Where the Free Things Are
UPDATED!
I am a big believer of open online education. As a child, I was fascinated by the vast amount of information I can freely acquire from the internet and the wide range of creative and nerdy things I can accomplish through it. Here is a list of websites, apps, and other interesting things for the learning-obsessed nerds like me who love free stuff. Happy (free) learning!
Higher Education
edX
A non-profit online initiative created by Harvard and MIT where you can take free courses on a wide range of topics from MITx, HarvardX, BerkeleyX, UTx and many other universities
Coursera
An education platform where you can take free online courses from top universities and organizations around the world
Open Learning Initiative
OLI is a group funded by the Carnegie Mellon University offering high-quality courses which seek to innovate learning and higher education
Saylor Academy
An open educational platform that offers at-your-own-pace courses on various fields such as business and computer science, curated by academic professionals
Poynter News University
Offers online journalism and media training programs such as free self-directed courses, webinars, and others
OpenIntro
Provides free open-source statistics textbooks supplemented with educational videos and other instructional materials for R and SAS programming
Stanford Online – Lagunita
Take open courses from Stanford University
Open Yale courses
Take free online courses taught by Yale’s distinguished professors
Open Michigan
Provides free educational resources from the University of Michigan
MIT OpenCourseWare
Provides more than 2,200 open courses including free educational materials used in teaching almost all of MIT’s subjects
NYU Open Education
Take free online courses on sociology, economics, statistics, calculus, and others
NovoEd
Take free courses taught distinguished professors from top universities and collaborate with fellow students from around the world
Future Learn
Take free classes from UK’s best universities and cultural institutions
University of Oxford Podcasts
Explore Oxford’s open content
Open2Study
Take free courses from the best universities in Australia
iversity.org
A European platform for online learning enabling students from around the world to take free courses
Other Online Learning Platforms
Code Academy
Learn coding for free
Data Camp
Learn R programming and data science
Test Prep
SAT
Khan Academy
An interactive website that offers a comprehensive collection of instructional videos and practice exercises about math, science, history, computer programming, and more
Free Rice
A non-profit website established by WFP that lets you get involved in their donation program; for every correct answer that you get, they will donate 10 grains of rice
ACT
Sophia
Access free ACT practice tests and educational resources for both students and teachers
General
Brilliant
Enhance your math and science skills by answering challenging questions
College Admission (Philippines)
Academic Clinic
Access free practice tests for UPCAT and ACET plus tips and articles on college entrance exams, college survival, and scholarships
Technology Tools and Resources
Programming
Mozilla Webmaker.org
Make your own apps and websites while learning new skills
Mozilla Thimble
Write and edit HTML and CSS in your web browser
Mozilla X-ray Goggles
Allows you to see the code behind any webpage and remix the content
Mozilla Popcorn Maker
Allows you to remix multimedia content and embed it in other websites
Mozilla Appmaker
Free tool that will let you create mobile apps even if you don’t know how to code
Scratch
Create your own interactive games, stories, and animations
Presentation
Powtoon
Create animated presentations and videos for class
Haiku Deck
Create stunning presentations with beautiful photos and typography
Visme
Create presentations with cool infographics
Prezi
Make presentations that “zooms into your story” and collaborate with co-workers or classmates
Sway
A new Microsoft app that lets you present ideas in a creative way
Slides
Create cool minimalist presentations
Google Slides
Easily collaborate with classmates in creating presentations
Design
Freepik
Access thousands of free vector arts and photos
Canva
Don’t know how to use InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator? Design your own posters and cards here for free
Piktochart
Create your own infographics for free
Inspirationfeed.com
Inspirations for the design enthusiasts + freebies!
Flat Icon
Access a large collection of free vector icons
Butterick’s Practical Typography
Learn typography for free
Font Squirrel
Handpicked free fonts for designers
Creative Bloq
For your daily dose of creativity
Love Design Logo
A website about logo design and brand identity
Behance
Explore creative work and portfolios
Animation and video post-processing
Free Stock Music
Download free stock music for your video post-processing
Stupeflix
Create a stunning video through their free trial
Go Animate
Make an animated video through their free trial
Lightworks
Free version of Lightworks (a professional video-editing software) is available here supplemented with tutorial videos and demos
Learning Music
Music Theory
Learn Free Music Theory by Lypur
A full and in-depth music theory course in Youtube
Basic Music Theory
Free Music Theory ebook by Jonathan Harnum
General Sheet Music Collection (Wide range of instruments, Public Domain Music)
Making Music Fun
Free music resources for teachers and kids
IMSLP Petrucci Music Library
Access public domain music
The Mutopia Project
Access thousands of classical sheet music
Anime Sheet Music Collection (Piano, Violin, etc.)
