Top web development courses: free and paid

A higher-than average salary, guaranteed job security, flexible schedules – these are just some of the reasons you might consider a career in web development, or why you might already have one! The truth is, there’s never been a better time to be a web developer, with the demand for developer candidates growing year on year. Even a professional website prototyping tool like Justinmind caters to developers. 

If you think you want to learn web development but aren’t completely sure it’s for you, maybe taking a free course or a taster will help you decide. Getting into programming is tough but within reach, no matter the budget – it just requires some good old-fashioned grit to hold you through.

If, however, you’re absolutely certain about you career choice, we recommend an intensive bootcamp web development course for best value in terms of time and money saved, as many employers nowadays tend to favor certain skill sets over where you went to college.

Or maybe you’ve already embarked on a development career and you’re interested in learning some new skills to boost your curriculum? Fortunately, web development is one of the easiest areas in which to upskill, so you’re in luck! 

We’ve compiled a list of 25 of the best web development courses, both online and around to world, to help you find the course that suits you, no matter what your situation is. Happy coding!

If you’re quite ready for a full course on development, maybe you can check out these UI UX tutorials before you pick up coding.

Udemy boasts a good number of web development courses, but which one should you choose if you’re starting out with no background in coding? The Complete Web Developer in 2019: Zero to Mastery aims to do exactly what it says on the tin.

This web development course sets out to prepare you for getting a job in the industry immediately, and can train you right up to the level of full-stack developer, in addition to teaching you all the latest technologies currently in use in the industry. And all for quite a reasonable price.

• Price point: around $225
• Duration: one to two weeks
• Level: beginner

Coursera provides a wealth of web development courses that can provide a solid foundation to both front and back-end web development.

Front-End Web Development with React by the Hong Kong University is a great web development course to introduce you to front-end development with JavaScript, with a special focus on using the React library. They also cover the foundations of building responsive UI design with Bootstrap 4.

Ruby on Rails: An Introduction, taught by the John Hopkins University, is the perfect primer for creating web apps with Ruby using rapid prototyping. Furthermore, it teaches you how to store it in the cloud with Heroku Paas (Platform as a Service) and best of all, how to use web service data as an external database.

• Price point: 7-day free trial, $49 per month thereafter
• Duration: Ruby on Rails (15 hours), Front-End Web Development with React (33 hours)
• Level: both courses are intermediate level

Udacity’s Web Development course, taught by Steve Huffman, takes your through the most important concepts regarding internet browsers and HTML.

You’ll begin coding immediately from lesson one with HTML, in addition to exploring HTTP in conjunction with requests like GET and POST. You’ll also learn databases, APIs, caching, Forms and Input.

• Price point: free
• Duration: 3 months
• Level: intermediate Python programming proficiency

edX offers a range of interesting web development courses, varying from beginner level to more advanced.

Among these is Microsoft’s Professional Orientation course focusing on front-end development. This web development course is for complete beginners and starts from scratch, taking you through all the languages used in this type of development, in addition to the most important tools and frameworks in use today.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) offers five web development courses ranging from beginner to advanced that cover everything to do with modern HTML tags, CSS best practices, JavaScript and even web graphics animation.

• Price point: Microsoft Professional Orientation is free to audit or pay $99 for certificate. Front-End Web Developer costs $500.
• Duration: Microsoft Professional Orientation (3-4 hours) and Front-End Web Developer (around 6 months and 2 weeks).
• Level: beginner to intermediate

Code Academy’s web development “path” is perfect for those looking for a career change or a challenge! Subscribing the Pro account will allow you to access on-demand courses and quizzes – they even have an app for learning on-the-go!

Their web development course promises to introduce you to the foundational tools of the trade such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript that will help you to build interactive web pages.

After that, they’ll cover the back-end and launch you into building your own databases and servers, enabling you to become a full-stack developer in the future.

• Price point: around $20 monthly
• Duration: ongoing (constantly updated)
• Level: suitable for all levels

Skillshare’s Boost Personal Branding by Coding Your Own Website course by Aga Naplocha, a coding designer from Adobe, shows you how to get creative with your web portfolio.

She teaches an innovative design-approach to developing you own website that avoids the use of typical templates, and emphasizes your personal brand. She promises to get you up to speed with the relevant CSS and Bootstrap knowledge you need to start designing ASAP!

• Price point: 30 day free trial, then $15 monthly or $108 annually
• Duration: 2 hours
• Level: beginner

Treehouse’s front-end “Techdegree”, with over nine projects and 30 courses, teaches you all the fundamentals of HTML, CSS and JavaScript to prepare you for an entry-level job within four months.

