The Best Places to Learn to Code for Free (2021)

If you’d like to learn to code for free, you’ve come to the right place. When you’re just getting into code and aren’t yet sure what languages to specialize in, free programming courses are a great way to get started. The good news is that there are plenty of learning resources designed to teach programming for free.

The challenge lies in determining what free courses offer high-quality coding training and are therefore worth your time and effort. This is where we come in. We’ve done the hard work of sorting through the available courses, tutorials, and books to bring you a comprehensive list of the best places to learn to code for free on the internet.

Whether you’re interested in web development, games development, data science, or artificial intelligence, there is something to give you the knowledge and skills you need here. We’ve gone a step further and organized these resources into categories according to the subjects taught so you can easily find the right courses for the learning path you’re pursuing.

Disclosure: This article includes affiliate links that may provide a commission to me at no cost to you if you make a purchase through them.

What are the best general resources for learning programming for free?

Code Academy

Coding beginners from all over the world opt to learn coding on Code Academy for good reason. It combines high-quality but free programming tutorials with a hands-on learning experience. An inbuilt coding environment allows you to write code and see the results instantly.

Free coding lessons offered: Ruby, Full Stark Web Dev, Python, Java, SQL, C++, and more

Free Code Camp

Free Code Camp is a free online coding school, complete with a comprehensive curriculum, an internship experience, and certifications, all for free. After completing the free Courses, you get to put your new skills into practice by working on real-world projects for NGOs. At the end of your curriculum, you will have a portfolio of projects and certifications to use in your job search. Given all this, it’s no surprise that this is one of the most popular free coding websites.

Free coding certifications offered: Full Stack Web Dev, Data Science, DevTools, QA testing, responsive web design, machine learning, and more

Udemy

Udemy is one of the most popular online course marketplaces for all kinds of fields including computer science. The site has a mixture of free and paid courses. The only downside is that the course are not necessarily created by experts. Anyone can upload a course on the website. The good thing is that the website is very popular so many courses have plenty of reviews to help you judge the quality.

Free coding courses on Udemy: 2000+ Coding Courses

Udacity

Udacity is one of the go-to learn to program for free websites for self-taught coders. Not only does it offer hundreds of free programming courses materials. Once you decide what area to specialize in, you can consider their “Nanodegrees” that will equip you to join your preferred field e.g web development or data analysis.

Free Coding Programs Offered: HTML, CSS, Python, Version Control with Git, and more

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a not for profit educational platform and a great free learn to code resource for all ages. It has a wide variety of programming resources including kid-friendly classes if you’re looking to teach your child computer programming.

What you can learn for free: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, and more.

Code Wars

Code Wars uses a gaming theme to make coding fun. Based on the level of difficulty, programming lessons are grouped into challenges. Every time you complete a challenge, you move up to the next level. One of the best things about it is the diverse portfolio of coding languages covered.

Free coding lessons offered: Python, JavaScript, SQL, PHP, Java, Ruby, Haskell, and More

Coding Conquest

If you’re just getting into code and haven’t figured out how and where to begin, Code Conquest is a great place to start. It’ll show you how to learn to code and offer you free tutorials, cheat sheets, and quizzes to get you started in your programming journey. And it won’t require a dime from you. Also a great site if you learn best by reading text.

Free Coding Tutorials : PHP, Python, Ruby, Swift, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, jQuery…

The Odin Project

The Odin Project is an open source coding program offered by Thinkful, an online coding boot camp. It offers free programming tutorials for absolute tech beginners and you can also interact with other students via their online chat group. It’s a top favorite for people looking to learn code for free.

Free lessons on The Odin Project: Ruby, Ruby on Rails, HTML, CSS, JavaScript & jQuery, Node.js

Coderbyte

Programming is best learnt by doing and this is exactly what Coderbyte focuses on. You start by learning the fundamentals of a programming language and then expand your skills by tackling hundreds of coding challenges. It covers the most popular programming languages from HTML to Ruby. Also a great resource for interview preparation.

