Free picks
12 Best Free AI and Machine Learning Courses
You can learn modern AI from the people who build it without paying for a course. These free courses, books and lecture series cover everything from the maths and neural networks to large language models and AI agents.
Short answer
Our top picks for free AI and machine learning courses are Neural Networks: Zero to Hero, fast.ai and Hugging Face Learn. All 12 picks on this list are completely free.
Updated
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The list
Every pick is free or has a usable free plan. Pricing and features change, so check each tool's own site before you commit.
- 1
Karpathy's course building neural networks from scratch, step by step.
Why it stands out: Widely considered the best from-scratch NN course
Best for Students, Developers, Professionals · Course
- 2
Practical deep learning courses for coders.
Why it stands out: Free and highly regarded worldwide
Best for Developers, Students · Course
- 3
Free courses on AI, LLMs and agents from Hugging Face.
Why it stands out: Covers modern topics like agents and LLMs
Best for Developers, Students · Course
- 4
Interactive deep learning book with code, math and discussions.
Why it stands out: Runnable code in multiple frameworks
Best for Students, Developers, Professionals · Course
- 5
Learn to develop, deploy and iterate on production-grade ML applications.
Why it stands out: Covers the full ML lifecycle
Best for Developers, Students, Professionals · Course
- 6
A course to get into large language models with roadmaps and Colab notebooks.
Why it stands out: Three clear tracks for different goals
Best for Developers, Students, Professionals · Course
- 7
Microsoft's free 18-lesson course to start building AI agents.
Why it stands out: Free and open source from Microsoft
Best for Developers, Students, Professionals · Course
- 8
Guides, papers, lessons and notebooks for prompt engineering, RAG and AI agents.
Why it stands out: The reference resource for prompting
Best for Developers, Writers, Professionals · Course
- 9
Google's free self-study ML crash course.
Why it stands out: Free with no sign-up required
Best for Developers, Students, Professionals · Course
- 10
A tiny scalar-valued autograd engine with a PyTorch-like API.
Why it stands out: The clearest way to learn backpropagation
Best for Students, Developers · Course
- 11
The companion book for the math behind machine learning.
Why it stands out: Free PDF of a published Cambridge book
Best for Students, Developers, Professionals · Course
- 12
Master the command line, in one page.
Why it stands out: One page, enormous practical value
Best for Developers, Students, Professionals · Course
Frequently asked questions
- Which of these free AI and machine learning courses is the top pick?
- Neural Networks: Zero to Hero is our first pick. Karpathy's course building neural networks from scratch, step by step. Yes. Neural Networks: Zero to Hero is free to use.
- Are all of these AI and machine learning courses free?
- Yes. All 12 picks on this list are completely free to use.
- Which ones are easiest for beginners?
- Hugging Face Learn, AI Agents for Beginners and Prompt Engineering Guide are rated beginner-friendly in our directory, along with 2 other picks.
- What platforms do these tools run on?
- The most common platforms are Web (12 of 12 picks), Linux (1) and macOS (1). Check each tool's page for its full list of platforms.
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