edX
Ranked 9 of 11 online learning platforms by recommenders
People recommend edX for good, challenging courses and useful free material. The common caveat is that free access to many courses has been limited.
People recommend edX for good, challenging courses and useful free material. The common caveat is that free access to many courses has been limited.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 64%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Valuable learning resource
“they do offer useful material at the very least”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “CS234: Reinforcement Learning Winter 2025” “Those were [are still] a fantastic resource!”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” “unfortunately for some good sources like edX”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” Good, challenging course content
“the content was good and the projects were challenging”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Coursera and Udemy are now one company” “Coursera and EdX were the peak of that for me.”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “Coursera and Udemy are now one company”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Free access increasingly limited
“From around 2017 these platforms started limiting free access, so now in most cases you can only see the lecture materials”
Comment from 16 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: Where to learn software engineering fundamentals?” “After Coursera/Udacity/EdX discontinued courses that I wanted to take”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” Seen as commercialized after acquisition
“The ongoing enshittification of Coursera, Udacity, and EdX is sad to watch.”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Coursera to combine with Udemy” “EDX and Coursera got bought out and are now money-making online ed sites”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “1,700 Free Online Courses from Top Universities”
Other online learning platforms people recommend
The four most recommended other online learning platforms, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khan Academy | 67 | 17 | 80% | 12 | 7 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Coursera | 26 | 37 | 41% | 6 | — | — |
| Udemy | 16 | 44 | 27% | 5 | 10 yrs4 owners | — |
| MIT OpenCourseWare | 14 | 2 | 88% | 7 | — | Approved |
| edXThis page | 7 | 4 | 64% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
10 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“From around 2017 these platforms started limiting free access, so now in most cases you can only see the lecture materials”
“EDX and Coursera got bought out and are now money-making online ed sites”
“Coursera and EdX were the peak of that for me.”
“the content was good and the projects were challenging”
“EdX looked like it might still be good.”
“unfortunately for some good sources like edX”
“Those were [are still] a fantastic resource!”
“After Coursera/Udacity/EdX discontinued courses that I wanted to take”
“The ongoing enshittification of Coursera, Udacity, and EdX is sad to watch.”
“they do offer useful material at the very least”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.