Python is a high-level programming language. Similar to other programming languages such as Java or HTML, it is used for a variety of different applications for computer programmers and software developers. If you are an experienced programmer with a knack for other programming languages, it will likely be easy for you to pick up Python quickly. However, it can be considered a difficult programming language to learn for those who have no experience. Python was developed under an open-source license, meaning it is free to use and distribute for anyone.
Featured Programs
- University of Michigan Python for Everybody Specialization
- Georgia Tech Computing in Python
- Becoming a Python Developer
Disclaimer: Some courses may include an affiliate link. Courses were chosen first based on the methodology with affiliate links only added after the ranking was complete.
Since Python is a relatively complex programming language, it certainly takes a lot of prior understanding before you can get a job using the software. If you want to work as a programmer in Python, you will need a lot of practice. However, since Python is open source, and since there are so many online courses available, you won’t have any problem finding ways to practice. If you have been searching for a way to effectively learn Python online without having to pay for an expensive class, we’ve applied our exclusive methodology to come up with a list of the best of the best. Keep reading to see the best ten courses that can help you learn Python for free.
Ranking 10 Great Free Courses for Python Online Certification
1. Diploma in Python Programming
Provided by Alison
This best free course for Python from Alison allows users to receive a diploma in Python programming, categorized as a Continuing Professional Development certification. Over 50,000 students have enrolled in this course so far, rating it an average of almost 4 out of 5 stars. Alison is an online educational platform that focuses specifically on professional development, both for those already in the workforce looking to advance their career as well as those who want to start a new career entirely. Alison is free to join and has a wide array of different courses and certifications to pursue.
This Python course takes between 10 to 15 hours to complete and takes you through all of the basics of programming with Python. Throughout the course, you will learn about concepts like creating variables and storing important data, how to work with dates and times, and how to make decisions with your coding. By the end of the class, you will also be able to save and read files, create functions, and more. This course is even accessible on mobile devices, so you can work wherever you are.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 10 to 15 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace, even on mobile
- Takes you through the basics of Python
- Teaches complicated functions and coding processes
Cons:
- Very complex course, requires full attention
2. Python For Everybody Specialization
Provided by University of Michigan via Coursera
This specialization from Coursera is exactly what it sounds like, making Python accessible for whoever wants to learn it. Nearly 40-percent of the students who completed this specialization began a new career shortly afterward, and there is a good reason why. The specialization contains all the tools you need to start a new career in programming, using 5 courses alongside a capstone project to teach you everything you need to know. Coursera is a web-based educational platform that has different paid and free degrees and individual courses, and is free to join for anyone.
No experience is required to begin this specialization, which will take approximately 8 months to complete if you work for about 3 hours a week. You can set and maintain your own flexible deadlines, allowing you to stick to a schedule without sacrificing your personal time. Throughout the top free online courses, you will learn Python data structures, how to access Python web data, and how to use databases with Python. At the end of the specialization, you will create a capstone project that allows you to retrieve and visualize data using the programming language.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 8 months
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Free shareable certificate to share on LinkedIn or resume
- Finishes with a capstone project
Cons:
- Takes a long time to complete
3. Deep Learning on Azure with Python: The Basics of Python Programming
Provided by Future Learn
Future Learn understands that proficiency in Python is one of the most sought-after skills in the technology industry right now. That’s why they created this course to teach the basics of Python programming, giving users hands-on skills that they can take into their current or future career in programming. Future Learn is a web-based educational platform that rotates the courses they have on their site, constantly changing their offerings and partnering with prestigious universities and institutions. This course is in partnership with CloudSwyft, which is a leading technology learning platform servicing the Asia-Pacific region.
This free online Python course with certification takes three weeks to complete if you work for around 5 hours a week and offers full access to the course’s Expert Track for $39 a month. The content in this course will teach users the basics of programming with Python, allowing you to build the data science skills that it takes to work in artificial intelligence. By the end of the course, you will understand concepts like functions, methods, objects, arrays, logic and control flow, histograms, and Pandas. While this track typically costs $39 a month, you can complete some of the course using a 7-day free trial. After this trial, you can decide whether you want to continue with the track.
Cost: Free (With Expert Track 7-day free trial)
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 3 weeks
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Part of a professional Expert Track
Cons:
- 7-day free trial expires quickly, course content cannot be accessed after that without payment
4. Python 3: A Beginners Guide To Python Programming
Provided by SkillShare
No experience is required to complete this course created by Tony Staunton, who is a premium instructor on SkillShare. SkillShare is an open-source online learning platform that allows users to join for free, differentiating courses by whether or not they require premium access. This is one of SkillShare’s premium courses, meaning you would typically need a paid monthly subscription to access it. However, SkillShare is currently offering a free 14-day trial of their premium membership, which can be more than enough time to complete this 8-hour course if you work rather quickly.
