Free Online Business Courses
- 51 courses
- 34 free
- 17 free to audit
- 7 with a free certificate
Sources: MIT, Alison, Harvard, HubSpot Academy and more · Verified
A free business course typically introduces how organisations work: strategy, finance and accounting fundamentals, marketing, operations, and the basics of managing people. Some are survey courses that touch each area in turn; others go deep on a single topic such as entrepreneurship, negotiation, business analytics or supply chains. Universities dominate this subject. Their courses on edX are usually free to audit, which opens the lectures and readings while keeping graded assignments and the certificate behind a fee, and audit access may lapse after the stated course length. A smaller number of university courses are free in full with no certificate at all.
Company academies and non-profit platforms offer self-paced business courses free in full, and a few include a free certificate. When you read a syllabus, look for case studies or worked examples rather than lecture alone, for a clear statement of the audience (aspiring founders, new managers, students), and for any prerequisite in accounting or statistics. Business suits people preparing for a first management role, owners of small firms who want a grounding in finance and marketing, and students deciding whether to pursue a business degree. Marketing, management and accounting each have their own page on this site, and the certifications hub lists business-related credentials that are free to earn.
Our three picks
Best for finance Financial Markets (2011) FreeNo certificate A full Yale semester on finance with lectures, transcripts, problem sets and exams, all free. Best for economics Principles of Microeconomics FreeNo certificate A complete undergraduate microeconomics course with videos, quizzes, problem sets and exams. Global Systemic Risk FreeNo certificate A short, free Princeton course on globalization, networks and systemic risk.
Filters
| # | Course | Provider | Cost | Certificate | Level | Duration | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Financial Markets (2011) Financial Markets is the Spring 2011 recording of Robert Shiller's undergraduate course ECON 252, published on Open Y… | Yale | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | — | |
| 2 | Principles of Microeconomics 14.01SC is the OpenCourseWare Scholar edition of MIT's introductory microeconomics course, based on Jonathan Gruber's… | MIT | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | — | |
| 3 | Global Systemic Risk Global Systemic Risk is Miguel Centeno's Princeton course on how globalization works as a whole and what the risks ar… | Princeton | Free | NoneNo certificate | Beginner | 2 weeks | |
| 4 | Blockchain and Money 15.S12 Blockchain and Money is a graduate course from the MIT Sloan School of Management, taught by Gary Gensler in f… | MIT | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | — | |
| 5 | Finance Theory I 15.401 Finance Theory I is a graduate course from the MIT Sloan School of Management, taught by Andrew Lo in fall 200… | MIT | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | — | |
| 6 | Optimization Methods in Business Analytics 15.053x Optimization Methods in Business Analytics is a six-week MITx course from MIT Sloan, available free in the Op… | MIT | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | 6 weeks | |
| 7 | Adaptive Markets: Financial Market Dynamics and Human Behavior 15.481x Adaptive Markets is an MIT Sloan course by finance professor Andrew Lo, available free in the Open Learning L… | MIT | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | 13 weeks | |
| 8 | Healthcare Finance 15.482x Healthcare Finance is an MIT Sloan course by Andrew Lo, with Shomesh Chaudhuri and Zied Ben Chaouch, offered… | MIT | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | 13 weeks | |
| 9 | Fundamentals of Economics Fundamentals of Economics is a four-week BerkeleyX course taught by Eric Van Dusen, a lecturer in data science and ec… | UC Berkeley | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | 4 weeks | |
| 10 | From Poverty to Prosperity: Understanding Economic Development From Poverty to Prosperity: Understanding Economic Development is a six-week OxfordX course taught by Paul Collier, P… | Oxford | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Intermediate | 6 weeks | |
| 11 | Microeconomics 14.100x is MITx's microeconomics course, taught by Jonathan Gruber and offered through MITx Online as part of the Mic… | MIT | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | — | 14 weeks | |
| 12 | Strategic Finance for Nonprofit Leaders Strategic Finance for Nonprofit Leaders, taught by James Honan and adapted from his Harvard Kennedy School classroom… | Harvard | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | 6 weeks | |
