LearnSQL.com

What LearnSQL.com Is

LearnSQL.com is an interactive course catalog for learning SQL in the browser, run by Vertabelo SA, the company in its copyright line. The home page offers "the most comprehensive set of 82 hands-on online SQL courses for beginners and experts" and lists four headline facts: "Issuer of SQL Competency Certificate," "1,500,000+ users trained," "4 SQL dialects" and "Operating since 2016." It calls itself the "#1 SQL Training Platform." It is a learner product first, with a separate offer for teachers and businesses, and its footer links to its sister site LearnPython.com.

The site interface is offered in English, Deutsch, Français, Português, Italiano and Español.

How Learning Works

The home page lays the process out in four steps. Assessment: "Take a detailed assessment and receive personalized learning recommendations." Learning: "Enjoy a self-paced learning process that includes interactive lessons, real coding, and additional resources." Practice: "Polish your SQL skills by solving various real-life analytical problems." Gratification: "Pass a final exam and obtain a recognized Certificate of Competency in SQL."

The method is learning by doing. Learners write queries against real tables in the browser and move on once they get the result right. The site describes it as "Learn at your own pace, and see your improvement quickly - no fluff - just the essentials you need for your career and future database projects." A course needs nothing more than "a web browser and an Internet connection," as the SQL JOINs page puts it.

What the Catalog Covers

The course explorer filters by level (Basic, Advanced), goal (Learn SQL, Practice SQL) and dialect: Standard SQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL and MySQL. Quick filters jump to topics such as learning SQL from scratch, practicing JOINs, window functions, GROUP BY, Common Table Expressions, SQL for Database Administrators and SQL for Data Analysts.

For beginners the core path is SQL from A to Z, a track "Perfect for people with no or little SQL experience," also available in MS SQL Server, PostgreSQL and MySQL versions. SQL Basics is the usual first course: "Learn the basics of SQL, retrieve data from an SQL database and build simple reports," with dialect editions such as SQL Basics in MySQL (126 exercises) and SQL Basics in MS SQL Server, which teaches T-SQL.

For advanced learners there is the Advanced SQL track, "Great for people who want to master advanced sql topics like window functions, Common Table Expressions, or recursive queries," plus single courses in Window Functions, Recursive Queries (processing trees and graphs), SQL Reporting, Creating Database Structure (tables, views and indexes) and PostGIS ("Learn how to work with maps in SQL").

Practice gets a lot of room. The SQL Practice track and dialect versions for SQL Server, PostgreSQL and MySQL sit alongside practice courses with their own datasets: SQL Practice Set (88 interactive exercises), SQL Practice: University (156 exercises), Basic SQL Practice: Run Track Through Queries! (119 exercises), Basic SQL Practice: Blog & Traffic Data (141 exercises) and a Window Functions Practice Set (100 exercises). A Monthly SQL Practice track serves "this month's SQL Challenge," with earlier challenges collected in 2023 Monthly SQL Practice Sets in basic and advanced editions.

Industry tracks target specific jobs. SQL for Data Analysis "helps beginners become skilled data analysts using SQL," covering precise queries, complex reports, window functions and CTEs. SQL for Marketers builds skills "to plan more effective campaigns and better understand your customers." SQL for Healthcare covers SQL for "patient and medical research data."

A Course Up Close: SQL JOINs

The SQL JOINs course shows what a single course holds. Its page lists 93 exercises, a time to complete of 10 h, a rating of 4.83 from 8252 ratings and 134,948 learners enrolled, with "Free trial: Yes" and "Certificate of completion: Yes." It assumes the learner can already select data from one table, then works through four parts: a recap of JOIN types (INNER, LEFT, RIGHT, FULL and CROSS JOIN), multiple JOINs on a "Healthy Shop" database, joining a table with itself, and non-equi JOINs on non-key columns. It is aimed at analysts, students in database classes, beginning programmers and business users who query databases.

Certificates and Assessment

LearnSQL.com runs two assessment products. The SQL Skills Assessment lets learners "Test your SQL skills. Get learning recommendations." The Certificate of Competency in SQL is earned by passing an exam; the home page says it "will confirm your practical skills in solving SQL problems" and lists its uses as standing out "from other candidates on LinkedIn," benchmarking against peers, and identifying strengths. The home page describes the certificate as "recognized" without naming who recognizes it. Separately, individual courses carry a certificate of completion.

Pricing

The pricing page has two paid plans, both one-time payments:

• Individual: $39, "Lifetime access to a single course."
• All Forever: $149, shown against a crossed-out $599 with "75% OFF," for "Lifetime access to all 82 present and future courses."

The FAQ is plain about the model: "It's a one-time charge. When you buy the "All Forever" plan or any individual SQL course, you pay just once and get lifetime access... No subscription and no additional fees." There is no contract, and accounts can be upgraded or closed at any time. Prices can be shown in USD, EUR, CAD, AUD or GBP, and the FAQ lists Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diner's Club and JCB.

A Free plan gives "access to the free section of all courses." Registering asks for a name and email address only, no credit card.

Students, Teachers and Businesses

Students get a standing offer: "we are giving away the SQL Basics course, for free! It's a set of 129 interactive exercises" covering one or more tables, JOINs, GROUP BY, aggregation functions and an introduction to subqueries. Learners claim it by creating a free account with a school email address. The student page also counts 7112 hands-on interactive SQL tasks across the catalog.

Teachers get what the site calls a "Learning Management Portal." It lets them create assignments for individual students or groups, set and extend deadlines, track how quickly students progress and how much time they spend, and design their own SQL courses with "our SQL course development framework," using any dataset. Businesses are offered "Custom SQL Courses, Assignments, User Progress Tracking and much more" by email to the business team.

LearnSQL.com also runs an affiliate program paying "30% of every sale attributed to your account," with a 45 days attribution window and weekly payouts to PayPal.

Learning Resources and Support

The SQL Library adds articles, cheat sheets, a Cookbook of "Recipes for solving common database dilemmas," flashcards and an SQL Primer for people with no programming experience. Support questions go to contact@learnsql.com.

What Learners Say

Testimonials on the site carry names. Mario DiMartino, a test engineer, writes that the courses are "very challenging but not discouraging." Ethan Shutt says LearnSQL.com "provided me with the chance to learn SQL well enough to list it as a skill for my resume and job applications." On the student page, Eslin Leiva of Miami Dade College writes: "I went from knowing nothing to being advanced in SQL. I even felt confident enough to apply for a job with my organization and got one."

Who It Suits

LearnSQL.com suits anyone who wants to learn SQL by writing it: complete beginners through SQL from A to Z, analysts moving into window functions and reporting, and marketers or healthcare staff through the industry tracks. Learners who work in a particular database get dialect editions for SQL Server, PostgreSQL and MySQL. Students can start with the free SQL Basics course, teachers can run a class through the portal, and a learner planning several courses gets the most from the one-time All Forever plan.

It suits learners who want video lectures or live classes less well, since the format is exercises in the browser. The Certificate of Competency is the site's own exam; learners who need an academic credential should look elsewhere.