10 Best Online Business Courses (Free & Paid)

Business courses can provide the skills required to run a successful business. With online business classes, you can learn about go-to-market strategies, accounting, promoting your brand, finding employees,  and much more, all in your own time.

The question is, which are the best online business courses, and what can they do for your new venture?

Each of the courses listed below covers the essentials of running a business and is offered by accredited institutions.

We’ve included both free and paid courses, with certification in our list, and refined our choices based on quality, learning experience, and value.

10 Top Online Business Courses

1. Business Analytics (Harvard Business School)

Offered by one of the most prestigious educational institutes in the world, the Harvard Business School “Business Analytics” course demystifies the art of running your own company.

Specifically, the online business classes offered by Harvard focus on the value of using data to build your company. You’ll learn how to recognize trends and use patterns to develop a profitable company.

Janice Hammond, the instructor behind the course, is the Associate Dean for Culture and Community at Harvard Business School. Her course syllabus looks at what it means to leverage and utilize data effectively in your company, whether you’re choosing which products to sell, or selecting your target market.

Why enroll in this course?

Data-driven decisions are essential in running a successful business. Throughout the life of your company, you’ll be using everything from Google Ads reports to sentiment analysis to guide your business decisions. It pays to start your adventure into entrepreneurship with a focus on data.

The class offered by Harvard Business School is one of the best online business courses for learning how to create representative samples, craft sound surveys and define meaningful trends in your marketplace.

You’ll even have a chance to check out some authentic case studies, to help you understand how data influences larger companies, like Amazon. You’ll learn how to:

• Create hypotheses and quantify evidence for or against them.
• Analyze the relationships between variables affecting your business.
• Examine and understand your target audience.
• Discover patterns in a specific industry or marketplace.

It’s also worth noting you’ll have a world-class education from Harvard at the end of your course, complete with a certification of completion to make your resume shine.

2. Digital Marketing Full Course (Reliablesoft)

One of the most important business skills for all business owners/entrepreneurs is online marketing. Acquiring the necessary digital marketing skills can help you grow your business without having to outsource your marketing to expensive agencies.

The Digital Marketing Full Course by Reliablesoft Academy will teach you everything you need about marketing a business online. The course was created by successful digital marketers with years of experience in running marketing campaigns for all kinds of businesses.

The course learning material is a combination of video and text to help you build your skills in the most effective way. All courses that are part of the bundle include real examples of how to take your business to the next level by utilizing modern marketing techniques.

Why enroll in this course?

There are many benefits to enrolling in this course. The most important are:

• You’ll learn how to grow a website’s traffic organically i.e. without relying on paid advertising.
• You’ll learn how to use social networks effectively to expand your brand’s reach.
• You’ll learn how to use paid ads (like Facebook Ads and Google Ads) to run profitable campaigns for increasing your sales.
• You will get two precious certifications to add to your resume. An SEO certification and a Digital Marketing Certification.
• The course is perfect for beginners in digital marketing and has no prerequisites.

The course is also suitable for training your in-house marketing team.

If you want to explore more courses on online marketing, you can view our digital marketing courses and digital marketing certification guides.

3. Project Management Certification (Google)

Project management may not be the most glamorous part of running a business, but it is a necessary part of building a successful company.

Whether you’re running a digital marketing campaign or resolving issues for a client, the Google Project Management course will help you to run your company smoothly.

One of the more popular business training courses from Google, the Project Management Certification teaches you all about organizational culture, strategic thinking, and change management.

You’ll learn the kind of skills required to transform a project with agile strategies, like Scrum events and roles. What’s more, Google also covers the basics of project communication.

Why enroll in this course?

Successfully running a company requires a lot of skills, from excellent communication and leadership talent to fantastic project management. With Google, you can learn how to become a forward-thinking business manager, with a focus on problem-solving and risk reduction.

Taking this course also means you can directly apply for jobs with Google, and a host of top employers like Best Buy and Walmart, if starting your own company isn’t for you.

Around 82% of Google certification graduates report positive career outcomes within 6 months of their training. With Google’s help, you’ll discover how to:

• Create risk management plans
• Improve processes and make projects more efficient
• Manage escalations and team dynamics
• Create budgets and navigate procurement
• Use project management software and scrum templates

Google also offers a range of videos, assessments, and hands-on activities as part of this course, so it’s ideal for students with different learning styles.

Other courses by Google worth exploring are the Googe Digital Marketing Certification and Google Ads certifications.

4. Small Business Administration Courses (SBA)

If you’re looking for small business courses online, it only makes sense to start with the SBA (Small Business Association). The SBA learning center offers an easy-to-follow and step-by-step approach to building your own company.

The educational track is actually split into a host of miniature courses which cover specific topics, like planning or researching a business idea.

You can learn what’s involved in seeking out excellent (profitable) ideas for your own business, and how to start an online business (or offline) effectively.

