Alison free online courses with certificates: what is free and what is paid
Stated plainly: the course is free, the certificate is a product. Every listed course is recorded as free to study with a paid certificate, except one legacy course whose digital certificate is free.
The course itself is free
Every listed course page carries a price of zero, and Alison's help centre says it offers its courses free of charge as a social enterprise. Modules, videos and assessments cost nothing, no card is needed to enrol, and there is no time limit. The FAQ on the accounting and Excel course pages puts it directly: learners pay nothing unless they want a digital or physical copy of the certificate.
The certificate or diploma is a paid extra
After you pass, Alison offers a CPD-accredited Alison Certificate (on certificate courses) or Alison Diploma (on diploma courses) as a paid digital or printed product. The help centre says learners may purchase one but are under no obligation to. The price appears in your account after login rather than on the public page, so this site lists no price for any Alison course. If you do not buy it, you can download a free Learner Record, which Alison calls official confirmation of the courses you completed and the results you achieved.
Course pages carry the label "This course is CPD-Accredited" and the help centre says all courses are accredited by CPD UK. These are professional-development credentials, not university credit.
Alison free online courses with free certificate: the legacy list
Alison's help centre names nine courses whose digital certificate is free: Back Care and Manual Handling (Theory), Understanding the Ebola Virus, Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft Access 2010, Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, Microsoft Office 2010, Introduction to E-learning theory and practice, and Coronavirus – What you need to know. Only Microsoft Excel 2010 is listed here, and it is the one Alison record on this site marked as having a free certificate; it shows the 2010 interface.
Is the Alison certificate a PDF?
The records describe the paid certificate only as "digital or printed"; no course page or help-centre quote we hold names a file format, so this site does not state one. What the records do say is that the free Learner Record is downloadable after completion.
How to start an Alison course
Alison describes its courses as self-paced and self-taught, structured as course, module, topic and assessment.
- Enrol from the course page; no card is required.
- Work through the modules and topics whenever you have time; there is no deadline.
- Take the assessments: certificate courses have one at the end, diploma courses several along the way.
- On passing, either buy the digital or printed certificate or diploma, or download the free Learner Record.
- Expect advertisements while you study: Alison earns revenue from advertising and optional certificates, and course pages advertise Alison Premium as a way to remove ads.
What you can study on Alison
Alison shows an average duration range on each course page.
Business, accounting and HR
Diploma in Project Management and Diploma in Human Resources (HR) are both diploma courses. Fundamentals of Accounting and Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting Methods are each short certificate courses. Basic Concepts of Digital Marketing is labelled Advanced Level on its page despite its title. See also business and accounting.
Excel, IT and programming
Three Excel courses are listed: Microsoft Excel 2010 (free certificate), Microsoft Excel Essentials and Excel 2021 for Beginners; more sit under Excel. Introduction to Python runs code in the browser with Repl.it, Diploma in Cyber Security is a conceptual survey rather than a lab course, and Basics of Touch Typing is drills.
Interior design and graphic design
Five interior design courses are listed: Diploma in Interior Design, Diploma in Interior Design and 3D Visualisation (Advanced Level), Practical Guide to Interior Design, Designing Children's Rooms and Transform Your Home: Learn to Decorate and Refurbish with Style. For graphic design: Introduction to Graphic Design (Adobe tools) and Introduction to Canva.
Nutrition, psychology and English
Four nutrition courses: Diploma in Human Nutrition, Diploma in Sports Nutrition (Advanced Level), Introduction to Food and Nutrition and Nutrients - The Fundamentals. Introduction to Psychology is rated Intermediate Level; Diploma in Basic English Grammar concentrates on verb tenses and punctuation.
Alison review: the format and terms in facts
This is a factual account, not an opinion. Alison courses are self-taught, with no tutor; modules contain video on some courses and text on others. Alison states an average duration on each course page. Most are rated Beginner Level, but labels are recorded as stated, so Basics of Touch Typing and Basic Concepts of Digital Marketing appear as Advanced Level. Most listed courses are available in English and Spanish; some are English only.
Many courses are published on Alison by third-party training companies such as SimonSezIT, CourseFlix and Training Facility UK, and two diplomas disclose that their text was drafted in part with AI tools and then reviewed by the authors. Ads are part of the free experience. Providers whose certificates cost nothing are compared under free online courses with certificates.