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  In this article, read by over 10M people, Class Central has compiled the single largest collection of free certificate courses available online.

  Certificates can motivate learners to complete online courses. When the modern online course movement began, platforms like Coursera and edX offered free certificates. But by 2015, these had largely been replaced by paid ones.

  Fortunately, universities like Harvard and Stanford still offer some free certificates. And so do platforms like FutureLearn and LinkedIn Learning. Finally, companies like Google and Microsoft also started offering free certificates to promote their products.

  Free certificates can be hard to find. So we compiled them all here, testing each platform, and earning a few certificates ourselves along the way. We’ve spent many hours on this article, and we’ll continue to update it.

  If you know a free certificate not listed here, please share it in the comments.

  While Coursera and edX are not currently offering free certificates, you can learn from almost all of their courses for free.

  Please note, Class Central is not involved in running the courses or issuing certificates. This is a dynamic field and you may discover that a course you choose is no longer available, or doesn’t have a free certificate any more. We recommend you always check before starting a course.

  Table of Contents

  This article is long. To make it easy to navigate, we’ve divided it into sections. Click on a section to jump to the corresponding free certificate courses:

  Google	1000+ free certificates and badges on Android Development, Google Analytics, Google Cloud…
  LinkedIn Learning	110+ hours of online courses with free certificates on business, design, technology…
  Harvard	10 online courses with free certificates on computer science, programming, AI…
  Stanford	200+ medical courses with free certificates and CME credit.
  Open University	1000 free certificate courses on business, law, science..
  Semrush	80 courses with free certificates on various aspects of marketing and SEO.
  CodeSignal	600+ courses with free certificates in coding, AI & ML, data science, interview prep…
  freeCodeCamp	1000+ hours of free certificates on web development, programming, data science…
  Digital Marketing	1000+ free certificates and badges on digital marketing: SEO, social media marketing…
  FutureLearn	70+ free certificate courses primarily made by universities on a wide variety of topics.

  But there’s more! The following universities and companies also offer courses with free certificates. Click to jump to the corresponding courses:

  IBM MATLAB Kaggle University of Tasmania HackerRank University of Helsinki openHPI Marginal Revolution University X (Twitter) Marketing Great Learning upGrad Hubspot Wolfram U Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern

  Complexity Explorer Saylor Academy Edraak Stepik OpenWHO FAO UN CC:e-Learn Philanthropy University Global Campus of Human Rights Acumen International Training Centre CISCO Networking Academy University of Urbino EC-Council

  Google Free Certificates and Badges

  

  From Gmail to Maps, Google offers a ton of useful apps. What many people don’t know is that Google also offers numerous online courses — and some of them include a free certificate or badge!

  So we decided to sift through Google’s entire online learning ecosystem to compile all their free courses that offer a badge or certificate.

  In total, we found over 1000 courses, covering topics such as digital marketing, Google Analytics, and Google Cloud. You can find the full list in our dedicated article: 1000+ Free Google Certificates and Badges.

  Here are some examples of the courses offered by Google:

  • Google Ads Apps Certification
  • Google Ads – Measurement Certification
  • AI-Powered Shopping ads Certification
  • Google Ads Creative Certification
  • Google Ads Display Certification
  • Google Ads Search Certification
  • Grow Offline Sales Certification
  • AI-Powered Performance Ads Certification
  • Google Ads Video Certification
  • Google Analytics Certification
  • Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
  • Google Play Store Listing Certificate
  • Introduction to Generative AI from Google ★★★★★(24)
  • Introduction to Responsible AI from Google ★★★★☆(11)
  • Gmail from Google ★★★★★(2)
  • Google Sheets – Advanced Topics from Google ★★★★★(2)
  • Introduction to Image Generation from Google ★★★★★(1)
  • Google Calendar from Google ★★★★★(1)
  • Google Sheets from Google ★★★★★(1)
  • Planetary Scale Earth Observation with Google Earth Engine from Google ★★★★★(1)
  • Introduction to Large Language Models from Google ★★★★☆(1)
  • Build your first web app with Firebase
  • Get started with Google Maps Platform
  • Build apps with Flutter
  • Introduction to SQL
  • Get data from the internet
  • Adapt for different screen sizes
  • Build Actions for Google Assistant
  • Kotlin fundamentals

  You can find more details and the full list here.

  Harvard Free Certificates

  

  Class Central’s @manoel wrote a comprehensive guide explaining how to earn a free certificate in CS50, Harvard’s Introduction to Computer Science, and in the other courses in the CS50 lineup, which you can see below.

