With the best online data science courses, you can gain the skills and knowledge you need to become a data scientist in no time.
Data science is one of the hottest fields in tech right now. And with good reason: data scientists are in high demand, and they can command some pretty impressive salaries.
But what exactly is data science? And how do you become a data scientist?
In short, data science is all about extracting insights from data. Data scientists use a mix of computer science, statistics, and math to wrangle data and turn it into actionable insights.
Becoming a data scientist doesn’t have to be hard. With the right online data science courses, you can get on the path to landing a successful career in this growing field.
We’ve reviewed and ranked the best online data science classes based on numerous factors, including instructor experience/credentials, cost, student reviews, and more.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost for you, we might get a commission if you click the link and purchase.
How We Chose the Best Data Science Courses Online
Whether you’re looking for basic data science training or you want to get an advanced data science certification, there are tons of courses out there that can help.
Of course, with dozens upon dozens of online classes to choose from, how can you tell which ones are best for getting the data science skills you need?
We looked at 30+ online courses in data science, judging them on the following:
- Quality of curriculum– Does the online course cover everything you need to know? Are the topics discussed in-depth, or just briefly touched on? Is the information up to date? These are just a few of the things we considered when scrutinizing the curriculums of each online course we looked at.
- Instructor experience/credentials– Is the instructor qualified to teach on this subject? What qualifications do they have and what experience do they have in data science? We wanted to make sure we recommended courses that were taught by true experts in the field.
- Student reviews and rankings–In addition to forming our own opinions on the courses and certificate programs we reviewed, we also consulted the opinions of others. We looked at student ratings, reviews, and feedback to get an understanding of what people thought about each program.
- Overall value–One of the great benefits of taking online classes is the value that they offer. We looked at the cost of each course and compared it to the content covered to make sure it was an efficient use of your time and money.
After looking at a huge catalog of classes on a range of platforms, we came up with a curated list of what we believe are the 14 best data science courses you can take online.
What are the Best Online Data Science Courses?
Here are our picks for the top data science classes you can take online in 2023…
1. Zero to Hero in Python for Data Science (Educative)
Zero to Hero in Python for Data Science (Educative)
If you're looking to embark on a career in data science, but don't have a programming background, then the Skill Path is the perfect option for you. The course is designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of real-world problem-solving techniques, enabling you to process, analyze, and visualize data in Python. By the end of the course, you'll be ready to start your new career in data science.
Price
$16.66/month
Duration
38 hours
Data Science is undoubtedly one of the most sought-after skills in the global market today. The ability to extract valuable insights from data has made Data Analytics one of the most desired career paths globally.
For those without a programming background but interested in this skill, the perfect place to start is this Skill Path from Educative. This highly rated Skill Path provides a comprehensive and practical approach to real-world problem-solving techniques that you can use to process, analyze, and visualize data using Python.
By the end of these 200+ lessons and dozens of hands-on challenges, quizzes, and activities, you will have acquired the skills necessary to pursue a professional career in data science.
What You Will Learn
- Key components of Python, like syntax, functionality, data types, data structures, and operators
- How to extract and represent data using Python
- How to use Python libraries for data visualization
- How to design, develop, and execute programs in Python
2. Become a Data Scientist (Educative)
Become a Data Scientist (Educative)
Whether you're brand new to data science or looking to expand your existing knowledge, this all-in-one guide has got you covered. By the end of these informative and engaging lessons, you'll have the skills and confidence you need to take on the role of a data scientist with ease and expertise.
Price
$16.66/month
Duration
57 hours
Data is everywhere, and it’s constantly growing. Companies and organizations need individuals who can make sense of all this data and turn it into actionable insights. That’s where data science comes in.
In this series of courses, you’ll learn everything you need to know to become a confident data scientist.
From the basics of manipulating data to handling big data to using machine learning with scikit-learn, this path covers all the essentials.
You’ll get all the skills and tools you need to extract valuable insights from data and make informed decisions for your organization.
