Free Online Marketing Courses
- 27 courses
- 25 free
- 2 free to audit
- 21 with a free certificate
Sources: Google, HubSpot Academy, Udemy, Alison and more · Verified
A free marketing course usually opens with the fundamentals: who the customer is, how to segment a market, how to position a product and how the marketing mix fits together. From there courses branch into branding, consumer behaviour, pricing, market research and, increasingly, the digital channels that have their own page on this site. Marketing is a subject where company academies are as visible as universities. Software vendors run free courses with free certifications in their own methodology and tools; those certifications are free to earn and verifiable, and they expire, so they must be renewed. University marketing courses on edX are typically free to audit, with lectures open and graded work and the certificate paid, and audit access may be time-limited.
Non-profit platforms offer self-paced marketing courses free in full, often selling an optional certificate. When reading a syllabus, look for whether the course is about principles or about a specific tool, for worked campaign examples or case studies, and for any assumption that you already work in a marketing team. Marketing suits small-business owners who handle their own promotion, career changers moving toward marketing roles, and students who want a grounding before a business degree. Digital marketing has a separate page for courses centred on search, social media, email and analytics, and the certifications hub gathers the marketing credentials that are free to earn.
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| # | Course | Provider | Cost | Certificate | Level | Duration | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marketing Psychology: How We Decide Marketing Psychology: How We Decide is a four-week OxfordX course taught by Andrew Stephen, Associate Dean of Researc… | Oxford | Free to audit | PaidPaid certificate | Beginner | 4 weeks | |
| 2 | Inbound Marketing Certification Course: Attract Customers Through Valuable Content and Tailored Experiences HubSpot Academy's Inbound Marketing Certification Course covers the customer-centric approach HubSpot calls inbound… | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 4.9 hours | |
| 3 | Content Marketing Certification Course: Grow Better with Content HubSpot Academy's Content Marketing Certification Course is the longest of its marketing certifications, at 8 hours 2… | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 8.4 hours | |
| 4 | 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 | |
| 5 | Inbound Marketing Optimization Course The Inbound Marketing Optimization Course follows on from HubSpot Academy's Inbound Marketing certification and is ai… | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 4.6 hours | |
| 6 | AEO Fundamentals AEO Fundamentals is a newer HubSpot Academy certification about answer engine optimisation: earning visibility in AI-… | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 2.3 hours | |
| 7 | AI-Powered Performance Ads Certification The AI-Powered Performance Ads Certification focuses on Google's cross-channel, AI-driven campaign types and how to c… | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Beginner | 4 hours | ||
| 8 | AI-Powered Shopping ads Certification The AI-Powered Shopping ads Certification is the shortest of the Google Ads certifications on Skillshop, with three s… | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Beginner | 1.3 hours | ||
| 9 | Digital Advertising Certification: Develop a Winning Online Advertising Strategy HubSpot Academy's Digital Advertising Certification covers paid media from planning to reporting. | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 3.8 hours | |
| 10 | Digital Marketing Certification Course: Get Certified in Digital Marketing The Digital Marketing Certification Course is HubSpot Academy's introduction to marketing online with an inbound-firs… | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 3.4 hours | |
| 11 | Email Marketing Certification HubSpot Academy's Email Marketing certification course approaches email as a strategic channel rather than a set of t… | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 4 hours | |
| 12 | Fundamentals of Digital Marketing Fundamentals of Digital Marketing is Google's entry-level marketing course on Skillshop, published in January 2025 to… | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Beginner | 40 hours | ||
| 13 | Google Ads Apps Certification The Google Ads Apps Certification is for people who promote mobile apps with Google App campaigns. | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Beginner | 2.8 hours | ||
| 14 | Google Ads Creative Certification The Google Ads Creative Certification is about the ads themselves rather than campaign settings: how to make effectiv… | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Beginner | 3.9 hours | ||
| 15 | Google Ads Display Certification The Google Ads Display Certification covers planning and running visual ad campaigns on the Google Display Network. | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Beginner | 2.9 hours | ||
| 16 | Google Ads Measurement Certification The Google Ads Measurement Certification tests whether you can measure and optimise digital ad performance with Googl… | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Intermediate | 2.7 hours | ||
| 17 | Google Ads Search Certification The Google Ads Search Certification is Skillshop's credential for building and optimising Google Search campaigns. | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Intermediate | 3.7 hours | ||
| 18 | Google Ads Video Certification The Google Ads Video Certification is Skillshop's credential for advertising on YouTube and Google's video inventory. | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Beginner | 4 hours | ||
| 19 | Google Analytics Certification (2026) The 2026 edition of the Google Analytics Certification validates the ability to go beyond basic setup and pull action… | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Intermediate | — | ||
| 20 | Grow Offline Sales Certification The Grow Offline Sales Certification covers Google's Grow Offline Sales marketing objective: using online advertising… | Free | IncludedCertificate included | Beginner | 2.6 hours | ||
| 21 | 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 | |
| 22 | Social Media Marketing Certification Course: Get Certified in Social Media Strategy The Social Media Marketing Certification Course teaches how to build and run a social strategy for a business. | HubSpot Academy | Free | IncludedCertificate included | — | 5.3 hours | |
| 23 | Basic Concepts of Digital Marketing A short conceptual course on what digital marketing is and how businesses use it, estimated by Alison at 3 to 4 hours. | Alison | Free | PaidPaid certificate | Advanced | — | |
| 24 | 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 | |
| 25 | Digital Marketing Fundamentals for Beginners A short, theory-first tour of digital marketing arranged as eight brief modules plus an introduction and conclusion (… | Udemy | Free | NoneNo certificate | Beginner | 0.7 hours | |
| 26 | Free Digital Marketing Basics Course This course pairs an overview of digital marketing concepts with practical demonstrations. | Udemy | Free | NoneNo certificate | — | 5.8 hours | |
| 27 | 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 |
Marketing courses by provider
Questions about free marketing courses
Are free marketing certifications worth anything?
They show you have studied a vendor's method and passed its test. Employers who use that vendor's tools recognise them; others treat them as evidence of initiative rather than proof of skill. A portfolio of real campaigns carries more weight.
Should I start with general marketing or digital marketing?
General marketing first if you have no background; it explains why the digital tactics work. If you already run campaigns and want to sharpen a channel, go straight to the digital marketing page.
Do university marketing courses give free certificates?
Rarely. On audit tracks the certificate is paid. Vendor academies are where the free, verifiable marketing certifications come from.