  To get the certificate for free, you’ll want to take the courses through Harvard OCW. For more details, head to Class Central’s CS50 in-depth guide. We also have course-specific guides: Harvard CS50 certificate and Harvard CS50 Python certificate.

  • CS50’s Introduction to Computer Science from Harvard University ★★★★★(189)
  • CS50’s Web Programming with Python and JavaScript from Harvard University ★★★★★(29)
  • CS50’s Computer Science for Business Professionals from Harvard University ★★★★★(18)
  • CS50’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python from Harvard University ★★★★★(24)
  • CS50’s Introduction to Programming with Python from Harvard University ★★★★★(11)
  • CS50’s Computer Science for Lawyers from Harvard University ★★★★★(8)
  • CS50’s Introduction to Programming with Scratch from Harvard University ★★★★★(6)
  • CS50’s Introduction to Cybersecurity from Harvard University ★★★★★(2)
  • CS50’s Introduction to Databases with SQL from Harvard University ★★★★★(2)
  • CS50’s Introduction to Programming with R from Harvard University

  The core course is one of the world’s most popular MOOCs with over 6 million enrollments on edX. It is also one of the Best Free Online Courses of All Time on Class Central.

  Stanford Medicine Free Certificates & CME Credit

  

  Stanford Medicine offers a flurry of online learning resources in the medical field, from podcasts to full-fledged courses, that include free certificates of completion.

  Learners also have access to a formal transcript from Stanford, listing all the training they’ve completed. And if you work in healthcare, you can earn continuing medical education credit (CME credit) via the platform.

  

  Here are some of Stanford free certificate offerings:

  • Podcasts: The Stanford Medcast, a biweekly 30-minute medical podcast. Each episode focuses on a new topic, often related to recent medical developments. For instance, recent episodes have discussed breast cancer issues including Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment: A Medical Oncologist’s Perspective and Evolving Practices in Breast Cancer Surgery
  • Webinars: A series of on-demand webinars, where experts discuss various topics related to healthcare. Here’s a webinar from the Pediatric Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Lecture Series that focuses on Fatigue and Underperformance in Sport, and one from Cardiology Grand Rounds: Stress CMR Imaging of Chest Pain Syndromes
  • Online Courses: For example Health Across the Gender Spectrum.

  For more details on how to earn a free certificate from Stanford, head to our article: Stanford Medicine Offers Courses with Free Certificate & CME Credit.

  LinkedIn Learning Free Certificates

  

  Class Central’s @suparn searched LinkedIn Learning’s catalog and identified those that offer a free certificate.

  Here’s what he found: 137 courses and 6 learning paths offering free certificates, and 109 individual courses with free certificates, for a total of about 110 hours of free online learning.

  Below, you can find a selection. Visit our dedicated article for the full free certificate list: 110 Hours of Free LinkedIn Learning Certifications.

  • Career Essentials in Generative AI by Microsoft and LinkedIn (4-5 hours/6 items)
  • Build Your Generative AI Productivity Skills with Microsoft and LinkedIn (4 hours/5 items)
  • AI for Organizational Leaders by Microsoft and LinkedIn (4-5 hours/6 items)
  • Microsoft Copilot for Productivity by Microsoft and LinkedIn (4-5 hours/8 items)
  • Finding a Job during Challenging Economic Times (9-10 hours/10 items)
  • Professional Soft Skills Learning Pathway (9 hours/12 items)
  • Communication Foundations
  • Microsoft Foundational Career Certificate in Data Analytics
  • Project Management Foundations
  • What Is Business Analysis?
  • Developing Your Emotional Intelligence
  • Entrepreneurship Foundations
  • Administrative Professional Foundations
  • Critical Thinking for Better Judgment and Decision-Making

  A LinkedIn Learning certificate is available once you complete videos, quizzes, or exams. To earn a certificate for a learning path, you need to complete all individual courses in the path.

  Open University Free Certificates

  

  The Open University offers 1000 free online courses via their OpenLearn platform. And these include free certificates of completion, and sometimes, badges.

  Having completed a bachelor’s degree with the Open University, I (Manoel) can attest to the quality of their courses, which cover a wide variety of subjects, ranging from arts and language to science and technology.

