As avid online learners, my Class Central colleagues and I have completed hundreds of online courses over the years, including many with free certificates, as you can see in the collage below.

In 2024, free certificates have become rarer. But if you know where to look, there is still an abundance of free certificates available online for learning software development.

In this article, we bring together all the free certificates and badges that are scattered across the web. In total, the platforms below offer over 900 free certificate courses for learning software development.

I (Dhawal) started Class Central back in 2011, when universities such as Stanford began to offer some of their courses online for free. Since then, the Class Central database has grown to over 200K online courses.

Having written about online education for over a decade, I remember when platforms like Coursera and edX offered free certificates. Then, rather abruptly, free certificates seemed to pretty much disappear.

This inspired us to write a Massive List of Free Certificates and Badges. To our surprise, we discovered there were still thousands of free certificates available online. To date, that article has received 10M views.

In the same vein, this article aims to draw attention to the organizations that continue to support open education in software development by offering free certificate courses. These include:

• Learning platforms — e.g. LinkedIn Learning, freeCodeCamp, and FutureLearn
• Leading universities — e.g. Harvard and the University of Helsinki
• Big tech companies — e.g. Google, Microsoft, and IBM.

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.

Click on the shortcuts for courses with free certificates or badges

• Cisco Free Badges
• freeCodeCamp Free Certifications
• FutureLearn Free Certificates
• Google Free Certificates and Badges
• Great Learning Free Certificates
• HackerRank Free Certificates
• Harvard Free Certificates
• Hasso Plattner Institute Free Certificates
• IBM Free Certificates and Badges
• Kaggle Free Certificates
• LinkedIn Learning Courses with Free Certification
• MATLAB Free Certificates
• Semrush Academy Free Certificates
• University of Helsinki Free Certificates
• upGrad Free Certificates
• Wolfram U Free Certificates
• More Free Certificates

Cisco Free Badges

Cisco, the IT and networking giant, offers a series of self-paced online courses through its Networking Academy platform; some include free badges for skills learned. Here’s a selection:

• Introduction to Cybersecurity from Cisco ★★★★★(8)
• Networking Essentials from Cisco ★★★★☆(4)
• Cybersecurity Essentials from Cisco ★★★★★(4)
• Introduction to IoT from Cisco ★★★★★(2)
• PCAP: Programming Essentials in Python from Cisco ★★★★★(2)

freeCodeCamp Free Certifications

freeCodeCamp platform offers thousands of hours of learning content, broken down into certifications on subjects such as web development and data science.

Here are the certifications currently offered:

• Responsive Web Design ★★★★★(103)
• JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures ★★★★★(48)
• JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures (Beta)
• Data Analysis with Python ★★★★★(18)
• Front End Development Libraries ★★★★★(11)
• Machine Learning with Python ★★★★★(9)
• Quality Assurance ★★★★★(7)
• Information Security ★★★★☆(7)
• Relational Database (Beta) ★★★★★(4)
• Scientific Computing with Python ★★★★★(3)
• Back End Development and APIs ★★★★★(3)
• Data Visualization ★★★★★(1)
• Foundational C# with Microsoft ★★★★★(1)
• College Algebra with Python

FutureLearn Free Certificates

FutureLearn, the European counterpart to Coursera and edX, offers some courses that include a free “digital upgrade” — which, among others, entails a free certificate of completion. Again, you can find more details in our dedicated article.

Here’s a list of some of FutureLearn’s free offerings:

• Digital Skills: Digital Skills for Work and Life from Accenture ★★★★★(3)
• Digital Skills: Digital Marketing from Accenture ★★★★☆(14)
• Digital Skills: Social Media ★★★★☆(10)
• Digital Skills: Artificial Intelligence ★★★★☆(5)
• Digital Skills: User Experience ★★★★☆(2)
• Introduction to Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality from Lancaster University and Institute of Coding ★★★★★(1)
• Introduction to Physical Computing from Lancaster University and Institute of Coding ★★★★★(1)
• Digital Skills: Reimagine Your Career from Accenture
• Transforming Assessment and Recognition of Complex Learning Competencies from University of Melbourne
• Digital Skills: Mobile from Accenture
• Digital Skills: Web Analytics from Accenture
• Reinforcement Learning from Dublin City University
• Bioinformatics for Biologists: Analysing and Interpreting Genomics Datasets from Wellcome Genome Campus

Google Free Certificates and Badges

Google has launched several initiatives to teach people skills such as coding, digital marketing, and data analytics. You can find a complete list of courses offering certificates or badges in our dedicated article.