There are also online courses on how to master day-to-day operations, support your employees, and market your business to potential customers.

Why enroll in this course?

The simple, bite-sized approach to each aspect of launching your own company means the SBA can make entrepreneurship seem more accessible to anyone.

You can start with the simple videos on writing your business plan and understanding legal requirements when you create a company and evolve all the way to the point of learning about business growth.

Each course is designed to be as convenient as possible, with no restrictions on how quickly you need to complete anything.

The selection of free online business courses provided by the SBA is also very straightforward for beginners, though there’s no certification when you’re done. During these lessons, you’ll learn:

• How to successfully plan and launch a business.
• What kind of legal requirements do you need to consider for your company.
• How to promote your business on various channels.
• What it takes to manage a growing company.
• What kind of avenues you can use for growth

Each course is delivered in a checklist format, so you can track your progress as you go. Plus, you can check out the SBA mentor and protegee program too.

5. Essential Business Skills (AMA)

One of the most challenging parts of running a company is figuring out the finances. While the Essential Business Skills course from the American Management Association (AMA) doesn’t focus exclusively on accounting, it will give you a behind-the-scenes look at important financial concepts not covered by other classes.

The Essential Business Skills course starts with an overview of accounting and follows up with strategies for better problem solving and decision making.

This is also one of the best online business courses for beginners developing their project management skills and learning how to analyze financial statements more effectively.

Why enroll in this course?

AMA looks at several essential skills often overlooked by other online business courses, such as accounting and financial analytics. While you can definitely use a bookkeeping professional to help with these aspects of running your company, it helps to have at least a basic knowledge of your company’s finances, so you can make intelligent budget decisions.

The course also covers a range of additional essential concepts, like making intelligent decisions for the future of your business and setting up more effective corporate projects.

During the lessons, you’ll learn how to:

• Understand accounting basics and financial statements.
• Solve problems quickly with decision-making tools.
• Develop project management skills.
• Recognize different types of decision-making.

You can tackle each of the four lessons at your own pace, soaking up the knowledge through informative, easy-to-follow videos.

6. Advance Your Business (Google Skillshop)

Delivered by the ever-reliable experts at Google Skillshop, the “Advance your business” class is an excellent tool for companies looking to take their venture to the next level.

During the lessons, you’ll discover how to engage your customers, generate more sales, and strengthen the opportunities in your organization, without taking on excess corporate debt.

Google covers many of the fundamentals of using marketing to reach new leads in the “Advance Your Business” lessons, so it’s ideal if you’re new to things like email and content marketing. You can even discover more about building an effective brand.

Why enroll in this course?

One of the best free online business courses for companies in search of growth, Google’s Skillshop offering is an easy-to-follow but insightful learning experience.

Each segment of the course splits into its own video-focused lesson, so you can follow along at your own pace.

One of the best things about this course is its focus on budget-friendly company development. You’ll get Google-approved insights into how you can strengthen your business without taking on debt, so you have fewer stresses associated with your venture.

During this course, you’ll learn:

• How to take a customer-focused approach to advertising.
• The essentials of building a compelling brand.
• How to transform your company without excess debt.
• The basics of building email marketing campaigns.
• How to segment and engage customers.

Google’s videos are straightforward to follow for beginners and full of fun, interesting facts. This is the kind of content you’ll really enjoy learning from.

7. Key Technologies for Business (IBM)

Technology is quickly making its way into all parts of running a successful business. You’ll use tech for everything from managing projects (and employees) to tracking marketing campaigns.

Learning how to handle valuable technology tools from an innovator like IBM is a great way to get ahead of the competition.

The Key Technologies for Business class from IBM is one of the top online business courses with certificates for entrepreneurs focused on the tech side of running a company.

The educational track will cover everything from cloud computing to the basics of data science and what it means to leverage data in your business environment.

Why enroll in this course?

Ideal for startups and innovators in their chosen field, this IBM course will ensure you can leverage all of the most transformative technology when running your company.

There’s even a segment of the course dedicated specifically to artificial intelligence, and how you can use intelligent technology to drive better decision-making in your company.

To help ensure you’re getting the most out of your learning experience, IBM infuses each of its courses with hands-on assignments, so you can see the specific tech in action.

For instance, you can use computer vision during your lessons to learn more about the power of AI. Throughout this tech-savvy course, you’ll learn how to:

• Understand AI, machine learning, and neural networks.
• Leverage data science and intelligence to make business decisions.
• Use foundational knowledge of cloud computing tech.
• Understand the key technologies driving business growth

There’s a 7-day free trial for IBM’s courses, which means you can test out the experience before investing fully into 3 months of learning.

8. Contract Law for Business (Harvard University)

Delivered by experts at Harvard Business School, the Contract Law for Business course could be a valuable investment for you if you’re going to be dealing with contracts regularly in your company.

For many organizations, contracts will be a day-to-day part of maintaining ongoing revenue. However, these vital tools can be tricky for beginners to understand.

