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331 Best + Free Java Courses & Certificates [2026]

331 courses compared 136 over 10 hours long Updated September 21, 2026

Ranked by Michael Kuhlman, CourseDuck's founder, from student reviews across every provider. How we rank · Embed this list

Our top picks

  • Java Masterclass 2025: 130+ Hours of Expert Lessons [Udemy]
  • Selenium WebDriver with Java -Basics to Advanced+Frameworks [Udemy]
  • Java Tutorial for Complete Beginners [Udemy]
  • Master Microservices with Spring Boot and Spring Cloud [Udemy]
  • Java Database Connection: JDBC and MySQL [Udemy]
  • Java Programming for Complete Beginners [Udemy]
  • The Complete Apache Kafka Practical Guide [Udemy]
  • Rest API Testing (Automation) from Scratch-Rest Assured Java [Udemy]
  • Java Spring Framework, Spring Boot, Spring AI - Gen AI [Udemy]
  • Learn JAVA Programming - Beginner to Master [Udemy]

About the best Java courses

CourseDuck compares the 331 Java courses listed here from 20 providers, 87 of them free, and ranks them from the 1.7 million ratings and reviews their students have left, with the price, length and level of each one side by side. No course pays to be listed or ranked. As featured on Harvard EDU, Stackify and Inc. How we rank

Frequently asked questions

  • Udemy and Eduonix are best for practical, low cost and high quality Java courses.
  • Coursera, Udacity and EdX are the best providers for a Java certificate, as many come from top Ivy League Universities.
  • YouTube is best for free Java crash courses.
  • PluralSight, SkillShare and LinkedIn are the best monthly subscription platforms if you want to take multiple Java courses.
  • Independent Providers for Java courses & certificates are generally hit or miss.
Developing an OOP application is much easier, and it also helps to keep system modular, flexible, and extensible. Once you have knowledge of crucial OOP concepts like Abstraction, Encapsulation, Polymorphism, and Inheritance, you can use all those with Java.
Average
$118,139 a year
Middle half earn
$96,500 to $136,000 25th to 75th percentile
Full range
$51,000 to $172,000

Share of US job postings in each pay band; the dark bar holds the average, the striped bars the 25th and 75th percentiles. Source: ZipRecruiter salary data, gathered when this guide was first published in January 2021.

Yes and No. Certified Java developers on average make more money. Having a Java certificate greatly increases the chance of landing an interview and can open otherwise closed doors. Coursera, Udacity and EdX offer excellent certificate options for impressing your future employers. Eduonix, Udemy and several other providers offer certificates, but they aren't as reputable. If you have a Computer Science Degree, certificates are not as important. Still, many employers won't care about certificates, but rather your interview skills, experience and/or skills assessment.

Provider

University

Tags

Rating

Duration

Difficulty

Publication Year

Language

331 Filtered Courses

1

Java Masterclass 2025: 130+ Hours of Expert Lessons (2026)

4.6

A 136-hour, 739-lecture Java course from Tim Buchalka, refreshed in August 2026, that nearly a million students have used to go from zero to solid core Java.

Best for: People who want one long, structured Java course with 50 coding exercises and are prepared to spend months on it.

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Pros
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Cons
    • Covers core Java end to end: OOP, generics, lambdas, collections, streams, file I/O and concurrency in 21 sections.
    • 50 coding exercises and 50 quizzes, plus source code attached to every video, which beginners call guard rails.
    • Updated in August 2026 and refreshed steadily since 2015, so the Java 17 material is current.
    • Experienced developers in the reviews say they still picked up new things from it.
    • Low-star reviews say examples are overcomplicated, with several classes introduced at once instead of simple demos.
    • Code is pasted onto the screen rather than typed live, and some find the newer videos rushed and monotone.
    • At 136 hours it is a months-long commitment, and course files arrive as many separate zips.
Selenium WebDriver with Java -Basics to Advanced+Frameworks
provider

2

Selenium WebDriver with Java -Basics to Advanced+Frameworks (2026)

4.6

Udemy's Bestseller-badged Selenium course, with over 141,000 ratings, taking manual testers from zero Java through a full TestNG, Maven and Cucumber framework in 56 hours.

