WordPress powers about a third of the websites on the internet. More than, in fact. With a 43% market share, it’s no wonder that so many want to learn how to use the content management system. The fact that WordPress is open-source and 100% free to use makes it an even more attractive option as you create your website.
If you want to learn how WordPress works so you can make your own websites or create some for your clients, we’ve put together this list of the best WordPress courses that 2024 has to offer. For your convenience, we’ve separated the list into two sections: premium and free.
How to Choose the Best WordPress Course?
If you want to learn WordPress, one of the best ways to do so is by taking a WordPress course. Courses are a fantastic way to learn things as you go since many of them are comprehensive and include step-by-step information in topics that you can learn piecemeal. These courses usually include everything you need to know, starting from the most important fundamentals to some of the most advanced concepts related to the content management system.
Thankfully, learning WordPress can be incredibly easy — so much so that learning the basics can take as little as a couple of hours. And, indeed, you can find courses lasting a few hours that can show you what to do to set up your very first website.
However, as you continue to learn more about WordPress, you’ll probably realize that there’s much left to learn, such as themes, plugins, SEO (search engine optimization), site security, and more. If you get into it deeply enough, you might even find yourself wanting to learn a bit about the development side of things. But how do you choose a course that has a structured curriculum involving all the topics you’d eventually like to learn about?
The criteria below can help guide you as you choose the best WordPress course for you.
- Price or budget - how much are you willing to spend on a course? You can certainly learn for free, but if you’d rather just learn a curriculum that has already been done for you, you’ll usually have to pay a fee. Courses on Udemy often go on sale at affordable prices. However, there are some programs that can cost you at least a couple hundred dollars, although these come with many benefits you likely won’t get with the more affordable options.
- Length or duration - how much time are you willing to spend learning? Or rather, how much time are you able to dedicate to the course?
- Certification - will you earn some sort of certificate or credential at the end of the course? Certification isn’t necessary, per se. But, if you can get a certificate for completing a course, it does become another credential for your resume.
- Topics covered - what do you intend to learn WordPress for? If you only want to learn WP to be able to create and manage your own websites, you can choose a shorter, simpler course. However, if you want to eventually create and manage websites for clients, you may want a more complex, in-depth WordPress class.
- Platform - where is the course available? How do you intend to learn (on which devices, online or offline, etc)?
- Reviews/ratings - on platforms such as Udemy or Coursera, courses often have star ratings (on a scale of 5, 5 being the highest) to let you know what people think about the course in general. This may help you determine whether a course would be worth your money and time.
- How long can you keep the course for? - Some platforms, such as Udemy, allow you lifetime access to the courses you have purchased. They also allow you to download PDFs or even videos of your courses. Other platforms, however, may stop your access to your class as soon as your subscription ends. Lifetime access may be more beneficial, but if you’re able to download most content or take detailed notes, it’s not necessary.
Now that you have a better idea of what to consider as you choose, it may become easier to select the right class from the list below.
Premium/Best WordPress Courses in 2024
1. WP101
Key Information
- Created in 2008
- Learn at your own pace with about 90 minutes' worth of videos
- Earn a certificate (when you complete every lesson in a course)
WP101 is a WordPress course that has been around for quite some time — nearly a decade and a half, in fact. Since its inception, WP101 has grown to become one of the best and most popular WordPress tutorial series on the internet. It has now helped millions of people with their quest to learn the content management system, thanks to its many courses and step-by-step videos.
If you’ve got a busy schedule, this program is a great way to learn WordPress since most of the videos included are usually less than five minutes in duration. WP101 teaches you things like how to navigate the WP dashboard, how to create content, how to manage pages and posts, how to use a theme, how to install and use plugins, and how to use widgets.
