In senior high school, I had to choose between biology and French because of a timetable clash. I ended up taking biology and it turned out to be my favorite subject. But just imagine if I could have done French at school and biology at home on a computer or phone…

Whatever your age, if you’re interested in biology, there’s a course for you. We’ve done the research, using Class Central, a search engine for online courses, and other sites to identify the top online biology courses. With over 1000 biology courses and more than 133K people following the subject in our platform, we’ve collated ratings and reviews to find the best choices.

The courses in this Best Courses Guide (BCG) are created by MIT, the University of Copenhagen, and CrashCourse, among others. And if you’re interested in a specific aspect of biology, check out our BCGs in Cell Biology, Botany, Ecology, and Genetics.

Click on the shortcuts for more details:

• Top Picks
• BCG Stats
• Why You Should Trust Us
• How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

Here are our top picks

BCG Stats

• 6 courses are free or free-to-audit and 1 is paid
• 3 courses offer a certificate of completion
• The most featured provider is YouTube with 4 courses.

Best General Biology Course

Have you ever dreamed of taking a course from MIT? Here is your chance! Be prepared to put in the time, as if you are an undergraduate MIT student. Introduction to Biology – The Secret of Life is on Class Central’s Best Online Courses of All Time list, with plenty of positive reviews. Taught by a leading geneticist and mathematician, the course is strong in teaching us to think like scientists and covers the relationship between genetics and health. High school biology and chemistry would be useful but are not required for this course.

You will learn:

• Principles of modern biology including genes, proteins, and disease
• Mysteries of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, recombinant DNA technology and genomics, and rational medicine
• Structure and function of DNA, RNA and proteins and how molecular changes can alter functions
• How heredity affects human health and disease
• Molecular biological techniques
• You’ll get a foundation in biology so you can understand the current medical revolution.

This course is a prerequisite for several advanced biology courses with MIT (see our Cell Biology BCG). And if taking this course stirs your interest, check our Genetics BCG.

“This is the best online course I have ever had. I had zero knowledge in the concepts taught but with the help of professor Lander I managed to pull through while genuinely enjoying the process…” – Victoria.

And if you aren’t interested in a certificate, but like to consolidate your knowledge with quizzes and exams, more free biology courses are available on MIT OpenCourseWare. Watch the videos conveniently on the Class Central interface, then head over to the Direct link for other materials and homework.

• Introduction to Biology (Fall 2004) (28 hours)
• Introductory Biology (Spring 2005) (26 hours)
• Introductory Biology (Fall 2018) (28 hours)

Best Short Outline of Biology

The ever-reliable CrashCourse returns to our BCG list with Biology by CrashCourse. In eight hours of videos, you will learn about:

• Carbon, water, biological molecules, plant and animal cells
• ATP, respiration, photosynthesis, membranes & transport
• Mitosis, meiosis, DNA, heredity, evolution, and genetics
• Taxonomy and what makes us animals
• Systems: the nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive and excretory
• More systems: skeletal, muscular,  immune system, endocrine and reproductive
• Archaea, bacteria & protists
• Ecology.

Other CrashCourse playlists are found in our Linguistics, Anatomy, Human Physiology, Ecology, and Astronomy BCGs. They’re concise, upbeat, and popular.

“Hank Green is my hero. I grew up loving physics and biology so I surrounded myself with them and even got into two of the worlds top rated colleges because of it, yet throughout all the classes and labs I’ve taken, none have been able to teach and be as visually stimulating to me quite like CrashCourse has.” – inserian, YouTube  learner.

Best Biological History Course

First there was the universe with the laws of physics. Atoms combined into molecules, which we study using chemistry. Geologists and paleontologists study past life, and now life on Earth has countless forms. Origins – Formation of the Universe, Solar System, Earth and Life is a comprehensive, 12-module look at the origins and history of life. You can also read my in-depth review of the course. Learn about:

• The formation of elements and the Solar System
• Earth’s geological principles and early life
• Microbial life and the Cambrian Explosion
• Macrobial Life and Eukaryotic Evolution
• Climate changes, Snowball Earth, and cell evolution
• Evolution of marine animals, major faunas, and adaptations
• Changing oxygen levels and their consequences
• Terrestrial plant evolution and adaptations
• Insect biodiversity, adaptations, and specializations
• Vertebrate adaptation to land and mass extinctions
• Climate change and molecular clock technique
• Evolution of primates, early humans, and human colonization
• Modern biodiversity across various habitats
• Reflect on the course’s impact on understanding life’s evolution and diversification on Earth.

“…I thought it would be more astronomy-based, but this was just the first lecture. However, I’m glad I’ve stayed, because I’ve brushed up some of my knowledge from biology, chemistry, and geology, and I’ve learned a great amount of new interesting facts…” – Kristina Šekrst.

Best Biology Course with Possible Credit

If you are a student at one of Study.com’s 1,500+ partner institutions, you may be able to claim credit for taking Biology 101: Intro to Biology. My advice is to check with your institution to avoid disappointment. This course covers:

• Basic biological terms
• Molecular biology, organic molecules, and enzymes
• Cell structure: organelles and membranes
• Metabolism, respiration, growth and cell division
• DNA & RNA structure and replication, mutations, genetics, and genetic engineering
• Protein synthesis
• Microbiology, human biology, ecology, and botany
• Taxonomic classification, timeline, and geological evolution.

