In the last two years, I’ve come across career influencers hyping project management. Some said you don’t need expertise in a specific niche to manage projects, and some say it’s a remote job that pays so well, you could move to Thailand, Bali, or Goa easily.
Either way, I was sold. I could see myself leaving my then-marketing job to pursue this (money, travel, beaches, can you blame me?). Then, I did my research, and it’s not as superficial as it sounds.
Project management isn’t just managing a project end-to-end. Add to it communication, risk-taking, organization, leadership, and many more skills, and you have a technical and professional powerhouse whose job is to get things done, no matter what.
To learn these skills, you need detailed courses, and we’ve chosen seven that will help you develop the right skills and mindset for it.
Shortcuts
- What is Project Management?
- Why These Courses and Why Should You Trust Us?
- The Best Project Management Courses of 2025
What is Project Management?
Project management is complicated, but here’s a simple definition by Atlassian. Project management uses skills, tools, and techniques to plan, execute, monitor, and complete projects within timeframes.
We can break it down into five components: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closing.
- Initiation: Defining the project goals, funding, and benefits to the company
- Planning: Creating a detailed map of timelines, teams, technical resources, deliverables, and communication plans
- Execution: Working on the project and making progress, one task at a time
- Monitoring and controlling: Checking if the progress aligns with the timelines, budget, and goals, and communicating, managing relationships, and leading the team
- Closing: Having a review meeting, creating final reports, terminating contracts with freelancers, and other closing activities
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, roles for project management specialists in the United States will grow in the next ten years. As the demand and supply increase, it will get difficult for companies to weed through and find the best ones.
We hope these online project management courses help you become successful managers.
Why These Courses and Why Should You Trust Us?
Class Central has been surfing the internet for courses for a decade! We are on a mission to find online courses that fit your needs. We’ve got thousands of paid and free online courses in our archive, and we handpick recommendations in our Best Course Guides.
As for me, I’ve spent hours (if not days) going through several project management courses and found ones that teach the essentials (technical and professional skills).
I’ve picked these courses based on:
- Ratings: I’ve read hundreds of reviews and selected courses that students vouch for (4+ ratings).
- Comprehensiveness: When I researched project management and watched videos of the ‘day in the life of a project manager,’ I realized that project management has a lot of micro-skills. So I’ve chosen courses and programs that cover such skills in length.
- Practical sessions: One of the project managers in a video said, “You’ll get better when you start taking on projects.” It’s true. With project management, experience will be a better teacher, but these courses can be the next best thing.
- Trusted sources: I’ve included courses taught by experienced instructors and chosen programs by renowned institutions like Google, Microsoft, etc.
- Future opportunities: My primary goal, with this list, is to help you become a project manager. Some of these courses will also guide you to ace global project management certifications, which can land you better prospects.
Now, let’s get to the courses.
Best Overall – Google Project Management (Coursera)
- Level: Beginner
- Rating: 4.9 (127K ratings)
- Duration: 6 months (10 hours/week)
- Cost: Paid
Get career-ready with this six-course program — Google Project Management: Professional Certificate by Google, as it starts with the foundations of project management and ends with applications of your skills to real projects with AI.
It’s simple to understand and has over 100 hours of learning with several assessments. You’ll learn every aspect of successful project management: developing project charters, using Scrum, using the Agile approach, etc. It also focuses on crucial skills—maintaining quality and decision-making.
If you’re serious about knowing the A-Z of project management and making it a viable career, learn from this program!
P.S. This course will also help you prepare for the Project Management Institute’s globally recognized certifications.
What sets it apart:
- The numbers! Around 1.9 million learners have enrolled for this, which means more trust
- It’s developed exclusively by Google employees
- It has modules on integrating AI with project management
- It fosters essential soft skills like decision-making and risk-taking
Who is it for:
- Someone who wants to explore project management/coordinator/assistant as a career
- An employee who wants to step into project management
- An aspiring freelance project manager
Great for Beginners (Udemy)
- Level: Beginner
- Rating: 4.6 (86,245 ratings)
- Duration: 7 hours 25 minutes
- Cost: Paid
If you’re looking for a concise course, a relay through key topics instead of a project management marathon, try The Project Management Course: Beginner to PROject Manager. It explores the operational side of project management, from why companies run projects to creating Gantt charts, using Agile, and applying SCRUM.
