1000+ Free Developer Certifications

By Dhawal Shah

Did you know that organizations such as freeCodeCamp, Google, and Harvard offer online courses to help you learn software development? And that many of these include free certificates and badges?

To help you choose one that's right for you, I've created a full list.

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 2025, 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.

Some of the free certificates earned by the Class Central team.

As you likely know, freeCodeCamp offers free certifications. But so do big tech companies and institutions such as Google, Microsoft, and Harvard.

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 250K 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, CodeSignal, and freeCodeCamp
Leading universities — e.g. Harvard and the University of Helsinki
Big tech companies — e.g. Google 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.

freeCodeCamp Free Certifications

Archisha's freeCodeCamp free certificate

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, several others are due to be released soon:

While strictly not developer courses, A2 English for Developers and B1 English for Developers focuses on vocabulary that is particularly useful for developers. Prepare for real-world interactions by applying English skills in professional and technical settings.

Cisco Free Badges

Cisco Network Academy

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:

You can find the full list of Cisco Networking Academy courses here.

CodeSignal Free Certificates

Pat's free CodeSignal certificate

CodeSignal is a growing platform that offers 2000+ courses and learning paths with free certificates in coding, AI & ML, data science, interview prep, and more. As well as developer and IT certificates, CodeSignal teaches valuable soft skills.

Here’s a selection:

You can find more details in our dedicated article, and the full list of CodeSignal Learn courses.

Google Free Certificates and Badges

Pat’s free Google badge

Google has launched several initiatives to teach people skills such as coding, digital marketing, and data analytics. Some offer certificates, some have badges.

Here is a selection of Google’s offerings:

You can find more details in our dedicated article and here is a complete list of courses by Google.

HackerRank Free Certificates

Manoel’s HackerRank free certificate

HackerRank is 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:

Harvard Free Certificates

Pat’s Free Harvard CS50 Scratch Certificate

Harvard offers a series of academic online courses exploring various facets of computer science, including programming fundamentals and AI.

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.

You can find more details and how to receive your free certificate in our dedicated article and here is a complete list of courses from Harvard.

Hasso Plattner Institute Free Certificates

Hasso Plattner Institute free courses

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:

Hugging Face Free Certificates

Hugging Face courses

Hugging Face develops computation tools for building applications using machine learning and offers several courses, some with free certificates.

IBM Free Certificates and Badges

The CognitiveClass.ai homepage

IBM’s platform CognitiveClass.ai offers 100+ courses and 10 learning paths in data science, AI, big data, cloud computing, and blockchain. Some 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:

My free certificate and badge for Introduction to IBM Storage and Cloud

Pat’s free certificate and badge for Introduction to IBM Storage and Cloud

Some of the 24 free learning paths and 582 free courses from IBM Training have free certificates and badges available from IBM Training or via Credly. Courses are in a range of fields including AI, automation, infrastructure, cloud, security, and more.

Kaggle Free Certificates

Kaggle free certificate courses

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.

LinkedIn Learning Courses with Free Certificates

Suparn’s LinkedIn Learning free certificate

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’s a selection of LinkedIn Learning free certificate courses:

You can find more details and the full list or free certificates in our dedicated article, and here is a complete list of courses by LinkedIn Learning.

MATLAB Free Certificates

MATLAB free courses

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:

Semrush Academy Free Certificates

Semrush Academy free courses

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

University of Helsinki Free Certificates

Pat’s Elements of AI free certificate

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:

upGrad Free Certificates

Suparn’s upGrad free certificate

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

An e-Certificate of Completion is provided in 30 days after you successfully finish all the modules within your program. Your phone number is required while registering a course so you may receive calls and messages from upGrad.

Here are some of the free programs offered on upGrad:

FutureLearn Free Certificates

Elham’s FutureLearn free certificate

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.

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

You can find more details in our dedicated article and here is a full list of FutureLearn courses.

Wolfram U Free Certificates

Wolfram U free courses

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:

More Free Certificates

If you don’t find what you need here, browse Class Central’s catalog of 250K courses or visit our thematic collections:

You can find all our free certificates articles here.