9 Best MongoDB Tutorials & Courses (Free & Paid)

A roundup of the best MongoDB tutorials & courses

If you’ve been meaning to learn MongoDB, you’re not alone. Developers have voted it as the database they want to learn the most for the 4th year in a row.

We’ve cut through the noise and compiled a list of the best MongoDB tutorials – mostly free, some paid – to help you get started.

With some courses taking only two hours long, there’s plenty of time to check MongoDB off your list this year.

Free MongoDB tutorials and courses

MongoDB 101: Getting Started

Level: Beginner
Author: Academy 3T
Price: Free
Duration: 2+ hours

Source: Academy 3T

This two-hour MongoDB tutorial was developed with absolute beginners in mind by the creators of the leading MongoDB GUI & IDE for professionals.

From setting up your first cloud-hosted MongoDB database and connecting to it, all the way to importing and exporting data and running simple queries, the course covers all the basics to help get anyone started – no programming or no database knowledge required.

The course is self-paced and includes videos and quizzes throughout.

Sections covered:

Introducing MongoDB and Studio 3T
Introducing MongoDB Atlas
Connecting to MongoDB
The MongoDB Basics: Databases, Collections & Documents
Using SQL in MongoDB Aggregation
Importing and Exporting MongoDB Data
Running MongoDB Queries on the mongo Shell

There’s no registration required, get started here: Introduction to MongoDB

Data Wrangling with MongoDB

Level: Intermediate
Author: Gundega Dakena, Shannon Bradshaw
Price: Free
Duration: Approx. 2 months

Source: Udacity

Data comes in all shapes, sizes, and qualities. Extracting, wrangling, and shaping it – that’s what this MongoDB course is all about. You’ll learn how to gather and extract data from various formats and clean it up using best practices to get it to the shape you need for your data-driven application.

Heads up, programming experience in Python and the ability to perform rudimentary Windows or Unix system administration are prerequisites. If you have those covered and are interested in data science and Big Data analysis, then this course is for you.

Sections covered:

Data Quality
Working with MongoDB
Data Extraction Fundamentals
Analyzing Data
Data in More Complex Formats
Case Study – OpenStreetMap Data

You can register for the course here.

MongoDB 201: Querying MongoDB Data

Level: Intermediate
Author: Academy 3T
Price: Free
Duration: 3+ hours

Source: Academy 3T

Academy 3T’s follow-up to its inaugural MongoDB tutorial, MongoDB 201 delves into the trickier details of querying MongoDB, but manages to do so with just the right amount of theory and tons of hands-on exercises and quizzes.

By the end of this MongoDB course, you’ll know how to run find() queries, work with the MongoDB aggregation framework, use the $match, $group, $project, $replaceRoot, and $sort aggregation stages, use SQL to query MongoDB, create views, and most importantly, query arrays the right way.

Like its predecessor, this course is free, self-paced, and peppered with even more exercises and quizzes.

Sections covered:

Performing CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) Operations
Building MongoDB find() Queries
The MongoDB find() Method
Working with the MongoDB Aggregation Pipeline
The MongoDB aggregate method
Querying Arrays Using MongoDB $elemMatch
How to Query Embedded Documents in MongoDB Arrays
Querying MongoDB with SQL SELECT Statements
Working with MongoDB Views

There’s no registration required, start with Section 1: Performing MongoDB CRUD Operations

MongoDB Quickstart with Python

Level: Advanced
Author: Michael Kennedy
Price: Free
Duration: 2+ hours

Source: MongoDB Quickstart

From the host of TalkPython and PythonBytes, this short course – which can be completed in just two hours – is ideal for those who want to get up and running with MongoDB and Python. That said, programming experience in Python is, of course, a prerequisite.

Sections covered:

Why NoSQL and MongoDB
Modeling data in document databases
Introducing MongoEngine
Building the data layer with MongoEngine

You can register for the MongoDB tutorial here.

