Online degree and course portals in the US
Online degrees and professional courses. $52.42 CPC — enrollment leads are worth hundreds of dollars each.
Does the Atlas publish its own online education database?
2,000 fully online degree programs, ranked by earnings — 2,000 degree programs at 184 US schools where every credential in the field can be completed fully online, with in-state tuition, completion rate and median earnings 10 years after entry, from the Department of Education's College Scorecard.
Which online education portals get the most traffic?
By traffic, the largest online education portals are Coursera (47.51M monthly visits), Udemy (1.62M monthly visits) and edX (595K monthly visits). Worldwide figures for 2026-06, third-party estimates from onelittleweb.com. Where available, each row below lists the portal's monthly visits next to its operator.
Who buys in US online education, and is there a single national database?
- Who pays for attention here
- Online program management companies such as 2U, Noodle and Academic Partnerships, plus Coursera and Udemy affiliate programs, pay universities' per-enrolled-lead acquisition (head term "online degree programs" $52.42 CPC, 12100 monthly searches, measured 2026-09-01).
- What a cross-state index adds
- Coursera and Udemy already aggregate individual courses and College Scorecard aggregates institution-level outcomes; the uncovered side is a program-level national join of online degrees (modality, credits, tuition, admission requirements) across accredited institutions.
- Single national database?
- Yes — a federal one. NCES IPEDS covers every Title IV institution with enrollment, distance-education counts and finances, but has no registry of individual online programs, per-program tuition, reviews or admissions (verified 200).
Source: nces.ed.gov · Last reviewed 2026-09-17
How big is the demand for US online education?
Google Ads, United States, 2026-09-01- Head keyword
- online degree programs
- Searches / month
- 12,100
- Cost per click
- $52.42
- Advertiser competition
- 33/100
Opening score 73/100 — high click value against thin advertiser competition.
What are the main online education portals in the US?
University-partnered courses and degrees; the largest accredited online catalogue.
Open instructor marketplace covering vocational and hobby skills — offering over 200,000 courses across technology, b...
University course platform founded by MIT and Harvard, now commercially operated.
Online degree comparison ranked by salary outcome rather than by advertising spend.
Online language learning platform connecting students with language teachers via video chat for live tutoring.