Computers are everywhere. Wherever we go whatever we do, we use computers that are not just laptops or desktop computers or tablets, but mobile phones as well. So knowing the importance of computers and how much we use it every day, our team at takethiscourse.net has compiled a list of best free online computer courses with certificates of completion. Through these courses, anyone interested can understand the fundamentals of computer and its system.

#	Course Name	University/Organization	Ratings	Duration
1.	How computers work	University of London	★★★★★4.6	08 Hours
2.	CS50’s Introduction to Computer Science	Harvard University	—	216 Hours
3.	Fundamentals of Computing Specialization	Rice University	★★★★★4.8	02 Months
4.	Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python	MIT	★★★★★4.8	144 Hours
5.	Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose	Princeton University	★★★★★4.7	88 Hours
6.	Learn to Program: The Fundamentals	University of Toronto	★★★★★4.7	25 Hours
7.	Computer Architecture	Princeton University	★★★★★4.7	49 Hours
8.	Computer Security and Systems Management Specialization	University of Colorado	★★★★★4.7	01 Month
9.	Machine Learning for All	University of London	★★★★★4.7	21 Hours
10.	Technical Support Fundamentals	Google	★★★★★4.8	21 Hours
11.	Programming with Python	Carnegie Mellon University	—	100 Hours
12.	Introduction to Computers and Office Productivity Software	The University of Hong Kong	★★★★★4.7	15 Hours
13.	The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking	Google	★★★★★4.7	27 Hours
14.	System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services	Google	★★★★★4.7	25 Hours
15.	Computer Science 101	Stanford University	★★★★★4.7	36 Hours
16.	Computer Graphics	UC San Diego	—	72 Hours
17.	Computer Basics, Computer Fundamentals Hardware & Networking	Udemy	★★★★★4.7	—
18.	Artificial Intelligence	Carnegie Mellon University	—	100 Hours

In order to help our readers in taking a knowledgeable learning decision, TakeThisCourse.net has introduced a metric to measure the effectiveness of an online course. Learn more about how we measure an online course effectiveness.

List of Free Online Computer Courses with Certificates :

Below are the list and details of the top computer online courses:

How computers work

- - University of London via Coursera
  - 10 hours of effort required
  - 14,892+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (284 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Excellent ★★★★★	Excellent ★★★★★	Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆

This is a type of course that will help you understand some very important fundamental concepts of computers that can be applied to any software or a computer system. You will become capable enough to apply all the taught concepts to different computer systems that we use daily. These include word processing applications, the internet, e-commerce, and websites. Similarly, you will learn different ways to apply computer science concepts for solving different problems that might occur while using a computer. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to deepen your expertise, the best PLC programming training for all levels is available right here.

Moreover, the concepts of state and modularity of computer science will also be taught that will help you understand all the computer applications that you use every day. Going further, you’ll understand how computers communicate with one another through networks which also includes the internet and much more.

This was not only an excellent but accessible course for the layperson and encourages broad understanding of the concepts rather than making things complicated. I really enjoyed learning from this instructor (Clyde M, ★★★★★).

CS50’s Introduction to Computer Science

- - Harvard University via edX
  - 216 hours of effort required
  - 2,366,358+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★

CS50 Intro to computer science The Free Online Computer course with Certificates that has a complete introduction to the intellectual enterprises of both computer science and the art of programming. With the help of this Free Online Computer course with Certificates, you will be able to gain a robust understanding of programming and computer science. How you can think algorithmically and then solve all the programming problems effectively will also be taught. Similarly, you will be taught different concepts like abstraction, data structures, encapsulation, security, resource management, web development, and more. You can also checkout 25 free computer courses list.

Furthermore, you will gain a good understanding of different languages including C, SQL, Python, JavaScript plus CSS, HTML, and more. How you can engage with a vibrant community of like-minded learners having different experiences will also be taught. Similarly, you will learn to develop and present a final programming project to your peers from start to end. Thus the whole journey of this Free online Computer course will be engaging enough to help you understand the fundamentals of computers.

