The Best SQL Courses to Take in 2026

Best SQL Courses for Beginners

A good first SQL course gets you writing real queries against real tables within minutes, with nothing to install. These are where we would send someone who has never typed SELECT.

1. Introduction to SQL

The most-taken course in our entire SQL catalogue, with 1,608,208 learners and a 4.86/5 rating from 62,522 reviews. In two hours you learn how relational databases are organised and write your first queries against real tables. It is short on purpose: finish it, and you will know whether SQL is for you.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 2 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

2. Intermediate SQL

The natural next step, taken by 524,117 learners. You move from selecting rows to filtering and summarising them: aggregate functions, GROUP BY, HAVING, and the filtering patterns that turn a table into an answer. It carries a 4.87/5 rating across 39,984 reviews, one of the highest in our catalogue.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisite: Introduction to SQL

3. SQL Fundamentals (track)

If you already know you want SQL as a working skill, the track is the better buy. It takes you through seven courses in order, from your first query through joins, data manipulation, window functions and database design.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 26 hours across 7 courses
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

4. Introduction to SQL Querying with AI

A newer course built for how many people now actually write SQL: with an AI assistant beside them. You write prompts that generate queries, run them on real data, and learn where AI gets SQL wrong, so you check its output rather than pasting it in blind.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

5. SQLBolt

A free set of short interactive lessons that run in your browser with no account. It is a quick way to try SQL at zero cost. It stops at the basics, with no window functions or real-world datasets, so treat it as a taster rather than a course.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: Self-paced
• Cost: Free

Our pick: Start with our Introduction to SQL, then take Intermediate SQL. If you are committed to SQL as a career skill, take the SQL Fundamentals track, which includes both.

Best SQL Course for Joins and Data Manipulation

Joins are where most self-taught SQL goes wrong. A query that runs is not the same as a query that is right, and a badly written join can silently double your revenue figures. These courses make the difference between the two explicit.

1. Joining Data in SQL

Inner and outer joins, then self joins, cross joins, set operations and subqueries. With 339,245 learners and 24,890 reviews, it is one of our most-taken courses, and its content was refreshed in Jul 2026.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisite: Intermediate SQL

2. Data Manipulation in SQL

CASE statements, correlated and nested subqueries, common table expressions and a first look at window functions, all taught on a real European football dataset. Taken by 335,467 learners, it is where SQL starts to feel like a programming language.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisite: Joining Data in SQL

3. Intermediate SQL Querying with AI

The follow-on to our AI-assisted introduction. It covers grouping, filtering and conditional logic with an AI assistant, and teaches you to spot when a suggested query returns the wrong rows, which is the most useful habit an intermediate SQL user can build.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisite: Introduction to SQL Querying with AI

Our pick: Take our Joining Data in SQL as soon as you finish an introductory course, then Data Manipulation in SQL for CTEs and subqueries.

Best SQL Courses for Data Analysis

Analysts do not need every corner of SQL. They need to profile unfamiliar data quickly, clean it, and turn it into numbers a manager can act on. These courses are built around that workflow rather than around syntax.

1. Exploratory Data Analysis in SQL

How to explore a database you have never seen: profiling columns, summarising numeric, categorical and date data, and spotting the problems before they reach a dashboard. Taken by 187,382 learners.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisite: Data Manipulation in SQL

2. Data-Driven Decision Making in SQL

Business questions answered end to end on a movie rental database: customer preferences, revenue and ratings, using OLAP extensions such as ROLLUP and CUBE to build the kind of summary tables managers ask for.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

3. Functions for Manipulating Data in PostgreSQL

Text, date and time functions, arrays and full-text search in PostgreSQL. This is the course that gets you past "the data is in the wrong format". It has 6,861 reviews.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

4. Reporting in SQL

Building report-ready queries that feed dashboards, working through the Olympics dataset from planning a report to cleaning and validating the numbers behind it. A strong bridge between analysis and BI.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

Our pick: Take our Exploratory Data Analysis in SQL first. Add Data-Driven Decision Making in SQL if your job is to answer business questions, or the Associate Data Analyst in SQL track if you want the full analyst path.

Best Advanced SQL Courses

Advanced SQL mostly means window functions, time series and knowing how your query will actually be executed. It is also what technical SQL interviews test.

1. PostgreSQL Summary Stats and Window Functions

Ranking, paging, running totals, moving averages and pivoting with window functions. Taken by 130,374 learners, and the course we would point anyone to who says they are "good at SQL" but has never written OVER (PARTITION BY ...).

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

2. Time Series Analysis in SQL Server

Working with dates and times in SQL Server: building dates from parts, aggregating over time and using window functions for running calculations on time-ordered data. Essential if your data has a timestamp column, which it almost certainly does.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 5 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisite: Intermediate SQL Server

3. SQL 50 study plan (LeetCode)

A free set of 50 interview-style SQL problems. It will not teach you SQL, but once you have taken the courses above it is a useful way to rehearse under interview conditions.

• Level: Intermediate to Advanced
• Time: Self-paced
• Cost: Free

Our pick: Take our PostgreSQL Summary Stats and Window Functions. If you are preparing for interviews, finish it before you start drilling practice problems.

Best SQL Courses for Database Design

Querying a database and designing one are different jobs. If you are the person who decides how tables relate to each other, these courses cover the decisions that are expensive to undo later.

