15 Best Computer Science Courses on Coursera
We compared 15 Computer Science courses currently listed on Coursera, priced from $49.00 to $99.00. 11 come from a named university or institution, including University of California San Diego, Vanderbilt University and Dartmouth College & Institut Mines-Télécom. They are ordered by our CourseAsk score, which is built from how thoroughly each course describes what it teaches, whether it comes from a named institution, and how it compares on price — not from star ratings, which our course data does not include.
- Courses compared
- 15
- Price range
- $49.00 – $99.00
- Providers
- Coursera
- Last updated
- 18 Sep 2026
How these 15 courses were chosen
Every course below is a real, currently listed course from Coursera, matched to "computer science" by our catalog and ordered by our CourseAsk score. Courses whose own title names the topic rank above those only tagged with it.
The grade on each entry scores how much the provider publishes about the course before you pay — the length and detail of the description, whether it lists learning outcomes and objectives — and whether a named university or institution stands behind it. A is fully documented and institution-backed; E is little more than a title and a price. Courses with almost nothing published are left ungraded rather than marked down, because an unknown course and a poor one are not the same thing.
There are no star ratings on this page — the course feeds we license do not include them, and we would rather leave a column out than fill it with a number we cannot stand behind. What we do have is price: these range from $49.00 to $99.00, as listed by the provider when we last updated the page.
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1
Introduction to Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science
Offered by University of California San Diego
Discrete Mathematics is the language of Computer Science. One needs to be fluent in it to work in many fields including data science, machine learning, and software engineering (it is not a coincidence that math puzzles...
$79.00listed price -
2
Introduction to Programming with MATLAB
Offered by Vanderbilt University
This course teaches computer programming to those with little to no previous experience. It uses the programming system and language called MATLAB to do so because it is easy to learn, versatile and very useful for engin...
$49.00listed price -
3
C Programming: Language Foundations - 2
Offered by Dartmouth College & Institut Mines-Télécom
In this course you will learn to use logical statements and arrays in C. Logical statements are used for decision-making with follow-up instructions, based on conditions you define. Arrays are used to store, keep track o...
$49.00listed price -
4
Precalculus: Periodic Functions
Offered by Johns Hopkins University
This course helps to build the foundational material to use mathematics as a tool to model, understand, and interpret the world around us. This is done through studying functions, their properties, and applications to da...
$49.00listed price -
5
Learn to Teach Java: ArrayLists and 2D Arrays
Offered by University of California San Diego
Learn to program with ArrayLists and 2-D Arrays in Java, and prepare to teach others using the free, online interactive CS Awesome textbook. In this course for teachers we'll guide you both in learning Java concepts and...
$49.00listed price -
6
Capstone Project: Teaching Impacts of Technology
Offered by University of California San Diego
In this project-based course you’ll review the Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles course and exam description guide to prepare for the “Explore Task”, where students must research a recent computing innovatio...
$49.00listed price -
7
Unordered Data Structures
Offered by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The Unordered Data Structures course covers the data structures and algorithms needed to implement hash tables, disjoint sets and graphs. These fundamental data structures are useful for unordered data. For example, a ha...
$79.00listed price -
8
Image and Video Processing: From Mars to Hollywood with a Stop at the Hospital
Offered by Duke University
In this course, you will learn the science behind how digital images and video are made, altered, stored, and used. We will look at the vast world of digital imaging, from how computers and digital cameras form images to...
$49.00listed price -
9
Data Structures and Algorithms
Offered by University of California San Diego
Computer science legend Donald Knuth once said “I don’t understand things unless I try to program them.” We also believe that the best way to learn an algorithm is to program it. However, many excellent books and online...
$79.00listed price -
10
Computer Aided Design
Offered by Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
In this course, learners will be introduced to the fundamental concepts of computer-aided design and its implementation through computer graphics. The course involves topics related to the CAD foundation, 3D Graphics pip...