Start your journey toward becoming a data scientist today!
What You Will Learn
- The core fundamentals of data science
- Data processing, modeling, and clustering with scikit-learn
- How to use different tools to build scalable model pipelines
- How to analyze and manipulate data with pandas and NumPy
3. Introduction to Data Science (edX)
Price
Duration
The duration of the course is 6 weeks if you give 3 to 4 hours of learning every week.
Data Science is one of the vast subjects growing at a much faster rate than ever. Since then, people who work in data science have built out a separate and distinct field for themselves. This is the subject of data science, and in this course, you will meet several prominent data science practitioners and understand what data science is all about.
The people who finish this course could get a skill badge, a verified, detailed, and digital certificate that details the information and abilities they have gained.
In this course, you will learn Data Science basics and how to use them in the real world. Enroll to find out more, finish the course, and get your badge!
What You Will Learn
- The basics of data science
- What Data Scientists do
- Knowledge of tools and algorithms regularly used in this field
- Importance of Data Science in the workplace
- How to assemble a robust data science team
4. Professional Certificate in Data Science (edX)
Price
$799 for the full course experience
Duration
The program takes about 1.5 years to complete. You can give 2 to 3 hours of concentrated learning per week.
A Professional Certificate in Data Science course is available on edX for aspiring professionals who want to jumpstart their careers. It is based on 9 skill-building courses, which you can complete at your own pace.
The program will cover basic R programming skills, tidyverse, and ggplot2. The introductory course also covers statistical topics such as inference, probability, and modeling. You will learn to implement machine learning algorithms. Through motivating real-world case studies, you will gain a thorough understanding of core data science topics.
After this, the course gets a little tricky and will introduce you to more complex data science technologies such as Unix/Linux, GitHub and git, and RStudio.
What You Will Learn
- Sound knowledge of basic R programming skills
- Data visualization with ggplot3 and tidyverse
- Techniques to implement machine learning algorithms
- Basic programming mastery
- Students will get hands-on experience
5. MicroMasters® Program in Data Science (edX)
Price
$1260 for the full course experience
Duration
You can complete this course over 10 months if you give 9-11 hours of learning per week.
MicroMasters from edX is an advanced graduate level that can be used to get an actual Master’s degree at some universities. If you complete this course and get a certificate, it would count as 30% of completing a Master of Science in Data Science degree from Rochester Institute of Technology.
The course requires many things compared to other courses as it is intended for potential Master’s students. The program combines the mathematical and applied aspects of data science education.
Overall, it is quite an excellent choice to be an excellent combination of theory and practice. The lectures in this course cover a wide range of topics and are competently balanced with real-world examples.
What You Will Learn
- How to clean, acquire and analyze big data using renowned open-source software
- How to undertake big data analysis and visually communicate the findings.
- Python for Data Science Machine Learning
- Basics of Python Probability and Statistics in Data Science
6. MicroMasters® Program in Statistics and Data Science (edX)
Price
$1350 for the certificate and grading materials
Duration
The course will take about 1 year and 2 months to complete if you give 10 to 14 hours of learning per week.
The MicroMaster course provides a well-rounded curriculum for understanding data intuitively. All thanks to the inclusion of probability and statistics courses in the program. It will help you learn using probabilistic modeling and statistical inference, develop data-driven predictions and analyze huge data.
To take full advantage of this course, find and employ appropriate modeling and methodology. To enroll in this course, you must be familiar with single and multivariate calculus and Python programming due to the sophisticated nature of the program.
It is suggested to study Introduction to Computer Science and Programming using Python as there will be no basics of Python or R language.
What You Will Learn
- Data Science, Machine Learning fundamentals, and Statistics
- Probability and statistical principles
- Python machine learning from linear models to deep learning
- Hands-on experience on various exciting projects throughout the course
- How to use supervised and unsupervised learning methods
- Clustering methodologies and deep neural networks
See our edX review to learn more.
