How ConsumerAffairs uses cookies

This website utilizes technologies such as cookies to enable essential site functionality, as well as for analytics, personalization, and targeted advertising. To learn more, view the following link:

Coursera Reviews

4,943,040reviews on ConsumerAffairs are verified
  • We require contact information to ensure our reviewers are real.
  • Our moderators read all reviews to verify quality and helpfulness.
  • We use intelligent software that helps us maintain the integrity of reviews.

About Coursera

Coursera is a global online learning platform that offers massive open online courses (MOOCs), specializations and degrees. Users can build skills with courses from universities like Yale, Stanford and New York University and companies like Google and IBM.

Visit www.coursera.org
Pros
  • Self-paced
  • High-quality video
  • Free courses available
  • Free seven-day trial
Cons
  • Inflexible enrollment
  • Some courses are pricey

Coursera Reviews

Filter by Rating

  • (14)
  • (9)
  • (8)
  • (22)
  • (197)

Popular Mentions

    How do I know I can trust these reviews about Coursera ?
    • 4,943,040 reviews on ConsumerAffairs are verified.
    • We require contact information to ensure our reviewers are real.
    • We use intelligent software that helps us maintain the integrity of reviews.
    • Our moderators read all reviews to verify quality and helpfulness.
    Recent
    • Recent
    • Oldest
    • Most helpful

    A link has directed you to this review. Its location on this page may change next time you visit.

    How do I know I can trust these reviews about Coursera ?
    • 4,943,040 reviews on ConsumerAffairs are verified.
    • We require contact information to ensure our reviewers are real.
    • We use intelligent software that helps us maintain the integrity of reviews.
    • Our moderators read all reviews to verify quality and helpfulness.
    Page 2 Reviews 40 - 80
    Profile pic of the author.
    PriceBilling

    Reviewed Dec. 2, 2025

    Do not do anything with Coursera! They will ask for your credit card, and even if you do not sign up for a course, they will charge you monthly. You will not be able to stop the payments because no one can be reached. This is fraud!

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed Dec. 2, 2025

    I have used them in the past and over the months have tried to get into my account, I have emailed them and not help but they still taking $49 out of my account and I can't even log in. Their customer service is horrible, I was told told someone would reach out to me but still not yet. So because I cant even get in my account its hard to cancel subscription but they still getting money. Very disappointing in their practice. I only have one email, I keep trying to get a link nothing, password reset and still nothing.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Profile pic of the author.
    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingPriceRefunds & Payouts

    Reviewed Nov. 30, 2025

    Very disappointing experience. It seems I have took 7 days trial and then it turned into monthly subscription of $49 per month and they hadn't send any notification that it turned into paid subscription and no monthly email about upcoming charge. Nothing. I have discovered after 4 months, it happened. When I request them for refund, they keep saying it's outside of policy. I don't know how they can get away without any proper notification to customer. They may have defaulted all notifications to none and trying to fool people to show higher degree of sales for whatever reason. This is very disappointing.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Profile pic of the author.
    Verified purchase
    Customer ServicePriceRefunds & PayoutsStaffBillingTransparencyHonesty & Transparency

    Reviewed Nov. 21, 2025

    Stay away from Coursera. In my opinion, the company is predatory. Best ethical corporate practices dictate that reminder emails be sent before charges after the trial period. However, Coursera builds its entire business model on people forgetting to cancel. There is no reminder, no courtesy notice, nothing. The moment the trial ends, they hit you with the full annual fee and then hide behind policy when you ask for a refund. Most reputable companies send at least one warning email. Coursera chooses not to. That tells you everything you need to know about their priorities.