Over the course of eight weeks, this self-paced course by Charles Fried will give you behind-the-scenes insights into contracts, and how to use them effectively.

Fried is a Beneficial Professor of Law, so he has plenty of knowledge to share on everything from enforcing contracts to the limitations of contract law.

Why enroll in this course?

Charles Fried manages to make a concept as complex as contract law into something any business leader can understand. The step-by-step learning track will introduce you to everything you need to know about contractual issues which can affect your company as it begins to grow.

You’ll discover how courts interpret contracts, and the relationship between contracts and things like agencies, partnerships, regulations, and corporations. There’s even a free version of the course available, but it has no certificate.

During this course, you’ll learn how to:

• Manage and understand contractual relationships.
• Minimize and handle contractual breaches.
• Form contracts more effectively through valid offers and acceptance.
• Read through contracts and apply key legal concepts.

The shareable certification provided by Harvard at the end of your course is particularly attractive, as it will help to add extra selling points to your resume.

9. Foundations of Business Strategy (Coursera)

Straightforward, engaging, and packed with useful information, the online business management courses from Coursera are popular for a reason.

This class on the Foundations of Business Strategy offered by the University of Virginia is one of the best ways to learn about the strategic elements involved in business success.

The classes were developed at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, with support from instructors Jared Harris and Michael Lenox.

Your two teachers will guide you through an easy-to-understand network of nuanced strategies for making your business more successful. You can even learn how to conduct a range of critical analyses from SWOT to competitor evaluations.

Why enroll in this course?

Strategy is an essential part of running a successful business. The more time and effort you dedicate to doing your homework before building your company, the more likely it is to be successful.

The University of Virginia’s Foundations of Business Strategy course provides excellent insights into all of the foundations of business theory and analysis.

By the time you’re done learning (at your own pace), you’ll know what kind of analytics need to be considered when making critical company decisions.

You’ll also have a certificate you can use to impress potential clients. With this course, you’ll learn how to:

• Use SWOT, environmental, and competitor analysis.
• Assess industry structure and competitive dynamics.
• Understand profitability within your business ideas.
• Complete capabilities assessments to guide decision-making.

Michael and Jared also provide a useful overview of the positives and negatives of various different competitive positions.

10. Financial and Managerial Accounting (MIT)

As mentioned above, reporting and analytics are going to be significant factors in running your company successfully. Unfortunately, a lot of would-be business owners start their companies without a foundational knowledge of these concepts.

With the help of MIT, you can get ahead of your competition, with a behind-the-scenes look at accounting.

Hosted by Professor Sugata Roychowdhury, the Financial and Managerial Accounting course from MIT is an online learning experience dedicated to helping you control the cash flow of your company. You’ll be able to prepare better financial reports and make stronger decisions as a result.

Why enroll in this course?

With guidance directly from MIT, including a comprehensive range of lecture notes, downloadable resources, and assignments, you’ll gain a deeper knowledge of the financial and managerial accounting for your business.

The more you know about preparing and understanding your financial accounts, the easier it will be to plan strategies for business growth and minimize budget waste. You can even prepare better reports for your accountants to simplify tax season.

During this course, you’ll learn how to:

• Record transactions and assess balance sheets.
• Understand the basic accounting process.
• Set up a statement of cash flow.
• Track and manage long-term debt.

Since financial issues are one of the biggest reasons many businesses fail, learning how to handle your finances could get you ahead of your competitors.

Are Online Business Courses Worth It?

Free online courses with certificates to enhance your resume are in short supply. While there are a lot of excellent lessons out there, you may need to pay a little extra to develop your knowledge in specific areas. The question is, are online business courses worth it?

The correct courses can be an excellent way to develop your knowledge as a business owner and prepare you for the challenges you’ll face. You can learn how to manage projects, finances, and marketing campaigns, as well as what it takes to grow a successful business.

Though some courses will cost you, studies show the right lessons can have a positive impact.

One report from Harvard found that 1 in 4 students received a title change as a result of a course they completed. The results also showed:

• 96% of students felt their online course led to personal betterment.
• 91% said their course improved their professional lives.
• 90% believed they became more confident in leading after taking a class.
• 93% felt an online course helped their resume.
• 90% said an online course improved their knowledge of business terminology.

Thanks to a rapidly evolving technology landscape, online business courses can also be just as practical as offline courses, with extra benefits. With an online course, you can study part-time or update specific areas of your skill set at your own pace.

Our Criteria for Choosing The Best Online Business Courses

To bring you our selection of the best online business courses, we looked at hundreds of learning opportunities online and examined their performance in various areas. Some of the points we looked at during our reviews included:

• Academy reputation
• Skills gained (and their impact on business growth)
• User reviews and testimonials
• Content quality (and types of content, such as video or written resources)
• Usefulness when running a business
• Value (based on price and results offered)