edX Course Scraper

Scrape online courses from edX — one of the world's leading MOOC platforms featuring courses from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, IBM, Microsoft, and 200+ top institutions worldwide. Acquired by 2U, edX hosts thousands of courses, professional certificates, MicroMasters programs, and degree programs across dozens of subjects.

Features

• Search mode — find courses by keyword (e.g., "python programming", "machine learning", "data science")
• Browse by subject — get all courses for a specific topic (computer science, data analysis, AI, finance, etc.)
• Browse by university — get all courses from a specific institution (harvardx, mitx, berkeleyx, ibm, etc.)
• Single course URL — scrape one or more specific edX course pages for complete details
• Filters: level (Introductory / Intermediate / Advanced), course type (Course / Professional Certificate / MicroMasters / etc.), free-only, language
• Output includes: title, institution, subject, level, duration, effort, pricing, enrollment count, skills, availability, pacing, image URL, course URL, and more

Input

Field	Type	Description
mode	select	search (default), bySubject, byUniversity, byUrl
searchQuery	string	Text search query (mode=search)
subject	select	Subject slug — e.g. computer-science, data-analysis (mode=bySubject)
universitySlug	string	University slug — e.g. harvardx, mitx, ibm (mode=byUniversity)
courseUrls	array	List of edX course URLs to scrape (mode=byUrl)
filterLevel	select	Filter by level: Introductory / Intermediate / Advanced
filterCourseType	select	Filter by type: Course / Professional Certificate / MicroMasters / etc.
filterIsFree	boolean	Only return free courses
filterLanguage	string	ISO 639-1 language code (e.g. en, es, fr)
maxItems	integer	Max number of records to return (1–1000, default 50)

Example Inputs

Search for Python courses:

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "python programming",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Browse CS courses from Harvard:

{
  "mode": "byUniversity",
  "universitySlug": "harvardx",
  "filterCourseType": "Course",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Browse AI/ML courses:

{
  "mode": "bySubject",
  "subject": "artificial-intelligence",
  "filterLevel": "Intermediate",
  "maxItems": 30
}

Output

Each record contains:

Field	Type	Description
courseId	string	edX product UUID
title	string	Course title
description	string	Full course description (HTML stripped)
institution	string	Primary university/institution name
institutions	array	All institution names (for multi-partner courses)
subject	string	Primary subject
subjects	array	All subject categories
level	string	Introductory / Intermediate / Advanced
durationWeeks	integer	Total duration in weeks
durationWeeksMin	integer	Minimum weeks to complete
durationWeeksMax	integer	Maximum weeks to complete
effortHoursPerWeekMin	number	Min hours per week effort
effortHoursPerWeekMax	number	Max hours per week effort
pacing	string	self_paced or instructor_paced
language	string	Primary language
availability	string	Current / Archived / etc.
isFree	boolean	Whether the course is free to audit
price	number	Full price in USD
originalPrice	number	Original price before discount
currency	string	Currency code (e.g. USD)
enrollmentCount	integer	Recent enrollment count
skills	array	Skills covered in the course
courseType	string	Course / Professional Certificate / MicroMasters / etc.
imageUrl	string	Course thumbnail URL
courseUrl	string	Full edX course URL
startDate	string	Go-live date (ISO format)
productSource	string	edX
sourceUrl	string	URL that was scraped
scrapedAt	string	UTC timestamp of scrape
recordType	string	Always "course"

Sample Output

{
  "courseId": "b3c02aea-cbf6-4fc4-a730-0433860e2a35",
  "title": "Python for Data Science",
  "description": "Learn to use powerful, open-source, Python tools including Pandas, Git and Matplotlib...",
  "institution": "The University of California, San Diego",
  "subject": "Computer Science",
  "subjects": ["Computer Science", "Data Analysis & Statistics"],
  "level": "Intermediate",
  "durationWeeks": 10,
  "effortHoursPerWeekMin": 3,
  "effortHoursPerWeekMax": 5,
  "pacing": "self_paced",
  "language": "English",
  "availability": "Current",
  "isFree": false,
  "price": 149.0,
  "currency": "USD",
  "enrollmentCount": 333911,
  "skills": ["Python (Programming Language)", "Data Science", "Pandas"],
  "courseType": "Course",
  "imageUrl": "https://prod-discovery.edx-cdn.org/media/course/image/b3c02aea.jpg",
  "courseUrl": "https://www.edx.org/learn/python/the-university-of-california-san-diego-python-for-data-science",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.edx.org/learn/python",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-06T12:00:00+00:00",
  "recordType": "course"
}

FAQ

What subjects are supported? All edX subjects are supported including Computer Science, Data Analysis, AI, Business & Management, Engineering, Healthcare, Math, Physics, Social Sciences, Language, and more.

Can I get courses by a specific university? Yes — use mode=byUniversity with a slug like harvardx, mitx, berkeleyx, microsoft, ibm, googlecloud, etc.

Are free courses available? Many edX courses are free to audit. Use filterIsFree: true to return only free courses.

Does this include boot camps and degree programs? Yes — edX hosts Boot Camps, MicroBachelors, MicroMasters, Professional Certificates, and full Degrees. Use filterCourseType to narrow down.

What is the daily test prefill?

{"mode": "search", "searchQuery": "python programming", "maxItems": 5}

Data Source

edX embeds course data in its Next.js server-rendered HTML pages (RSC JSON payloads). This actor parses that embedded data without requiring authentication or API keys. Data is publicly accessible and does not require a proxy.