Their Python web development course gets you ready to work as a Python developer within five months and helps you build a numbers guessing game for your portfolio.

Lastly, if you want to specialize in both areas, their Full Stack JavaScript web development course has you covered and job-ready in five months! You’ll also build several web apps during the course that you can show to prospective employers.

• Price point: around $25 per month
• Duration: courses range from 4 to 5 months
• Level: beginners

Tutsplus’s web development course gets your feet wet with React immediately. It emphasizes the importance of at least trying out this language, even if you never plan on using it.

This course is aimed at people with no experience coding with React and who want to try it out. It focuses on helping you create a game from scratch, teaching you all the fundamentals throughout the process.

• Price point: $16.50 per month
• Duration: 2 hours
• Level: beginner

W3Schools is a great choice for busy people with work and life commitments as all their web developer certification courses are completed online and are completely self-paced. You can also choose exactly which web development course you want to study, with certificates available from HTML to SQL.

Each certificate costs the same and at the end, you’ll have to do an online exam, supervised by the person of your choice – preferably a boss or teacher, and whose name will be printed on the final certificate!

• Price point: $95 per certificate
• Duration: a few weeks
• Level: basic knowledge of each programming language

Free Code Camp offers a full stack web development course that is split up into six smaller certificates. Completing all six courses entitles you to their Full Stack Development Certification.

Throughout all six web developer certification courses you’ll learn everything you need to know about front-end and back-end development and cover topics ranging from responsive web design to data structures and algorithms, in addition to gaining practical experience with many different web development tools.

• Price point: free
• Duration: 2 months and 2 weeks
• Level: beginner

If you’re looking for a coding school that focuses on career preparation, App Academy, voted as the best coding school in the US by SwitchUp and CourseReport, is the school for you.

On this web development course, led by experts from top tech companies in the industry, you’ll learn all the essentials of JavaScript, Ruby on Rails and React/Redux for building web applications.

• Price point: Financing for $454 monthly or $23 – 28,000 (after you’re hired)
• Duration: 3 months
• Level: beginner

Stanford University’s web development course aims to provide you with a basic introduction to building web applications, along with hands-on experience

The course sets out to cover everything from front-end to back-end , including markup and script languages, interactive graphics, databases, responsive layouts, network protocols and event-driven programming.

• Price point: information on tuition fees available here
• Duration: 2 months and 2 weeks
• Level: beginner

Flatiron’s free Intro to JavaScript web development course is a great way to quickly master the fundamentals of modern web development from zero.

Taking this course will not only get you coding in JavaScript as fast as possible, it will also help you decide whether or not a career in web development is for you.

• Price point: free
• Duration: 2-3 days
• Level: beginner

Coding Dojo offers many onsite coding bootcamps across the country. Their bootcamps teach you the most popular and in-demand programming languages based on market trends and search engine ranking.

Each bootcamp typically lasts 14 weeks and teaches up to three stacks! You’ll first learn front-end development, then back-end with Python. You’ll then have the choice of learning either Ruby on Rails, Java or C#.

• Price point: $13,995
• Duration: 3 months and 2 weeks
• Level: beginner

The Tech Academy offers a good mix of bootcamps that you can do online or onsite at any of their campuses. Any of their courses can be taken full-time or part-time.

The web development courses currently available are the Web Developer Boot Camp (for front-end languages) Python and C#. However their “premier course”, Software Developer Boot Camp, promises to teach you seven of the best programming languages in 26 weeks!

• Price point: courses ranging from $3,600 to $11,700
• Duration: from 2 to 7 months, depending on course
• Level: beginner

The Code Institute in Dublin, the birthplace of the Web Summit, offers prospective students a unique and free five-day coding challenge with a tutorial video each day. All it takes is one hour a day and when it’s complete, you’ll know whether coding is for you!

After completing the five-day challenge, you’ll then be ready to move on to their bootcamp web development course, where you’ll use HTML, CSS and JavaScript to build your very own website. This bootcamp can also lead in to their diploma course if you’re interested in further study.

• Price point: around $6,790 (or $425 monthly)
• Duration: form one month to over a year
• Level: beginner

Open Academy’s web development course is a great primer for those looking for an introduction to the world of web development and coding.

Whether you’re looking to improve your own personal website or blog, or considering a career in the industry, this course covers the basics of JavaScript, HTML and object-oriented programming to bring you up to basic programmer level.