Tony Staunton is an instructor with an abundance of experience, teaching thousands of online students with his platform, which he calls TStaunton Online Learning. Staunton says that Python will be easy to learn using his course, claiming that you will be able to write your own programs in a very short amount of time! In the free online Python course, there are over 130 lectures that will teach you concepts like variables, strings, numbers, loops, comments, user input, dictionaries, functions, and more! Staunton even offers unique and frequently-changing projects for his students to complete.
Cost: Free (With SkillShare Premium free trial)
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 8 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Unique and exciting class projects
- Quickly write your own code and programs
Cons:
- 14-day free trial expires quickly, course content cannot be accessed after that without payment
5. Computing in Python I: Fundamentals and Procedural Programming
Provided by Georgia Tech via edX
edX is one of the most popular web-based educational platforms, one that offers a wide selection of free and paid courses. Many of edx’s courses are free but offer a paid upgrade to get materials such as a certificate, like with this course. This is the first course in a series of courses provided by Georgia Tech, a preeminent US university. Over 150,000 students have enrolled in the course already, which begins on a rolling basis with multiple different starting dates.
During the free online Python course, students will learn things like variables, operators, and how to write and debug your own programs. The course takes about 5 weeks to complete if you work at a pace of approximately 9 to 10 hours a week. To add a verified certificate to share on your LinkedIn or with future employers, it costs $149. By the end of the course, you will understand how computers process code, how to run and revise code based on its output, how to write sequential lines of code, and how to identify the role of variables in more complex programs.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes (With $149 fee)
Time to Complete: Approximately 5 weeks
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Learn from the basics of how computers process code
- Learn how to debug your own programs
Cons:
- Certificate requires a fee
6. Become A Python Developer
Provided by LinkedIn Learning
This learning path from LinkedIn Learning provides users with more than 21 hours of content, perfect for those who already have the basics of Python down. This selection of courses is designed to help you become a developer, teaching you how to get jobs in the field. LinkedIn Learning is one branch of LinkedIn, one of the internet’s most popular professional networking sites. LinkedIn Learning is technically a paid platform that works off of a subscription-based model. However, they offer a one-month free trial for new users, which allows plenty of time to get course material completed.
Some of the courses in this learning path include secure coding with Python, real-world programming foundations, how to build tools with Python, how to do unit testing, and Python parallel and concurrent programming. There are a variety of different experts who teach the 11 different courses in the learning path, meaning you won’t only be learning from one instructor’s perspective. The learning path even teaches you how to nail an interview when looking for a Python job, teaching you nontechnical skills and programming concepts you will need to succeed.
Cost: Free Try a free trial for Linkedin Learning.
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: Approximately 21 hours
Curriculum: Intermediate
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Learn from a variety of experts
- Learn nontechnical skills and important concepts
Cons:
- No certificate
- Assumes that you already know Python basics
7. Professional Diploma in Python Programming
Provided by Shaw Academy
This diploma is intended for students who have no prior knowledge of Python, with over 70 courses that you can take across all skills. For 4 weeks, Shaw Academy offers this diploma entirely for free, and you can complete as much or as little of it as you want during that time. After that point, the content becomes locked behind a paywall. Shaw Academy is an online education organization based in Dublin, Ireland, that aims to provide students with important courses and diplomas through webinars and recorded lectures.
Over 6,000 students have completed this diploma so far, and it is suitable for all levels of Python knowledge. While many courses are live webinars, all of them are recorded so you never need to worry about missing one. Alongside your free 4-week membership, you are also allowed three additional family members you can add onto the plan, so anyone who wants to learn can! Throughout the diploma, you will learn about important programming concepts like decision making, control flow, data types, error handling, and collection functions.
Cost: Free (With Shaw Academy 4-week trial)
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: As long as needed
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Free family membership included
- Gives all the tools you need to begin a programming career
Cons:
- Free trial only lasts a month, content is locked behind paywall after that
8. Learn Python 3.6 for Total Beginners
Provided by Udemy
This free online Python course from Udemy is exactly what it sounds like. It teaches total beginners how to use Python, meaning people who have never even touched code before. The nearly 7 hours of on-demand video content is completely free for Udemy users, and the site is free to join. Udemy offers many different paid and free courses, and is one of the primary massive open online course networks. Over 100,000 students have enrolled in the course so far, and the ratings are extremely positive.
All you need to begin the course is a PC or laptop computer with internet access. That’s it! The instructor, Michael S Russell, makes learning Python easy. He has been working in the IT and engineering industry for quite some time and is more than qualified to teach this course. By the end of the course, you will learn about programming concepts like list comprehension, control flow, variables, comparison operators, loops, and how to handle errors. Russell teaches for beginners in the sense that he does not use complicated jargon or assume that you have prior knowledge.