Duration: 90 minutes of videos
Level: Beginner
Certificate: Yes, if you complete every lesson within a course
Price:
- $19 per month, or
- $49 per year, or
- $89 for lifetime access
2. WPSessions
Key Information
- Presenters on the course platform come from well-known companies such as SiteGround, GoDaddy, Yoast, WooCommerce, and more
- WPSessions holds the world’s largest virtual/online WordPress conferences
- If you want to get training for yourself or your business/company, private training is available
WPSessions is an excellent course provider if you want your WordPress training straight from experts. Their library of courses and training sessions continues to grow. You can learn about topics like maintenance, search engine optimization, speed optimization, and even how to create a plugin.
The courses offered by WPSessions are more complex and meant for those more interested in the development side of the CMS. If you are wanting to learn how to work with WordPress for creating and managing your own website, there are more suitable courses.
Duration: 275+ hours worth of content
Level: Beginner +
Certificate: No information
Price:
- $29 per month to access all training and gain exclusive discounts on other websites, or
- $299 per year to download all training, get a bonus course, and get discounts on other websites
- 14-day money-back guarantee
3. WPShout
Key Information
- Offers clear, comprehensive courses that go through everything in detail
- Also teaches you about WordPress site security
- Best if you are a professional looking to learn development so you can take on clients
- Also offers a free introductory WP development course to help you start
If you would like to learn more about the development side of WordPress, WPShout is an excellent choice. It offers plenty of free content, including a free introductory WP dev course to start with. Then, you can choose from two courses: Up-and-Running or WordPress Security with Confidence.
Up-and-Running is a course that teaches you what you need to know about WP development through video tutorials, infographics, and clear explanations. It even provides a full ebook available for download.
Duration:
- Up-and-Running: 30+ chapters with quizzes at the end of each chapter
- WordPress Security with Confidence: 17 modules and 90+ video tutorials
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Certificate: Only for Up-and-Running course, pro bootcamp version
Price:
- Up-and-Running: $197 for deluxe version or $997 for pro bootcamp version
- WordPress Security with Confidence: The Comprehensive Security Course for Developers: $197
- 30-day money-back guarantee
4. WordPress for Beginners - Master WordPress Quickly
Key Information
- Great if your goal is to create affiliate marketing websites
- Available on Udemy, frequently on sale, gives you lifetime access
- Teaches you to create a professionally designed website from scratch and keep your content organized and easy to find
This Udemy course goes through the basics to teach you how to build a beautiful yet functional and responsible WordPress-powered website. It can teach you how to configure WP to get the best possible results. The course creator, Andrew Williams, intends his class to help those who want to create websites for affiliate marketing so they can get recurring passive income. However, it only discusses the WordPress/website creation aspect and not the other aspects of affiliate marketing.
Duration: 9h27m of videos, 20 sections with 108 lectures
Level: Beginner+
Certificate: Yes (Udemy)
Price:
- $129.99 full price, often goes on sale around $10-20
- Also available with a Udemy Personal Plan (subscription) available at $29.99 per month after a 7-day trial
5. WordPress for Beginners: Create Your Own WordPress Website
Key Information
- Very affordable even when not on sale
- Offers practical learning — create your fully-custom website while following the course
- Some SEO lessons are included
Course creator Phil Ebiner made this course for people who want to create a beautiful website as a hobby, for their personal life, or for their business. As a very hands-on course, you will create your website as you learn. Students can start from scratch and don’t need any prior HTML or CSS knowledge.
This Udemy course will show you how to create your site, publish pages and posts, use themes, and plugins. It then goes on into more complex topics, such as ecommerce and WordPress website security. Phil Ebiner also lets students know that if there are any questions, they can ask for help.
Duration: 7h50m of videos, 12 sections with 102 lectures
Level: Beginner
Certificate: Yes (Udemy)
Price:
- $19.99 full price, often goes on sale for around $10.99
6. How to Make a WordPress Website - Elementor Page Builder
Key Information
- Affordable even when not on sale
- Short but sweet
- Teaches you how to use WordPress and then shows you Elementor
There are many drag-and-drop editors out there, Elementor being one of them. You can install Elementor on your WordPress website so you can use the visual editor for designing your pages. This course shows you everything you need to know to make that happen, including how to install Elementor.