Here is a selection of Google’s offerings:

• Introduction to Generative AI ★★★★★(25)
• Introduction to Responsible AI ★★★★☆(11)
• Introduction to Image Generation  ★★★★★(1)
• Planetary Scale Earth Observation with Google Earth Engine from Google ★★★★★(1)
• Introduction to Large Language Models ★★★★☆(1)
• Google Analytics Certification from Google
• Build your first web app with Firebase from Google
• Build apps with Flutter from Google
• Introduction to SQL from Google
• Get data from the internet from Google
• Adapt for different screen sizes from Google
• Kotlin fundamentals from Google
• Develop locally with Firebase from Google
• Make your Android app more accessible from Google
• Build cross-platform apps with Angular from Google
• Jetpack Compose basics from Google
• Site Reliability Engineering: Measuring and Managing Reliability from Google
• Attention Mechanism from Google
• Transformer Models and BERT Model from Google
• Create Image Captioning Models from Google
• Encoder-Decoder Architecture from Google
• Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure Foundations with Anthos from Google
• Preparing for the Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer Exam from Google
• Understanding Google Cloud Security and Operations from Google
• Innovating with Data and Google Cloud from Google
• Infrastructure and Application Modernization with Google Cloud from Google
• Developing a Google SRE Culture from Google
• Managing Change when Moving to Google Cloud from Google
• Deploying SAP on Google Cloud from Google
• The Modern Data Platform and LookML from Google
• Digital Transformation with Google Cloud from Google
• Managing and Securing the Apigee Hybrid API Platform from Google
• Upgrading and Monitoring the Apigee Hybrid API Platform from Google
• Preparing for Your Professional Cloud Security Engineer Journey from Google
• Preparing for Your Associate Cloud Engineer Journey from Google
• Preparing for your Professional Cloud Architect Journey from Google
• Innovating with Data and Google Cloud from Google
• Preparing for Your Professional Cloud Network Engineer Journey from Google
• Infrastructure and Application Modernization with Google Cloud from Google
• Design Foundations for Streaming with Google Cloud from Google
• Introduction to Cloud Identity from Google

Great Learning Free Certificates

Great Learning offers over 700 free certificate courses in a wide variety of subjects, such as AI, data science, programming, cloud computing, and digital marketing. Here’s a selection:

• Microsoft Azure Essentials
• Data Analytics using Excel
• ChatGPT for Beginners
• Introduction to Cyber Security
• Cloud Computing Foundations
• Introduction to Deep Learning
• Introduction to NoSQL
• Introduction to Design Thinking
• Python Foundations
• Python Fundamentals for Beginners

HackerRank Free Certificates

HackerRank, a platform for learning algorithms and data structures and preparing for coding interviews, provides skills certifications tests in topics such as problem solving, Python, and JavaScript.

Here are some of the 24 tests you may complete to earn a certificate:

• Problem Solving (Basic)
• Python (Basic) Skills Certification
• Java (Basic) Skills Certification
• C# (Basic) Skills Certification
• JavaScript (Basic) Skills Certification
• SQL (Basic) Skills Certification
• Go (Basic) Skills Certification
• R (Basic) Skills Certification
• Node (Basic) Skills Certification

Harvard Free Certificates

Harvard offers a series of academic online courses exploring various facets of computer science, including programming fundamentals and AI. You can find all the details and how to receive your free certificate in our dedicated article.

Here are Harvard’s current free certificate offerings. Remember that while you need an account with edX to submit the assignments, the free certificate comes directly from CS50.

• Introduction to Computer Science ★★★★★(181)
• Computer Science for Business Professionals ★★★★★(14)
• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python ★★★★★(11)
• Web Programming with Python and JavaScript ★★★★★(22)
• Computer Science for Lawyers ★★★★★(5)
• Introduction to Programming with Python ★★★★★(2)
• Introduction to Programming with Scratch ★★★★★(2)
• Introduction to Cybersecurity
• Introduction to Databases with SQL
• Introduction to Programming with R

Hasso Plattner Institute Free Certificates

The Hasso Plattner Institute offers a range of self-paced courses with free certificates of participation and achievement. Most courses are in German, but some are in English.

Here’s a selection of courses in English:

• Understanding Embeddings for Natural Language Processing
• Data Science Bootcamp
• Introduction to Bayesian Data Analysis
• Introduction to Quantum Computing with Qiskit (with IBM Quantum)

IBM Free Certificates and Badges

IBM’s platform CognitiveClass.ai offers 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

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 ★★★★★(10)
• Intro to SQL ★★★★☆(6)
• Advanced SQL ★★★★☆(2)
• Intro to Deep Learning ★★★★★(2)
• 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
• Intro to Game AI and Reinforcement Learning

LinkedIn Learning Courses with Free Certification

LinkedIn Learning, the online learning platform integrated with the LinkedIn professional social network, offers more than a hundred online courses and learning paths that include a free certificate. Here too, we have a dedicated article with a full list.