Cost: Free
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: Approximately 7 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Does not use complicated terminology or assume prior knowledge
- Explains complex topics in a digestible way
Cons:
- Certificate does not come with the course
9. Crash Course on Python
Provided by Google via Coursera
As previously mentioned, Coursera is one of the most popular and well-trusted online educational organizations with a variety of different courses and specializations. This course is in partnership with Google, so you can rest assured that you are being educated by some of the most qualified instructors in the world. This free online course is the first of six courses in a Google path that covers IT automation with Python, so it’s a great place to start if you aren’t sure if you want to fully pursue a Python career track. Regardless of if you continue with the other courses, this one offers a shareable certificate upon completion to put alongside your LinkedIn profile or cover letter.
This top online Python free course takes 32 hours to complete, which might not seem like a “crash course” to some, but it is relatively short considering how complicated programming can be. Subtitles for the course are available in a variety of languages, so it is not limited to only those who speak English. Throughout the course, you will learn about what Python really is and how it is relevant to automation, how to write short Python scripts, how to use basic Python structures, and how to create your own objects.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 32 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Taught by one of the most advanced tech companies in the world
- Teaches you how to write basic code
Cons:
- Covers only the basics of Python
10. Data Analytics Using Python: Learning Python Functions
Provided by Future Learn
As previously mentioned, Future Learn is an online education organization that offers a rotating list of courses according to their partnerships. Like the previous Future Learn course mentioned, this one is also part of a 3-course Expert Track that requires a paid subscription to access. However, the platform is currently offering a 7-day free trial for this Expert Track, within which you can complete as much of the course as you please.
This free online course for Python, which is in collaboration with Github, will help you become more familiar with data analytics and Python programming. It does assume that you already have some programming knowledge, but it will teach you how to become a much more confident Python user. You will learn things like how to get started with Pandas and everything you should know about data ingestion.
Cost: Free (With 7-day Expert Track free trial)
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 4 weeks
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Teaches advanced data analytics skills
- Teaches the many functions of Python data ingestion
Cons:
- Assumes you have some prior Python knowledge
- After 7-day free trial, content is locked behind a paywall
Frequently Asked Questions About Free Courses for Online Python Certification
Coding is hard, programming is hard, any kind of computer science field is hard! Don’t beat yourself up for feeling intimidating by starting to code or starting to use Python. Whether you are an experienced programmer looking to learn a new coding language or someone who has barely touched a computer before, don’t worry. There is a course on the list for you! Many of the courses above are suitable for all skill levels and interest levels, so you can jump in from wherever you are in your programming journey.
Even if you feel like you are well-versed in programming jargon, you likely have some questions about what these courses will really entail. In the following section, we will lay out some of the most commonly asked questions by those who want to start a new course or career in programming using Python. Hopefully, reading some of the answers to these questions will make you feel a bit more confident about starting from square one! Keep reading if you want to have some of your burning questions about online Python courses answered.
What Can I Do With A Free Online Python Course?
Having a solid knowledge of coding and programming language can open up a lot of doors for you. Especially now, when many programmers can work remotely, new jobs are constantly on the horizon. There are a variety of different careers you can pursue with a Python certification, including:
- Software developer: Software developers can typically expect to take a job with a large company working specifically on their development team. In this job, you will often build, test, debug, and change software or versions of a software product. Knowledge of Python is key in this job, where it is often a key piece of the puzzle.
- Data scientist: Data scientists remove, extract, and analyze data to figure out trends and patterns within a larger company or product. Data scientists make predictions about a product or audience based on observed data. Python is the most commonly used language in this profession, which is why it’s a great job for those with a Python certification.
- Quality assurance engineer: Quality assurance engineers are purely responsible for testing devices and software, not creating it. Knowledge of Python is great in this career because it is a good ground-level job to make your way into the tech industry. The more you know, the faster you can move up the ladder.
Who Should Take A Free Online Python Diploma Course?
As previously mentioned, Python is for everyone. Even if you haven’t had any prior knowledge of coding or programming, it is more than possible to learn Python and start your IT journey from there. Programming can seem incredibly intimidating, tedious, and difficult if you aren’t sure what your plans are yet. However, it is actually not the most difficult thing to learn when you focus and have a commitment to the concepts. Everyone planning on moving their career into the tech industry can benefit from these online courses!
What Will I Learn In An Online Python Course?
In most courses, you can expect to learn about what programming languages are in general, how they work, and why they are important to technology. You will also specifically learn about the language of Python, what its functions are, and how it can be used to create functions that are needed by computers and society. In many courses, you will learn how to write short, sequential lines of your own code as well as how to test and debug them. Additionally, you will likely learn about how data works within Python and how to observe data to fit your goals and functions. These modules can be a great place to start if you have never coded before.
Are Free Online Python Courses Worth It?
100%! Since Python is open-sourced and web-based, online is perhaps the best way to learn it. Since you will be working with computers and data anyway, it makes sense to get the feel of Python on a computer from the beginning, rather than in a classroom. Since these courses are free, you won’t have to worry about draining your pockets when you enroll in them. Instead, you can focus solely on picking a course that has the material and subject matter you want to learn about.
Disclaimer: Some courses may include an affiliate link. Courses were chosen first based on the methodology with affiliate links only added after the ranking was complete.
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