    What is particularly insidious is this: unwitting Premium subscribers are supposed to have access to real humans through the chat function. But the moment you reach out through written Support—exactly what their system directs you to do—you are suddenly blocked from chat entirely. Instead of a human being, you get funneled into an AI-bot loop with boilerplate messages that don’t address a single issue you raised. It feels intentionally designed to wear people down until they stop asking. If you value transparency, fairness, or basic honesty, avoid them. There are plenty of other platforms that don’t rely on “gotcha” billing and deceptive support practices to make their money.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Staff

    Reviewed Nov. 21, 2025

    I keep getting an error message when doing the AI courses, but when I ask click the 'help button , 'Cora' in the chat box can't help & sends me someplace else that can't help. Super frustrated. I was going to tell a potential employer I took AI classes. Waste of time. Over dependence on AI.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Profile pic of the author.
    Customer Service

    Reviewed Nov. 19, 2025

    Did a course with them, I did ok, but they pick and choose who they allow to market their product. I was thinking that since I did a course with them they would like me market them, but no, I have no idea why, but for some reason I am not surprised. I did give them a good review after do the course, but tried to be affiliate. I guess I am not good enough to market them, but good enough for them to take my money. I am disappointed.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Profile pic of the author.
    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingPriceRefunds & PayoutsBilling

    Reviewed Nov. 15, 2025

    Awful customer experience. They use a deceptive free trial period to collect billing information, then charged for a course that I was unknowingly enrolled in. Attempts to cancel or receive a refund were unsuccessful. They use confusing communications to charge even when customers never engage in any courses. Very disappointed in my experience and will never be using the service again.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceBilling

    Reviewed Nov. 11, 2025

    Ok, so I took a course a few months ago Positive Psychiatry and Mental Health. Very in depth, learned quite a bit, and purchased the certificate. However the grading system definitely needs improvement. The students are required to grade assignments from others (peers) and they are required to do the same-people who are also in the learning stage! The professors should review or have involvement in grading. In the world of AI, the task should not be too difficult. You are basically watching a lot of videos, taking an exam, grading peers' assignments, and paying $49 for a certificate you have to print from your computer.😏 Coursera should offer live customer service support and refrain from automatic billing-especially since it is difficult to cancel the subscription.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingBilling

    Reviewed Nov. 4, 2025

    Complete scam. Deleted my courses progress and payment history. When attempted to log in it created a 'new account' and there's zero customer service. Now I have no way to stop the next payment. Might need to change my bank card.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Verified purchase
    Customer ServiceRefunds & PayoutsMaintenance

    Reviewed Oct. 22, 2025

    I was taking a course that required a lab. The lab login page was completely different from the one showed in the instruction video. It did not allow me to login the way the instruction video showed. I tried to contact customer service and it is nonexistent. They told me that since they didn’t sponsor the lab I was trying to connect to. I should contact the lab. I bought the course from Coursera. It’s their responsibility to fix the problem, not mine. They have no customer service and I want my money back.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServicePrice

    Reviewed Oct. 20, 2025

    The experience has been awful. Every time I login I have to search for the module I'm working on and sometimes it never shows up. So that's a wasted day that I am being charged for. Access today 10/20/2025 has been impossible and there is zero support, or a hot line to call into. Very frustrating to say the least.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServicePricePunctuality & SpeedBilling

    Reviewed Oct. 15, 2025

    I enrolled in July, I cancelled my subscription early Sept, however Coursera is still charging my credit card. There is no phone # to contact customer service, and then you have to fill out a form, and the email goes directly to a 'BOT'. So, you can ask all the questions you want, but you get an automated response from a BOT, asking the same questions you just ask. Now, I need to cancel my credit card so they can no longer charge it.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Verified purchase
    Customer ServiceRefunds & PayoutsBillingCommunication

    Reviewed Oct. 8, 2025

    I have been taking DeepLearning.AI course since April, 2025 paying a monthly fees of 49$ + taxes. I received an email last month about Coursera Plus and was tricked into subscribing it. I was told that the current courses which I subscribed for will continue. But, I got a shocker this month saying that the specific course is not included in Coursera plus subscription. Why were I not warned or notified about which ongoing courses are not included in coursera plus? I have not used the platform for learning any other course since I signed up for coursera plus. I asked coursera support team to cancel my coursera plus subscription and refund my payment for it. I find the support is extremely unfriendly and commercial. They just simply refuse to refund my payment throwing their cancellation policy at me.