| 13 | AP® Microeconomics 14.01x AP Microeconomics is a self-paced MITx Online course that introduces basic microeconomic principles and covers… | MIT | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | — | 12 weeks | |
| 14 | Foundations of Modern Finance I 15.415.1x Foundations of Modern Finance I is the first half of a two-part MIT Sloan course on MITx Online, and part o… | MIT | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | — | 12 weeks | |
| 15 | Supply Chain Fundamentals CTL.SC1x Supply Chain Fundamentals is the first course in the MITx MicroMasters Program in Supply Chain Management, r… | MIT | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | — | 13 weeks | |
| 16 | Entrepreneurship 101: Who is Your Customer Entrepreneurship 101: Who is Your Customer is a short, self-paced MITx Online course built on the idea that what sepa… | MIT | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | — | 4 weeks | |
| 17 | Create a Budget in Google Sheets Create a Budget in Google Sheets is a lesson from Google's Applied Digital Skills programme, hosted on the Google for… | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 7 hours | ||
| 18 | Explore the fundamentals of Microsoft Power Platform This learning path is Microsoft's PL-900 preparation material for the Power Platform. | Microsoft | Free | NoneNo certificate | Beginner | 5.7 hours | |
| 19 | Personal finance Personal finance is a ten-unit course in Khan Academy's Life skills section, aimed at people making financial decisio… | Khan Academy | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | — | |
| 20 | Finance and capital markets Finance and capital markets is Khan Academy's ten-unit course on how money, markets and financial instruments work. | Khan Academy | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | — | |
| 21 | Draft, analyze, and present with Microsoft Copilot This learning path, which Microsoft codes MS-4018, shows office workers how to use Microsoft Copilot inside the Micro… | Microsoft | Free | NoneNo certificate | Beginner | 4.3 hours | |
| 22 | Inbound Sales Certification Course: Get Certified in Inbound Sales The Inbound Sales Certification Course applies HubSpot's inbound methodology to selling. | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 3.1 hours | |
| 23 | Sales Enablement Training: Get Certified in Sales Enablement Sales Enablement Training is HubSpot Academy's certification on aligning marketing and sales. | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 7.3 hours | |
| 24 | Frictionless Sales Course: Learn How to Remove Friction From Your Sales Organization The Frictionless Sales Course is a short HubSpot Academy certification for sales leaders, 1 hour 46 minutes across fi… | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 1.8 hours | |
| 25 | Revenue Operations Certification The Revenue Operations Certification introduces RevOps: running marketing, sales and service operations as one revenu… | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 6.9 hours | |
| 26 | Management of Fashion and Luxury Companies Management of Fashion and Luxury Companies is Università Bocconi's overview of how fashion and luxury businesses work… | Coursera | Free | PaidPaid certificate | — | 1 week | |
| 27 | Private Equity and Venture Capital Private Equity and Venture Capital is a short Università Bocconi course on how private equity investors finance compa… | Coursera | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | 9 hours | |
| 28 | Inbound Certification Course: Attract, Engage, and Delight Your Customers The Inbound Certification Course is HubSpot Academy's shortest methodology certification, at 2 hours 45 minutes, and… | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 2.8 hours | |
| 29 | Prompt Engineering for Everyone Prompt Engineering for Everyone, course code AI0117EN, teaches non-specialists how to write prompts that get useful a… | IBM | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Beginner | 5 hours | |
| 30 | Designing Children's Rooms Designing Children's Rooms is a short, video-based Alison course published by One Education that covers one niche of… | Alison | Free | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | — | |
| 31 | Diploma in Human Resources (HR) A diploma course on the work of a human resources manager. | Alison | Free | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | — | |
| 32 | Diploma in Project Management Alison's project management diploma is a broad survey course rather than a methodology-specific one. | Alison | Free | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | — | |
| 33 | English for Career Development English for Career Development was created by the University of Pennsylvania, with funding from the U.S. | Coursera | Free | PaidPaid certificate | — | 4 weeks | |
| 34 | Fundamentals of Accounting A short first course in accounting, which Alison estimates at 1.5 to 3 hours. | Alison | Free | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | — | |
