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6 Best HTTP Courses You Need in 2024 [Learn HTTP ASAP]

Today we’re looking at the best HTTP courses of this year.

🧠 Did you know? According to MDN Web Docs, HTTP was developed by Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web) and other devs from 1989-1991.

What is HTTP?

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol. It’s used for fetching resources such as HTML documents.

Being that it’s a client-server protocol, requests are initiated by the Web browser. And from all the sub-documents fetched, a complete document is reconstructed.

Sounds like a lot to chew. 🥩

There are a lot of big words in there that may seem confusing, but that’s okay. These HTTP courses will help make sense of everything.

Pop in, check ’em out, and see which course sounds best for you.

This post contains affiliate links. We may receive compensation if you buy something. Read our disclosure for more details.

TLDR: Best HTTP Courses

🔥 Best Overall 🔥
The Complete Web Developer: Zero to Mastery

💸 Best Value 💸
HTTP with Node.js: Pluralsight

Best HTTP Courses: At a Glance

Interactive or video-based learningLevelDurationCost
The Complete Web Developer: Zero to MasteryVideoBeginner37 hours$39 per month / $279 per year
Pure Functional HTTP APIs in Scala: Educative.ioInteractiveIntermediate26 hours$59 per month or $199 per year
Learn Express: Codecademy ProBothIntermediate4 hours$39.99 per month / $239.88 per year
HTTP with Node.js: PluralsightVideoIntermediate1 hour$29 per month / $299 per year
Angular HTTP Communication: PluralsightVideoIntermediate2.5 hours$29 per month / $299 per year
HTTP Basics: TreehouseVideoBeginner1 hour$25 per month

Best HTTP Courses

Now let’s take a look at the best HTTP courses of this year.

1. The Complete Web Developer: Zero to Mastery

💰 Cost: $39 per month or $279 per year for all courses and Learning Paths
⏲️ Duration:
37 hours
📉 Level:
Beginner
🖥️ Format:
Video
💪 Support:
Yes
🎖️ Certificate:
Yes

Zero to Mastery is a video-based platform where you’ll do all work on your local machine.

HTTP response and request diagram in The Complete Web Developer on Zero to Mastery

The Complete Web Developer is a beginner course designed to be an all-inclusive approach to web development. So while you will find sections on HTTP and Express, you’ll also see the bigger picture.

Course Layout

In The Complete Web Developer, you’ll learn many of the skills you need to become a web developer including:

  • HTML, CSS and JavaScript
  • DOM manipulation
  • Command line
  • GitHub
HTTP methods in The Complete Web Developer on Zero to Mastery

But you’ll also learn about HTTP. In addition to learning its history, you’ll discover:

✅ requests

✅ responses

✅ messages

✅ methods

And more.

The Complete Web Developer is ideal for students who want an immersive approach to all things web development.

About the Instructor

Andrei Neagoie headshot creator of The Complete Web Developer in 2020 Zero to Mastery

Programming demigod Andrei Neagoie is best known for The Complete Web Developer. He’s got almost half a million students and was previously a Senior Software Engineer in Toronto and Silicon Valley.

Use code FRIENDS10 and SAVE 10%


2. Pure Functional HTTP APIs in Scala: Educative.io

💰 Cost: $39 per year for the course // $59 per month or $199 per year for all courses and Learning Paths
⏲️ Duration:
26 hours
📉 Level:
Intermediate
🖥️ Format:
Interactive learning
💪 Support:
Yes
🎖️ Certificate:
Yes

Unlike Zero to Mastery, Educative.io has a unique interactive learning environment where you’ll do all work inside the browser while using their coding playgrounds.

Akka-HTTP Routes code snippets in the course Pure Functional HTTP APIs in Scala on Educative.io

These playgrounds are an excellent way to practice as you follow the material throughout the course.

Pure Functional HTTP APIs in Scala is an intermediate course that teaches you how to develop, test and document back-end HTTP services using Scala’s functional programming paradigm.

In addition, you’ll tackle the pros and cons of Pure and Impure functional programming in Scala.

Implementation libraries in the course Pure Functional HTTP APIs in Scala

👓 Reinforce your learning with a good old fashioned book: HTTP: The Definitive Guide.

HTTP Courses: Layout

Pure Functional HTTP APIs in Scala has 8 modules where you’ll discover:

✅ Pure and Impure implementation

✅ testing Pure and Impure services

✅ benchmarks

✅ documentation

And more.

You’ll work through the modules with a series of coding playgrounds and illustrations to reinforce concepts.

We love just about everything when it comes to Educative.io. Learn about what makes it so great in our Educative.io review.

Eric Downs is one of Educative.io’s biggest fans:

I’ve tried probably 5-7 different sites and Educative is easily the best…

Eric Downs, Educative Student

3. Learn Express: Codecademy Pro

💰 Cost: $39.99 per month or $239.88 per year for all courses and Learning Paths
⏲️ Duration:
4 hours
📉 Level:
Intermediate
🖥️ Format:
Interactive learning & video
💪 Support:
Yes
🎖️ Certificate:
Yes

Codecademy uses a unique blend of interactive learning coupled with videos. So it’s kind of like smashing the best parts of Educative.io and Treehouse together.

Introduction to Express in the course Learn Express on Codecademy Pro

Learn Express is a 4-hour intermediate course where you’ll learn how to build HTTP servers in Node.js, all while using the Express framework.