Elementor is an all-in-one solution for your website that allows you to control every aspect of your web design without having to know how to code. With an editor like Elementor, you can work faster without the additional stress of learning HTML or CSS.
Duration: 1h19m of video, 3 sections with 13 lectures
Level: Beginner
Certificate: Yes (Udemy)
Price:
- $19.99 full price, often goes on sale for $9.99
7. WordPress Academy: Learn WordPress Step-by-Step (SkillShare)
Key Information
- Get one month of web hosting for free while you are completing your course
- Learn WordPress from the very beginning with a project-based approach
- Great for hobbyists but also great for people looking to make a career out of WP website development
This course is brought to you by Chris Dixon through SkillShare. Chris Dixon is an experienced online teacher and web developer who made the course to help you learn the skills necessary to master WordPress from the very basics. Designed to be more fun and engaging, this course goes through a project-based approach so you can learn while you “do.” All the lessons are conducted in a demonstrative manner, with practical examples to show you what to do.
Although SkillShare does not provide certificates, you do still get plenty of experience you can use in the real world. You can even learn more advanced topics like creating ecommerce websites, optimizing your content for search engines, developing WordPress themes, and much more.
Duration: 84 lessons totalling 8h26m of video
Level: Beginners
Certificate: No
Price:
- Free trial for 1 month, then $13.99 per month billed monthly or $167.88 billed annually
8. WordPress 5 Essential Training (LinkedIn Learning)
Key Information
- Relatively short, but detailed enough to help you get started with creating and running your own WordPress-based website
- Get a LinkedIn shareable certificate
- Mostly includes the basics, not necessarily the best for those looking to learn WordPress development
Wordpress 5 Essential Training is a course on LinkedInLearning by Morten Rand-Hendriksen, an instructor passionate about helping students learn WordPress. As the course starts from the basics, students can learn even if they have no prior knowledge on the subject. With this course, you can learn how to create websites and blogs rich in features, how to create pages and publish posts and more.
*Pricing may vary depending on your location/region
Duration: 2 hours
Level: Beginner
Certificate: Yes
Price:
- $39.99* for the course or
- Free trial for one month, then $29.99 paid monthly or
- $19.99 per month paid yearly
9. WordPress: SEO (LinkedIn Learning)
Key Information
- Not as much a learn how-to-Wordpress course, so don’t expect a deep dive into the basics
- Teaches the basics of SEO, which is important if you want more visibility for your website
- Learn two of the best SEO plugins for WordPress, Yoast SEO, and All-in-One SEO Pack
- Earn a LinkedIn shareable certificate
Marketing manager Patrick Rauland created this LinkedIn Learning course to help students get the most from WordPress. In this course, Rauland shares tips and tricks that can help your website drive more potentially converting traffic. The start of this course will have you going through core SEO concepts and principles, such as keyword strategies both within and out of WordPress.
This course also shows you how to install SEO plugins such as All-in-One SEO Pack and Yoast’s WordPress SEO.
Duration: About one hour
Level: Beginner
Certificate: Yes
Price:
- $29.99* for the course or
- Free trial for one month, then $29.99 paid monthly or
- $19.99 per month paid yearly
10. The Complete WordPress Website Business Course 2.0
Key Information
- Learn how to work with WordPress for yourself and for clients, including ecommerce
- Learn to build and maintain websites, troubleshoot, and fix problems
- Learn how to work with themes like Divi and Kadence
- Teaches you how to land, manage, and keep clients
Despite being a course for those with beginner to intermediate knowledge and skill, The Complete WordPress Website Business Course 2.0 only requires a computer with a browser and an internet connection. No programming experience is required.
With this Udemy course, students can learn everything they need to create their own websites for their businesses (or clients). You can pick up information such as how to land and keep your clients, and how to sell them website maintenance and care plans for your recurring income. If ecommerce is also something you’d like to get into, you can learn WooCommerce here.
