In this guide, we cover the best free online certifications and courses.
Nowadays you can learn almost anything for free on the web. For university courses, you may want to look at our list of free college courses online.
Online training and classes enable you to expand your skills and learn at your own pace. Certificates will allow proving your job skills, educational accomplishments, and online course completion.
Please note that some massive open online course providers (MOOC) may ask you a small fee for printable certificates.
The number of e-learning platforms is growing all the time. There are hundreds of certifications and course providers on the internet.
So how do you choose the best ones?
We have collected the list of 20 best free online certifications and courses that come completely free of charge. So that you spend less time searching and more time learning.
1. HarvardX Free Online Courses (Harvard University)
HarvardX is a compilation of free online courses from Harvard University. You have a chance to attend online classes designed by one of the best universities in the world.
HarvardX is the independent, faculty-led organization that complements Harvard faculty. It supports schools that wish to develop and create innovative digital learning content. HarvardX provides courses via edX platform.
Courses cover a wide range of domain:
CS50 for Lawyers, Contact Law, Statistics, Calculus, Data Analysis, Data Science, Machine Learning, Using Python for Research, CR50 for Mobile Development, Entrepreneurship, History, Literature Courses and much more.
Harvard University courses are free to take. Students can choose to receive a verified certificate for a small fee.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
2. Stanford University Free Online Courses
Stanford University is a private research university in Stanford, California. It’s known for academic strength, wealth, selectivity and is ranking as one of the world’s top universities.
Stanford University is also known for its symbiotic relationship with Silicon Valley. Many entrepreneurial startups and the venture capital industry that has formed around it.
The free online courses available through Coursera platform are:
Machine Learning, Social and Economic Networks, Game Theory, Logic, Organizational Analysis, Writing in the Sciences, Cryptography, and others.
If you are looking to learn one of the subjects Stanford offers, it’s certainly worth checking the course details.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
3. Online Courses from Udemy
Udemy is one of the world’s largest online learning platforms. Its aimed at professional adults and students.
Free courses are available for all levels – beginners, intermediate and experts.
Courses cover a vast number of categories. They include business & entrepreneurship, academics, arts, health & fitness, languages, music, and technology.
In the technology section you can choose courses for:
Blockchain, cryptocurrency, web development, programming languages, mobile development, office software and much more.
Course durations vary from course to course it can be from 1 hour to 30 hours.
Again, like in most free online courses, you can take any course, but obtaining a certificate will come at a small fee.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
4. Free Online Courses from edX
edX was created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University in 2012. It hosts online university-level courses in a wide range of disciplines. It’s available to worldwide audiences and includes the number of Free courses.
edX platform is supporting learners at every stage. Whether entering the job market, changing fields, seeking promotion or exploring new interests.
edX courses consist of weekly learning sequences. Each learning sequence includes short videos complemented with interactive learning exercises. Students can immediately practice the concepts.
On edX you can discover courses from famous universities such as:
MIT, Harvard, Berkley, The University of Texas System, Boston University and more.
Free online courses on the platform cover the following topics:
Computer Science, Languages, Data Science, Business Management, Engineering, and Humanities.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
5. E-Learning Courses from LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is a leading online education platform. It helps anyone learn business, software, technology, and creative skills. The platform is a subsidiary of LinkedIn.
The majority of courses focus on the technical side, offering many software tutorials. It’s a great platform for individuals as well as small businesses and entrepreneurs. It’s easy to find suitable business-related courses and training.
Subjects cover a wide range of domain including:
Business Software and Tools, Career Development, Customer Service, Finance and Accounting, Human Recourses, Leadership and Management, Marketing, Project Management, Sales, Small Business & Entrepreneurship.
All courses are free during the first month of the registration (free trial period). This is more than enough time to cover several courses at no cost at all.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of classes in design, business, tech and much more. Michael Karnjanaprakorn and Malcolm Ong started the platform in 2010.
The site has courses in advertising, business, design, fashion, video, music, gaming, technology, and copywriting.
Skillshare platform has 4 million students and over 25,000 classes. They offer big number of free classes as well.
Many industry leaders are instructors on the Skillshare, in entrepreneurship, social media strategy and brand marketing.
