Online courses have become a multi-billion dollar industry. Everyone’s selling one. Your favourite YouTuber has one. That LinkedIn connection who posts motivational quotes has one. Your dentist probably has one.

Most of them aren’t worth the money. But some are genuinely excellent. Here’s how to tell the difference.

The Pricing Problem

Online course pricing is completely disconnected from value. You can find a comprehensive Stanford computer science course for free on YouTube. You can also find a two-hour “masterclass” on Instagram marketing for $997.

The expensive course isn’t necessarily better. Often it’s just marketed better.

High prices create an anchoring effect. People assume expensive means valuable. Course creators know this, which is why they show a “regular price” of $2,000 crossed out next to a “sale price” of $497. The course was never $2,000. The $497 is the real price.

What Makes a Good Online Course

The best online courses share several traits.

The instructor has done the thing, not just taught the thing. A course on building a business by someone who’s built businesses is different from a course by someone who teaches courses about building businesses. Look at the instructor’s background outside of course creation.

The content is structured around outcomes, not topics. “By the end of this section, you’ll be able to…” is a good sign. A vague list of topics is a bad sign.

There are practical exercises or projects. Passive video consumption doesn’t produce learning. Good courses make you do things.

The content is updated regularly. Technology and business courses become outdated fast. Check when the course was last updated.

There’s a community or feedback mechanism. The ability to ask questions and get answers from instructors or peers significantly increases course value.

The Free Tier Is Underrated

Before paying for anything, exhaust the free options.

University courses on Coursera, edX, and MIT OpenCourseWare are free to audit (you pay only if you want a certificate). The quality is typically higher than commercial courses because it’s actual university curriculum.

YouTube has full-length courses on almost everything. Channels like Khan Academy, 3Blue1Brown (maths), and CS50 (Harvard computer science) are genuinely world-class.

Documentation and tutorials from software companies are often the best learning resources for technical skills. The official React, Python, and AWS documentation is comprehensive and free.

Where Paid Courses Make Sense

Paid courses are worth it in specific situations.

When you need structure and accountability. If free resources exist but you can’t motivate yourself to work through them, a paid course with deadlines and cohort-based learning can provide the structure you need.

When you need a credential. Some industries value certificates. If a specific certification opens doors in your field, it’s a legitimate investment.

When you need community access. Some paid courses come with private communities that are genuinely valuable for networking and peer learning. This is often worth more than the course content itself.

When the instructor has unique expertise. If someone has done something remarkable and is sharing their specific methodology, that’s worth paying for. Generic information repackaged is not.

Red Flags to Watch For

Testimonials about income. “I made $50,000 in my first month after taking this course!” This is marketing, not education. Even if the testimonials are real (often they’re not), they’re the best-case outliers.

Urgency tactics. “Only 3 spots left!” “Price goes up at midnight!” Real educational institutions don’t use countdown timers. These pressure tactics exist because the course can’t sell on merit.

Vague outcomes. If the course promises to “transform your thinking” or “change your mindset” without specific, measurable outcomes, you’re paying for motivation, not education.

No refund policy. Reputable courses offer a refund window. If they don’t, they know a significant percentage of buyers would ask for their money back.

The AI Factor

AI tools are changing online education. Some courses now use AI to provide personalised feedback, adaptive learning paths, and immediate answers to student questions. AI strategy support is even being applied to corporate training programs to make them more effective and personalised.

But AI also makes it easier to create low-quality courses quickly. Someone can use AI to generate slide decks, scripts, and quizzes in hours instead of weeks. The volume of mediocre courses is increasing.

This makes your ability to evaluate course quality more important, not less.

My Approach

Before buying a course, I check three things:

1. Can I find this information free elsewhere? If yes, I start there.
2. What specifically will I be able to do after completing this course that I can’t do now?
3. What are people saying about this course six months after buying it (not immediately after)?

If the answers check out, I’ll invest. Otherwise, there’s a library full of $20 books that cover the same material.