Google Free Courses 2026: What's Actually Free (Full List)

Updated September 26, 2026: Google retired Digital Garage, launched Google Skills, and Coursera no longer lets you audit Google’s certificates for free. This guide reflects all three changes.

Search for free Google courses and you land on five different Google websites, each with its own rules. Some courses are free from start to finish, some end with a badge instead of a certificate, and the best-known ones, the Google Career Certificates, cost money to finish. Pick the wrong one and you can lose weeks of study, or reach the last module and find the certificate behind a paywall.

Three things also changed recently: Digital Garage is gone, Google Skills took over from Cloud Skills Boost, and Coursera ended free auditing. This guide shows what is actually free in 2026, what it costs to get a credential, and where to start for your goal.

Related: our Google Career Certificates guide compares every track by cost and study time.

Why this matters before you commit

Most lists of free Google courses were written before 2025. They still send readers to Digital Garage or tell them to audit the Career Certificates on Coursera, and neither works any more. The honest picture: Google gives away a lot of training, but the credentials people put on a CV are either short-lived (Skillshop certifications expire after a year) or paid (Career Certificates). Before you start, decide what you need at the end: a skill, a badge, or a certificate an employer asks for. Then pick the platform from that answer, not from the word “free”.

Which Google courses are actually free in 2026?

Free from start to finish: Google Skills on its Starter plan, Skillshop trainings and certifications, Grow with Google workshops, Machine Learning Crash Course and Kaggle Learn. Paid: the Google Career Certificates and Essentials courses ($49 a month on Coursera in the US and Canada, after a 7-day trial), Google Skills Pro and Google Cloud certification exams.

Get the free certification shortlist for 2026

A concise, hand-checked guide to free and low-cost credentials from recognized issuers — grouped by career goal, with practical CV and LinkedIn tips. Free PDF, no spam.

What happened to Google Digital Garage?

Google retired the Digital Garage platform in 2025. It started winding it down early that year and emailed active users on February 6 and March 4, 2025, asking them to download their certificates before the site went offline. The old address now redirects to Grow with Google, and Google says it can no longer issue or regenerate the old Digital Garage certificates.

Its best-known course, Fundamentals of Digital Marketing, lives on as a new, rewritten course on Skillshop. Finishing it earns a Skillshop award, a badge you can show on your Skillshop profile and on LinkedIn. Google’s own help pages draw a line here: an award is not a formal credential, a certification is. If you earned the old Digital Garage certificate, keep the PDF, because online validation of those certificates has been discontinued.

The Google learning platforms, one by one

Google Skills

Launched on October 9, 2025, Google Skills brings together nearly 3,000 courses and labs from Google Cloud, Google DeepMind, Grow with Google and Google for Education, and it replaced Google Cloud Skills Boost. The Starter plan costs nothing: 35 free credits a month, limited hands-on labs and skill badges. The Pro plan costs $29 a month (new subscribers get a 7-day trial) and adds unlimited labs. A good free first step is Introduction to Generative AI, a 45-minute course that ends with a badge.

Skillshop

Skillshop is where Google trains people on its own products: Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Marketing Platform, YouTube and more. Access to Skillshop, its awards and most of its certifications costs nothing, and there is no limit on attempts. The catch is upkeep: certifications are valid for one year, and a Google Ads exam needs a score of 80% or more within 75 minutes. Skillshop suits people who run, or plan to run, Google campaigns. It is not a general career credential for beginners.

Grow with Google

Grow with Google is Google’s umbrella for free digital-skills training. It is not one global catalogue: it runs country and regional editions, and what is on offer depends on where you live. The UK edition, for example, lists free in-person sessions and live webinars on AI. Google also offers small businesses no-cost access to its new AI Professional Certificate; they apply at grow.google/small-business.

Machine Learning Crash Course and Kaggle Learn

For technical learners, two options are free with no strings attached. Machine Learning Crash Course, on Google for Developers, covers regression, classification, neural networks, embeddings and an introduction to large language models. You earn a badge for each module by scoring at least 80% on its quiz, but there is no formal certificate. Kaggle Learn’s short courses (Python, Pandas, SQL, Intro to Machine Learning and more) cost nothing, and each one ends with a completion certificate.