| 35 | Introduction to Bookkeeping and Accounting Methods This is a short, text-based Alison course from Training Facility UK aimed at people who run or work in a small busine… | Alison | Free | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | — | |
| 36 | AI Fluency AI Fluency is a seven-module learning path published by Microsoft Philanthropies for people who want a plain-language… | Microsoft | Free | NoneNo certificate | Beginner | 4.6 hours | |
| 37 | Game Theory Game Theory is Ben Polak's Fall 2007 course ECON 159, recorded for Open Yale Courses as 24 lectures of about 75 minutes. | Yale | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | — | |
| 38 | Introduction to Financial and Managerial Accounting 15.501 is the MIT Sloan School of Management's introductory accounting course, taught by Sugata Roychowdhury in sprin… | MIT | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | — | |
| 39 | Introduction to Practical Project Management This introduction is organised around the project management areas of knowledge, the framework used by the Project Ma… | Udemy | Free | NoneNo certificate | Beginner | 1.9 hours | |
| 40 | Learn Accounting & Bookkeeping Basics in Minutes for Free An unusual format for an accounting introduction: the core lesson is built around a business simulation game in which… | Udemy | Free | NoneNo certificate | Beginner | 1.4 hours | |
| 41 | Prepare and visualize data with Microsoft Power BI This learning path is Microsoft's own version of its instructor-led course DP-605T00, delivered as free self-study. | Microsoft | Free | NoneNo certificate | Beginner | 8.2 hours | |
| 42 | Project Management Fundamentals | Learn PM Basics Fast A beginner's map of project management vocabulary and practice. | Udemy | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | 1.7 hours | |
| 43 | Academic and Business Writing Academic and Business Writing is a six-week BerkeleyX course led by Maggie Sokolik, Director of College Writing Progr… | UC Berkeley | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | 6 weeks | |
| 44 | Contract Law: From Trust to Promise to Contract Contract Law: From Trust to Promise to Contract is taught by Charles Fried and introduces the range of issues that ar… | Harvard | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Intermediate | 8 weeks | |
| 45 | Data Exploration Data Exploration is a four-week BerkeleyX course taught by Richard Huntsinger and belongs to UC Berkeley's Data, Stat… | UC Berkeley | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Intermediate | 4 weeks | |
| 46 | Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles is an introductory Harvard course on leading through adaptive challeng… | Harvard | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | — | |
| 47 | Financial Accounting 15.516x Financial Accounting is an MITx Online course from MIT Sloan and part of the MicroMasters Program in Finance. | MIT | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | — | 12 weeks | |
| 48 | Introduction to Project Management Introduction to Project Management is Adelaide University's beginner course on edX for applying project management pr… | edX | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | 6 weeks | |
| 49 | Leadership Development Leadership Development is a four-week OxfordX course from Saïd Business School, taught by Emeritus Professor Tim Morris. | Oxford | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | 4 weeks | |
| 50 | Managing Happiness Managing Happiness, taught by Arthur Brooks of Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, introduces the mod… | Harvard | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | — | |
| 51 | Remote Work Revolution for Everyone Remote Work Revolution for Everyone addresses the shift to remote work that many organisations made rapidly during th… | Harvard | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | 3 weeks |
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Business courses by provider
Questions about free business courses
Are free business courses from universities really free?
The lectures and readings usually are. On audit tracks the graded work and certificate are paid, and access can be time-limited. Courses that are free in full with no paid tier are marked as such on this site.
Which business course should I take first?
A general introduction that covers finance, marketing and operations gives you the vocabulary to choose a specialised course afterwards. If you already run a business, go straight to the gap you feel most, which is often finance or marketing.
Can a free business course help me start a company?
It can teach the frameworks and the language of business plans, cash flow and customers. It does not replace advice from an accountant or lawyer in your jurisdiction, and it is no substitute for talking to customers.
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