    If this is a genuine oversight from their side of not notifying the user during the subscription process, what is the problem in correcting it by refunding the payment? It is a simple matter which can be resolved easily without trying to extort money from the users. I feel the company is run as a profit making machine without any sensitivity to the learner's issues. I do not see any reason why it could not refund my money when I was tricked into subscribing something which does not serve my purpose.

    On top of all this nonsense, there is no way I can speak to a human and express my concerns. I strongly feel that the platform has veered away from its mission of advancing learning and became more focussed on making money. I would like to communicate this to the founder Andre Ng but there is no communication channel I could find for it. I am pained to say the founders from Stanford have deviated from their goal of disseminating education and became more focused on how to make money. I have contacted one of the founders but did not get a satisfactory response till date. This is the best example of how customer support should NOT be done. They are unilateral, cruel and close your case without giving a meaningful resolution. I strongly dissuade people from this learning platform and advise to use the other multitude of learning platforms.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Verified purchase
    Sales & MarketingPriceRefunds & Payouts

    Reviewed Oct. 8, 2025

    I used a discount code to subscribe to 3 months of Coursera at 40% off. After my 7-day free trial, I was charged the full monthly subscription amount. Even though I provided proof that I had applied this discount code at checkout – a screenshot I had taken of the checkout page – Coursera refused to adjust my subscription plan or provide a refund.

    Thanks for your vote!
    PricePunctuality & Speed

    Reviewed Oct. 3, 2025

    My older son took Coursera courses few years back. At that time, not only coursera was free, but meaningful. Now when my younger son is taking a course, it is all about reading long labs, complex algorithm, and notes. There is hardly any teaching. Seems like they want to gain time for the course not to finish easily. They charge $50 every month. Plus they won't give certificate for a sub course completion so we are stuck in the middle. In addition, the course description said it was beginners with no prior knowledge of coding required. However, the course moved fast into complex coding.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceRefunds & PayoutsStaffBilling

    Reviewed Sept. 16, 2025

    I was being billed from this organization and I NEVER signed up for their coursework. I didn't even know they existed until I saw my bank statements. No customer service phone number but I did, after some digging, find an email. They confirmed that they didn't have any information of me (name, emails, log in credentials) in their system. They asked for screenshots of my bank statements and I send all eight. They passed the investigation to two other individuals and then said they can't refund me because they didn't have all the credit card info. I told them I'd send all the details and they said that wouldn't help. At which point, the send an email stating the file was closed and I was being uncooperative. THEY ARE THIEVES! Proceed with caution. If you need to end your subscription, start by cancelling your credit card with your bank. They will bill you endlessly.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Verified purchase
    Customer ServiceBilling

    Reviewed Aug. 26, 2025

    I signed up for a free 7-day trial. Set a calendar reminder to cancel on day 6 (8/20/2025) and did so. Received confirmation on website of cancellation within the trial period. Didn't think to look for confirmation email. Was billed for the subscription. No phone number, no options, website runs me in circles trying to find any sort of customer support. I recommend staying away.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Refunds & Payouts

    Reviewed Aug. 12, 2025

    I wouldn't wish this learning tool on my worst enemy. Also, beware they are not known to give refunds, nor do they send reminders before they withdraw an amount from your account, so do with that information as you will!

    Thanks for your vote!

    Reviewed June 30, 2025

    Took a course in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Their course was extremely out of date. All instructions they had concerning required tools were almost of no use as the websites they were referring to had upgraded with many of the options Coursera instructed you to use were no longer available. It was so bad I ended my account with them immediately.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceStaffBilling

    Reviewed April 22, 2025

    I signed up for the trial period of the Google Digital Marketing & Econmerce Professional certificate and after not having enough time to even go through any of it in a week I realized right then wasn't the right time to pursue the course. I cancelled subscription and yet they (Coursera) still keep trying to bill me. There's no direct email to contact them either.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Sales & Marketing