Best for: Manual testers with no Java who want an automation job and need framework and interview prep, not just Selenium basics.

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Pros
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Cons
    • No Java assumed; a reviewer with no prior Java says he followed along and learned it here.
    • Full framework build: TestNG, Maven, Page Object, Extent reports, Jenkins, Cucumber, Grid and Git.
    • Assignments after most modules and a trainer team that reviewers say answers questions quickly.
    • Updated July 2026; covers Selenium 4 features, Chrome DevTools Protocol and a GitHub Copilot lecture.
    • Nearly everything is built inside one project; a one-star reviewer wanted a second full build to practice on.
    • 56 hours long, and the core Java tutorials sit at the end of the syllabus instead of the start.
    • One reviewer found the practice site for network mocking offline, and the description is heavy on sales talk.
Java Tutorial for Complete Beginners
provider

3

Java Tutorial for Complete Beginners (2026)

4.3

A calm 16-hour Java introduction from John Purcell that 1.9 million students have used to write their first programs, with no exercises and some dated recordings.

Best for: Complete beginners who want a short, plain Java walkthrough before committing to a 100-hour bootcamp.

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Pros
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Cons
    • Explanations reviewers call clear and practical, with a whiteboard JDK/JRE/JVM sketch that made things click
    • Around 16 hours and 73 lectures, short enough to finish before deciding on a bigger course
    • 1.9 million students and a 4.3 rating from over 103,000 reviews, with 83 percent giving 4 or 5 stars
    • Type-along, example-first style rather than theory first, which beginners say makes it easy to study
    • Audio and video quality show the course's 2012 origins, and some external links no longer work
    • No quizzes, coding exercises or assignments; you only get practice if you type along
    • OOP topics like polymorphism get a light treatment and the second half moves faster than the first
Master Microservices with Spring Boot and Spring Cloud
provider

4

Master Microservices with Spring Boot and Spring Cloud (2026)

4.5

Roughly 306,000 students have taken this route from a Spring Boot REST API to Spring Cloud, Docker and Kubernetes, in about 23 hours of typing along with Ranga Karanam.

Best for: Java developers who know Spring basics and want one structured path through REST APIs, Spring Cloud, Docker and Kubernetes.

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Pros
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Cons
    • One reviewer says the practicals never got stuck; another found even the Kubernetes lessons easy to follow
    • Appendices cover Spring, Spring Boot, JPA, JUnit, Mockito and Gradle for anyone with gaps
    • Updated May 2026, with V3 Docker and Kubernetes sections and 44 written articles
    • Students call the explanations simple and crisp and say they can apply them to real work
    • One student finds the accent hard to follow, and another found Japanese subtitles stop after section 5
    • No big-picture architecture diagram, so one reviewer says they lose track of where the project is heading
    • No quizzes or coding exercises, and low-star reviews mention plugs for other in28Minutes courses
Java Database Connection: JDBC and MySQL
provider

5

Java Database Connection: JDBC and MySQL (2026)

4.6

A free 90 minute Chad Darby walkthrough of connecting Java to MySQL with JDBC, from basic queries and prepared statements to stored procedures and BLOBs.

Best for: Java developers who know the basics and need the MySQL connection layer explained in one sitting.

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Pros
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Cons
    • Free, 89 minutes across 25 lectures, so it fits in a single evening
    • Chad Darby's explanations are described as direct and clear, with no padding
    • All source code and database scripts are downloadable, which one reviewer says made the concepts stick
    • Covers stored procedures with IN, OUT and INOUT parameters, transactions, and BLOBs and CLOBs in under 90 minutes
    • No quizzes or coding exercises; one reviewer wishes there was more code-along practice
    • Short on depth, one review says it skips JDBC architecture
    • Assumes basic Java and MySQL already, and a few helper functions appear without explanation
Java Programming for Complete Beginners
provider

6

Java Programming for Complete Beginners (2026)

4.6
Java Programming for Beginners. Learn Core Java, Java Object Oriented Programming and Spring Boot. Get Interview Ready!

iconWhat You'll Learn

  • HANDS-ON with EXERCISES and PUZZLES: Learn Object Oriented Programming with Java
  • CLEAR YOUR JAVA INTERVIEWS: GET ALL the SKILLS to demonstrate an EXPERTISE with Java Programming
The Complete Apache Kafka Practical Guide
provider

7

The Complete Apache Kafka Practical Guide (2026)

4.6

A hands-on Kafka course that has you running real brokers, producers, and consumers in Java, Node.js, and Python instead of just watching slides.