  Here are some of the courses you can take on OpenLearn:

  • Everyday English 1
  • Information security
  • The business of football
  • Microbes – friend or foe?
  • A brief introduction to nursing
  • Getting started on classical Latin
  • Intercultural competence in the workplace
  • Psychological research, obedience and ethics

  Recently added courses include:

  • Physical and mental health for young children
  • Introducing music research
  • Introducing social care and social work
  • Herodotus and the invention of history
  • International relations: exploring territorial divisions

  For more details on how to earn a free certificate on OpenLearn, head to our article: 1000 Open University Free Certificates.

  Semrush Free Certificates

  

  Semrush Academy offers 90+ free courses on various aspects of marketing and SEO, many with free certificates. Here’s a selection:

  • Become an AI-Powered Marketer
  • How to Get Hired as a Digital Marketer Course with Nathan Gotch
  • GA4 for SEO – How data helps businesses grow with Jeff Sauer
  • On-Page and Technical SEO Course
  • Semrush Content Marketing Toolkit Course
  • How to Optimize for Mobile: The CRAFT of Mobile SEO
  • Mastering YouTube Search Trends and SEO Strategies

  You can find more Semrush Academy courses with free certificates here.

  CodeSignal Free Certificates

  

  CodeSignal offers 600+ courses and learning paths with free certificates in coding, AI & ML, data science, interview prep, and more. Here’s a selection:

  • Programming Foundations with Python
  • Easy Interview Coding Practice in Python
  • Understanding LLMs and Basic Prompting Techniques
  • Introduction to HTML
  • Iterating Over Data in JavaScript
  • Getting Started with Java
  • Functional Programming Techniques in C++
  • Feature Engineering for Text Classification
  • Maximized Efficiency in Problem Solving Techniques in Python
  • Dart Foundations for Beginners

  You can find more CodeSignal courses with free certificates here.

  Digital Marketing Free Certificates and Badges

  

  Digital Marketing is a broad domain that includes search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, email marketing, online public relations, and more.

  Class Central’s catalog of Digital Marketing courses has grown to 5000+ courses, but most of them either do not offer a certificate or require you to pay for a credential. So we dug deeper and found 1000+ Free Digital Marketing Certificates and Badges offered by companies such as Google, Meta, X (Twitter), Semrush, and more.

  Here are a few examples:

  • Google Analytics Certification via Google
  • Google Ads Video Certification via Google
  • AI-Powered Performance Ads Certification via Google
  • Grow Offline Sales Certification via Google
  • Content Marketing and SEO Fundamentals with Eric Enge via semrush.com
  • Semrush Site Audit via semrush.com
  • SEO Certification Course via academy.hubspot.com
  • Inbound Course: Get Certified in the Inbound Methodology via academy.hubspot.com
  • Inbound Marketing Course: Get Certified in Inbound Marketing via academy.hubspot.com
  • Meta Certified Digital Marketing Associate via Meta Blueprint
  • Boost Your Marketing With Facebook Pixel via Meta Blueprint
  • Ads Manager Fundamentals via X
  • Mobile App Campaigns via X
  • Website Traffic & Sales Campaigns via X

  For more details and courses, head to our article: 1000+ Free Digital Marketing Certificates and Badges.

  freeCodeCamp Free Certificates

  

  freeCodeCamp is a nonprofit that can teach you how to code online for free. It includes thousands of hours of learning content exploring topics ranging from web development to machine learning. The content is structured into certifications. Each is dedicated to a particular topic and leads to a free certificate of completion.

  Here are the certifications currently offered by freeCodeCamp:

  • Responsive Web Design ★★★★★(105)
  • JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures ★★★★★(47)
  • JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures (Beta)
  • Data Analysis with Python ★★★★★(17)
  • Front End Development Libraries> ★★★★★(11)
  • Machine Learning with Python ★★★★★(12)
  • Quality Assurance ★★★★★(7)
  • Information Security ★★★★☆(6)
  • Relational Database (Beta) ★★★★★(3)
  • Scientific Computing with Python ★★★★★(3)
  • Back End Development and APIs ★★★★★(3)
  • Data Visualization ★★★★★(1)
  • Foundational C# with Microsoft ★★★★★(2)
  • College Algebra with Python ★★★★★(1)

  FutureLearn Free Certificates

  

  FutureLearn offers 70+ online courses with a free “digital upgrade”, which includes unlimited access to the course and quizzes. A digital Certificate of Achievement will be available upon completion. Here’s a selection:

  • Agriculture, Economics and Nature from University of Western Australia via FutureLearn ★★★★★(5)
  • Digital Skills: Digital Marketing from Accenture via FutureLearn ★★★★☆(16)
  • Understanding Mediterranean and Okinawa Diets from EIT Food ★★★★★(5)
  • Understanding Food Labels from University of Reading ★★★★★(2)
  • Social Learning and Collaboration in School: Learning to thrive through play from Lego Foundation via FutureLearn ★★★★★(2)
  • Digital Skills: Digital Skills for Work and Life from Accenture via FutureLearn ★★★★★(3)
  • Digital Skills: Social Media from Accenture via FutureLearn ★★★★☆(8)
  • Digital Skills: User Experience from Accenture via FutureLearn ★★★★★(2)
  • Digital Skills: Artificial Intelligence from Accenture via FutureLearn ★★★★☆(5)
  • Social Change: How Can Marketing Help? from Griffith University via FutureLearn ★★★★☆(2)
  • Introduction to Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality from Lancaster University via FutureLearn ★★★★★(1)
  • Digital Skills: Reimagine Your Career from Accenture via FutureLearn
  • Measuring What Matters: Transforming Assessment and Recognition of Complex Learning Competencies from University of Melbourne via FutureLearn
  • Digital Skills: Mobile from Accenture via FutureLearn

  For the full list and more details of how to earn a free certificate, head to our article: FutureLearn Courses with Free Certificates.

  IBM Free Badges and Certificates

  

  IBM Cognitive Class offers over 100 courses and 10 learning paths in data science, AI, big data, cloud computing and blockchain. A few courses offer a completion badge or certificate. Check on the Cognitive Class.AI course page for details.

  The platform also provides a virtual lab environment allowing users to practice what they’ve learned in the courses.

  Here’s a selection:

  • Accelerating Deep Learning with GPUs
  • Introduction to Open Source
  • Text Analytics 101
  • Applied Data Science with R
  • Big Data Foundations

  MATLAB Free Certificates

  

  MathWorks, the company behind the MATLAB programming language and software, offers 23 free online courses through their MATLAB Academy platform.

  The courses introduce learners to the MATLAB language and tools — with a focus on machine learning — and MathWorks’ specialized software, such as Simulink.

  Most notably, MATLAB Academy courses include a free certificate of completion as well as an accompanying progress report.

  Here is a selection of the free courses currently offered on MATLAB Academy:

  • MATLAB Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★★(11)
  • Machine Learning Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★★(2)
  • Reinforcement Learning Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★★(1)
  • Signal Processing Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★★(1)
  • Stateflow Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★☆(1)
  • Simulink Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★★(1)
  • Circuit Simulation Onramp from MathWorks
  • App Building Onramp from MathWorks
  • Image Processing Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★★(2)
  • Statistics Onramp from MathWorks
  • Curve Fitting Onramp from MathWorks

  For a complete list and details of how to earn a free MATLAB certificate, head to our article: 30 Hours of MATLAB Courses with Free Certificate.

  Kaggle Free Certificates

  

  Kaggle is an online community for data scientists and aspiring data scientists alike. It offers over 50K public datasets, allowing you to build your own data science projects through Jupyter notebooks, and participate in competitions.

  In addition, the platform offers a series of courses to learn the fundamentals of data science. Each leads to a certificate of completion.

  • Python ★★★★★(13)
  • Intro to SQL ★★★★☆(8)
  • Advanced SQL ★★★★☆(2)
  • Intro to Deep Learning ★★★★★(3)
  • Data Cleaning ★★★★★(2)
  • Time Series ★★★★★(1)
  • Computer Vision ★★★★☆(1)
  • Intro to Machine Learning ★★★★★(1)
  • Pandas ★★★★☆(1)
  • Data Visualization
  • Intro to AI Ethics
  • Machine Learning Explainability
  • Feature Engineering
  • Intermediate Machine Learning ★★★★★(1)
  • Intro to Game AI and Reinforcement Learning

  University of Tasmania Free Certificates

  

  The University of Tasmania offers 4 free certificate courses that are updated regularly:

  • Understanding Dementia from University of Tasmania ★★★★★(14000)
  • Preventing Dementia from University of Tasmania ★★★★★(7300)
  • Understanding Multiple Sclerosis (MS) from University of Tasmania ★★★★★(1300)
  • Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) from University of Tasmania ★★★★★(1600)

  Also available is Equip Aged Care Learning Modules, a series of 10-minute modules each offering a free certificate of completion. Although focused in Australia, many of the topics are relevant to aged care worldwide.

  Three of these courses have been ranked among Class Central’s Best Free Online Courses of All Time. After completing the final quizzes of each course module, participants are eligible to download certificates of completion.

  

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