    Reviewed April 18, 2025

    Terrible scam. All their content starts with You're so awesome for studying here then goes into LINKS to other sites. No real content of their own just links to other educational sites, mostly ones kinda related but also with HUGE gaps since it's links to another course single page part way through that other course, so you don't know all the foundational materials that lead to it. You have to search everything on your own while paying every month to do so. It's terrible and a scam.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceContract & TermsRefunds & PayoutsBilling

    Reviewed April 11, 2025

    Coursera Prime courses were great. My problem was their dysfunctional platform administration. I paid for a yearly subscription, I requested numerous times for them to combined both of my email account so I have only one account, which reflect my one year payment. Well they never answered or complied with my request. What did happened I had to close one of my accounts, but they discontinued my yearly subscription with 8 months left on the terms of agreement. Horrible Customer Service....

    Thanks for your vote!
    Refunds & Payouts

    Reviewed Feb. 10, 2025

    Beware, they have this Coursera plus subscription which does not mention that they include some course in it and not others. They mention this info at the bottom of the page but not as key info at the top of website. So, even if you pay for the plus subscription, if your course is not included in the plus subscription, you have to double pay.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Sales & MarketingPriceOnline & AppStaff

    Reviewed Dec. 15, 2024

    This course is an absolute scam, and I strongly urge everyone to stay away. They make it nearly impossible to cancel your subscription, and before you know it, you’re charged for an entire year. The courses themselves are utterly useless, with poorly designed curriculums that provide no value whatsoever. To make matters worse, the lessons are taught in such heavy accents that they are almost impossible to understand, rendering the content unusable. The staff is unprofessional, unhelpful, and clearly uninterested in addressing any concerns. The website is also extremely user-unfriendly, with confusing navigation and constant glitches that make the entire experience frustrating from start to finish. Save your time, money, and sanity — do not fall for this scam.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingPricePunctuality & SpeedOnline & AppStaffRates

    Reviewed Dec. 4, 2024

    BAIT AND SWITCH!! When I first found the courses I wanted to try, it said there was a really awesome discount on the annual subscription. It said ‘Try for free now’ which was the only button offered to get started. Presumably, after the 7-day trial, I could get the discounted annual subscription. When I decided to subscribe before my first week was up, it said I was already subscribed.

    I canceled the 7-day trial and then it still said I was subscribed. I figured after one week was finished, I could subscribe again. When I tried, it only offered me $66/month which was more than the original $44/month. I just took the $66 monthly subscription because I was already so far along in my courses I didn’t want to lose my progress.

    Then when I went to log in a few days later, it said I had no subscription. It now offered $73/month in the app and on the website $82!!! So the starting price has nearly doubled and they’ve already got me hooked because I like the courses I am taking but I’m not going to pay them over $500 for the year because I don’t have that money readily available while unemployed. I’ve tried for weeks to find an email address or even a form to fill out to get help and they have ZERO HELP AVAILABLE.

    I finally wrote an email to their PR email address in hopes of getting a response. Once I’m done my courses, I will look elsewhere in the future for professional development. These guys are too high on their haunches and don’t know what basic customer service looks like. The quality of their courses varies greatly as the TESOL course I’m in from University of Arizona is a joke but the Google Analytics course seems very well produced. It’s a shame these people got greedy and they are using horrific marketing tactics to get people to pay double what they originally agreed to.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Verified purchase
    PriceEase of UseRates

    Reviewed Dec. 3, 2024

    Writing this after taking two courses, being unable to finish one and struggling with the other. Having zero or less than zero knowledge in both subjects I experienced a similar problem. In both cases the first 25% of the course was mostly a repetition of introductions, feel good blah, blah, blah and a waste of time. Then some meat and potatoes learning but leaving out fundamental and key educational concepts of which I had to search the internet, Quora groups and third-party sources to fill in the gaps. In my opinion both courses are better suited to people who have been performing those jobs and simply need to "checkboxes" in the fastest, least expensive manner. These courses are NOT for someone with ZERO knowledge of the subjects. It is not in Coursera's best monetary interest to create easy to learn courses as the longer to pay the more they make.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingPriceRefunds & Payouts

    Reviewed Nov. 29, 2024

    I wish I had never signed up for Coursera. I started a free trial to test out the platform, but within just a few days, I realized it wasn’t the right fit for me financially, so I canceled the subscription and stopped using the service altogether. To my surprise, on Thanksgiving morning, I woke up to a $59 charge—despite canceling and not actively using the platform.