• Price point: around €99
• Duration: 2 months
• Level: beginner

Codeworks is located in the buzzing cosmopolitan city of Barcelona and only five minutes away from one of the best mediterranean beaches!

The main full-stack web development course lasts 12 weeks. It’s a thorough bootcamp that brings you up to speed on the most popular front-end and back-end languages, in addition to learning about data structures and cybersecurity.

• Price point: around $11,090
• Duration: 3 months
• Level: beginner to intermediate (short introductory courses are on offer to get you ready)

Development Bootcamp Amsterdam offers three distinctive bootcamps: React/Redux (intermediate), TypeScript and GraphQL (advanced) and JavaScript (beginner).

JavaScript Bootcamp takes you through the fundamentals of web development. React & Redux follows on from that by providing a more general overview of front-end and back-end development, while their TypeScript and Graph web development course gets you developing with full-stack TypeScript.

• Price point: around $2,830 for JavaScript bootcamp and $5,430 for React & Redux and TypeScript and GraphQL.
• Duration: 5 days to around 3 weeks, depending on course.
• Level: bootcamps available for all levels.

Spiced in Berlin offer an intensive zero-to-hero course that aims to get you up to full-stack developer level in as little as 12 weeks.

Their web development course focuses on helping you develop the specific skills that employers typically look for, in addition to helping you build out your professional portfolio with projects developed from HTML, JavaScript, Node.js and more!

• Price point: around $8,830.
• Duration: 3 months.
• Level: beginner.

Coder Academy prizes itself on being the only coding school in Australia to offer accredited bootcamps.

They offer full-time bootcamps that help you become a junior developer and even a unique cyber security bootcamp course, in addition to a range of short web development courses aimed at those just looking to upskill.

1. Price point: see Coder Academy’s schedule of fees.
2. Duration: varies according to course.
3. Level: courses for beginners through to advanced programmers

The Manukau Institute offers up a full-time Graduate Diploma in Software and Web Development that aims to get your career-ready by the end.

Aside from learning how to apply the most popular tools and programming languages, this web development course also gives you hands-on experience working with various development platforms, in addition to providing you the relevant soft skills required for a career in the industry.

• Price point: around $14,885.
• Duration: about 2 months.
• Level: beginner.

The Asia Development Academy maintains that absolutely anyone can learn to code within three months, hence why their web development course aims to get you to full coding proficiency in that time!

They promise to teach you coding in the most realistic way possible, in instructor-led labs and you’ll develop up to three real-life web projects to include in your portfolio.

• Price point: around $515
• Duration: 3 months (full-time), 6 months (part-time)
• Level: beginner

Web Courses in Bankok offers a web development course for current developers who want to increase their knowledge and expand their curriculum of languages and software.

The great thing about this web development course is that it can be tailored to suit your own personal learning goals, whether that be Ruby on Rails, HTML5 or Unix Fundamentals, just tell them what you want to achieve and they’ll put together your own customized study plan!

• Price point: 12 hours of private tuition costs around $63
• Duration: anywhere from 3 hours to 3 months, depending on what you want to learn
• Level: beginner

Astrolab’s Web Development Bootcamp in Dubai is a two-week intensive full-stack web development course that puts you in at the deep end from day one.

Learning the most important languages and software used by full-stack developers, this web development course will teach you how to build everything from interactive websites to hybrid mobile apps in addition to learning how to get a minimum viable product prototype, as well the basics of product management!

• Price point: around $1,110
• Duration: 2 months
• Level: beginner

If you’re a coding newbie and you’re still not quite sure if web development is the specific area you want to go into, you can always try web prototyping for free with our prototyping tool.

This will not only help you get a feel for the typical layout structures and functionality of a website, but it will also give you an insight into the work of UX designers, who often will create the prototypes of the websites you’ll be working on.

The right web development course for you will depend on your situation but, thankfully, there’s something out there for everyone, regardless of their level.

If you’re just starting out, we recommend taking some time to consider which area of web development you want to specialize in: do you want to be a front-end, back-end or full-stack developer? If you’re not sure, taking a quick introductory course in each area definitely won’t hurt!

If you already have a development career, we encourage you to keep learning; web development is a great career to have, but it’s also a rapidly changing one and so it’s important that you try to always stay on top of your game.

Lastly, whether practiced as a hobby or a full-time career, web development is a fascinating world, full of possibilities and we hope these course point you in the direction you’re aiming for!