Sign up to Skillshare for free. A free account gives you access to free classes on web and mobile (iOS). Premium Membership gives you full access to 20K classes, along with other features like offline viewing.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
7. Free Online Certifications from Microsoft
Microsoft edX courses enable you to learn through hands-on experience by experts.
These courses provide broad reach, cutting-edge technologies in areas including cloud services, mobile development, and data sciences.
Whether you’re a student or a seasoned technologist, these courses can empower you to:
Build innovative applications, services, and experiences on the Microsoft platform.
Browse free online courses in a variety of subjects. Microsoft courses found below can be audited free or students can choose to receive a verified certificate for a small fee.
Microsoft provides free courses on:
Logic and Computational Thinking, Introduction to Python, Deep Learning Explained Data Science Introduction, Principles of Machine Learning, Introduction to C++, Intermediate and Advanced C++, Java, IT Support Courses, DevOps for Mobile Apps and much more.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
8. Online Classes from Creative Live
CreativeLive is an online education platform that broadcasts live classes to international audiences.
Classes are broadcast live from four in-house production studios. The main difference of CreativeLive’s approach to online learning is interaction via the online classroom. It’s facilitated by a studio audience that also appears on camera.
CreativeLive uses a freemium pricing model. All classes are free to stream while they are live. Some segments of prior classes aired are free to watch. The rest can be purchased to watch at any later date.
You can find the vast number of creative classes on the platform:
Photo and Video, Money & Life, Art & Design, Craft & Maker and Music & Audio.
Free / Paid: Freemium
Course: Register Here
9. Free Online Certifications from Microsoft Learn
Microsoft has certification paths for many technical job roles. Each of these certifications needs passing a series of exams to earn the certificate. Microsoft certifications are organized into three levels: Fundamental, Associate, and Expert.
These learning paths are designed to prepare you for industry-recognized Microsoft certifications.
The IT job roles that an earn certifications are:
Administrator, AI Engineer, Business Analyst, Data Engineer, Data Scientist, Developer and Solution Architect.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
10. Free Courses from MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT OpenCourseWare is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). MIT OCW publishes all educational materials from its undergraduate and graduate-level courses online. It is available to anyone, anywhere for free.
The website includes more than 2,400 courses that cover all MIT course content.
You can find content from MIT courses on:
Business, Energy, Engineering, Fine Arts, Health and Medicine, Humanities, Mathematics, Science, Society, Teaching, and Education.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Access Here
11. Free Online Certifications and Courses from ALISON
Alison is a free online education platform that focuses on workplace-based skills.
Alison’s Certificate courses are a range of free online classes and lessons. They’re designed to provide training that’s as streamlined and to-the-point as possible.
The courses are built for learners of any ability or knowledge level. Each of these free online courses takes less than 3 hours to complete. They provide clear detail training on a single topic.
The courses follow industry standards. It’s up to the particular employer whether they choose to recognize Alison Certificate or Diploma. This is the major drawback of this free online education provider.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
12. Online Lessons & Lectures from TEDEd
TEDEd is an educational arm for TED Conferences (Technology, Entertainment, Design). TED is a famous media organization that posts talks online for free distribution under the slogan “ideas worth spreading”.
TED talks address a wide range of topics within the research and practice of science and culture, often through storytelling. The speakers are given a maximum of 18 minutes to present their ideas.
TEDEd is the compilation of educational TED talks on a number of topics.
You can find great lessons, talks on: The Arts, Business, Economics, Literature, Health, Design, Engineering, Science & Technology, Psychology, Philosophy and much more.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
13. Free Online Courses from Yale University
Open Yale Courses (OYC) is a project of Yale University. OYC provides lectures and other materials from selected Yale College courses. It’s available free of charge via the Internet.
The courses span the full range of liberal arts disciplines. They include humanities, social sciences, and physical and biological sciences.
Online courses are designed for a wide range of students around the world, among them self-directed and life-long learners, educators, and high school and college students.
Each course includes a full set of class lectures produced in high-quality video. Accompanied by other course materials – syllabi, suggested readings, and problem sets.
The lectures are available as downloadable videos. An audio only version is also offered.
Registration is not required. On the flip side, there is no credit degree or certificate.
