a 7 day free trial. Some courses are part of more than one Specialization, so you may need to choose which Specialization you want. Enter your billing details or you can sign up for free by clicking the audit button at the bottom of the popup.
  6. If the course is not part of a Specialization, you will see options to either pay a one time price to purchase the certificate or audit the course. The audit link may be right down at the bottom of the pop-up.
  7. Eligible courses will display the Coursera Plus option to pay a single amount for 12 months access to around 3000 courses.
  8. For many courses, you will also see a “Full Course, No Certificate” option, which means you can get access to all the course contents including the assignments for completely free. Here is a list of 1700 such courses discovered by Class Central.


Sometimes it can be hard to find the free option, especially if you find yourself on the Specialization page. Here is an explanation of how to sign up for most Coursera courses without needing to pay any money.

Class Central's Help Center represents our best effort to answer the most common questions new learners face. It may not be completely accurate in every circumstance.

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