Coursera course scraper in n8n
Search Coursera's course and specialization catalog by keyword, difficulty or partner university, with rating, learner count, enrollment type and course links.
What this workflow does
Import it and n8n runs the Coursera Course & Specialization Catalog Scraper Actor on Apify every day at 08:00 with the starter input below. Each row comes back with name, partner name, difficulty level, avg rating and 3 more. A Google Sheets append is included and stays off until you add your sheet. The only credential it needs is your Apify API token.
Read from the workflow file, built for Coursera Course & Specialization Catalog Scraper version 1.1.1. Updated 2026-11-14.How the rows travel
6 nodes, in the order n8n runs them. The yellow stop is the call to the Apify Actor; the dashed stop is optional.
- Daily trigger Schedule trigger
- Configure input Code
- Run Apify Actor HTTP Request
- Normalize + dedupe Code
- Rows ready No operation
- Google Sheets (optional) Google Sheets, off until you switch it on
Input
The Configure input node holds the starter input. Change it there; every setting the Actor accepts is listed below.
{
"query": "machine learning",
"productTypes": [
"COURSE"
],
"maxItems": 25,
"mode": "search"
}| Setting | Type | Required | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mode | string | Yes | search | What to fetch. bySlug, byUrl and byIds always return detail fields for the looked-up products. 8 choices. |
| query | string | No | – | Keyword search (mode=search, searchSpecializations). Optional narrowing keyword for byCategory and byPartner. |
| startUrls | array | No | – | Course, specialization, professional certificate, guided project, degree or certificate page, or a Coursera search / courses URL. Search URLs are converted into catalog filters. |
| slugs | array | No | – | Course or specialization slugs, e.g. machine-learning. A full Coursera URL is also accepted. |
| productIds | array | No | – | Coursera product IDs such as course~8UjeMk-mEeit4g4GsxE4dg or s12n~nOOfCDWeEeuiZgo2K4rorQ. Bare course IDs are also accepted. |
| productTypes | array | No | – | Limit results to these Coursera product types. Leave empty for every type. 10 choices. |
| difficulties | array | No | – | Only include products at these difficulty levels. One of: BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED, MIXED. |
| durations | array | No | – | Only include products in these duration bands. One of: Less Than 2 Hours, 1-4 Weeks, 1-3 Months, 3-6 Months, 6-12 Months, 1-4 Years. |
| costs | array | No | – | Only include products with these cost labels. One of: Free, Free Trial, Paid, Preview. |
| topics | array | No | – | Only include products in these subject areas (mode=byCategory requires at least one). 11 choices. |
| languages | array | No | – | Only include products available in these content languages. 67 choices. |
| subtitleLanguages | array | No | – | Only include products with subtitles in these languages. 67 choices. |
| handsOnLearningTypes | array | No | – | Only include products with these hands-on learning formats. One of: Dialogues And Role Plays, Guided Projects, Coding Labs, Cloud Sandboxes, Gen AI Playgrounds. |
| tools | array | No | – | Only include products that teach these tools or software skills. 10 choices. |
| partners | array | No | – | Partner or university names, e.g. IBM, Google, Stanford Online, DeepLearning.AI. Matched to the live Coursera partner filter; partial names such as Stanford are resolved… |
| skills | array | No | – | Skill names, e.g. Python Programming, Machine Learning. Matched to the live skill filter; partial names are resolved when possible. |
| courseraPlusStatus | string | No | – | Filter by Coursera Plus inclusion. One of: included, notIncluded. |
| freeOnly | boolean | No | false | Only return products whose Coursera cost label is Free. The older audit/verified filter is no longer exposed by Coursera; access flags are included in every record. |
| sortBy | string | No | BEST_MATCH | Result order for search, browse, byCategory and byPartner modes. One of: BEST_MATCH, NEW. |
| maxItems | integer | No | 50 | Maximum number of records to return (1-1000). |
| includeDetails | boolean | No | false | Fetch each product page to add instructors, syllabus/modules, total enrollment, page views, rating breakdown, top reviews, learning objectives, recommended background and… |
What each row holds
Every field the Actor returns stays in the row (7 in its dataset schema). Normalize + dedupe trims text, drops empty fields and adds _source and _scrapedAt. The main fields:
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| name | Name |
| partnerName | Partner Name |
| difficultyLevel | Difficulty Level |
| avgRating | Avg Rating |
| learnerCount | Learner Count |
| courseUrl | Course Url |
What the first run costs
With the starter input (maxItems = 25) a first run costs about $0.42 on the Apify Free plan: $0.40 to start the run at 4 GB of memory and $0.02 for the results, plus platform usage.
The Actor lists $0.99 per 1,000 results; its catalogue page breaks the price down by Apify plan. The Apify Free plan includes $5 of usage a month.
The Actor behind it
Coursera Course & Specialization Catalog Scraper: Search Coursera's course and specialization catalog by keyword, difficulty or partner university, with rating, learner count, enrollment type and course links.
The same job from an AI agent
The matching agent skill gives Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other agents the same Actor, input and fields. Install it in one line:
npx skills add https://scraperfinder.com --skill coursera-course-and-specialization-catalog-scraper The coursera course scraper skill, with manual install and run steps
Questions people ask
How do I import this workflow into n8n?
Copy https://scraperfinder.com/n8n/coursera-course-and-specialization-catalog-scraper.json. In n8n, open a new workflow, click the three-dot menu, choose Import from URL and paste it. Or download the JSON file and use Import from File; both give the same 6 nodes.
Do I need an Apify account?
Yes. The workflow calls the Coursera Course & Specialization Catalog Scraper Actor through the Apify API with your own token, and each run is billed to your Apify account. The Free plan includes $5 of usage a month.
What does a run cost?
With the starter input (maxItems = 25) a first run costs about $0.42 on the Apify Free plan: $0.40 to start the run at 4 GB of memory and $0.02 for the results, plus platform usage. The Actor's Store page shows the current price.
Can I change what it collects?
Yes: edit the input object in the Configure input node. The Actor takes 21 settings; the table on this page lists each one with its default. Raise maxItems once the first rows look right.
Does it work without Google Sheets?
Yes. The rows wait in the Rows ready node, so you can connect any other node there: a database, Airtable, a webhook or an email. The Google Sheets node is only one option.