List of Education Websites
Schools, universities, online courses, language apps, dictionaries, study tools and research libraries. One list, sorted by education level, country and popularity.
How many education websites are there?
Of over 120 million categorized domains, 3,557,549 carry the Education/Reference category. That is 3.4% of the web. Among the 300,000 most popular domains, the share triples to 10.1%, because students, teachers and researchers return to the same tools every day.
Education/Reference
Every domain where learning or reference content is part of the site: schools, universities, dictionaries, encyclopedias, study tools.
Education first
Domains where education or reference is the main subject. The tight list for prospecting and research.
Webinars/E-learning
Course platforms, online academies and webinar sites. A separate category that overlaps with education.
Popular education sites
Education and reference domains among the 300,000 most popular sites, the core of daily student use.
Education and reference together: the category covers both learning and looking things up. Use the IAB tiers to separate a university from a dictionary, or a homework tool from a research library.
Top 10 education websites
The leading education and reference websites in our data, ranked by popularity among real users. Video platforms, portals and weather sites that also carry the category are left out, so the list shows sites built for learning.
The list mixes four worlds: research, reference, school tools and adult courses. That mix is typical of the category, and it is why most buyers narrow the list with IAB tiers before they use it.
Notice what is missing: no single university makes the global top 10. Universities have large but local audiences, so they lead country bands instead. In a national view, the biggest universities, exam boards and ministry portals rise to the top.
School tools also rank very high for their size. A sign-on portal used by classrooms every morning can outrank famous brands, which is why popularity bands are useful for edtech account tiering. Daily habit, not brand fame, drives these ranks.
Types of education websites in the list
The education list is not one kind of site. These are the main groups you will find, and what usually sets them apart in the data.
Most buyers want two or three of these groups, not all eight. The IAB tiers and the e-learning category make the split possible without manual review of millions of sites.
Three education list recipes
These are typical lists built from the same file, with the filters used for each.
US K-12 schools and tools
Education/Reference as main subject, IAB Primary, Secondary or Early Childhood Education, country United States. The base list for school-facing edtech sales.
European universities
IAB College Education, countries in the EU and the UK, popularity band up to 500,000. Useful for student recruitment and academic publishers.
Language apps worldwide
IAB Language Learning plus Webinars/E-learning, all countries. A market map for investors and app marketers.
Allow list for a school network: start with the popular education domains, add your district's own sites, and keep the full category as a fallback so new learning sites open without a ticket.
Questions buyers ask about education lists
Before buying, education teams usually want to know the same things.
Are school district sites included?
Yes. School and district sites are categorized like any other domain. Many sit in the long tail of popularity, so use the strict list and country filter rather than a popularity cut.
Do I get schools outside the US?
Yes. Schools on country domains, .org and .com are covered. The .edu ending is only a small part of the list.
How are essay and answer sites handled?
They are categorized by content, often as Homework and Study. You decide whether they belong in your list.
What about new sites each term?
New domains are categorized daily and checked again after a week and a month, so course and school sites that launch before term are picked up.
Can I target by student age?
The IAB tiers separate early childhood, primary, secondary, college and adult education, which is a close proxy for age groups.
Which file formats?
CSV, Parquet and JSON, with a lookup API included in licences for checking single sites on demand.
Education websites by level: IAB subcategories
The IAB Content Taxonomy splits education by level and type. These are the counts across the full database for IAB version 3, Tier 2.
What popular education sites focus on
Among popular education domains, the leading deeper subjects show where daily use goes.
| Subject among popular education domains | Domains |
|---|---|
| College Education | 3,993 |
| Online Education | 1,636 |
| Language Learning | 1,286 |
| Secondary Education | 1,097 |
| Educational Assessment, mostly standardized testing | 958 |
| Postgraduate Education | 688 |
| Homework and Study | 673 |
| Early Childhood Education | 434 |
Test prep stands out: 825 popular domains focus on standardized testing, more than on homework help or early childhood learning. See the full tree on the taxonomy page.
Education websites by country
Of the 30,157 popular education domains, 17,606 have a country assigned. These are the ten largest shares.
The US leads clearly
More than one in five popular education sites with a known country is American, from school districts to universities and edtech tools.
India is second
Exam prep sites, government education portals and coaching platforms are prominent among India's popular education domains.
Domain endings help
.edu has 6,596 domains, 5,768 of them in Education/Reference. .org holds 381,845 education domains, and .academy and .school add more.
The .edu ending is limited to accredited US post-secondary institutions, so it covers only a small part of the world's education sites. Country domains carry most schools, see for example India domains or Brazil domains.
Popularity bands: from campus giants to the village school
Education is a long-tail market. Very few tools reach global scale, and millions of school and course sites serve a local audience.
| Global popularity band | Popular education domains | What sits here |
|---|---|---|
| Top 1,000 | 37 | Global study tools, reference works and research platforms |
| 1,001 to 5,000 | 165 | Course marketplaces, school portals and big universities |
| 5,001 to 10,000 | 186 | National exam boards and large learning apps |
| 10,001 to 50,000 | 1,817 | Universities, coding schools and language apps |
| 50,001 to 100,000 | 2,490 | Colleges, school districts and test prep sites |
| 100,001 to 500,000 | 21,523 | Schools, faculties, tutors and niche reference sites |
The 100,001 to 500,000 band alone holds 21,523 popular education domains, more than two thirds of the set. For an edtech seller, the bands are a quick way to tier accounts. For a filtering product, they show which sites a school is most likely to need on day one.
Who buys a list of education websites, and why
Education lists are bought by teams that sell to schools, protect students, or study how people learn online.