Coding languages taught free of charge: Python, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node.js, Ruby, among others

Microsoft Online Academy

Microsoft also offers free coding courses in the form of tutorials, demos, and assessment. The learning resources are grouped into learning paths you can follows to gain the skills you’re looking for. You will also benefit from free downloadable learning materials and a helpful community forum.

Free coding courses offered: ASP.NET, HTML, SQL, MEAN Stack, Azure, and more

Edabit

Edabit

Learn how programming is done is done in the real world by tackling life-like challenges. Each challenge comes with an instructions, code, resources, solution, and comments tab. Best of all, these challenges are bite-sized ensuring you don’t get overwhelmed with too much information at once

Tackle free coding challenges on: Python, C#, C++, Ruby, Swift, Java, JavaScript, PHP

Sololearn

Sololearn is the best place to learn to code for free withl mobile. It allows you to learn from wherever you’re. You can learn from a PC, a laptop, and even right from your smartphone. Whether you’re on the Subway or on a slow moving queue, you can take advantage of every chance you get. Step by step instructions, quizzes, and real-world practice makes learning to code simple and fun.

Free Courses: More than 20 Programming Languages

Code.org

Code dot org was created with one goal in mind: to encourage more girls and kids from minority groups to pursue computer science careers. The courses are compiled for K-12 students but have proved valuable for all ages groups. You can follow tutorials or take a project based approach with the lab courses.

Courses offered for free: HTML, CSS, JavaScript

Educative.io

Learning programming at Educative is lots of fun. Their learning materials are not only high quality, but designed to deliver an engaging experience. They use interactive coding environments, quizzes, challenges, and illustrations to make learning both enjoyable and effective.

What you can learn here: Python C++, C, Perl, Dart, R, PHP, Ruby, Java, Rust, Scala

Bento

Bento can transform your from a beginner in the world of coding to an expert programmer without requiring a cent from you. They group free coding courses into curriculums for different specializations. If you’re looking to become a web developer, you can learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more on this site alone. The courses are curated by top developers.

Track Options: 200+ Topics

Goal Kicker

Do you prefer to learn by reading notes? Goal Kicker offers free notes on an assortment of tech topics including coding languages, frameworks, databases, and version control. The booklets contain explanations of concepts and plenty of examples to ensure what you learn sticks.

Free notes on: Python, C, Java, and more

Learn Computer Science for Free with College and University Courses

Coursera

Coursera gives you access to coding courses by University professors and top companies for free. This makes it one of the best websites for learning coding for free so you can start a career in tech. All the courses on the website are offered for free with one catch: you have to pay to get a verified certificate. They group courses by specialization making it easy to find the topics you need.

Free coding courses on Coarsera: Assorted Computer Science topics including data science and machine learning

MIT OpenCourseware

MIT is one of the best universities for a computer science degree. The only downside is that the program is incredibly competitive and the tuition costs prohibitive. The good news is: you can take MIT programming lessons for free no matter your aptitude test score. You don’t even have to register in order to watch the lectures and access the learning materials.

Programming lessons you can access for free: Varied

edX

Get top-level computer science education without paying a cent. At eDX, you can take courses from Ivy League universities without having to worry about tuition or grades. And you get to learn at your own pace, no pressure. You will find courses from MIT, Havard, Stanford and many other leading universities from all over the world. Definitely one of the best resources for learning to code for free.

Free university courses on: Computer Science, AI, Python, Data Science, and more

Open Source Society University

OSSU offers a complete computer science curriculum that mirrors what undergraduate computer science majors undertake. Learning materials include lessons from MIT, Princeton, Havard, and many more prestigious institutions. You will get world-class computer science education without having to shell out a fortune or accumulate student loans.

