Free Online Courses With Free Certificates
Six places where both the course and the certificate cost nothing, what each one takes to earn, and one popular option that is not free.
By Nihal Mohammed · Facts last checked on
Plenty of courses are free to watch and then charge for the certificate at the end. The six providers below say on their own pages that the certificate or badge is free as well, so you can finish with something to show and pay nothing.
Every fact here comes from the provider's own website, and the date under the title says when it was last checked. Offers change, so confirm the details on the provider's page before you start.
The short list
| Provider | What you earn | Time it takes | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| freeCodeCamp | Verified certifications | About 300 hours each | Web development and Python |
| Harvard CS50x | The CS50 Certificate | Eleven weeks of material | Computer science basics |
| Kaggle Learn | A certificate per course | A few hours each | Data science and machine learning |
| Cisco Networking Academy | Badges | 6 to 22 hours for the two courses below | Networking and cybersecurity |
| HubSpot Academy | Certifications | 3 to 8 hours each | Marketing |
| IBM SkillsBuild | Digital credentials | Varies by course | AI, cybersecurity and data |
freeCodeCamp
freeCodeCamp states that every part of it is free: the courses, the projects and the certifications. It describes the certifications as verified and self-paced, and says each one takes around 300 hours of learning, though some people take longer.
The recommended curriculum currently lists these certifications:
- Responsive Web Design Certification
- JavaScript Certification
- Front-End Development Libraries Certification
- Python Certification
- Relational Databases Certification
- Back-End Development and APIs Certification
This is the largest time commitment on the list. It suits you if you want to work as a web developer and can study steadily for months.
Harvard CS50x
CS50x is Harvard's introduction to computer science. Anyone can take it for free through Harvard's OpenCourseWare by working through the course's eleven weeks of material.
Harvard's certificate page says you are eligible for a free CS50 Certificate if you submit and score at least 70% on each problem set and on the final project. A separate verified certificate from edX is also offered, and that one is paid.
The same team runs related courses, including CS50 Python, CS50 SQL, CS50 Web and CS50 AI.
Kaggle Learn
Kaggle Learn offers short, practical courses in data science. Kaggle says the courses are provided at no cost and that you can earn certificates, and that each course is built to give you usable skills in a few hours rather than weeks.
Courses include Intro to Programming, Python, Intro to Machine Learning, Pandas, Data Visualization, Intro to SQL and Advanced SQL.
These are the quickest certificates on the list. They work well as a first step if you are aiming at data analyst or data science roles and want to find out whether you enjoy the work.
Cisco Networking Academy
Cisco's Networking Academy has self-paced courses that it lists as free, and the course pages show the badges you can earn. Two beginner courses are a good place to start:
- Introduction to Cybersecurity: free, 6 hours, beginner level, with 7 labs.
- Networking Basics: free, 22 hours, beginner level, with 13 labs.
Cisco's catalogue also includes instructor-led courses. Each course page shows its own price and format, so check both before you enrol.
HubSpot Academy
HubSpot Academy describes its certifications as free and online. To earn one you complete all the lessons, which are videos with short quizzes, and then pass the certification exam and its practical exercises.
Certifications and the time HubSpot lists for each:
- Inbound: 3 hours
- Digital Marketing: 3 hours
- Social Media Marketing: 5 hours
- Inbound Marketing Optimization: 5 hours
- Revenue Operations: 7 hours
- Content Marketing: 8 hours
These suit marketing and sales roles. Some of the material is built around HubSpot's own software.
IBM SkillsBuild
IBM SkillsBuild describes itself as 100% free learning. Its topics include AI, cybersecurity and data.
IBM awards digital credentials through Credly. You create a Credly account, complete a learning activity on SkillsBuild that offers a credential, and then accept it from your Credly dashboard. Not every activity carries a credential, so look for one that does before you begin.
One that is not free
Google Career Certificates appear on many lists of free certificates. They are not free. Google's own page says they are offered on Coursera for a monthly subscription. The page we read, which is the version for India, gives the cost as $20 a month after a seven-day trial and says the cost elsewhere may vary.
They may still be worth paying for. They just do not belong on a list of free certificates.
How to choose
Start from the job you want, not from the certificate.
- For web development, freeCodeCamp covers the most ground.
- For a strong foundation in computer science, CS50x is a full university course with graded problem sets.
- For data roles, begin with Kaggle's Python, Pandas and Intro to SQL courses.
- For IT support, networking or security, begin with Cisco's two beginner courses.
- For marketing, pick the HubSpot certification that matches the roles you are applying for.
A free certificate shows that you finished something. Employers will still want to see what you can do, so pair it with a project you can talk about.
How this list was checked
Each provider's own pages were read on 12 November 2026, and a provider is listed only where its page says the certificate, badge or credential is free. Two well-known programmes are left out for that reason. Microsoft's Applied Skills pages and Google's Skillshop pages did not state a price when they were checked, so neither is on this list.