It’s best for students who want to:

✅ start and configure a server

✅ create routes to implement server behavior

✅ write clean, readable backend code

And beyond.

You should understand JavaScript basics before taking this course.

🧑‍🎓 Learn more about HTTP with the book What Every Web Developer Should Know About HTTP.

HTTP Courses: Layout

With 2 modules, you’ll learn about routes and middleware in Express. With ample code challenges and examples, you’ll also work on Express routers and router parameters.

Starting a Server exercise in the course Learn Express on Codecademy Pro

Want to know more about Codecademy Pro? Check out our Codecademy Pro review to see what we love about it.

Codecademy student Joey feels empowered by the platform:

You really feel like there’s nothing you can’t learn, which in turn builds so much confidence in your skills and gives the momentum to keep learning.

Joey, Codecademy Learner

4. HTTP with Node.js: Pluralsight

💰 Cost: $29 per month or $299 per year for all courses and Learning Paths
⏲️ Duration:
1 hour
📉 Level:
Intermediate
🖥️ Format:
Video
💪 Support:
No
🎖️ Certificate:
Yes

Pluralsight is an exclusively video-based platform where you’ll do all work on your local machine. And, like Treehouse, HTTP with Node.js is only an hour long. That makes it great for devs with a short attention span.

HTTP diagram in the course HTTP with Node.js on Pluralsight

But keep in mind, this course is for intermediate students, not beginners.

Wanna know our true feelings about Pluralsight? Read our Pluralsight review before you dive in.

HTTP Courses: Layout

With 4 video modules, you’ll learn about:

✅ managing HTTP requests

✅ managing HTTP responses

✅ handling file uploads with formidable

✅ making external API requests

By the end of the course, you should have a solid foundation for building web-based applications using Node.js.

Course overview of HTTP with Node.js on Pluralsight

5. Angular HTTP Communication: Pluralsight

💰 Cost: $29 per month or $299 per year for all courses and Learning Paths
⏲️ Duration:
2.5 hours
📉 Level:
Intermediate
🖥️ Format:
Video
💪 Support:
No
🎖️ Certificate:
Yes

As we mentioned before, Pluralsight is a video-based platform where you’ll do all work on your local machine. And, like HTTP with Node.js, Angular HTTP Communication is for intermediate students.

Introduction to the course Angular HTTP Communication on Pluralsight

Here’s where you’ll learn elementary and advanced techniques to manage HTTP requests and beyond.

💡 Angular is an open source web application framework written in TypeScript.

HTTP Courses: Layout

There are 6 modules in Angular HTTP Communication where you’ll discover HTTP client features that are built into Angular.

Code in the course Angular HTTP Communication on Pluralsight

In addition, you’ll explore:

✅ how to communicate with a REST service

✅ modify HTTP requests and responses

✅ create a client-side cache

✅ create unit tests

And much more.

By the end of Angular HTTP Communication, you should have the skills to build high-performant Angular applications using the HTTP client.


6. HTTP Basics: Treehouse

🚨 ALERT 🚨

As of September 2021, Treehouse has laid off 90% of its staff. The future of Treehouse is unknown.

💰 Cost: $25 per month for all courses and Learning Paths
⏲️ Duration:
1 hour
📉 Level:
Beginner
🖥️ Format:
Video
💪 Support:
Yes
🎖️ Certificate:
No

Like Zero to Mastery, Treehouse is a video-based platform where you’ll do all work outside the browser on your local machine.

Instructor for the course HTTP Basics on Treehouse

HTTP Basics is the only HTTP course on this list that’s a champion for beginners. It’s also a short course so is great for learners with a short attention span.

HTTP Courses: Layout

In this introductory course, you’ll learn how browsers automate sending HTTP requests and receive HTTP responses. With 2 modules, you’ll first learn the basics of HTTP like:

✅ requests using telnet

✅ headers

✅ response format

Then you’ll explore GET (representation of specified resource) and POST (sending data to the server) requests.

Code sample in the course HTTP Basics on Treehouse

Best HTTP Courses: Conclusion

Now let’s recap today’s findings.

We looked at the best HTTP courses including:

🔥 Best Overall 🔥
The Complete Web Developer: Zero to Mastery

💸 Best Value 💸
HTTP with Node.js: Pluralsight

So regardless of your HTTP needs, we think these are the best HTTP courses of this year.


Readers of best HTTP courses are also reading:

10 Absolute Best HTTP Books


  1. What is HTTP?

    Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol. It’s used for fetching resources such as HTML documents. Being that it’s a client-server protocol, requests are initiated by the Web browser. And from all the sub-documents fetched, a complete document is reconstructed. To learn more about HTTP, check out the courses we have listed in today’s article.

  2. What are the best HTTP courses?

    Overall, we think The Complete Web Developer by Zero to Mastery is the way to go. And for the best value, we chose HTTP with Node.js on Pluralsight. In today’s article, we look at these and more HTTP courses from sites such as Educative.io, Coursera and Pluralsight.

  3. Is learning HTTP worth it?

    As a web developer, we think it would be wise to learn HTTP. It will better help you understand how Web stacks function. You can learn HTTP with books and courses, both which you’ll find in today’s post.

  4. Where can I learn HTTP?

    Two of the most common places to learn HTTP are courses and books. There are plenty of courses to learn HTTP on Zero to Mastery, Codecademy, Pluralsight and more. One of the most popular books is HTTP: The Definitive Guide. You’ll find all of these and more in today’s post.