    What’s worse, it turns out I was somehow enrolled in multiple subscriptions, which I absolutely do not remember signing up for. This feels like a predatory tactic to trap users in hidden charges. I barely even used the service, and now I’m stuck dealing with customer service to get my money back. Absolutely unacceptable. I do not recommend Coursera unless you enjoy surprise charges ruining your holiday.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceStaffBilling

    Reviewed Nov. 3, 2024

    Spent $9.99 for a 2 hour course. Supposed to be hands on. Instructions are unclear. Then I arrive at a screen where a video is playing. While the video plays, there is a 2nd screen with refreshing dots on display. I have no idea what to do, is the hands on while the instructor is going over topics, or afterward. And, of course Coursera has nonresponsive support. Just an invitation to browse their help database and a chat bot who cannot understand any input about technical problems. And, on top of all of this, they flag the course payment as 'non-refundable'. STAY AWAY FROM COURSERA. They will take your money and waste your time.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingOnline & AppRefunds & PayoutsStaff

    Reviewed Oct. 24, 2024

    Their "free trial" is very predatory. My grandmother signed up for a free trial and has not received a single email, text message, phone call, etc at all in over 9 months. She thought she just signed up for a 7-Day free trial and has paid for 9 months of courses and she is never used their website after the "free trial".

    Coursera has the most archaic cancellation/refund policy I have ever dealt with and I work in the corporate world. They would take money out of a disabled woman's bank account and simply point to their cancellation policy and ignore her further. This company needs to be investigated from their predatory tactics alone. I cannot imagine how they're treating other elderly people that don't have someone to care for them.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingStaff

    Reviewed Oct. 19, 2024

    Coursera is a complete scam. There’s no way to contact an actual person for help—everything is automated, leaving you stuck with useless responses. Feels like a total fraud. They take your money and disappear. Avoid!

    Thanks for your vote!
    Sales & MarketingPriceRefunds & Payouts

    Reviewed Oct. 18, 2024

    ABSOLUTE SCAM. They make it IMPOSSIBLE TO CANCEL their $600 a year subscription. I am now paying for this for the rest of my life because they want to give you the runaround while trying to cancel a subscription through their garbage website. AVOID AT ALL COSTS! YOU WILL BE RIPPED OFF.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Profile pic of the author.
    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingPricePunctuality & Speed

    Reviewed Oct. 15, 2024

    I signed up for a one year of Coursera plus and found that I didn't use it much. Figured the resource would end after one year. Did not assume it would auto-renew. The notices went to email spam. Now four years later and I can barely believe this scamming company has continued to charge me.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed Oct. 1, 2024

    I signed up and enrolled on Monday. Cancelling today on Tuesday. It took me some time to find a course that complimented my current education. Once I finally found a course, I enrolled easily, made it through the reading portion. The first video I watched, the audio was worthless. It was malfunctioning so badly that I couldn't understand the instructor. I read the transcript and moved on.

    Then I got to the second video and it was even worse. I reported a problem with no indication that they were going to look into it or reach out to me to let me know the issue is either resolved or being worked on. There is no way to talk to a human at Coursera. The chatbot they offer is so bad, it almost seems like a beta version. My recommendation, do not spend one penny on Coursera. There are other online avenues for certificates and degrees. It's a shame they are this bad. It was really easy to sign up and enroll. They also have a lot of courses to offer. The question is, how many of them actually are functioning.

    Thanks for your vote!
    CoveragePriceStaffBilling

    Reviewed Oct. 1, 2024

    Took one course for credit only to find the on line material did not cover all the questions so you have to buy several EXPENSIVE textbooks. When I would replay a lecture, audio and video would be out of sync. Text of lecture was so poor as to be useless. Cancelled course halfway through, or at least I thought I did. I continue to get nonrefundable credit card charges. Online help proved fruitless - tabs that were supposed to appear to cancel subscription didn’t appear. I cannot in good conscience recommend this service to anyone. You decide.

