Coursera Business Model: What Makes It Work?

Technology has revamped modern classrooms, transforming digital whiteboards and interactive classrooms into learning aids. E-learning platforms like Coursera, Udemy and edX have played a major role in making education accessible to anyone from anywhere. 

As Coursera’s phenomenal success continues to create ripples in the online learning industry, its business model is worth exploring. It seamlessly matches consumer demand and strategic partnerships with businesses and companies. 

In this blog, we take a close look at Coursera’s business model and how it has favoured its growth over the years. So, let’s roll! 

What is Coursera?

Coursera is an online learning platform that offers students massive open online courses(MOOCs), degrees and specializations from world-class universities and companies.

Founded in 2012, the platform is the brainchild of Stanford computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Their idea evolved from their successful sprint offering online courses at Stanford University. 

That’s when Coursera was launched — embracing their vision of democratic learning opportunities worldwide. Coursera initially partnered with top-tier universities like Princeton, Stanford, and Michigan, attracting learners worldwide.

Today, Coursera has strategic partnerships with over 350 leading universities and companies, including Google, Yale University, IBM, etc. Most of its offerings are either free or low-cost. 

Their three major arenas are Coursera for Campus, Coursera for Business, and Coursera for Government.

Rewinding Coursera’s Growth Over the Years: Timeline

The global edtech market size is expected to reach $810.3 billion by 2033. Let’s delve into the key moments across Coursera’s amazing growth journey:

• In 2012, two Stanford University professors, Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng, founded Coursera with the mission of making global education accessible.
• In 2013, the platform found its first learner Karen who pursues a complete range of health-related courses from University of Colorado and more.
• Coursera launched Specializations in 2015, which involved multiple courses to master a specific topic. 
• In 2016,  the University of Illinois partnered with Coursera to launch iMBA,  its full-time online MBA degree program.
• The platform launched Coursera for Government in 2017 to expand learning to communities and public sector employees.
• In 2018, Coursera and Google entered into a strategic partnership to launch the Google IT Support Professional Certificate.
• In 2020, Coursera partners with universities and colleges to launch Coursera for Campus to equip students with workforce skills.
• The company’s revenue rose from $184 million to $294 million in 2020.
• In 2023, the platform reported a full-year revenue of $635.8 million, a 21% surge from the previous year.
• In 2024, the platform revenue touched $694.7 million, a 9% increase from previous year.

Coursera Business Model: How it Works?

Coursera has gained significant traction since its inception in 2012. In 2024, the platform earned a revenue of $694.7 million. All thanks to its robust business model that seamlessly integrates the major stakeholders: customers, educational institutions, and enterprises.

Let’s dissect the Coursera Business models and gain deeper insights!

Mission and Vision

The founders of Coursera platform cherished a revolutionary dream – universal access to world-class learning and leveraging its transformational power. 

This has influenced Coursera’s operations, including strategic partnerships, inclusive and accessible education worldwide, affordable offerings, etc.

Unique Business Proposition

Coursera puts forth a strong business proposition. For learners, it’s centred around making learning accessible to all at affordable prices. For educational institutions, it aims to expand their reach globally through strategic partnerships. 

Customer Segments

Coursera’s three major customer segments are students, enterprises, and educational institutions. 

Learner categories include: 

• Professionals directed towards enhancing their skills
• Businesses planning to train their employees
• Students aiming to pursue education from top universities or companies.

Competitive Strengths

The e-learning market has several key players. 

These major aspects offer the platform a strong competitive edge:

• Global reach and distribution through partnerships with top-tier universities and companies
• Free or low-cost user content, aiding low cost-acquisition
• Job-relevant courses, hands-on- projects, industry certifications

Marketing Strategies

According to a Dun & Bradstreet study, 67% of buyers in the B2B space value “relevant communication” when choosing a particular product.

Let’s take a look at Coursera’s marketing arsenals:

• Content marketing involves creating blogs for trending topics
• Partnerships and collaborations with renowned universities and companies
• Balancing the B2C and B2B messaging for both customer segments
• Spot-on email marketing with loads of information and well-placed CTAs
• Creating SEO empires with dedicated landing pages
• Creating in-demand courses that align with user content 

Platform Operation Flow

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how a user interacts with the Coursera platform:

1. Registration: First, users visit the Coursera website and have to complete the registration process. They can register with an email address or Google, Facebook, or Apple ID.   
2. Profile Customization: Users can add additional details to complete their profile by specifying their learning preferences. 
3. Course Discovery: Once logged in, users can browse diverse courses from different disciplines. Just search for a course category or a specific keyword you are interested in. The platform lists all the related courses, degrees, or specializations. Users can filter by subject, language, learning product, level, skills, etc. Select a course to get its further details.