Fundamentals of Computing Specialization

- - Rice University via Coursera
  - 112 hours of effort required
  - 41,929+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (5,261 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Excellent ★★★★★	Excellent ★★★★★	Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆

Fundamentals of Computing Specialization

This specialization aims to help learners understand all the sophisticated programming skills in Python from scratch. You will be applying all these skills in making more than 20 fun projects. There are 7 courses in this specialization and with each course, you will be learning a whole new set of concepts that can help you advance your understanding. You will gain a complete understanding of what interactive programming in Python is. As the concept is a little difficult and demands more detail, it has been divided into two courses. Completing these courses next comes the principles of computing which is also divided into two courses. The course will focus on coding standards and testing and also has a mathematical portion that focuses on probability, combinatorics, and more.

Similarly, the other courses also have different topics taught in it like, algorithmic thinking, fundamentals of computing, and much more. Finally, the specialization ends with a capstone project that is going to help learners demonstrate the extent of knowledge which they have gathered from the course. You might also be interested in free Ivy League Computer Science courses.

This specialization helped me and so many of my peers start a new career in this field. The courses available in the specialization lets you study at your ease and pace and instructed by top professors (Anonymous learner, ★★★★★).

Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python

- - MIT via edX
  - 144 hours of effort required
  - 1,251,198+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★

Intro to computer science

Are you interested in learning all about computer science and then use it as a tool to solve real-world analytical problems? If yes, then this Free Online Computer course with Certificates is what you need as it has all the necessary information you need to learn and understand the fundamentals of computer science and programming. The course is suitable for all those having no exposure to computer science and programming. Completing this Free Online Computer course with Certificates will make you capable enough to think computationally and write all such programs that can help to tackle a problem. Click here for top-rated computer science courses offered by NPTEL, ideal for learners at all levels seeking to enhance their tech skills.

Upon completing the Free Online Computer courses with Certificates, you would have learned all about a notion of computation. With that, you will also gain a good understanding of the Python programming language. Similarly, you will also understand some simple algorithms and know completely what testing and debugging is. Moreover, you will also gain an informal introduction to algorithmic complexity and data structures, and much more.

Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose

- - Princeton University via Coursera
  - 88 hours of effort required
  - 58,216+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (319 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Excellent ★★★★★	Excellent ★★★★★	Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆

Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose

For every student, it has become quite essential to understand what programming is and that is why this course has been designed to give you a good understanding of the nature of computer science’s undeniable impact on the modern world. This Free Online Computer Courses with Certificates covers all the topics from the first half of the computer science book which aims to teach programming to all those who wish to learn it in a scientific context. The course begins by giving an introduction to all the basic programming elements like variables, loops, conditionals, I/O, arrays, and more. After that, you will be taught what functions are. Then you will get an introduction to key concepts like recursion, code reuse, modular programming, and more.

Similarly, the instructor has also given a complete and detailed introduction to object-oriented programming. The instructor has used the Java programming language and taught the basic skills for computational problem solving that can be applied in many modern computing environments. In other words, proficiency in Java is the main purpose here but the instructor has focused on fundamental concepts in programming as well. By the end of the course, you would have gained a lot of skills relevant to programming principles, algorithms, computer science, and java programming. Thus taking this Free Online Computer Course with Certificates will be a good resource for you to gain a good understanding of programming.

I can say that this course is incredibly rewarding not only intellectually but practically as well. The way all the algorithms were taught and how the instructor explained its relation to the pharmacy industry was enriching (William G, ★★★★★).

