What this is
Courses.onl exists to answer one question quickly: what can you learn for free, from whom, and does it come with a certificate? It lists courses from universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford and Yale, platforms such as Coursera and edX, and companies such as Google, Microsoft and IBM, organised by provider, by subject and by free certification.
Every entry links to the official course page, on the provider's own site or on the platform that hosts the course. We do not host courses, sell enrolments, or ask you to create an account. If a course changes its terms, we update the entry or remove it.
What "free" means here
Providers use the word loosely. We use two cost labels and two certificate labels; each course carries one cost label and, where a certificate exists, one certificate label:
- Free
- All material and any graded work cost nothing. Some free courses sell an optional certificate.
- Free to audit
- You can watch and read the course material at no cost, but graded assignments and any certificate require payment, or no certificate is offered at all. On some platforms audit access ends after the course length has passed; the course page says so.
- Paid certificate
- The course is free or free to audit, and the certificate is a separate purchase.
- Free certification
- A free course whose certificate is also free. Most of these certificates can be verified online through a public link or badge; the listing marks the ones that can.
A course whose first module is free and the rest paid is a preview, not a free course, and is not listed. Courses sold by subscription are not listed either.
How we verify
Before a course is listed, a person opens the provider's page and records the cost model, the certificate terms and price, the level, the duration and effort the provider states, the format and the language. We never invent prices, durations, ratings or enrolment counts; when the provider does not state a fact, the entry leaves it out. Descriptions are written by us, not copied from the provider.
Every entry shows the source and the date it was last verified. Entries are re-checked at least every 180 days, and any entry older than that shows a notice until it has been checked again. Details are in the editorial policy.
Who runs it
Courses.onl is an independent publication. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of the providers it lists; course names and marks belong to their owners. The site is funded by advertising and may earn affiliate commissions on some outbound links, as described in the editorial policy. You can reach us through the contact page.
Last updated .