Coursera vs edX

Coursera and edX (Online learning at https://edx.org, powered by the Open edX platform https://openedx.org) both appear on the Smoower Developer Ecosystem Index.

edX (rank #317) holds a modest lead over Coursera (rank #726) on the overall Smoower ecosystem score (44 vs 30). The gap of 14 points reflects composite signals across code, docs, community and reach.

On code quality (the state of repositories, tests, releases and polish), edX is ahead of Coursera. On education (docs, guides and learning material for developers), edX is slightly ahead of Coursera. On community (issue response, PR reviews and discussion health), edX is slightly ahead of Coursera. On reach (how visible the ecosystem is beyond its own repos), Coursera is slightly ahead of edX. On momentum (release cadence and how fast the ecosystem moves), edX is ahead of Coursera.

Coursera carries 1,367 GitHub stars across 81 public repos, with 1 repositories active in the last 90 days and 0 external contributors on record. edX shows 392 stars across 250 public repos, 51 active in the last 90 days and 23 external contributors. The star gap on its own does not decide the comparison, but Coursera's footprint is roughly 3.5x larger, which usually shows up in downstream signals like inbound issues and third party integrations.

Coursera is the stronger read for anyone weighting reach. edX looks better where code quality is the deciding factor. The table below breaks the scores down pillar by pillar; the linked profiles cover the underlying repos, docs and community signals in full.