7. Data Science Specialization (Coursera)
Price
Duration
This course of Data Science Specialization is based on 11 months of learning.
Johns Hopkins University has approved this course from Coursera for beginners. It gives students an adjustable pace gauge and organizes topics into ten specialized data science courses.
You can also enroll in a single course within the entire ten-course series, depending on your experience. In addition to this, you can get a recognized credential if you complete the program with Coursera Plus.
At the beginning of the course, the specialization focuses exclusively on the R programming language for data analysis and data visualization. Once you are done with the basics, the program will proceed to drill exercises on Github-based data management projects.
What You Will Learn
- How to use R language to analyze, clean, and visualize data
- From data collecting to publication, navigate the whole data science pipeline.
- How to manage Data Science projects with the use of Github
- Theory and application utilizing the R language
- Statistical analysis
8. Python for Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp (Udemy)
Price
Duration
The total watch time for this course is 24 hours and 54 minutes.
This course is offered by Udemy and is one of the best courses for learning Python libraries for Data Science and machine learning.
The course is designed to focus more on the practical aspects, and a component on statistics is omitted. As we talk about the price, this is a cheaply priced course compared to others. The instructor does an excellent job of introducing Python, statistics, learning fundamentals, and visualization necessary for any data science tasks.
The course also offers tasks and assignments that are a significant advantage for learners. You’ll work on Jupyter notebook workbooks to consolidate your learning throughout the course, and the instructor will follow up with a solutions video to adequately explain each part.
The course is appropriate for both newcomers with some programming language
What You Will Learn
- How to use Numpy, Matplotlib, Keras, and other popular Pythons machine and deep learning libraries
- Fundamenals of data science
9. Data Science for Everyone (Datacamp)
Price
Plans starting at $12.42 a month.
Duration
This is a short course of about 4 hours.
DataCamp offers data Science for Everyone. It is one of the most practical yet short courses for learning Data Science. The course offers a series of tests and quizzes for students to evaluate their learning process.
In the beginning, the course offers an overview of DataScience. The workflow in Data Science is covered, and how Data Science is applied to real-world situations and many positions in the Data Science profession.
Data preparation, data visualization, and data exploration are covered in the following module. It’s the most crucial aspect of data analysis, with most data scientists spending 80% of their time cleaning and manipulating data and only 20% of their time evaluating it.
What You Will Learn
- Knowledge of data collection and storage
- Fundamentals of data literacy and statistical analysis
- Skills in this highly in-demand field
Want to learn more about Datacamp? Check out our Datacamp review.
10. Data Science for Business (Datacamp)
Price
Plans starting at $12.42 a month.
Duration
The entire course lasts for about 4 hours.
DataCamp offers this course. The program begins with a quick introduction to Data Science, followed by data gathering and storage courses.
Every organization needs data science, but the question is how and for what. This is one of a few Datacamp courses that look into that subject and shows you how to use data science in your business.
This course will teach you about the skill you will need to build data as well as how to structure it to match the demands of your company. In addition to this, you will be able to know about many data sources available to your firm and how to store that data.
After going through the introductory sessions, the course will cover machine learning in the last session. It undergoes supervised and unsupervised learning, deep learning, and explainable Ai before concluding with a chapter on series prediction.
What You Will Learn
- Basics of Data Science
- Machine learning and Deep Learning
- Data Analysis and data visualization
- Basics knowledge of AI
11. Become a Data Scientist (Udacity)
Price
$399 a month or $1356 for 4-month access
Duration
The course will take around four months to complete if you give 10 hours of learning per week.
The Data Science NanoDegree offered by Udacity includes a variety of classes handpicked by industry experts. This course will prepare you to have a successful career in the industry by emphasizing key topics such as data pipelines, constructing experiments, and building recommendation systems.
The course consists of five core units. Starting with producing compelling visualizations, you’ll get to several key principles in software engineering, experimentation, and modeling.
Before starting the course, it is suggested to have some prior coding knowledge. For this, you need a rudimentary understanding of statistics, machine learning, and Python.