    Thanks for your vote!
    PriceStaffRatesValue

    Reviewed Sept. 27, 2024

    I have bought their subscription for a few months and completed a few certificate courses. Once I finished the last course I was interested in, I cancelled the subscription. Well, I finished the last course about a week before my subscription expired. They use a ridiculous peer assessment review to grade you so you are at the mercy of people you have no idea are capable or not to review your work. Well, my last course didn’t get reviewed by peers and once my subscription expired, the whole course went away. The hours I spent going through the course and the hours spent to complete all the assessments for NOTHING. It’s simply ridiculous that then, you simply can’t reach anyone at Coursera to speak with about the issue. Very unprofessional. Not worth it.

    Thanks for your vote!
    PriceBilling

    Reviewed Sept. 17, 2024

    I just tried to get Coursera FREE course with certificate because I'm desperate for a job. I filled out info and it came to $0. I made sure my credit card had $0 on it and they tried to charge my card. So if it's free it should be free!!! Maybe Coursera needs a math class before offering free classes and then charging for it.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Verified purchase
    Customer ServiceContract & TermsPriceRefunds & PayoutsStaff

    Reviewed Sept. 16, 2024

    Hi, I have paid for 1 course, and they have started charging me for a subscription. When I checked my account it was $149.47 since July 2024. I have contacted them several times but have not responded for 10 days. I don't understand the way businesses are working nowadays. To whom should I contact to get my refund?

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServicePrice

    Reviewed Sept. 10, 2024

    Don't waste your money and time on Coursera! They are not a self paced Course. I got behind in one course and my previous modules that were completed were gone. They charge a monthly fee so you can go on your own pace. False... Go somewhere else. Customer service is useless and they told me to start over.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceSales & MarketingPunctuality & SpeedRefunds & PayoutsStaffBillingHonesty & Transparency

    Reviewed Sept. 5, 2024

    Bought a course from Coursera for whole genome sequencing certificate from DTU. Thinking I could complete at my own pace as the course is advertised as "complete at your own pace." Somehow forced to buy a monthly subscription in addition to purchasing the course ($50 monthly subscription + $50 course for $100 total). Cancelled the monthly subscription and got reimbursed the $50 but lost access to the course after like two weeks. $50 down the drain, oh well. Hopefully somebody sees this, because they need to know they need to have the recurring monthly payment to coursera (in addition to any purchased course content) if they actually want to access the courses they are buying and the certificates they are attempting to get.

    Customer service is also non-existent. No way to contact any sort of customer support either, you just have to submit some sort of appeal or claim about a grievance and hope somebody responds to you at some point in the future. Tried to reach out to see if I could get reimbursed the $50 for the course I purchased but lost access to, or at least regain access to the course materials, but I never heard back. The only reason I'm giving two stars rather than one is because I was refunded the $50 after cancelling the monthly payment that I was forced to buy, but let's be honest, that's kind of a low bar.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Customer ServiceOnline & AppRefunds & PayoutsStaff

    Reviewed Aug. 22, 2024

    I appreciate the wide variety of what appear to be quality courses; however, the customer support is ABYSMAL. I signed up for an annual subscription after completing a course in the spring. I paid $399 on June 11, 2024, for an annual subscription. On June 24, I was refunded $337, and my subscription (without notification to me) converted to "monthly" at $61 per month.

    I've reached out twice to the help page on their website (the only way to reach them), and they've responded with the same e-mail (with different bot names) telling me to cancel my monthly subscription and re-subscribe for a year. The terms at $61/months are much better for Coursera $732/year vs. the $399 I paid for a year. They've made no effort to make this right.

    Thanks for your vote!
    Loading more reviews...

    Coursera Company Information

    Company Name:
    Coursera
    Year Founded:
    2012
    Address:
    381 E Evelyn Ave
    City:
    Mountain View
    State/Province:
    CA
    Postal Code:
    94041
    Country:
    United States
    Website:
    www.coursera.org