Courses are available through the Open Yale Courses website.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Access Here
14. Free Online Classes from Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Salman Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students.
The platform offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard. Learners are encouraged to study online at their own pace.
The website and its content are provided in English. Many classes and lessons are available in other languages.
You can find lessons and classes in:
Math, Science and Engineering Computing, Arts, Humanities, Economics, Finance, and Test Prep.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
15. Free Online Certifications from Google Digital Garage
Google Digital Garage is a non-profit program from Google. Its delivering free digital skills training via an online learning platform.
You can find many courses on Data and Tech, Digital Marketing and Career development.
Get certified in Fundamentals of Digital Marketing. Master the basics of digital marketing this free course. Its accredited by Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe and The Open University.
There are 26 modules to explore in this 40-hour course. All with practical exercises and real-world examples. You will get the Free Certificate on the fundamentals of digital marketing.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
16. Free Online Certifications Aquent Gymnasium
Aquent Gymnasium offers free, online courses for digital, creative, and communications professionals.
Course instructors are practicing professionals and leaders in their field. In collaboration with Gymnasium, they have designed practical courses. They give you knowledge that can immediately be applied to your next project or job.
All courses include 3 to 6 hours of video instruction. Also, optional quizzes and assignments, a final exam, and a certificate when you pass.
Available courses are:
Coding for Designers, UX Fundamentals, JavaScript Foundations, Modern Web Design, Responsive Web Design Foundations, Introduction to Git and GitHub, Node.js and much more.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
17. Free Online Certifications from HubSpot Academy
HubSpot Academy is a worldwide leader in free online digital marketing training. They have great courses for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service professionals.
HubSpot Academy offers Free Online Certification in 17 courses on digital marketing topics.
Courses with certificates include:
Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media, Contextual Marketing and more.
Academy also has big number of digital marketing and sales courses. You can learn from scratch or improve your skills in high-demand digital specializations.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
18. Free Online Courses from openSAP
openSAP is an Enterprise platform for massive open online courses (MOOC). Everyone can enroll in openSAP courses, provided free of charge.
MOOC concept is already quite popular in academia. SAP is one of the first companies to build a platform dedicated to MOOCs. It’s adopted for business-related training purposes.
The average duration of the video lectures is 90 minutes per week. Second, you need to add extra self-study and homework. Lastly, the average effort required to complete an openSAP course is four to six hours per week. This makes it easy for students to combine courses with their other responsibilities.
The course topics include:
Analytics, Cloud Solutions, Digital Transformation, HR, Industries, Social Responsibility, User Experience and more.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
19. Free Online Courses from Udacity
Udacity is an educational offering massive open online courses (MOOCs). Most courses are paid only, but they offer 190+ free courses on the platform.
Each course consists of several units comprising video lectures with closed captioning. Integrated quizzes help students understand concepts and reinforce ideas. Follow-up homework is also given.
Topics are generally technology-focused. You can find courses on:
Artificial intelligence, data science, cloud computing, programming, and development.
Udacity also has nanodegrees (certificates) unlike for Free courses. They are too expensive for our taste.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Register Here
20. Free Online Learning Resources from Wikiversity
Wikiversity is a project devoted to learning resources, learning projects and research. It’s part of the Wikimedia Foundation.
It differs from more structured projects such as Wikipedia. It instead offers a series of tutorials or courses. It is encouraging learning, rather than formal content.
Wikiversity aims to create and host a range of free content. It is offering multilingual learning materials and resources. Available for all age groups in all languages.
As you would expect, the content is in Wiki format. There is no conventional learning experience compared to other free online courses. Even so, it’s a vast resource to find the tutorials almost on any science-related topic.
No registration required – you are free to access Wikiversity. Like to do on any other Wiki resource available.
Free / Paid: Free
Course: Access Here
This was our list of 20 best Free Online Certifications and Courses. We hope you will be able to find the course you are looking for and enjoy learning it at no cost.
You may want to read our top 10 online learning platforms, to find more computer science focused e-learning providers.
This post will keep updating, reflecting changes in free programs from education providers.
Here’s The Next Step…
Which of the free online certifications or courses above are you going to try?
Or maybe you have a question.
Either way, let us know by leaving a comment below.
