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Numerous websites provide courses that are entirely free, and yet provide essential skills needed for career growth in the ever-evolving job market.
These skills are also high-income skills, that are in strong demand and are lucrative, bringing one closer to achieving professional goals.
Although most of these online platforms are free, others may require an application for financial aid to access content at no cost, or at a substantially reduced fee of up to 90 percent. Some formats broadcast live classes, making learning accessible and engaging.
Here’s a list of these platforms to help you advance your career in 2025:
Coursera: Some courses are completely free, while others require you to apply for financial aid to access them for free, or may have up to 90 percent of the cost waived.
LinkedIn Learning: Free for Premium members, providing a vast library of video tutorials on various professional skills.
Khan Academy: Offers free online courses, lessons, and practice in a wide range of subjects for K-12 students, including mathematics, science, and humanities.
IBM SkillsBuild: Provides free, personalised learning paths with courses in AI, data science, cybersecurity, and more.
CreativeLive: Features live classes in photography, art, design, and business, with some classes available for free during live broadcasts.
Mozilla Developer Network (MDN): A comprehensive resource for web developers, offering documentation and learning materials for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other web technologies.
Udacity: Provides online courses and nanodegree programmes in fields such as data science, AI, programming, and business.
Tinkercad: A free online 3D modelling and CAD tool for designing and printing 3D models, ideal for beginners.
Pluralsight: Offers a wide range of technology courses in software development, IT operations, and data, with a free library of selected courses.
Envato Tuts+: Offers video courses and tutorials on creative and technical skills such as web development, design, and photography.
FreeCodeCamp: Provides free coding courses and certifications in web development, data science, and more.
GitHub Skills: Interactive courses for beginners and experts to learn about GitHub, including version control, collaboration, and CI/CD.
HubSpot Academy: Teaches digital marketing, sales, and customer service skills through a mix of free and paid courses.
Google Skillshop: Offers free training on Google tools like Google Ads, Analytics, and Digital Marketing.
Alison: Provides free and low-cost online courses in various subjects, including IT, business, and languages.
Microsoft Learn: Features a wide range of learning paths and resources for Microsoft technologies and tools.
Kaggle: A platform for data scientists and machine learning practitioners to find and publish datasets, participate in competitions, and collaborate.
MIT OpenCourseWare: Offers free course materials from MIT, including lecture notes, exams, and videos across various disciplines.
Codecademy: Provides interactive coding lessons and a selection of free courses, with a free trial available.