Here’s a selection of LinkedIn Learning free certificate courses:

• Programming Foundations: Fundamentals
• Programming Foundations: Beyond the Fundamentals
• Learning Data Analytics: 1 Foundations
• Learning Data Science: Understanding the Basics
• The Cybersecurity Threat Landscape

MATLAB Free Certificates

MathWorks, the company behind the MATLAB programming language and software, offers 23 free online courses with certificates 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. You can find all the details and how to receive your free certificate in our dedicated article.

Here’s a selection:

• MATLAB Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★★(9)
• Machine Learning Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★★(2)
• Reinforcement Learning Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★★(1)
• Signal Processing Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★★(1)
• Stateflow Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★☆(1)
• Circuit Simulation Onramp from MathWorks
• Deep Learning Onramp from MathWorks
• Wireless Communications Onramp from MathWorks
• Simscape Onramp from MathWorks
• Optimization Onramp from MathWorks
• App Building Onramp from MathWorks
• Object-Oriented Programming Onramp from MathWorks
• Computer Vision Onramp from MathWorks
• Simulink Onramp from MathWorks ★★★★★(1)
• Control Design Onramp with Simulink from MathWorks
• System Composer Onramp from MathWorks
• Power Systems Simulation Onramp from MathWorks

Semrush Academy Free Certificates

Although Semrush is primarily a business and marketing specialist, some of their free certificate courses are relevant for developers and IT professionals:

• On-Page and Technical SEO Course
• Mobile SEO Course with Greg Gifford
• Semrush Site Audit Course
• Technical SEO course with Bastian Grimm
• Competitor Analysis with Semrush
• Backlink Management Course with Greg Gifford

University of Helsinki Free Certificates

The University of Helsinki offers academic online courses through its independent course platform, MOOC.fi, including the following courses which include a free certificate of completion:

• Elements of AI ★★★★★(801)
• Full Stack open ★★★★★(24)
• Java Programming ★★★★★(12)
• Cyber Security Base 2022 ★★★★★(3)
• DevOps with Kubernetes ★★★★★(3)
• Ethics of AI ★★★★★(12)
• DevOps with Docker ★★★★★(13)
• Python Programming MOOC 2023 ★★★★★(1)

upGrad Free Certificates

upGrad is an online learning platform that offers free programs and courses on subjects such as data science, business analytics, and technology.

Once you complete all the modules of a program, you’ll receive a certificate of completion.

Here are some of the free programs offered on upGrad:

• Programming with Python: Introduction for Beginners
• Introduction to Natural Language Processing
• Introduction to Data Analysis using Excel
• Introduction to Database Design with MySQL
• Data Science in E-commerce
• Introduction to Cryptocurrency
• Introduction to NFTs
• E-Skills in Healthcare
• Core Java Basics
• Introduction to Blockchain Technology

Wolfram U Free Certificates

The Wolfram Language is a powerful programming tool employed in science, engineering, data science, and finance. It combines math, data analysis, and general programming, and forms the core of Wolfram’s popular software, Mathematica. You can find all the details in our dedicated article.

Here is a selection of Wolfram U’s 40+ free certificate courses:

• Full Interactive Course for Introduction to Wolfram Language
• Quick Start to Wolfram Tech Course
• Wolfram Language Programming Proficiency
• Programming Fundamentals of Wolfram Language
• A Guide to Programming Course
• Practical Programming with Wolfram Language
• Wolfram Language Basics Course
• Wolfram Language Fast Introduction for Programmers Video Series
• Programming and Development in Wolfram Language Instructor Led Course
• Getting Started with Mathematica and Wolfram Language: Wolfram Daily Study Groups
• Wolfram Summer School Lectures: Online Course
• Visual Explorations in Data Science Course
• Multiparadigm Data Science, Interactive Online Video Course
• Introduction to Machine Learning
• Introduction to Neural Networks in Wolfram Language Class
• Introduction to Machine Learning: Daily Study Group
• Data Visualization with Wolfram Language
• Wolfram Language and LLMs Instructor-Led Course
• Computational Xplorations
• Creative Computation, Online Video Course
• Introduction to Notebooks, Interactive Online Video Course
• Notebooks as Instructional Tools—Wolfram U Instructor-Led Course
• Wolfram Notebooks: Building and Sharing Technical Workflows
• Introduction to Image Processing, Interactive Online Video Course
• Signals, Systems and Signal Processing Course

More Free Certificates

If you don’t find what you need here, browse Class Central’s catalog of over 200K courses or visit our thematic collections:

• Stanford Medicine Offers Courses with Free Certificate & CME Credit
• 40+ Free Certificates from Wolfram U
• 25+ Hours of MATLAB Courses with Free Certificate
• 1000+ Free Digital Marketing Certificates
• 1000+ Open University Free Certificates
• 70+ FutureLearn Courses That Still Offer Free Certificates

You can find all our free certificates articles here.