Study.com also offers a course for AP Biology: Exam Prep including practice questions.

Best Cartoon-Style Biology Course

If you learn more easily with cartoon presentations, you’ll really enjoy the Amoeba Sisters Biology Learning Playlist. After the first few introductory videos, you’re taken into the world of biology, taught by an enthusiastic former high school biology teacher. Her sister is a cartoonist, and together they have set up an educational YouTube channel. You will learn about:

• The nature of science, lab safety, and microscope use
• Characteristics that may classify an organism as living
• Prokaryotes and eukaryotes including Archaea, bacteria, protists, fungi, plants, and animals
• Why the properties of water are essential for life
• Cell structure, specialization, cell membrane, passive and active cell transport and signaling
• Nucleic acids and genetics
• Biotechnology and biological processes: cellular respiration, photosynthesis, DNA replication, mitosis, and meiosis
• Natural selection, gene regulation, mutation,  genetic drift, evolution, biodiversity, and classification of living organisms, compare and contrast bacteria with viruses
• Ecological relationships, energy, and biogeochemical cycles
• Plant structure, vascular and nonvascular plants
• Systems in the human body.

“Honestly, thank you for all the hard work and effort you 2 both put into these videos. I can’t thank you enough. I”m a pre-nursing student and you guys help, motivate and save me whenever I don’t understand the base concepts” – PieceOfReis, YouTube learner.

Best AP Biology Prep Course

Are you a high school student planning to study biology at college or university? The Advanced Placement (AP) program in the USA and Canada allows high school students to take AP exams and get a head start on their college studies. AP Biology Video Essentials covers essential topics for the exam, using plenty of images, tables, and graphics. You’ll learn:

• Essential knowledge for the AP Biology Exam
• Natural Selection, Genetic Drift, Evidence for Evolution, Speciation and Extinction
• Life’s essential Characteristics and Scientific Evidence of The Origin of Life
• Free Energy, Phylogenetics, Abiogenesis, Photosynthesis, and Respiration
• Environmental Matter Exchange, Cell Membranes and Transport Across them, Compartmentalization, Homeostasis
• Positive and Negative Feedback Loops and Response to External Environments, Biotic and Abiotic Factors
• Plant and Animal Defense, Organ Systems, Viral Replication, and Biological Molecules
• Development: Timing and Coordination
• Behavior and Natural Selection, DNA and RNA, Cell Cycle, Mitosis and Meiosis
• Mendelian Genetics and Advanced Genetics, Gene Regulation, Signal Transmission and Gene Expression, Mechanisms that Increase Genetic Variation, Genotypes and Phenotypes
• Cells: Communication, Organelles, Specialization,and Variation
• Signal Transduction Pathways and the effects of Changes, Information Exchange
• Ecosystems, Cooperative Interactions, Communities, and Biodiversity.

“…Honestly these videos are the best resource out there for the AP exam. Can’t say thank you enough.” – AgithaBugPrincess, YouTube learner.

Also Great AP Biology Course

AP Biology goes through many types of multiple-choice and free response questions to help your exam preparation. Topics covered:

• AP Biology
• Multiple choice and free response practice questions related to scientific investigation, conceptual and data analysis
• Natural selection, ecology, chemistry of life, cell structure and function
• Cellular energetics, cell communication, the cell cycle, meiosis, diversity, gene expression & regulation
• Natural selection, ecology & the biological mechanisms involved in growth.

Why You Should Trust Us

Class Central, a Tripadvisor for online education, has helped 60 million learners find their next course. We’ve been combing through online education for more than a decade to aggregate a catalog of 200,000 online courses and over 200,000 reviews written by our users. And we’re online learners ourselves: combined, the Class Central team has completed over 400 online courses, including online degrees.

I’ve personally completed over 150 online courses in a variety of topics including biology.

How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

Trying to find “the best” can be daunting, even for those of us who live and breathe online courses. Here’s how I approached this task.

First, I combed through Class Central’s Catalog and the internet to find a variety of free and paid open courses, some with certificates. You don’t need to enroll in a university to learn biology.

Second, when choosing courses, I considered the following factors:

• Renowned Institutions: I started with recognized institutions in Biology
• Instructor experience: I looked for instructors with extensive experience in Biology and engaging presentation styles
• Course content: I looked for courses that covered a range of topics and presentation styles, including the basics and more advanced topics
• Learner reviews: I read learner reviews (when available) to get a sense of the quality of each course.

To evaluate the courses, I watched some course videos and read the course syllabus.

I extracted information from course syllabi and reviews, and compiled their ratings, leveraging the Class Central database with its thousands of course ratings and reviews written by our users as well as available course provider ratings. Then, I defined the scope for these recommendations. A biology course can cover various topics, so I chose top courses from a range of sub-fields.

Ultimately, I used a combination of data and my own judgment to make these picks. I’m confident these recommendations will be a reliable way to learn biology.