$49.00listed price -
11
Fundamentals of Network Communication
Offered by University of Colorado System
In this course, we trace the evolution of networks and identify the key concepts and functions that form the basis for layered architecture. We introduce examples of protocols and services that are familiar to the studen...
$79.00listed price -
12
Programming Languages Ⅰ
Offered by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST)
The goal of this course is to help students: 1. learn new languages quickly, 2. evaluate various languages and pick the most suitable one for a given task, 3. know when and how to design a little language, and 4. underst...
$49.00listed price -
13
Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals
Offered by Duke University
Take your first step towards a career in software development with this introduction to Java—one of the most in-demand programming languages and the foundation of the Android operating system. Designed for beginners, thi...
$49.00listed price -
14
Advanced Data Structures, RSA and Quantum Algorithms
Offered by University of Colorado Boulder
Introduces number-theory based cryptography, basics of quantum algorithms and advanced data-structures. This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Masters of Science in Computer Science (MS-CS)...
$99.00listed price -
15
Fundamentals of Computing
Offered by Rice University
This Specialization covers much of the material that first-year Computer Science students take at Rice University, brought to you by the world-class Faculty who teach our master's and PhD programs. Students learn sophist...
$49.00listed price
Best Computer Science Courses on Coursera compared
| # | Course | Provider | Offered by | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science | Coursera | University of California San Diego | $79.00 | View → |
| 2 | Introduction to Programming with MATLAB | Coursera | Vanderbilt University | $49.00 | View → |
| 3 | C Programming: Language Foundations - 2 | Coursera | Dartmouth College & Institut Mines-Télécom | $49.00 | View → |
| 4 | Precalculus: Periodic Functions | Coursera | Johns Hopkins University | $49.00 | View → |
| 5 | Learn to Teach Java: ArrayLists and 2D Arrays | Coursera | University of California San Diego | $49.00 | View → |
| 6 | Capstone Project: Teaching Impacts of Technology | Coursera | University of California San Diego | $49.00 | View → |
| 7 | Unordered Data Structures | Coursera | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | $79.00 | View → |
| 8 | Image and Video Processing: From Mars to Hollywood with a Stop at the... | Coursera | Duke University | $49.00 | View → |
| 9 | Data Structures and Algorithms | Coursera | University of California San Diego | $79.00 | View → |
| 10 | Computer Aided Design | Coursera | Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati | $49.00 | View → |
| 11 | Fundamentals of Network Communication | Coursera | University of Colorado System | $79.00 | View → |
| 12 | Programming Languages Ⅰ | Coursera | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST) | $49.00 | View → |
| 13 | Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals | Coursera | Duke University | $49.00 | View → |
| 14 | Advanced Data Structures, RSA and Quantum Algorithms | Coursera | University of Colorado Boulder | $99.00 | View → |
| 15 | Fundamentals of Computing | Coursera | Rice University | $49.00 | View → |
Prices shown are the provider's listed price when we last updated this page. Confirm on their site before enrolling.
What the prices here tell you
The 15 priced courses on this page run from $49.00 to $99.00, with the middle of the range around $49.00 — a spread of $50.00. The options are closely priced, so cost is unlikely to be your deciding factor. A higher price on this page usually reflects who is behind the course rather than how much material it contains, so it is worth opening two or three at different price points and comparing their syllabus before deciding.
Who is behind these courses
These courses come from Coursera. Everything on this page is sold on the one platform, so the buying experience is the same whichever you pick. 11 of these are produced by a named university or institution, including University of California San Diego, Vanderbilt University and Dartmouth College & Institut Mines-Télécom — which usually means a fixed syllabus and a recognised certificate, rather than an individual instructor’s own course.
Before you enrol
Open the provider’s own page and check three things this comparison cannot tell you: when the course was last updated, what the syllabus actually covers in its later sections, and what recent learners say. Prices shown here are the provider’s listed price when we last rebuilt this page on 18 September 2026 — they change often, and a promotion can move them substantially. We earn a commission if you enrol through our links, which costs you nothing and never affects the order courses appear in.