What You Will Learn
- How to develop recommendation systems, distribute solutions to the cloud, and operate data pipelines
- How to connect with multiple stakeholders
- How to produce successful data visualizations as part of the data science process.
- Software engineering skills
- How to set up studies and analyze the outcomes of A/B tests.
See our Udacity review to learn more.
12. Data Science with R (Pluralsight)
Price
Try Pluralsight free for 10 days; $29 per month after (see our Pluralsight review for more info)
Duration
The total duration of this course is 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Data Science is increasingly becoming relevant in the workplace and around the globe. In this course, you will learn to turn your data into actionable information using the practice of Data Science and computer language. Later on, you will learn the basics of the R programming language and how to utilize them to turn data into meaningful knowledge.
R is one of the most popular programming languages used by Data Scientists. This combination of abilities is in extremely high demand in a data-driven economy, earning significant compensation as it revolutionizes the globe.
This Introductory Data Science with R course does not have any explicit prerequisites. However, it is suggested that you must know some basics of programming language and have a rudimentary understanding of statistics.
What You Will Learn
- How to turn data into valuable insights using Data Science and R programming language
- An overview of Data Science
- Introduction to R programming language
- How to work with data efficiently
- Management of Big Data
13. Grokking Data Science (Educative)
Price
You can get this course for $79/year after a 7-day free trial.
Duration
The total watch time of this course is 10 hours.
Grokking Data Science is offered by educative.io. It is another excellent course for those interested in learning more about Data Science. This course varies from others in that it is a text-based, interactive course from Educative, a new online learning platform that allows you to run code directly in your browser.
This course emphasizes more practical work than theoretical. You will get hands-on coding environments to master your coding skills. By the end of this course, you will be able to evaluate your progress. You may put your talent to the test with built-in evaluations. In addition to this, certificates are also given upon completing the course.
In short, this is a full-stack course you can get at this price. It will teach you from basics to the skill level coding with the hands-on experience to master it.
What You Will Learn
- How to use Python’s basic libraries for Data Science
- Principles of Statistics for Data Science
- How to land the highest-paying data scientist position
- How to complete machine learning projects from start to finish
14. R Programming A-Z™: R For Data Science With Real Exercises! (Udemy)
Price
Duration
The total length of the article is 10 hours and 40 minutes.
R is one of the popular Data Science programming languages, and this course is designed to give you an excellent overview of R from a Data Science standpoint.
This course is a step-by-step tutorial. From the course, you will discover new practical concepts after each video that you can use right away. The most pleasing thing is that you learn by watching real-life examples.
It is jam-packed with real-world analytical problems that you will learn to answer. Some of these you will be working with the instructor, while others will be assigned to you as homework. To get started with this course, you don’t need any prior experience in coding but passion and fire to do something.
What You Will Learn
- The basics of R programming language
- How to make vectors in R language
- How to make variables
- How to create and use matrices
- Get hands-on coding experience to enhance your skills
- Get real-life examples to implement into your practical life
A Final Word on Online Data Science Courses
There are many reasons why learning data science is a good idea.
For one, data science is an interdisciplinary field that draws on techniques from statistics, computer science, and information science. As a result, data scientists are able to solve complex problems that require a deep understanding of both numbers and machines.
Additionally, data science is increasingly in demand. In fact, data science is one of the fastest-growing jobs in the United States.
And finally, data science is simply fascinating: it allows us to make sense of the vast amounts of information that we generate every day.
By learning data science with the help of online courses, we can learn how to harness the power of data to improve our lives and our world.
Thanks to online data science courses, you can easily go from novice to expert in this subject very quickly.
Remember, most of these online learning platforms have free trials, so take advantage of them to check out courses at no cost while getting valuable data science training.
And if you’re looking for something more than just a course, check out our guide to the best data science bootcamps online.
Have any questions about our guide to the best online data science courses? Comment below so we can help you out.