Duration: 18h16m
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Certificate: Yes (Udemy)
Price:
- $84.99 full price, $9.99 on sale
- Also available with a Udemy Personal Plan (subscription) available at $29.99 per month after a 7-day trial
11. Learn How to Create a Website from Scratch with WordPress in 1 Day
Key Information
- Ensures a concise and easy-to-understand format that explains WordPress fundamentals
- Excellent for those who want to learn about WordPress but also want to learn how to run their site as a business
- Also covers marketing and concepts like passive income
BitDegree offers this course which can teach you what you need to know to create your websites — and the basics of how to create and run your own business. It covers passive income, marketing, and how you can have a great side hustle where you can be your own boss. As a short, 75-minute course, you can learn what you need to in as short as a weekend — or even a day.
Duration: 17 short tutorials doable within 75 minutes
Level: Beginner
Certificate: Available
Price: $58.33 full price, often goes on deep sale/discount
Free WordPress Courses in 2024
12. WP Apprentice
Key Information
- No coding knowledge is required to finish this course
- The paid course has been made obsolete in 2021, but the free resources and tutorials remain
- The free training resource provides plenty of valuable information
WP Apprentice is no longer updated with new content, but the creator continues to keep up the tutorials as a free resource. Those who have purchased the course in the past continue to have access, as well.
If you’re looking for up-to-date information, this may not be the place. However, there are still some really helpful tips here, regardless.
Duration: Hours and hours of in-depth tutorials
Level: Beginner
Certificate: None
Price: FREE
13. Free WordPress Training: WordPress for Beginners (Yoast SEO)
Key Information
- Fantastic resource for even the absolute newbies — teaches perfectly how to work with WordPress
- Teaches a bit about managing your website too
- Excellent if you also want to learn a bit about search engine optimization for your website
Yoast is one of the biggest names in WordPress, and even in SEO. Their Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress is one of the best available. This free resource they’ve put together teaches you what you need to know, starting with an intro to WordPress all the way to managing your website. Of course, you can’t have a resource created by Yoast without having something about search engine optimization in there, too!
WordPress SEO can be crucial to getting visitors to your website. With enough traffic, you can then boost your conversions — provided you offer a worthy value proposition.
Yoast provides some of the best WordPress training for free in this resource. So, even if you do pay for a course elsewhere, it may benefit you to check this one out as well.
If you would like to have access to ALL academy courses Yoast SEO has to offer as well as Yoast SEO Premium plugin access, you can pay for the premium account. Yoast SEO Premium + Academy costs $99 per year.
Duration: 3 hours of videos, 23 quizzes
Level: Beginner
Certificate: None
Price: FREE
14. Coursera — How to Create a Website on a Weekend!
Key Information
- Excellent for learning on various platforms — also learn on mobile or tablets if you like
- Learn for free or pay a small fee to earn a certificate
- There are forums and peer reviews available during the course for real-time feedback
This course is available to audit for free. That means you get to check it out and see everything except for graded sections, if there are any. This course is short enough to allow you to learn it all on a weekend, although you can take as long as you need!
Duration: 22 hours
Level: Beginner
Certificate: No, unless you pay for the course
Price: FREE* or $29 for the certificate
* Free access only allows you to audit the course, it does not let you have access to graded portions
15. Coursera — Build a Full Website Using WordPress
Key Information
- 2 hours of guided learning, step by step
- Learn how to work with themes and plugins
- Learn the principles of keeping your website user-friendly
This guided project available on Coursera requires only an estimated two hours of your time. The split-screen style of learning makes it easier to pick up the knowledge you need. Guided projects work well for learning in a practical way since you work and do as you go. However, as this project in particular is somewhat advanced, you may want to learn the basics from another course prior to giving this one a try.
Currently, Coursera states that this course is best for people who are located within the region of North America. If you live outside the region, you can give it a try, though Coursera is currently working on improving the experience in other regions as well.