Scratch

Scratch was designed with kids and youth in mind but beginners of all ages find it a great introduction to programming. It’s a project by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) so you can count on high-quality education. You will learn the basics of programming by creating interactive games, animations, and stories.

Free Courses Include: Complete CS Curriculum from intro to the final project.

Best Places to Learn HTML and CSS For Free

HTML5 Dog

Start your web development journey by learning HTML at HTML5 Dog. Start by going through the tutorial for beginners then proceed to intermediate and advanced HTML. When you’ve mastered HTML, they also have CSS tutorials.

HTML.com

HTML.com is one of the best places to start as an absolute coding novice. It teaches this fundamental web development skill in an easy to understand manner.

MarkSheet

MarkSheet offers free lessons on the latest versions of CSS and HTML. Their tutorials cover HTML, CSS3, and go a step further to equip you with Sass skills. Short lessons with bite-sized chapters make it easy to consume and retain the content.

CSS3 in 30 Days

For a quick way to learn CSS3 for free, this free CSS3 in 30 Days will have you working with CSS3 within a month. You will learn both the concepts and the application by building one project per day.

CSS-Tricks

For a free comprehensive CSS learning resource, CSS Tricks really goes in depth and offers hundreds of tutorials, guides, videos, and code snippets. The website also covers Sass, JavaScript, PHP, among others.

CSStutorial.net

A site dedicated to teaching beginners CSS. It will walk you through the CSS concepts one step at a time.

CSS Grid Garden

CSS Grid Garden takes a gaming approach to learning CSS. You will be using CSS to grow your own garden. There are 28 levels to advance through and every step fills like fun. Best of all, you will be amassing CSS skills throughout the journey.

Where to Learn JavaScript for Free

Eloquent JavaScript

Eloquent JavaScript has the format of a book but is offered online. It’s one of the best places to learn JavaScript for free if you intend to dive deep into this language. It’s very comprehensive and backed by Mozilla and Have Reactor.

JavaScript.com

This Pluralsign platform is all about JavaScript. The mini-lessons are a quick way to get started with one of the most popular and versatile programming languages. Once you breeze through the lessons, the site recommends more advanced learning resources to take your skills to the next level.

Learn JS

Offers JavaScript tutorials for both beginners and experienced coders. Topics covered range from the fundamentals to advanced topics like OOP and inheritance. Put your newfound skills into practice right away by typing code into the integrated coding environment.

NodeSchool

Node School not only offers JavaScript coding tutorials for free, but they also hold workshops and events all over the world. You will also get an intro into NodeJS, to the server side version of JavaScript.

JavaScript is Sexy

Learn JavaScript for free with JavaScript is Sexy. Its author, Dan Wellman, is a former front end engineer at Microsoft and has written nine books on this language.

JavaScript for Cats

If you love cats and are looking to learn JavaScript, JavaScript for Cats might just be the resource to teach you JS. Written from a cat’s perspective, it’s sure to hook you up to the end. Despite the fun whimsical approach, it’s a very effective resource for learning JS.

The JavaScript Beginner’s Handbook

A fantastic JavaScript primer offered for free. It’s a great accompaniment to any JS course you might undertake. A 70 page manual that covers all the basics on the language including variables, arrays, and loops. 

Where to Learn WordPress for Free

Joy of WP

Joy of WP is one of the best free sites for new WordPress users. It offers tens of free videos to teach you how to build a website with WP.

WPBeginner

WP Beginner is a popular go-to site for first time WordPress users. From blog posts to video tutorials, it’s one of the best places to learn to use and make the most of this content management system

WordPress.tv

Here, Automattic has compiled various recordings of live WordCamp lectures you can watch for free from the comfort of your home. You get to learn how to use the platform from experts.

Best Free Front-End Web Development Courses

W3Schools

W3 refers to the world wide web. True to this name, W3Schools is one of the oldest and best free platforms for beginners looking to learn web development. They offer tutorials, reference materials, and a pleasant learning experience. Learn each topic step by step and cement the skills you gain via quizzes and practice exercises.