1. Introduction to Relational Databases in SQL

How to create tables, define keys and enforce relationships and constraints in PostgreSQL, taught by migrating a flat table into a proper relational model. Taken by 198,821 learners.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

2. Database Design

Normalisation, star and snowflake schemas, views, access control and partitioning. It explains why a design is right, not only how to build it, which is what separates this course from a syntax tutorial.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

3. Introduction to Oracle SQL

If your employer runs Oracle, this covers the dialect's own functions and conventions. Much of what you learn transfers, but the differences are exactly where people coming from PostgreSQL trip up.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

Our pick: Take our Introduction to Relational Databases in SQL and then Database Design, in that order.

Best SQL Courses for Snowflake and Databricks

More and more SQL is written against cloud data warehouses rather than a database on a server down the hall. The core language is the same, but each platform adds its own functions, data types and cost model.

1. Introduction to Snowflake SQL

Snowflake's architecture, its SQL dialect, semi-structured JSON data and query optimisation, in two hours. With 56,310 learners, it is our most-taken cloud warehouse course.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 2 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisites: Joining Data in SQL, Introduction to Snowflake

2. Data Manipulation in Snowflake

A newer follow-on, refreshed in Aug 2026, covering CASE logic, subqueries and common table expressions in Snowflake. It is a short course for analysts who already use the platform.

• Level: Beginner
• Time: 2 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisite: Introduction to Snowflake SQL

3. Introduction to Databricks SQL

SQL on the Databricks lakehouse: data warehousing, data engineering and analysis with Databricks SQL, then more advanced patterns. Refreshed in Aug 2026.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 3 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisites: Intermediate SQL, Introduction to Databricks

4. Snowflake Quickstarts (Snowflake)

Snowflake's own free, step-by-step guides. They are a good reference for specific features once you know the basics, though they assume you already have an account and some SQL.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: Self-paced
• Cost: Free, but needs a Snowflake account

Our pick: Take our Introduction to Snowflake SQL if your company uses Snowflake, or Introduction to Databricks SQL if it uses Databricks. Do not learn both until your job needs it.

Best SQL Courses for Data Engineering

Data engineers use SQL to build the tables everyone else queries. That means modelling, transformation pipelines and warehouses rather than one-off analysis.

1. Associate Data Engineer in SQL (track)

A career track covering data engineering fundamentals, relational databases, database design, data warehousing and Snowflake, all in SQL. It prepares you for our Associate Data Engineer certification.

• Level: Beginner to Intermediate
• Time: About 30 hours across 9 courses
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Certification: Prepares you for our Associate Data Engineer certification

2. Introduction to dbt

dbt is how many teams now manage their SQL transformations: version-controlled, tested and documented. This course covers models, tests and documentation, and has 2,757 reviews.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Prerequisites: Data Warehousing Concepts, Introduction to Shell, Joining Data in SQL

3. Data Warehousing Concepts

No-code and conceptual: how warehouses, data marts and data lakes differ, and how ETL and ELT pipelines feed them. Taken by 51,943 learners, and the fastest way to understand the architecture around the SQL you write.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: 4 hours
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free

Our pick: Take the Associate Data Engineer in SQL track, then Introduction to dbt once you are writing transformations for other people.

Best SQL Course With Certification

There is no single SQL certification that every employer asks for. What matters most is proof that you can write correct queries under time pressure, which is what the options below test.

1. Associate Data Analyst in SQL (track)

Eleven courses that take you from your first query to exploratory analysis and data-driven decision making, designed to prepare you for our Associate Data Analyst in SQL certification.

• Level: Beginner to Intermediate
• Time: 39 hours across 11 courses
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription; the first chapter is free
• Certification: Prepares you for our Associate Data Analyst in SQL certification

2. SQL Associate Certification (DataCamp)

Awarded for passing one timed exam and one practical exam in which you write real queries against a dataset. You get up to two hours for the timed exam and 30 days to complete both, and the result is a shareable credential you can add to LinkedIn.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: Timed exam of up to 2 hours, plus a practical exam
• Cost: Included with a DataCamp subscription

3. Oracle Database SQL Certified Associate, exam 1Z0-071 (Oracle)

The most established vendor SQL certification, and worth it if you work with Oracle. It is a proctored multiple-choice exam, so it tests recall of Oracle-specific syntax more than your ability to analyse data.

• Level: Intermediate
• Time: Exam only
• Cost: Exam fee, priced by country

Our pick: Work through our Associate Data Analyst in SQL track, then take our SQL Associate certification. Choose Oracle's exam only if your employer runs Oracle.

How We Chose These SQL Courses

• Verified learner data. Every rating, review count and learner number comes from our live course data, checked on 23 September 2026. We only show a rating when it is based on at least 200 reviews.
• Current content. We left out any course whose content has not been refreshed in the last 18 months, even where it is well rated. That is why some older SQL Server courses do not appear.
• Hands-on practice. We favoured courses where you write and run queries in exercises that are checked, over courses you only watch.
• Honest alternatives. Where a free or vendor option is the better choice for some readers, we say so.

Conclusion

If you are starting from zero, take our Introduction to SQL, then Intermediate SQL and Joining Data in SQL, in that order. That sequence alone covers most of the SQL an analyst writes day to day. From there, pick the section above that matches your job: analysis, advanced queries, database design, cloud warehouses or data engineering. If you want a credential, the Associate Data Analyst in SQL track and our SQL Associate certification take you there in one path.