Best for: Beginners who want zero-to-working Kafka clusters through practice, not theory-first lectures.

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Pros
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Cons
    • Runs real multi-broker clusters and replicated topics, not just slides
    • Builds custom producers and consumers in Java, Node.js, and Python
    • Instructor's step-by-step explanations get consistent praise for clarity
    • GitHub repo has all project files and commands ready to use
    • Node.js and Python projects are much thinner than the 108-minute Java section
    • Some content lags behind Kafka 3.x and 4.x changes like KRaft mode
    • Q&A support gets described as sparse when students hit confusing spots
Rest API Testing (Automation) from Scratch-Rest Assured Java
provider

8

Rest API Testing (Automation) from Scratch-Rest Assured Java (2026)

4.6

A 24-hour REST Assured and Postman course built around real APIs like Jira, Twitter, and Google Maps, taking non-coders from zero to a Cucumber BDD framework.

Best for: Manual testers with no coding background who want a full API automation framework, not just theory

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Pros
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Cons
    • Uses real hosted APIs like Jira, Twitter, and Google Maps instead of toy examples
    • Goes all the way to a Cucumber BDD framework with Maven and TestNG
    • Assumes zero coding or automation background and builds up from scratch
    • Refreshed in April 2026 with new GraphQL testing content
    • No downloadable notes or PDF, several reviewers want a way to review concepts without rewatching lectures
    • One reviewer says a sample API used in the POJO class section isn't included in the resources
    • At 152 lectures over roughly 24.6 hours, it's a long commitment for a niche testing skill
Java Spring Framework, Spring Boot, Spring AI - Gen AI
provider

9

Java Spring Framework, Spring Boot, Spring AI - Gen AI (2026)

4.5

A 55-hour Telusko path that teaches Core Java first, then Spring Boot, JPA, Security and JWT, with the instructor's habit of explaining why, not just how, behind its 45,700 ratings.

Best for: Complete beginners who want Java and Spring Boot taught from zero in one patient, story-style course.

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Pros
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Cons
    • Explains the reasoning behind each step; reviewers say they finally understand why, not just how.
    • Starts with about 14 hours of Core and Advanced Java, so no prior programming is needed.
    • Spring Security, JWT and OAuth2 get nearly 4 hours across three sections.
    • Refreshed April 2026, with 39 quizzes and 13 coding exercises to practice on.
    • Some lectures show shortcuts 'for test purposes' that reviewers say are bad practice for real work.
    • Reviewers report outdated sections and unanswered support messages.
    • No dedicated Spring AI, Docker or microservices section appears in the syllabus despite the title.
Learn JAVA Programming - Beginner to Master
provider

10

Learn JAVA Programming - Beginner to Master (2026)

4.7

A 61 hour walk through Core Java from syntax to Swing and JavaFX, taught by Abdul Bari, whose breakdowns of tricky concepts keep coming up in the reviews.

Best for: Beginner to intermediate coders who want every core Java topic explained slowly, in order.

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Pros
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Cons
    • Abdul Bari breaks down multithreading, collections, and OOP into small, clear steps
    • Covers rare-for-Udemy topics like AWT, Swing, JavaFX, and JDBC with SQLite
    • Updated as recently as May 2026, so the content stays current
    • 4.7 rating across more than 31,000 reviews shows consistent satisfaction
    • Only 10 coding exercises and no projects, so practice is light relative to the lecture count
    • At 61 hours it moves slowly, better for steady study than a fast start
    • A few reviewers wanted deeper linked list coverage, Mac terminal steps, or Spring Boot content

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