Watch and Code

The best way to begin your coding journey is by learning the basics of coding. Watch and Code will teach you the building blocks such as functions, objects, and conditionals for free. Their visual and hands on approach using videos and exercises ensure these fundamentals will stick with you throughout your coding journey.

Learn to Code HTML & CSS

For an aspiring front-end web developer, Learn to code HTML & CSS is the best place to begin your journey. In a clear and organized way, their lessons will take you from building your first web page to adding features. Learn how to build attractive and intuitive websites users will have a pleasant tine browsing.

General Assembly Dash

General Assembly Dash is one of the best places to learn client side web development for free, especially if you hate reading theory or following videos and prefer to learn entirely by doing. Lessons are offered as projects with walk-throughs to guide you as you tackle the projects. The free courses are as high quality as the paid resources by General Assembly.

The Code Player

The Code Player plays coding tutorials you can watch for free to learn coding without paying a dime. It’s a fantastic online coding resource to check out if you’re a visual learner who prefers to learn by watching demonstration videos. The videos walk you through a task or project a step at a time so you won’t get overwhelmed.

Programming with Mosh

With more than 1.9M subscribers, Programming with Mosh is one of the top favorite YouTube channels for programmers looking for free lessons. Here, the creator of Code with Mosh explains coding concepts in simple English.

Scotch.io

Learn JavaScript and it’s frameworks without a financial investment on the Scotch platform. They offer free tutorials, guides, short courses, videos, and even blog posts. They are worth checking out as they take an engaging and practical approach.

Web Dev Simplified

The Web Dev Simplified channel is all about web development. It’s mission is to simply web development for newbies and it does this very well. Their videos and playlists simplify all aspects of web development from HTML to design patterns. Definitely worth checking out if this is your learning path.

MDN Web Docs

MDN Web Docs has plenty to offer both existing and potential web developers. It’s an open source documentation platform for web development technologies. Here you can learn all kinds of things for free including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and APIs.

Upskill

Upskill is one of the best free web development platforms for practical, hands-on learning, especially if you intend to start or join a startup. You will embark on building a virtual startup from scratch. By the time you’re done, you will have the skills to develop websites like Facebook, Salesforce, and Dropbox.

Tuts Plus

Tuts+ offers free tutorials on a wide range of development topics including HTML5, JavaScript, and PHP and its frameworks. Guides you with step by step instructions and screenshots to ensure you understand the concepts.

Best Free Back End Web Development Courses for Free

App Academy Open

Would you like to attend a full stack web development bootcamp but constrained by finances? App Academy offers their face to face coding bootcamp curriculum including the videos, projects, and challenges for free. This is not for a casual learner though as you will have to dedicate at least 8 months to complete the free boot camp course.

PHP: The Right Way

PHP: The Right Way lives true to the expectation its name sets. It’s one of the best PHP resources available. It’s comprehensive and written in an easy to understand manner. Best of all, it’s offered free of charge.

Peter Fisher

One of the best modern PHP learning resources for a beginner back end developer. Peter Fisher shares his knowledge on this important backend language that WordPress sites are based on. Plenty insightful videos for anyone working with PHP.

Where to Learn Python Free Online

LearnPython.org

Features free interactive Python tutorials to teach you python in a hands on manner. Every tutorial has a coding window where you get to write and run code as you learn the concepts. You retain more of what you learn this way.

Learn Python The Hard Way

Despite the discouraging title, Learn Python The Hard Way offers one of the best systems for learning python. It covers everything from the introduction to the language to starting your own web game in python. Although the book itself doesn’t come free, you can access all the tutorials and exercises for free on the website.

A Byte of Python

This is a Python book whose PDF version you can download for free. It’s geared towards beginners starting their coding journey by learning python. You will have to shell out some cash though if you prefer the hard copy.