Duration: 2 hours
Level: Advanced
Certificate: None
Price: FREE
16. Create a WordPress Website for Your Web Design Business
Key Information
- Learn how to set up a WordPress site without any coding at all
- Learn WordPress and its main features
- Learn for your future business
Although short, this one hour and thirty-six minute course packs enough knowledge to teach you a thing or two. Create a WordPress Website for Your Web Design Business does exactly what it says on the name — it teaches you how to create your own website without ever having to know how to code. Christine Maisel, the course creator, has made sure to design her WordPress online course to be easily digestible for newbies.
Because this course is provided for free, you will not earn a certificate when you finish. However, what you do get at the end is your website, ready to launch! You learn all of this step by step, so there’s no need to worry about not being able to follow.
Duration: 1 hour and 36 minutes
Level: Beginner
Certificate: No (not all free courses come with certificates)
Price: FREE
Conclusion
This list of the best WordPress courses only includes some of the hundreds of classes available to help you learn how to use the CMS. Regardless of which course you choose, or even if you decide to learn on your own, learning WordPress is a great step forward. Good luck!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the best place to learn WordPress?
A great place to learn about pretty much anything is Udemy. Udemy is a platform for learning — or for teaching if you have something valuable to share. As an online platform where countless courses are available, Udemy allows you to take WordPress classes at your own pace and earn a certificate* when you’re done. The best part? Udemy holds sales frequently so you can purchase courses at a massive discount. You also get lifetime access to all the courses you’ve purchased.
*In most cases, unless you are doing a free course where certificates are not provided
2. Does WordPress require coding?
Not necessarily! Many WordPress web designers and developers create beautiful and functional websites for their clients without ever writing a single line of code. There are many drag-and-drop builders such as Beaver Builder, Elementor, Divi, and so on. Unless you want to create your own WordPress themes, you shouldn’t really need to code anything (unless you count the occasional text formatting).
3. What is the best tutorial for WordPress?
Your choice for the best WordPress tutorials will be exactly that — your choice. The right course for you depends on your needs and what you’d like to learn (and why). However, there are some universally great courses available, some of them even for free. For example, you can check out the Yoast SEO resource which has plenty of helpful WordPress tutorials.
4. What is the best way to learn WordPress development?
The answer to this question truly depends on your preferences and learning style. If you’re self-motivated and you don’t mind having to find resources and guides one by one, you can learn on your own. However, if you don’t have the patience or the time to do it all yourself, you can learn from WordPress training courses that provide everything for you in a linear, step-by-step fashion.
5. How difficult is it to learn WordPress?
If you are learning WordPress so you can create and manage your own website, it’s quite easy. You can be up and running within a few hours! However, if you would like to go deeper into WordPress development (such as creating your own themes), it may get much more challenging since you will also need to know how to code.
6. Is WordPress like Wix?
Not necessarily. Wix is a design-driven drag-and-drop website builder that also provides hosting for your website. You will have to pay if you want to remove ads from your site and add your own domain name. WordPress(.org), on the other hand, is a content management system that you can use on any website, on any web host or platform. You can use pre-existing themes or code your own. Or, if you want to use a drag-and-drop visual editor, you can use one of WordPress’ many drag-and-drop builders.
7. What is the best WordPress course on Udemy?
There are far too many WordPress courses on Udemy to narrow it down to one. However, some of the courses on this list are good to consider. For example, if you want a free course, you can try “Create a WordPress Website for Your Web Design Business.” If you’d like a full (paid) course, try “WordPress for Beginners: Create Your Own WordPress Website.”
8. What is the best WordPress course on SkillShare?
WordPress Academy: Learn WordPress step by step is a beginner-to-intermediate WordPress certification course provided by the course provider, Skillshare. The WordPress Academy course starts off with the basics targeted towards beginners. But, as the course progresses, it gets into more advanced topics like PHP basics, WordPress multisite, etc.
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