If you want to learn MS Excel or brush up on it, this course covers it and offers you templates to start project management on a seamless note.
The learners love the case-study approach to the course and the instructor’s way of delivering the course. One of the learners said, “An excellent course with a very engaging and professional instructor (that is not very easy with online courses).”
The learners love the case-study approach to the course and the instructor’s way of delivering the course. One of the learners said, “An excellent course with a very engaging and professional instructor (that is not very easy with online courses).”
What sets it apart:
- It has 15+ templates and tools for you to make processes easier
- It’s taught by a professional project manager who has led multinational projects
- It compares two major project management approaches—Agile and Waterfall
- It involves you undertaking a case study to understand real-life project management scenarios
Who is it for:
- An aspiring project manager with limited time to learn
- A project manager who wants to brush up on their execution skills
- Someone who wants a practical yet concise project management course
Most Intensive Specialization (University of California, Irvine, Coursera)
- Level: Beginner
- Rating: 4.7 (20K ratings)
- Duration: 1 month (10 hours/week)
- Cost: Paid
Project Management Principles and Practices Specialization by University of California, Irvine is a top-rated program with four intensive courses that cover planning, budgeting, stakeholder management, scheduling, and risk management. The program is rich in case studies that teach you the applications of project management principles to real-time projects.
On the surface level, this program didn’t appeal to me, but the reviews about the course content were intriguing. One of them said, “Great course! My favorite parts were the Bonus Videos and the Panel.”
The last course deals with crafting a narrative charter statement, work breakdown structure, project schedule and budget, responsibility assignment matrix, and more!
What sets it apart:
- It helps you learn with case studies
- The last course involves strategizing a project with all the key planning deliverables
- It has hands-on assessments and projects to instill working knowledge of project management
Who is it for:
- Existing project managers who want to build soft skills and strong processes
- An aspiring project manager who wants a practical learning experience
- A new project manager who wants to develop operational knowledge
Best for Practical Application of Generative AI (Project Management Institute)
- Level: Intermediate
- Duration: 5 hours
- Cost: Free
How would it be a 2026 list if we don’t mention AI? According to Gartner, 80% of the project management tasks will be automated by 2030. Don’t worry, it won’t replace you if you learn how to leverage them strategically to master team efficiency. This course shows how to do that.
It teaches you to automate tasks that drain your energy and time and focus on the strategic aspects of improving operations, sustaining motivation, and enhancing leadership.
What sets it apart:
- The course is by Project Management Institute which has global certifications
- Its sole focus is on automating your tasks to unlock your potential as a leader
- It uses case studies to learn practical applications of AI in project management
Who is it for:
- Existing project managers who want to integrate AI into their operations
- An aspiring project manager who wants to stand out from the competition
- Project managers who want to automate processes
- Those who are preparing for their Project Management Professional certification
Best Project Management Bootcamp (Noble Desktop)
- Level: Beginner
- Rating: 4.7
- Duration: 12 hours
- Cost: Paid
“Thorough, inclusive, interactive. Great for beginners, but still informative enough for professionals.”
This review sums up the Project Management Bootcamp. You’ll learn every project management phase (from initial planning to closing), get first-hand experience with tools, and develop strategic thinking skills.
This 12-hour bootcamp (live or online, you choose) introduces you to industry methodologies such as Agile, Critical Path, Waterfall, etc. These will equip you to manage different kinds of projects while navigating the essentials—budgets, resources, teams, risks, etc.
The expert instructors (whom learners admire) prepare you to step into the industry, and if you’re already a project manager, it can empower you with advanced strategies.
What sets it apart:
- It’s an in-depth and comprehensive certificate course for beginners and professionals
- It offers hands-on training to help you (immediately) apply practical skills to real projects
- You can choose to take it live (NYC) or online—either way, learners have had positive reviews about the learning experience and the educators
- The small class size ensures maximum and interactive learning with personalized feedback
- You can retake this course for free within a year of completion
Who is it for:
- Aspiring project managers who want to learn practical applications of the field
- Project managers who want to strategize better and learn more tools for management
Best for Agile Scrum Mastery & Kanban (Udemy)
- Level: Intermediate
- Rating: 4.5 (4,712 ratings)
- Duration: 9-10 hours
- Cost: Paid
Yes, project management has fancy terminology that you need to know.