Google’s Python Class

If you’ve some programming experience and now want to delve into python, check out Google’s python class. Using text guides, videos, and practical exercises, it will instill the fundamentals of Python and have you working with text files, connections, and processes.

Where to Learn The Command Line for Free

Learn Enough Command Line to Be Dangerous

Besides text editors, the command line interface is one of the most important things to learn as a coding beginner. Learn Enough Command Line to Be Dangerous will equip you with the basic skills for free. Designed for absolute beginners, it doesn’t presume any technical skills.

Conquering the Command Line

Conquering the command Line is a great free book to read through if you’re looking to delve deeper into the command line. It covers Unix and Linux commands. 

Command Line Power User

If you’d like to go beyond the basics of the command line and prefer to learn by watching videos, the Command Line Power User video series is the free course for you.

Viking Code School

This online programming boot camp offers a command line crash course for free. You will get introduced to the command line interface and learn the commands you will be using whether you’re a Mac or Windows user.

Django Girls Introduction to the Command Line

Besides holding free one day workshops on Python and Django, Django Girls also offers command line tutorials and video for free. Learn how to set up the command line on Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Free Git and Github Learning Resources

Launch School Open Book Shelf

Launch School offers free books to equip aspiring software engineers with basic skills such as the command line and Git and GitHub.

Git Immersion

Git Immersion will teach you the basics of Git and walk you through how to set up Git and create projects. Beyond this, you will also learn intermediate Git skills. Has a clean interface that results in a pleasant learning experience.

Try Git

Learn how Git and GitHub work for free with interactive challenges and experiments. Also has a handbook, cheat sheets, tutorials, and a practice zone.

GitHub Learning Lab

Free lessons created by GitHub users to help new users get started with Git and GitHub. Topics covered range from getting set up to creating pages to creating a repository and pushing it to GitHub.

David Mahler

Offers a number of video lessons on Git and GitHub. These lessons cover the core concepts, branching, merging, and other topics to get you up and running

The Best Places to Learn UI & UX Design for Free

The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction

As you can expect from an encyclopedia, this resource has everything important about UI/UX and interaction design covered. Once you breeze through the 52 chapters, you will be equipped to design websites, apps, and even devices that offer an intuitive and interactive user experience. 

UXPin

UXpin offers free UX ebooks packed with well thought through content on design, prototyping, wire framing, mockups, testing, and more topics. It’s definitely one of the best UI/UX resources for anyone looking to become a great user experience designer.

Career Foundry

This online coding and UX/UI bootcamp a short UX Design short course for free. You’ll receive 6 daily lessons plus exercises to teach you the basics of UX.

Where to Learn DevOps & CI/CD for Free

DevOps.com

The URL does not lie, the DevOps site is all about DevOps and is one of the best ways to dive deep into the field. It’s packed with feature articles, resources, webinars and the news on the latest developments in the area. You will learn everything from the philosophy, tools, and best practices.

DevOps School

A fully-fledged DevOps School offering training courses and certifications in different areas of DevOps. You can access some of their courses, slides, and articles on a wide range of topics and tools from Chef to Jenkins.

The Best Places to Learn QA / Unit Testing for Free

ToolsQA

At Tools QA, you can learn about the different kinds of QA automation tools for free. Some of the topics covered include mobile and cross-browser testing, Cucumber, Selenium, TestNG, among others.

Software Testing Material

If you’re looking to learn software testing for free, Software Testing Material is the best place to do it. Millions of people have already benefited from their free yet high-quality software testing tutorials.

Where To Learn Game Development for Free

GameDev Academy

GameDev Academy offers game development eBooks and courses complete with written notes and source code. You will learn how to develop 3D games and augmented reality, and get to study Unity and unreal Engine without paying for access.

Unity Learn

At Unity, you can learn how to build all kinds of things from 3D games to virtual reality using the Unity game engine. Easy to digest lessons and demos show you how each feature works and you also get to learn how to use this platform through hands-on practice.