Google Career Certificates (paid)

These are the credentials most people mean when they search for Google certificates: IT Support, Data Analytics, Project Management, Cybersecurity, Digital Marketing & E-commerce and UX Design, the advanced Data Analytics, Business Intelligence and IT Automation with Python certificates, and the Google AI Professional Certificate added in February 2026. None of them is free. On Coursera they cost $49 a month in the US and Canada after a 7-day free trial, and Coursera says most learners finish the Data Analytics certificate for under $300. That certificate now teaches spreadsheets, SQL, Python and Tableau, so older reviews that describe an R course are out of date.

Since August 8, 2025, Coursera no longer offers free auditing. Its new preview lets you take the first module of nearly every course for free, graded assignments included, but the rest of the program needs a subscription or approved financial aid.

Google Cloud and Google for Education certifications

Google Cloud certification exams are paid, but the preparation is free: Google publishes official learning paths and study guides for Cloud Digital Leader and Associate Cloud Engineer. Teachers get the best deal: the Google Certified Educator Level 1 and Level 2 exams are now free in English (US) and several other languages.

Free or paid: Google’s options at a glance

Platform	What is free	What you get at the end	What costs money	Best for
Google Skills	Starter plan: courses, 35 credits a month, limited labs	Skill badges	Pro plan, $29 a month	AI and cloud skills
Skillshop	Trainings, awards and most certifications	Certification valid for one year; awards for courses	Nothing for most certifications	Marketers who run Google campaigns
Grow with Google	Workshops and courses (they vary by country)	Depends on the course	Career Certificates are sold separately	Beginners and small businesses
Machine Learning Crash Course	Everything	Module badges, no certificate	Nothing	Developers learning ML basics
Kaggle Learn	Everything	A completion certificate per course	Nothing	Hands-on Python, SQL and ML practice
Google Career Certificates (Coursera)	First-module preview; financial aid if approved	Professional certificate	$49 a month in the US and Canada after a 7-day trial	Career changers who want a structured, job-focused program

Which option fits your goal?

You want a first job in IT, data, UX, project management or cybersecurity. The Career Certificates are the structured route. Take the free first-module preview before you pay, and apply for financial aid first if the subscription is a stretch.
You work, or want to work, in digital marketing. Start with Skillshop’s Google Ads and Analytics certifications. They are free, but you will renew them every year. Fundamentals of Digital Marketing covers the basics first.
You want AI or cloud skills. Start on Google Skills’ free Starter plan with Introduction to Generative AI, then follow the Cloud Digital Leader learning path if you later want a paid Google Cloud certification.
You write code. Machine Learning Crash Course for the theory, Kaggle Learn for short practical courses with certificates.
You teach. The Google Certified Educator exams are now free in English (US) and several other languages.

What “free” leaves out

A skill is not a credential. Most free Google options end with a badge or an award. They show you did the work, but Google itself separates awards from formal certifications.

Free certifications expire. Skillshop certifications last one year, so a free Google Ads certification is really a yearly exam.

The Coursera preview is only a sample. One free module per course is enough to judge the teaching, not to finish a certificate.

Old certificates cannot be reissued. If you lost your Digital Garage PDF, Google cannot generate a new one.

Your country changes the offer. Grow with Google runs regional editions, and prices outside the US and Canada can differ.

How to get a Google Career Certificate without paying full price

Every Google certificate page on Coursera shows that financial aid is available, and approved learners get full access, including the graded work needed for the certificate. Google also funds scholarships, but they are handed out through partner organizations, not through Coursera, so check with local workforce or training programs. Small businesses can apply for no-cost access to the Google AI Professional Certificate. Whatever the route, the subscription is monthly, so the fastest way to spend less is to finish in fewer months.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google Digital Garage still available?

No. Google retired the platform in 2025 and its old address now redirects to Grow with Google. Fundamentals of Digital Marketing continues as a new course on Skillshop, which ends with an award rather than the old certificate.

Can you still audit Google Career Certificates for free on Coursera?

No. On August 8, 2025, Coursera replaced auditing with a free preview of the first module of most courses. To finish a certificate you need a subscription or approved financial aid.

Do free Google courses give you a certificate?

Some do. Most Skillshop certifications are free and valid for one year, and Kaggle Learn courses end with a completion certificate. Google Skills and Machine Learning Crash Course give badges instead, and the Google Career Certificates are paid.

Is Google Skills free?

The Starter plan is. It includes 35 free credits a month, limited labs and skill badges. The Pro plan costs $29 a month and adds unlimited labs.

How long is a Skillshop certification valid?

One year from the date you earn it, unless the certificate says otherwise. After that you retake the assessment to keep it current.

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