13 Websites That Offer Free Online Courses With Certificates To Enhance Your Career

The pandemic has asked Indians to stay inside their houses. In that case, we have had a lot of time to focus on developing our skills. So, free online courses, that provide certificates too, are a boon in disguise. You can upskill yourself, or learn something new. And their are not one, but many such portals that provide free online courses. Thus, I have enlisted 10 such portals that will help you take free online courses. And don’t forget to take a certificate when you are done.

1. Coursera

Coursera works with universities and other organizations to offer paid or free online courses, certifications, and degrees in a variety of subjects, such as engineering, data science, machine learning, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, and others.

2. edX

EdX offers interactive online classes and MOOCs from the world’s best universities. Online courses from MITx, HarvardX, BerkeleyX, UTx, and many other universities. Topics include biology, business, chemistry, computer science, economics, finance, electronics, engineering, food and nutrition, history, humanities, law, literature, math, medicine, music, philosophy, physics, science, statistics, and more. EdX is a non-profit online initiative with partners from Harvard and MIT.

3. Alison

Alison is less of a course generator and more of an aggregator. It is a platform that organizes hundreds of free courses available all over the internet and provides them to the learner. Most of the courses here are about coding and AI. If you are an engineer who wants to upgrade skills or someone who just wants to learn out of curiosity, Alison has over 100 online free courses with a certificate.

4. Google Digital Garage

There are two courses available on Google Digital Platform that provide a certificate; Digital Marketing and G-Suite. Other than that, most of the courses are free but Google charges money for the certificate. From online campaigning to business security and AI, Google offers over 125 courses. Not only that, but the teachers on Google are also one of the best trainers available online. The courses range from 2 hours to 20+ hours and you can learn at your pace.

5. Udemy

Udemy has over 100,000 courses. Some of them are free and some of them are paid. But even the paid courses are as low as $4. It has a variety of courses from leadership skills to python, there is everything on Udemy. You can even pursue photography and music on Udemy.

Udemy also trains bulk employees of many companies. So, the courses amass trust in the corporate world too. Just begin a self-paced course, and finish learning before the month is over.

6. LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning is an American website offering video courses taught by industry experts in software, creative, and business skills. It is a subsidiary of LinkedIn. LinkedIn Learning was founded in 1995 by Lynda Weinman as Lynda.com before being acquired by LinkedIn in 2015. It offers a one-month free trial, where you can enroll in free online courses.

7. Hubspot

On Hubspot, you can learn anything and everything about Content Marketing. And therefore, most of its bite-sized lessons are about content marketing and design. It also offers courses on how to sell a product online and offer services. All of the courses are free and most of them provide certificates. Enroll in the classes and begin learning!

8. Bitdegree

Bit Degree is one of my choices platforms to learn. The courses are of a wide variety and bite-sized. From YouTube and Instagram Marketing to understand how Blockchain works and Kindle Marketing, this site has it all. It provides certificates (for free!) and you can even become an instructor here. Also, it has over 150 courses available for free. BitDegree has got international acclamation and top recruiters consider the courses. Just filter out your stream, and begin learning.

9. Microsoft

Microsoft, like Google, provides free certificate courses to learn technical aspects of Microsoft apps. You can learn Excel, PPT, Word, and the complete suite on its instructor-led program. Also, companies can make employees learn in groups and bridge the gap between Microsoft updates. If you are a fresher, with these exam based certificates, you can land new jobs.

The courses are free of cost.

10. Saylor

One of my personal favorites is this site. The courses are free of cost, give certificates, and you also get college credits for them. The topics are divided subject wise alphabetically. From Modern Literature to Computer Science, these self-paced courses are boon amid the pandemic. Enroll and build up your skills.

11. Udacity

Udacity was a Stanford University experiment in which Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig offered their "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence" course online to anyone, for free. Over 160,000 students in more than 190 countries enrolled and not much later, Udacity was born.

12. Swayam

SWAYAM is India’s national MOOC platform. It offers over 2,150 courses taught by close to 1,300 instructors from over 135 Indian universities. One aspect that sets it apart from other providers is that it allows students in India to earn academic credit online. Since the platform became live, over 10 million learners have taken courses on SWAYAM. At the rate it’s growing, in a few years, SWAYAM could become the world’s largest MOOC provider.

Read More: 5 Indian Government provided free courses with certificates

13. FutureLearn Courses

FutureLearn is a leading social learning platform. It came out in December 2012. The Open University and the SEEK Group joined hands for the platform. It has ten million people signed up worldwide. Further, it uses design, technology, and partnerships to create enjoyable, credible, and flexible online courses as well as undergraduate and postgraduate degrees that improve working lives.