1. Enrollment: Once you choose a course, you can enroll in the course. Click on the “enrol for free” option, and you can audit the course for free. For certifications or graded assignments, you need to pay a fixed fee.
2. Accessing the Course Modules: You can access all the course modules from the dashboard. This includes the video lectures, slides, quizzes, assignments, community, etc.
3. Course Completion: Learners need to clear the assessments or pass certifications to complete the course.

Coursera Revenue Model: How it Drives Revenue?

Coursera’s gross profit was $371.4 million, 52% of revenue the previous year. 

So, how does Coursrera make money?

The platform drives revenue from three major segments: consumer, enterprise, and degree. 

Let’s delve deeper into each segment!

Consumer

In 2024, the consumer revenue was $101.71 million, a 5% surge from the previous year. 

A major contributor was the Coursera Plus subscription, which offers unlimited access to courses in different disciplines. You can learn from top institutions like Google, IBM, Michigan University, Duke University, etc.

Coursera Plus offers 90% access to Coursera’s course catalogue. Thus, you can take as many courses as you want without any additional fees. The monthly subscription plan starts at $59/ month, while the annual plan is available for $399/year.

⚡ Note: The mastertrack and university degrees are not included in the Courera Plus

Enterprise

While you thought Coursera was limited to individual learning, Coursera for Business pumps that extra revenue.

In the Enterprise segment, Coursera earned $62.3 million in revenue, a 7% increase from last year. The majority of the learning programs are directed towards strengthening workplace skills through personalized learning paths and skill-based programs.

The learning programs involve training teams, boosting employee productivity and engagement, and more. Coursera also sells its subscription licenses to government and non-profit organizations to equip employees with workforce skills.

California State Library, DAU, etc., are a few organizations that offer Coursera’s learning programs. Enterprise pricing plans fall under two categories: team($399/user/year) offering unlimited course catalogue access, and Enterprise (custom pricing) with skill-based learning.

Degrees

In this segment, Coursera earned revenue of $15.2 million, a 14% surge from the previous year. Coursera partners with top universities and educational institutions to offer courses, specializations and degrees, including bachelor’s, master’s, or postgraduate programs.

In exchange, the platform earns a share of the revenue that learners pay to the universities. The courses range from $9000 to $25000. These include a one-hour specific skill course to a full-fledged postgraduate course.

Here’s a quick summary of the different types of courses and their starting price:

How Do You Build an E-learning Platform Like Coursera?

If you’re startled by Coursera’s success and planning to scale an e-learning business, there are several steps you need to consider. 

From market research to launch and maintenance, you need a clear roadmap to deliver a superior learning experience!

There are two development approaches for development:

• Using a readymade solution
• Building from scratch

If you’re looking for a quick and proven business solution, readymade clone scripts could be a complete game-changer! Here, you have a market-ready product with all the functionalities ready to hit the ground running! All you need is a few tweaks and customizations to fit it to your business needs.

This significantly saves your time, money and effort! One such self-hosted solution is Pinlearn, which helps you build a platform like Coursera in a matter of days! 

Leveraging the white-labelled and highly customizable script offers you the much-needed competitive edge! From creating and selling on-demand courses to a comprehensive dashboard, it’s your all-in-one course marketplace solution.

Conversely, building from scratch is a time-consuming approach. It costs approximately $50,000 to $70,000 and eight to nine months! 

So, now you know the better alternative that guarantees you success!

Final Words

Coursera’s business model is a major force and the reason behind its success! 

Profitability was the biggest challenge for MOOCs in their initial days. But Coursera proved that tapping into the right customer segments and well-crafted competitor strategy helps to break into a seemingly impossible market! 

If you have an extraordinary idea and an effective business plan, our team can help transform it into reality. Build your online learning platform with Pinlearn and be the next leader in the education industry! 

Meanwhile, what’s the biggest takeaway from this story? Drop in the comments.

FAQ-Related to the Coursera Business Model

1. How does Coursera monetize?

Coursera offers both free and paid courses and earns revenue from course purchases, subscriptions, enrollments, certifications, enterprise programs and large-scale government educational programs. Coursera Plus, Coursera degree programs, Coursera Business, and Coursera for Government are its major revenue streams. 

2. Do instructors make money on Coursera?

Yes, instructors receive money for teaching on Coursera. However, the platform doesn’t pay them directly; instead, they receive it from the institution that hosts the course. 

3. What type of business is Coursera?

Coursera is a global education provider that offers online courses, certifications, and specializations. It partners with organizations, universities and businesses to offer these learning resources. Learners can mostly access the guided learning materials but need to pay for certifications.

4. What is Coursera Plus?

Coursera Plus is an all-inclusive subscription service that offers access to over 10,000 courses, projects, specializations, and certificates at a fixed fee. The subscription plan incurs a monthly or annual cost, or it could be a single learning program.