Coursera Courses Catalog Scraper

What does Coursera Courses do?

Scrape the public Coursera course catalog via the courses.v1 JSON API — no browser, no login, no instructor PII. Each dataset row is one course with title, slug, description, photo, workload, primary languages, partner IDs, and a stable learn URL. Optional keyword filter (query) matches name/slug/description client-side. Export JSON or CSV via Apify API, schedule, or MCP.

Unofficial. This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or maintained by Coursera, Inc. It reads public catalog endpoints only.

Dashboards: connect Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio, or Qlik to the dataset API — see Export to Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio & Qlik near the end. AI agents: paste this Actor's Store page URL into an Apify-capable agent (MCP / Claude / Cursor with Apify), create an Apify account and API token once, and the agent can run the Actor and wire up the output.

Why use this Coursera course scraper?

• 🎓 Full public catalog (~24k courses) with offset pagination
• 🔍 Optional keyword filter without browser search pages
• 📊 Structured rows for edtech market research and curriculum tracking
• 🛡️ Direct HTTP (curl_cffi) — lightweight, no Playwright

How to scrape Coursera courses

1. Open this Actor in Apify Console.
2. Click Start on the prefilled python query (maxItems 5).
3. Clear query for a full-catalog pull, or raise maxItems for larger dumps.
4. Export the dataset or pull via API.

{
  "query": "python",
  "maxItems": 5,
  "proxyType": "none"
}

How much does it cost?

Pay per event (PPE): Actor start + each course result row. On Free, results are about $2.49 / 1,000; paid plans are lower (see the Pricing tab). Mid-band reliability vs a ~$12 leader and ~$1 floor Actors — public API path, no browser.

Input

Field	Description
query	Optional keyword (name/slug/description). Empty = full catalog
maxItems	Cap on course rows (preferred)
pages	Compat alias when maxItems omitted (~100 courses/page)
proxyType	Optional proxy (default none)

Sample output

{
  "courseId": "l31la3mKEe-zFg7heHyXOQ",
  "title": "Getting started with the Vertex AI Gemini 1.5 Pro Model",
  "slug": "googlecloud-getting-started-with-the-vertex-ai-gemini-1-5-pro-model-i43mr",
  "description": "This is a self-paced lab that takes place in the Google Cloud console.",
  "photoUrl": "https://d3njjcbhbojbot.cloudfront.net/...",
  "workload": "1 hour 30 minutes",
  "primaryLanguages": ["en"],
  "partnerIds": ["443"],
  "url": "https://www.coursera.org/learn/googlecloud-getting-started-with-the-vertex-ai-gemini-1-5-pro-model-i43mr",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-10T10:00:00+00:00",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.coursera.org/api/courses.v1?..."
}

FAQ

Is this official Coursera software?

No. It is unofficial and not affiliated with Coursera. Catalog fields can change without notice.

Do I need a Coursera account?

No. This Actor uses the public catalog API only — no login, reviews, or instructor personal data.

Can AI agents call this?

Yes — Actor ID bakos_bence/coursera-courses via Apify API or MCP.

Something broke?

Open the Issues tab on this Actor's page.

Related Actors

Actor	Use together when…
Public Document Finder	You need broader public document / research search
Domain Typosquat Scanner	You need brand/domain risk checks alongside course catalog work

Profile: bakos_bence on Apify.

For AI agents & LLM apps

Paste this Actor's Apify Store URL into an agent that can use Apify (MCP, Claude, Cursor, etc.). With an Apify account and API token, the agent can set input, run the Actor, and fetch the dataset.

Export to Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio & Qlik

1. Run the Actor (or open a finished run).
2. Open the Dataset → API / Export.
3. Copy the dataset items URL (JSON or CSV).
4. In your BI tool, add a web / API data source with that URL (and your Apify token as a header or query param if required).
5. Refresh on a schedule that matches your catalog monitoring cadence.

Course data is public catalog information — always verify critical decisions against Coursera’s own site.