Server-side Development with NodeJS, Express and MongoDB

Level: Advanced
Author: Professor Jogesh K. Muppala
Price: Free
Duration: 48 hours

Server-side Development with NodeJS, Express & MongoDB

Source: Coursera

As MongoDB tutorials go, this is definitely one for the advanced users. Professor Jogesh K. Muppala from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology walks you through “all things server-side” in this Node.js-based MongoDB course.

By the end, you’ll not only know server-side concepts, you’ll also get to build your very own backend server using Node.js and a front-end RESTful API to access it. Course enrollment is free but on a rolling basis.

Sections covered:

Introduction to Server-side Development
Data, Data, Where art Thou Data?
Halt! Who goes there?
Backend as a Service (BaaS)

Paid MongoDB tutorials and courses

Node.js, Express, MongoDB & More: The Complete Bootcamp 2020

Level: Advanced
Author: Jonas Schmedtmann
Price: €199.99
Duration: 42+ hours

Source: Udemy

Jonas Schmedtmann’s MongoDB course is one of the most comprehensive you’ll find on Udemy (and also one of the highest rated). Ideal for front-end developers looking to master a modern back-end stack that includes Node.js, Express, and MongoDB, his bootcamp course promises to take you through building a “complete, beautiful & real-world application from start to finish”.

Sections covered:

Introduction to Node.js and NPM
Introduction to Back-End Web Development
How Node.js Works: A Look Behind the Scenes
Asynchronous JavaScript: Promises and Async/Await
Express: Let’s Start Building the Natours API!
Introduction to MongoDB
Using MongoDB with Mongoose
Error Handling with Express
Authentication, Authorization, and Security
Modelling Data and Advanced Mongoose
Server-Side Rendering with Pug Templates
Advanced Features: Payments, Email, File Uploads
Setting Up Git and Deployment

MongoDB Essentials – Complete MongoDB Guide

Level: Advanced
Author: Bogdan Stashchuk
Price: €199.99
Duration: 10+ hours

Source: Udemy

If you’re a full-stack developer who wants to master working with the mongo shell, then this paid Udemy course might be up your alley. Bogdan provides in-depth examples of MongoDB query operators like $lt, $gt, $or, $and, $type, and $in, and walks you through sections on CRUD, aggregation, data types, and indexes.

Sections covered:

Introduction to MongoDB
MongoDB Installation Options
Installing MongoDB on the local computer and dedicated or VPS server
Using MongoDB as a Service (Cloud MongoDB)
Installing GUI Tools for MongoDB Management
Introduction to the MongoDB Shell
Primary MongoDB Data Types
Basic CRUD Operations
MongoDB Queries
Updating Documents
Delete Operations
Aggregation Framework
Indexes
Utilities

The Complete Developers Guide to MongoDB

Level: Advanced
Author: Stephen Grider
Price: €149.99
Duration: 13+ hours

Source: Udemy

Stephen Grider’s popular Udemy course is ideal for those who want to learn MongoDB with Node.js. Sure he covers MongoDB fundamentals, but students highly recommend the course’s focus on Mongoose and test-driven approach, which come in handy when building apps around MongoDB.

Sections covered:

OSX Setup
Windows Setup
A Quick ES6 Refresher
Core Fundamentals of MongoDB
A Test-Driven Experience
Mongo Operators
Handling Relational Data
Thinking About Schema Design
Mongoose Middleware
Handling Big Collections with Pagination
Putting Your Skills to the Test
Hard Mode Engage
MongoDB with Node and Express

MongoDB University

It would be amiss to compile a list of MongoDB tutorials and courses without mentioning MongoDB University, MongoDB’s own learning platform.

Source: MongoDB

At the time of writing, MongoDB University offers 13 courses – all for free – ranging from introductory to advanced.

Developers and DBAs can also choose to follow their respective Learning Paths, tracks which have been designed to cover exactly the relevant MongoDB courses.