Learn to Program: The Fundamentals

- - University of Toronto via Coursera
  - 25 hours of effort required
  - 248,918,+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (5,071 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Excellent ★★★★★	Excellent ★★★★★	Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆

Learn to program the Fundamentals

This Free Online Computer Course with Certificates is going to give you a good understanding of the fundamental building blocks of programming from the comfort of your home. You will learn to write fun and useful programs with quite ease using the Python programming language. The course covers many topics like teaching fundamental concepts in python which includes variables, functions, and mathematical expressions. With that, you will learn all about strings and the process that you need to follow while creating a function.

Similarly, in the next module, you will get an introduction to Booleans and also understand to convert between types. Next, you will understand to use different Boolean expressions in IF statements and the concept of a Python module. Furthermore, you will be taught one way to repeat code and then understand how you can manipulate strings. After that, you will learn to use a debugger to watch a program execute very thoroughly. Similarly, in the next module, you will be taught to use a loop over the indexes of a list. Then you will learn to nest lists and then the instructor will explain in detail how you can read a write file. Afterward, you will get an introduction to tuples which are an immutable version of lists, and then also get a briefing on Python’s dictionary type.

Before enrolling in this course, I didn’t know anything about programming. But now after completing two weeks of the content I feel like I have learned a lot about it all thanks to the awesome instructors (Rehane B, ★★★★★).

Computer Architecture

- - Princeton University via Coursera
  - 50 hours of effort required
  - 127,295+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (578 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Excellent ★★★★★	Excellent ★★★★★	Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆

Computer Architecture:

A very interesting and engaging Free Online Computer courses with certificates that will help you understand how you can design the computer architecture of complex modern microprocessors. The course has been designed in such a manner that will give you a complete understanding of computer architecture. You will get a description of the architecture, micro-architecture, instruction set architecture, and microcode. After that, you will understand the basic concept of pipelines and also the two different types of hazards. Going further, the instructor will give a detailed lecture on control hazards and the motivation for caches. After completing this topic, the next lecture covers cache characteristics and basic superscalar architecture.

Similarly, there are other modules as well as covering different topics and upon completing each module, you have to solve a given quiz. It is best to solve all the quizzes upon completing each module as it will not only help you recall the whole lecture but also help you evaluate how much you have learned. Furthermore, in the next module, you will be understanding the common issues for superscalar architecture. Then understand the different kinds of architectures for out-of-order processors and much more. So start learning for free today and from the comfort of your home too.

This was an awesome course that helped me understand what computer architecture is (Alisher Z, ★★★★★).

Computer Security and Systems Management Specialization

- - University of Colorado via Coursera
  - 60 hours of effort required
  - 11,213+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (1,475 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Excellent ★★★★★	Excellent ★★★★★	Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆

Computer Security and Systems Management Specialization:

This computer security and systems management specialization has a variety of courses in it that focus on computing in an enterprise environment. The courses in this specialization aim to prepare you to design and audit secure enterprise systems using both theory and real-world experience and architecture. With that, the Free Online Computer Course with Certificates will be covering the practical use of major server operating systems in an enterprise environment. Similarly, how you can design and operate them securely will also be understood.

Learners will be explained everything in such a manner that will make them capable enough to design, build, operate, and then maintain various components of a stimulated enterprise computing environment easily. With that, the instructor will also focus on the core components that make up an organization run securely. Similarly, you will also be assessing all the real-world environments and scenarios that are according to industry best practices. After completing this Free Online Computer Course with Certificates, a learner would have developed a variety of skills that are relevant to a subnetwork, enterprise system, Linux, information security, and more. Thus this specialization is enough for any learner to understand all the fundamentals of computer security and system management.

All of the courses available in this specialization had something valuable to offer. I can recommend this specialization to all those interested in understanding all about the computer security and systems (Anonymous learner, ★★★★★).