Agile is an approach that helps you build software in phases, with consistent communication and healthy collaboration. Scrum is an Agile framework that divides work into sprints to ensure rapid progress within set timelines. It helps teams stay flexible, efficient, and goal-oriented.
Agile Scrum Mastery & Kanban: The Complete Practical Guide makes you an Agile Scrum Master by teaching you how to apply Scrum for the best results and Kanban (a visual system to track progress) for efficient tracking.
It also has four sections on major project management soft skills, such as leadership, negotiation, and productivity skills, making it a holistic learning experience.
What sets it apart:
- It focuses on technical and soft skills
- It gives access to 220 practice questions if you want the Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I) certification
- It focuses on strengthening processes and creating robust management systems
- The instructor is a project management expert with a decade of experience
Who is it for:
- Existing project managers who want to learn Agile project management in detail
- Project managers who want to increase the efficiency of teams
- Anyone who wants to take the PMP exams
Please note: Dr. Perkusich has a lot of courses on project management (with positive reviews). Feel free to check them out too.
Best Project Management Professional Certificate by Microsoft (Coursera)
- Level: Intermediate
- Rating: 4.7 (620 ratings)
- Duration: 4 months (10 hours/week)
- Cost: Paid
Okay, the number of reviews is less, but 27,703 have enrolled for Microsoft Project Management: Build Job-Ready Skills. This is a 9-course program that teaches you the essentials of advanced operations—principle domains, process groups, data visualization, etc.
We particularly recommend the following courses:
- Process Groups and Processes in Project Management
- PMP Formulas
- Team Building and Leadership in Project Management
While the program is for beginners, the above courses require you to have some knowledge about project management.
What sets it apart:
- It balances in-depth theory with assessments
- It has nine detailed courses to learn from or choose from
- The final course projects help you apply theory to practice
Who is it for:
- Existing project managers who want to learn specific skills in detail
- Project managers who are struggling with leadership and organization
- Aspiring project managers who want to take the PMP certification
Best for Project Management Professional (PMP) (Udemy)
Source: Udemy
- Level: Beginner
- Rating: 4.4 (3193 ratings)
- Duration: 60.5 hours
- Cost: Paid
Ever wondered if you’re fit to become a project manager? Project Management Professional (PMP) on Udemy starts with a placement test that helps you check how ready you are to become a project manager.
This course has consistent exercises to practice your learning. Some sections are intuitively planned to learn better. For instance, if there’s a section on planning stakeholder engagement, the next lesson is on managing it.
If you’re preparing for the PMI-PMP certification exam, this course will help there too.
P.S: It was challenging for me to understand the instructor’s accent and stay engaged. However, students have raved about the content and learning experience.
What sets it apart:
- It emphasizes the practical applications of the theory
- It’s aligned with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (7 and 6) standards (a standardized framework for project management practices)
- It is full of insights—136 articles and 876 downloadable resources
Who is it for:
- Existing project managers who want to learn advanced operational skills
- An aspiring project manager who wants to learn practical approaches to project management
- Anyone who wants to take the PMP exams
Honorable mentions
The Complete Project Management Fundamentals Course + CERT – Udemy
This 22-hour paid course was created by Mauricio Rubio, Agile Guru & Founder of YESI EDUCATION. He has included the core skillset, knowledge, and processes needed to ace project management.
Generative AI: Unleash Your Project Management Potential – Coursera
This may be a newer course, but it offers insights about using AI as a weapon for project management success.
Engineering Project Management: Risk, Quality, Teams, and Procurement and Construction Project Management (Columbia University) – Coursera
While these courses target specific industries, they are also reminders that if you want niche-specific project management resources, they exist!
If you notice, these courses are long and comprehensive. Project management needs this dedication because you’re not just overlooking a project; you’re managing and leading people, handling stakeholders, coordinating with vendors, and more.
It’s about tasks and people. It’s about goals and systems. And it’s about control and risk-taking. It’s not easy, but we hope these courses help you learn the difficult bits!
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