Josh’s Anime Sheet Music Collection
Download anime sheet music transcribed by Josh Agarrado
Ichigo’s Sheet Music
One of the largest collections of free anime sheet music for piano, violin, voice, and others
Joyce Sheet Music
Download sheet music of popular songs and learn how to play it through Youtube tutorials
Ukulele
Ukucafe
Free ukulele tabs and sheet music
Got a Ukulele
Free ukulele chords
The Ukulele Teacher
Learn to play popular songs in the ukulele through this Youtube channel
Ukulele Hunt
Learn how to play the ukulele + free tips and tabs!
Learning Foreign Languages
Duolingo
Learn Spanish, French, German, and others for free
CultureAlley
Get free lesson on Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, and others
Open Culture
A comprehensive list of where to learn 48 languages online for free
FSI Language Courses
Public domain courses developed by the US government
The Polyglot Project
A library of foreign language content
Ebooks
Classics and Public Domain
Read and download public domain ebooks in various formats:
Project Gutenberg
Open Culture
The Library of Congress
Feedbooks
ManyBooks.net
Planet Ebook
General
Open Library
Borrow Adobe DRM ebooks for free and read it in Adobe Digital Editions software or in your browser
Textbooks
Bookboon
Free textbooks on a wide range of topics
Free Programming Textbooks
Download free textbooks on PHP, Ruby, Python, C++, Java, etc.
Textbook Revolution
A student-run site dedicated to free educational resources
Other
Idiots’ Books
Read the illustrated books of Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr
Audiobooks
LibriVox
Free public domain audiobooks read by volunteers from around the world
Softwares and Apps
PC/Mac
SAS University Edition
Access an advanced statistical software for free
R
Free software for statistical computing and graphics
7 Stikcy Notes
A free desktop sticky notes app that lets you customize the color and font of your notes
Notepad ++
Free source code editor and notepad replacement
Libre Office
Free office suite alternative to MS Office
Spotify
Listen to music online for free
Calibre
Organize your ebook collection: convert ebooks to various formats, sync to devices, and read in your computer
CDisplay Ex
The most popular comic book reader
Adobe Digital Editions
Read ebooks in your PC or Mac, download, buy, or borrow ebooks
VLC
Open source cross-platform multimedia player that plays most file formats as well as DVDs and CDs
Readcube
The ultimate researcher toolkit: manage articles, cite references, get recommendations, and more!
DeSmuME
Free Nintendo DS emulator
Web
Trello
A visual way to organize to-do lists for both personal and organizational purposes
Bucketlistly
Create your online travel bucket list, share it to the world, and be inspired by others
HabitRPG
A free to-do list and productivity app that makes your life like a game
Grammarly
Free grammar checker
WolframAlpha
Search for what you want to calculate and know about
Make Your Own 2048
Create a customized 2048 game
Flappy 2048
2048 merged with Flappy Bird game
Adobe Color CC
Create your own color palette and export it to Adobe Photoshop
Type Genius
Find the perfect font combo for your next project
Create Your Own Civilization
The title says it
Weave Silk
Cool interactive generative art
Create a Nebula
Another cool interactive generative art
E-sim
Free strategic browser game
Android
Trivia Crack
Play a trivia game with Facebook friends or with random strangers from the internet
Kobo
Read ebooks in your Android device, highlight text, create notes, and search definitions in the built-in dictionary
Kiwi Camera
Enhance your photos with real-time filters
Save articles for later reading
Atomas
Addicting elements puzzle game (also available for iOS)
iOS
MindSnacks
Games for your brain for free
Websites
Inspiration
Brain Pickings
A weekly “interestingness” digest by Maria Popova
TED
A non-profit which aims to spread ideas; watch TED talks, read about ideas, and be inspired
99U
Get insights on making ideas happen
Book Mania!
An inspirational book blog for book lovers
Introvert, Dear
Online publication for introverts
Fun
Domics
Fun Youtube videos by a 24-year old animator from Toronto
StumbleUpon
Discover something of your interest
Learn
Science Buddies
Science project ideas
CrashCourse
Learn with John Green, Hank Green, Phil Plait, and Craig Benzine through their awesome videos
Personality Tests
The 5 Languages of Love
Discover your love language and understand your relationships better
Praditus
Take the Big Five Personality Test, Personal Archetype Test, and many more
HumanMetrics
Discover your MBTI personality type
16Personalities
Another MBTI personality test with detailed explanations and cool graphics
Talentoday
Access your own personality radar and know your motivations