Machine Learning for All

- - University of London via Coursera
  - 22 hours of effort required
  - 51,040+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (1,680 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Excellent ★★★★★	Excellent ★★★★★	Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆

Machine Learning for All:

It is a true fact that anyone is able to understand the basic concepts of Machine Learning. Given the importance of technology, it is best that everyone related to this field should know it. And that is why we present to you such a course that will make you understand the basic idea of machine learning in simple terms. You don’t need to have prior experience in math or programming to be able to understand the content of this course. Instead, anyone interested can enroll and start learning at his own ease and pace. With that, you will get your hands on different user-friendly tools and use them efficiently. The Free Online Computer Course with Certificates has such learning material in it that can turn to be a good first step into a technical career in Machine Learning.

First, you’ll get a complete introduction to what machine learning is and all its fundamentals. Next, you will understand how data representation can affect machine learning. After that, you’ll be given directions to do your very first machine learning project where you will learn to collect datasets, then training a model and testing it.

I would say that this is the perfect course for beginners to learn the basics of machine learning. Dr Mario Gilles is an amazing instructor (Arkajyoti S, ★★★★★).

Technical Support Fundamentals

- - Google Career Certificates via Coursera
  - 25 hours of effort required
  - 958,999+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (25,105 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Excellent ★★★★★	Excellent ★★★★★	Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆

Technical Support Fundamentals

This course is filled with quite interesting learning content that will help you prepare for a role as an entry-level IT support specialist. In other words, you will be introduced to the world of Information Technology like never before. You will be learning about different aspects of information technology in detail. This includes an understanding of computer hardware, computer software, customer service, the internet, troubleshooting, and more. With that, you will also be covering a wide variety of topics in IT to give you a better understanding of how it all works.

Upon completing this course, you will be able to understand the procedure of how the binary system works. With that, you would become capable enough to assemble a computer from start to end. Similarly, how to choose and install an operating system on a computer will also be understood. Going further, you would also become capable enough to utilize common problem-solving methodologies very effectively. So, enroll for free whenever you want to and start learning today.

This was an absolute fun course and I really liked the style and pace of the information given. The course had a lot of technical information to offer but explained in a very easy to grasp manner. (Endri S, ★★★★★).

Programming with Python

- - via Carnegie Mellon University
  - 100 hours of effort required

This course talks about the basics of Python and teaches students the fundamentals. It includes different materials like the application of core programming building blocks in Python, or interpreting, using, and building on existing Python codes.

The best thing about this course is that it offers bonus materials for further studying and has revision checkpoints and assignments that help learners revise and practice whatever they have learned so far.
This course is for anyone who wants to gain programming skills and wants to increase their skills in Python as a programming software.

Introduction to Computers and Office Productivity Software

- - Hong Kong University via Coursera
  - 44,158+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (189 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Excellent ★★★★★	Excellent ★★★★★	Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆

Introduction to Computers and Office Productivity Software

An engaging course that will help you understand the essential computer skills for digital age. Here you will be taught the different types of software on a computer system.

The best thing about this course is its focus on explaining the major hardware components of a computer system. You will also learn everything about photo editing using GIMP word processing applications.
This course is suitable for those who wish to understand the fundamentals of computer science in detail.

I have found this course to be very useful. This course has taught me the basics of Excel and how to create a simple PowerPoint presentation. Similarly, the course also helped me understand the MS-word basic and basics of graphic designing. So I would like to thank the instructor for this course and keeping everything short yet relevant. (Atul R, ★★★★★).

The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking

- - Google Career Certificates via Coursera
  - 399,299+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (7,842 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Excellent ★★★★★	Excellent ★★★★★	Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆

The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking

This course will help you understand what computer networks are in terms of a five-layer model. Here you will get to understand all the standard protocols which are involved with TCP/IP communications.

The best thing about this course is its focus on explaining all the powerful network troubleshooting tools and techniques.
This course is suitable for all those who wish to understand what cloud computing as a service is.

I wouldn’t lie this course has its ups and downs but these challenges kept me much motivated and determined enough to complete the course. With the help of this course, I learned things I never knew. I would definitely recommend this course to all those interested. (Ashley G, ★★★★★).

