Top 6 Online SQL Courses for Beginners in 2023

Whether you’re dreaming of a career in data analytics or just want to develop yourself, learning SQL is worthwhile. But don’t waste your time on poorly-designed courses or other learning resources! In this article, I’ve collected the best online SQL courses for beginners. Pick one and start being awesome!

SQL (Structured Query Language) has emerged as one of the top skills that recruiters look for when it comes to data related jobs. High-paying and in-demand jobs like data analysts, data engineers, data scientists, and software developers require intermediate to advanced knowledge of SQL.

But what is SQL and what makes it so popular? SQL is a language that helps you interact with a database. Think of databases as an ordered collection of information, a set of tables holding all the important data that a company needs. SQL simply lets you retrieve and manipulate this data and then generate insights that can potentially save your company millions.

Check out this video for a quick overview of databases and SQL.

People who are looking for a change in career – inside or outside of IT – or who work in marketing, finance, operations, or HR can benefit from learning SQL. In fact, anyone who deals with data will find SQL a worthy tool to learn.

And what better way to learn a digital-world skill than in a digital fashion – i.e. through online courses? But the sheer volume of online SQL courses available makes it hard to choose a good course.

This is precisely the reason I am writing this article on the top 6 beginner-level SQL courses. If you are looking for something that covers SQL from beginner to advanced levels, check out the SQL From A To Z track from LearnSQL.com. It is one of the most comprehensive SQL learning paths on the market today, with 7 interactive courses, 700+ coding exercises, and an estimated 84 hours of learning time. Plus, the 220K+ people who’ve taken it give it a rating of 4.91 stars.

Before getting to the list of beginner-level SQL courses, let me take you through some important things we considered before making our selections.

What Makes an Online SQL Course Great?

We chose our courses based on five major parameters:

• Content: This is the first and most important criteria. A good SQL course should cover the basic concepts that are needed for a good foundation in working with data.
• Practice Queries and Exercises: Tech-related subjects are best learnt with hands-on practice, like writing your own queries. We looked at the amount and also the quality of the exercises.
• Ease of Learning: This is mostly about content delivery, including graphics, videos, narration and how easy it is to set up your practice environment. The fewer the roadblocks to getting you started, the better. For instance, if you have to set up a database on your system before you can start practicing, that’s an effort. But if you can get started with just a browser, that’s ease of learning.
• Enrollment and student ratings: The voice of the customer says a lot about a course; therefore, this is an important part of our ranking. The more enrollments and the higher the rating, the better. We also factored in some online testimonials, too.
• Value for Money: This is the overall value for money, which depends on the price you pay and the content you receive.

With that in mind, let’s dive straight into the list of best beginner-level SQL courses.

Our Top 6 Online SQL Courses for Beginners

1.   LearnSQL.com: SQL Basics

Price: $29 (Unlimited access)

Rating: 4.82/5

What I like the most about the SQL Basics course is how simple yet impactful it is. With almost 129 interactive exercises, its 10 hours of learning time gives you a comprehensive understanding of core SQL concepts.

It is easy to start learning; you just need a browser and an internet connection and you’ll be ready to write your own SQL queries.

The first two lessons are free for anyone to try. This means you can check if the delivery methods suit you or not. But once you begin the course, I’m betting you’ll want to continue.

The course is for people with no IT background[ it does not go into the details of complex SQL constructs. I would recommend it for beginners and for entry-level jobs related to data. The fact that around 280K people have already enrolled and that the course has a 4.82/5 rating makes it the top course on this list.

At the time of writing this article, the SQL Basics course is free for students. Find out more on our education offer page.

2.   Udemy: The Complete SQL Bootcamp 2022

Offered by: Jose Portilla

Price: $85 (unlimited access)

Rating: 4.7/5

The Complete SQL Bootcamp is arguably the best SQL course on Udemy. It’s highly relevant for a beginner and covers the basics of SQL syntax in PostgreSQL (a popular SQL dialect), the GROUP BY clause, joining tables, and other SQL constructs.

What I like about the course is that it also gives you an idea of how data analysis is done in SQL. This makes it very useful and practical.

Author Jose Portilla delivers training to Fortune 500 companies and it shows in the examples he uses and his delivery of the course. Overall this makes it a good investment for the price.

3.   Coursera: Introduction to Structured Query Language

Offered by: University of Michigan

Price: Free

Rating: 4.8/5

This course provides an introduction to SQL over four weekly modules. It also has a short guide to installing text editors and setting up your MySQL database. It is delivered by Dr. Charles Russell Severance, a highly-regarded professor and the author of several books on programming and other tech subjects.

This course covers the basics of table creation, SELECT statements, working with multiple tables, and foreign keys. Barring the installation part, the content coverage is similar to other basic SQL courses for beginners.

You can choose this if you want to specifically learn the MySQL dialect of SQL. The course can get a little verbose at times, but besides that it is fairly good. With over 160K enrollments, it is one of the most popular online SQL courses.

You’ll get a certificate of completion after finishing this course.

4.   Coursera: SQL for Data Science

Offered by: University of California, Davis

Price: Free

Rating: 4.6/5

If you’re an aspiring data scientist, this is a great course. It teaches you the basics of SQL, data analysis, and data science. This free course is led by Sadie St. Lawrence, who has trained over 70,000 people in data science.

Unlike many other courses (which mainly use PostgreSQL or MySQL), this course uses SQLite as the SQL dialect. In addition to basic SQL commands, it will teach you how to identify what part of the data you need (a subset) and how to retrieve it. You’ll also learn how to do simple data analysis with SQL.

5.   SQL for Newbs

Offered by: David Kim, Peter Sefton

Price: $85 (Unlimited access)

Rating: 4.3/5

This course is focused on the practical application of data analysis. If you want to become a data analyst or you need to use data analysis in your work, this course may be for you.

The whole course is structured like a business case study. It is different from other courses in the sense that learning happens in a fun way, with David and Pete taking you through the analysis used in setting up a new company. It’s like college friends teaching you some stuff. In the course, you learn the queries a new business would run in the initial days and that is how you understand various SQL concepts.

The course uses MySQL. It can feel a little slow at times, so if you like learning fast, I would recommend one of the other courses on the list.

6.   W3Schools: SQL Tutorial

Some would say W3Schools’ SQL Tutorial is not a course: a course needs to have some videos, an instructor, etc. But the intent of this article is to give you the best online sources to study SQL, even if they don’t match a conventional definition of an online ‘course’.

The reason I like W3Schools is because it covers the basics of SQL very well. It suits someone who learns by reading online and practicing things by themselves. You  may choose to use it as a secondary learning source and make one of the other courses your primary choice. Or you can use it for reference whenever you need help or a sample query with a simple SQL construct.

I’d encourage you to take one of the courses from the above list, but also keep referencing W3schools to review your basics.

All Set to Learn SQL?

I hope the list helps you start learning SQL. You may also want to check out our previous lists of top SQL courses:

• Top SQL Courses for 2022
• Top SQL Courses 2021
• Top SQL Courses 2020

But no matter what course you choose, the important thing is to start applying your learning.

If you are a student, try and use SQL in your internship or in a project. If you’re a working professional try out a couple of analyses in your workplace and see if you can draw some meaningful conclusions. Once you get a hold of SQL, you can create some terrific presentations filled with data-backed recommendations.

All the best and enjoy learning SQL!