GameDev.net

A free website geared towards game developers. For aspiring game developers, they offer tutorials and projects that will equip you with the skills you need to start creating epic games. You will also benefit from the forums where you can interact with other game designers and get the help you need.

Best Places to Learn Machine Learning and AI for Free

Machine Learning Mastery

Machine Learning Mastery is a great way to get started in this field quickly and free of charge. Jason Brownlee, a machine learning professional with a PHD offers a free machine learning crash course, tutorials, and other learning materials that will have you up and going fast.

Google AI Education

You can also learn machine learning and AI from the best without having to pay. Google AI Education portal has courses, tutorials, practice exercises, and videos offered by Google AI experts. Whether you’re new to this field or looking to up your knowledge, you will find it a valuable resource.

Where to Learn Data Science for Free Online

Dataquest

Dataquest will equip you with the skills you need to launch a career in data science, and you don’t have to pay a dime. Among the data technologies you can learn for free here include Python, R, and SQL. The teaching approach is hands on – learn by building projects and tackling real world data science scenarios. 

Springboard

Are you new to the programming world and looking to dive right into data science? Springboard is truly a springboard to launch you from a non-coder to manipulating and analyzing data with Python, R, and SQL. Learning materials include free online lectures, assignments, and real world projects. You will also find free courses on other topics like web development and block chain.

Elite Data Science

Elite Data Science is designed for people with a busy lifestyle. Its easy to digest tutorials, learning guides, mini courses, cheat sheets, worksheets, and checklists make it easy to incorporate learning in your schedule.

Where to Learn Cybersecurity for Free Online

Cybrary

As a top cybersecurity professional development platform, Cybrary is one of the best places you can learn cyber security. You can access crowdsourced video lessons on topics like cyber threat intelligence, cryptography, and computer forensics.

O’Reilly Security EBooks

O’Reilly programming books are some of the highest rated books for learning to code. The good news is that they offer free eBooks on cybersecurity. You can dive deeper into this field and learn all kinds of things from privacy to the dark net.

Master of Project

Master of Project will turn you into an ethical or white hat hacker equipped to improve cybersecurity. After all, not all hacking is illegal and unethical. You can put your skills into good use by helping organizations reinforce their defenses against hacking and improving cyber security for all.  

Where to Learn Mobile App Development for Free

Android Developers Hub

There’s no better place to learn how to develop Android apps than on the official website for Android developers. After going through the detailed courses and tutorials they offer for free, you will be able to develop your first Android app.

Google Developers Training

Google’s Developer platform is one of the best free programming training resource for all kinds of topics. If you intend to become an Android app developer, be sure to check out their video courses and learn from experts at Google and Audacity. Takes a practical approach where you build an app, add features, and set up a database.

Start Developing iOS Apps with Swift

Apple’s developer portal is also a treasure trove of free information for an aspiring iOS developer. Their documentation archive has everything you need to learn how to create mobile apps for iPhone and iPad.

Swift Playgrounds

Developed with kids in mind, Swift Playgrounds turns learning Swift into a fun activity. Learn Swift, Apple’s official language for mobile development, by completing puzzles and seeing your code come alive in 3D format.

Learn App Making

This free program aims to have you building iOS apps over a 7 day period. And all you have to do every day is spend a few minutes learning the basics of creating iOS apps with Swift. As a bonus, you will also learn the common pitfalls to avoid as an iOS developer.

That’s a Wrap!

One of the best things about coding is just how accessible it is. As long as you have a computer and access to the internet, you can teach yourself how to code and go on to snag programmer jobs even in big tech companies.

Money shouldn’t be an excuse to postpone or give up on your dream to learn coding. As you can see on this list of the best places to learn to code for free online, there are plenty of high quality courses and learning materials offered free of charge. Simply bookmark your favorite resources and get started today. Even a few minutes a day can equip you with this life-changing skill!