System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services

- - Google Career Certificates via Coursera
  - 223,990+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (3,258 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Excellent ★★★★★	Excellent ★★★★★	Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆

System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services

A highly engaging course that will teach you how to utilize the best practices for choosing not only hardware but vendors and services for your organization.

The reason why we chose this course is its focus on explaining the most common infrastructure services that enable an organization to keep running. Here you will also understand how to manage infrastructure servers.
This course is suitable for all those who wish to understand how to make the most of the cloud for your organization. With that, all those who want to learn to use the directory services and active directory and openLDAP are also welcome to join the course.

I have found this course to be extremely informative. The instructor Deven has without any doubt done a great job at explaining all the topics of the course. I really appreciate the effort that has been put into this course. What I loved the most in this course was learning directory services. (Marian O, ★★★★★).

Computer Science 101

- - Stanford via edX
  - 6 weeks (4-6 hours/week) of effort required!
  - 104,077+ already enrolled!

Computer Science 101

This is a type of course that will help you understand the nature of computers and code in detail. You will get to understand what computers can and can’t do in detail. For those looking to broaden their horizons, don’t miss the chance to explore Stanford’s online learning opportunities.

The reason why we chose this course is its focus on explaining how the computer hardware actually works. You will also get to understand how software of a computer works.
This course is suitable for all those who wish to understand how structured data and digital images work. With that, all those who want to understand all about the computer code including loops and logic are also welcome to join.

Computer Graphics

- - UCSanDiego via edX
  - 6 weeks (6-12 hours/week) of effort required!
  - 107,689+ already enrolled!

Computer Graphics

If you want to understand the different concepts of 3D graphics then this course is what you need to enroll in. Here you will be taught all about how to create images of 3D scenes in not only real-time but with realistic ray tracing.

Anyone looking to start a career in digital design should take advantage of these learn computer graphics online for free.

The reason why we chose this course is its focus on explaining how to write and develop different programs that create images of a 3D scene with lighting.
This course is suitable for all those who wish to understand the very basics of graphic programming using OpenGL and GLSL.

Computer Basics, Computer Fundamentals Hardware & Networking [No more Available]

- - Homework Helper Proz via Udemy
  - 3,458+ already enrolled!
  - ★★★★★ (94 Reviews)

Online Course Effectiveness Score
Content	Engagement	Practice	Career Benefit
Good ★★★★☆	Good ★★★★☆	Fair ★★★☆☆	Fair ★★★☆☆

Computer Basics, Computer Fundamentals Hardware & Networking

A very engaging course that will help you learn the basics of computer hardware and jargon in detail. The course will help you understand how you can work with files and folders and applications.

The best thing about this course is its focus on explaining how you can learn the basics of web surfing. With that, you will also learn the basics of using a Microsoft Windows PC.
This course is suitable for all those who wish to understand the computer types and fundamentals in detail.

It was a really nice experience learning from this course. I was able to learn the basics of not only computer hardware but jargon as well. Similarly, the instructor taught well how to work with files and folders. I am now ready to apply whatever I have learned in real-life. (Nureni B, ★★★★★).

Artificial Intelligence

- - via Carnegie Mellon University
  - 100 hours of effort required

Artificial Intelligence

This course enables people to learn more about AI and how they can integrate it into different areas of their organization. It allows them to solve difficult challenges and helps them increase the value of their firm.

The best thing about this course is that it offers hands-on projects and assignments that help learners practice whatever they have learned so far. It also has knowledge checkpoints that help learners revise the material they have had the chance of learning through this course.
This course is for software developers, data science professionals, technology professionals, and other professionals who are looking to improve their skills and learn more about AI.

Conclusion:

After taking a look at the description of each of these best computer science online courses, you can easily pick one, enroll in it for free, and start learning today. So make up your mind and start learning today and don’t forget to keep yourself and others around you safe and healthy and never stop learning.

18 Best Free Online Computer Courses with Certificates of Completion