Coursera Course Scraper

Scrape online courses from Coursera.org search results. Extract course titles, ratings, difficulty levels, skills, partners, and direct URLs for education research and course analysis. Uses Playwright with Firefox for reliable scraping and anti-bot bypass.

Features

• 📚 Comprehensive Course Data: Retrieve course names, ratings, review counts, difficulty levels, duration, skills covered, images, and URLs.
• 🔍 Search-Based Extraction: Provide a search query to find relevant course listings.
• 🦊 Firefox Browser Automation: Uses Playwright with Firefox to bypass Cloudflare and other blocking mechanisms.
• ⚡ Resource Blocking: Blocks images, fonts, and trackers for faster, stealthier scraping.
• 🌐 Coursera Integration: Direct access to Coursera's search results and course catalog.

Features

• 📚 Comprehensive Course Data: Retrieve course names, ratings, review counts, difficulty levels, duration, skills covered, images, and URLs.
• 🔍 Search-Based Extraction: Provide a search query to find relevant course listings.
• ⚡ Fast & Efficient: Quickly gather course data for market research and education insights.
• 🌐 Coursera Integration: Direct access to Coursera's search results and course catalog.

Use Cases

• Education research and course analysis
• Market research for online learning platforms
• Course recommendation systems
• Academic content aggregation
• Competitive analysis for course providers

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
query	string	Search term for courses (e.g., 'python', 'machine learning')	'python'
startUrl	string	Specific Coursera search URL to start from	-
results_wanted	integer	Maximum number of courses to collect	20
max_pages	integer	Safety cap on search result pages to visit	10
proxyConfiguration	object	Proxy settings for reliable scraping	Residential proxy

Output Data

Field	Type	Description
name	string	Course title
avgProductRating	number	Average rating (out of 5)
numProductRatings	integer	Number of reviews
productDifficultyLevel	string	Difficulty level (BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED)
productDuration	string	Course duration category
productType	string	Type (COURSE, SPECIALIZATION, etc.)
skills	array	Skills covered in the course
url	string	Direct link to course page
imageUrl	string	Course thumbnail image URL
partners	array	Organizations offering the course
partnerLogos	array	Partner organization logos
isCourseFree	boolean	Whether the course is free
isPartOfCourseraPlus	boolean	Coursera Plus subscription required
isNewContent	boolean	Newly added content flag

Usage Examples

Basic Search

{
  "query": "data science",
  "results_wanted": 50
}

Custom Start URL

{
  "startUrl": "https://www.coursera.org/search?query=machine%20learning",
  "results_wanted": 100,
  "max_pages": 20
}

Sample Output

[
  {
    "name": "Python for Data Science, AI & Development",
    "avgProductRating": 4.6,
    "numProductRatings": 43000,
    "productDifficultyLevel": "BEGINNER",
    "productDuration": "ONE_TO_THREE_MONTHS",
    "productType": "COURSE",
    "skills": [
      "Data Import/Export",
      "Programming Principles",
      "Python Programming",
      "Jupyter",
      "Data Structures",
      "Pandas",
      "JSON",
      "NumPy",
      "Object Oriented Programming"
    ],
    "url": "https://www.coursera.org/learn/python-for-applied-data-science-ai",
    "imageUrl": "https://d3njjcbhbojbot.cloudfront.net/api/utilities/v1/imageproxy/...",
    "partners": ["IBM"],
    "isCourseFree": false,
    "isPartOfCourseraPlus": true
  }
]

Tips

• Use specific search queries for better results
• Increase results_wanted for comprehensive data collection
• Residential proxies recommended for consistent access
• Browser automation provides better anti-bot protection than HTTP-only methods
• Results are sorted by relevance on Coursera

Integrations

• Apify Platform: Run on Apify for cloud execution and scheduling
• Make.com/Zapier: Automate data workflows
• Google Sheets: Export results for analysis
• Database Systems: Store course data for applications

FAQ

Q: How many courses can I scrape? A: No strict limit, but start with smaller batches for testing.

Q: Does it work with Coursera Plus content? A: Yes, it extracts all publicly available courses including Coursera Plus offerings.

Q: Can I filter by difficulty or duration? A: Use specific search queries or post-process the results.

Legal Notice

This scraper accesses publicly available course information from Coursera.org. Ensure compliance with Coursera's Terms of Service and applicable laws. Use for legitimate research and analysis purposes only.