Edtech companies
Find every school, college and course provider in a territory, then tier them by size. See K-12 education domains and higher education domains.
Student and family safety
Filtering and parental control products keep learning sites open while other categories are limited. See parental controls and family safety.
Advertisers
Back-to-school, test prep and course campaigns use education sites for context. Exclusion lists also matter for brands that must not advertise to children.
Publishers
Textbook and journal publishers map the platforms and libraries where their content is used or discussed.
Researchers
Study the growth of online learning, the spread of language apps or the digital gap between regions. See online learning domains.
Network and security teams
Universities and companies allow learning resources while keeping risky categories in check. See web content filtering.
Columns included in the education list
Each education domain comes with every field in the database. Here is what you get, with quizlet.com as the example.
| Field | quizlet.com | Use for education lists |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | quizlet.com | Matching with CRM, filtering logs or ad reports |
| IAB v2 Tier 1 to 4 | Education > Homework and Study | Platforms on IAB version 2 |
| IAB v3 Tier 1 to 4 | Education > Homework and Study | Education level and type |
| Web filtering categories | Education/Reference, Webinars/E-learning | Allow lists in schools, learning vs reference |
| Audience personas | Typical visitor profiles, such as students | Audience planning |
| Country | United States | Territory and national lists |
| Global popularity band | Top 1,000 | Account tiering |
| Country popularity band | Top 1,000 in its country | National leaders |
A second example: khanacademy.org carries Education > Secondary Education, three web filtering categories (Education/Reference, Web-based Applications, Webinars/E-learning), country United States and the global 1,001 to 5,000 band. Look up any site in the domain checker.
How to build the education list you need
Start from the full category and narrow it step by step. These checks keep the list clean.
- Decide on learning or reference. A school list and a dictionary list are both "education". Use IAB tiers to keep the one you need.
- Pick the levels. College, secondary, primary and early childhood have separate tiers, as do language learning and test prep.
- Add e-learning if it fits. The Webinars/E-learning category brings in course platforms and online academies.
- Set the market. Filter by country, by domain ending such as .edu or a country domain, or both.
- Tier by popularity. Use the global or country bands to split large institutions from small schools.
- Remove look-alikes. Essay mills and answer-sharing sites sit near education. Review them against your own policy before you include them.
Two taxonomies, one row: both IAB versions and the web filtering categories sit side by side, so the same list works for an ad platform and a school filter. Read more on dual taxonomy categorization.
What changes in education data, and how the list keeps up
Education sites follow the school year. New course sites launch before each term, school sites move to new domains, and exam portals spike and fade.
New domains daily
About 300,000 newly registered domains are categorized every day, including new course sites and school portals.
Checked again
Each new domain is checked after a week and after a month, because many education sites go live with a single page and fill up later.
Monthly refresh
All other domains are refreshed monthly, so merged schools and retired course sites leave the list.
Education and its neighbouring categories
Learning happens on more than education sites. These related categories help you widen a list on purpose, or explain why a site you expected is missing.
| Related category | Domains | When to add it |
|---|---|---|
| Webinars/E-learning | 547,792 | Online courses, corporate training and webinar hosts |
| Science (web filtering) | 570,136 | Research institutes, science news and labs |
| Books and Literature (IAB v3) | 1,564,788 | Libraries, reading platforms and literary sites |
| Job Search/Careers | 1,458,120 | Career services, graduate jobs and vocational training |
| Science (IAB v3) | 452,084 | Subject content for science teaching and research |
Educational games are a special case. Several popular maths and learning game sites for children carry a video gaming IAB subject next to Education/Reference, so a school policy that blocks games by subject should check them first.
See coverage and freshness for details, or the broader education domains page for the industry view.
Education website list FAQ
How many education websites are there?
Our database of over 120 million categorized domains contains 3,557,549 domains with the Education/Reference category. For 2,580,431 of them, education or reference is the main subject. A further 547,792 domains carry the Webinars/E-learning category.
What are the most popular education websites?
Ranked by popularity among real users, leading sites include researchgate.net, merriam-webster.com, archive.org, quizlet.com, w3schools.com, ixl.com, clever.com, sciencedirect.com, udemy.com and khanacademy.org.
Can I get only universities or only K-12 school websites?
Yes. The IAB tiers separate college education, secondary, primary and early childhood education, private schools, language learning and online education, so you can build a list for each level.
Are all .edu domains included?
The database holds 6,596 .edu domains, and 5,768 of them carry the Education/Reference category. Most education websites worldwide use other endings, such as country domains, .org and .com.
Who buys lists of education websites?
Edtech companies, school and family safety products, publishers, advertisers planning education campaigns, and researchers who study online learning.
Is this the same as the education industry page?
No. The education domains page describes the sector. This page covers the list itself: counts, leaders, subcategories, fields and filters.
Can I combine education with other categories?
Yes. Every row carries all its categories, so you can build lists such as education plus e-learning, or education minus gaming, in one filter.
Can schools use the list as an allow list?
Yes, within a licence. Schools and filtering products often allow the full Education/Reference category and review the edge cases, such as answer-sharing sites, by policy.
How do I get the full list of education websites?
The full list is part of the licensed database. See the pricing page for database sizes and licence options.
Get the full list of education websites
All 3.5 million education and reference domains with IAB education levels, country, popularity bands and the lookup API.
See pricing and licences Pick your database sizeIAB and the IAB Content Taxonomy are trademarks of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, used here only to identify the taxonomy. Website names belong to their owners and are listed only to describe our data. URL Categorization Database is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by any of them.