10 Best Free PHP Courses for Beginners to Learn Online

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links; I may receive compensation if you purchase products or services from the different links provided in this article.

If you want to build web applications in quick time then there is no better technology than PHP and MySQL. People may tell you to learn Java, Angular, React, JavaScript, Python or whatever but they are not as easy as PHP and you will take longer to develop your web application or startup than using PHP.

PHP and MySQL are incredibly powerful open source technologies that allow programmers and web developers to create functional websites and apps that go way beyond basic HTML.

PHP is specially created to generate interactive and dynamic websites and also known as server-side scripting language while MySQL is one of the leading relational databases along with Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server.

While it may seem intimidating to create a website using PHP and MySQL, especially for someone who has no experience in coding, it's not that difficult. With the right guidance and resources like books and courses, you can put together a PHP MySQL website in a week or so.

I have been sharing a lot of free resources in the past starting from Java, Spring, Eclipse, Maven, Linux, and several other key technologies important for programmers and web developers, so when a request comes to me for suggesting some free courses and books learn PHP and MySQL, I thought of this article.

I started my search with Udemy and Coursera because they are my go-to place for learning nowadays. I was nerd before, I loved learning from books but ever since I have started with learning from online courses, I have never looked back.

This article is a result of that short research, I am going to share some of the best but free online courses you can join to learn PHP and MySQL by yourself.

10 Best FREE PHP and MySQL Online Courses for Beginners

As I told you guys before, I found learning from Online courses much better than books, even though books still have a place to learn a topic in-depth, to a quick start and get going, nothing beats online training courses.

Most of these free courses are from respected author and training institute which made them free for promotional purpose but they have good and structured content. You can use them to learn PHP and MySQL by yourself in the comfort of your office and home and free of cost.

1. PHP for Beginners --- Become a PHP Master --- CMS Project

This is simply the best course to learn PHP from scratch and if you have to choose one course, buy this one. This is a comprehensive course, but the instructor breaks it down pretty well where you are not overwhelmed. This course is very in-depth. Support was top-notch whenever I needed it.

This is a project-based course and there is a lot of practice exercises. Every section inside this course has a practice lecture at the end, reinforcing everything with went over in the lectures. I also created a small application you will be able to download to help you practice PHP. To top it off, we will build and awesome CMS like WordPress, Joomla or Drupal.

I have learned a lot and already have been able to apply what I learned with clients. The instructor is very easy to follow and pleasant to listen too. Highly recommend this course and looking forward to other courses from Edwin. Bravo!

Here is the link to sign up for the course - PHP for Beginners --- Become a PHP Master --- CMS Project

2. Object-Oriented PHP & MVC

This is a great course to learn PHP by none other than Brad Traversy, one of my favorite instructors on Udemy and Youtube, and this is another gem from him.

In this course, we will go step by step to build a complete custom MVC (Model View Controller) framework Called TraversyMVC using object-oriented PHP. We will build something similar to Codeigniter but much much lighter.

This framework is completely open-source and you are free to change the name, add stuff, etc and use it as your own. Not only will we create the framework but we will build an application on top of it called SharePosts which will be somewhat of a social network to share posts. This application will include.

1. Full user authentication
2. Access control for posts
3. Server-side form validation
4. Bootstrap 4 UI
5. Posts CRUD
6. Helper functions (flash messaging & redirects)

And the best thing is that you will also deploy the application to the Internet, which will provide you a great learning experience.

I highly recommend this course and here is the link to sign up ---Object-Oriented PHP & MVC

3. Beginner PHP and MySQL Tutorial

This is another one of the best free courses to learn PHP and MySQL tutorial. It's a free course but much better than several other PHP and MySQL paid courses you will find on Udemy.

The course is very well structured and teaches you all the essential PHP and MySQL concepts, tools and resources you need to build your web application.

Unlike many online courses that focus on theory, this one is very hands-on and infrastructure will not just tell you but show you how to stuff. That's the one thing I look at online courses before I buy.

I don't like passive courses where instructor just teaches or talk about presentation but never show something in action. It's like someone reading a book for you.

If I am buying a course which means I want to see something in action because that's the best way to learn new technology. Unless you see things happening your interest level will not grow.

Here is the link to sign up for the course - Beginner PHP and MySQL Tutorial

The author [Robert Tucker], a long-time trainer, lecturer and consultant has done an amazing job in explaining how to create a functional PHP / MySQL interface from beginning to end, explaining where needed the important technical points without relying on excessive jargon.

In short, one of the best free PHP and MySQL course to learn how to develop a fully functioning web application on your own.

4. Building Web Applications in PHP

This is another awesome free course for learning Web development using PHP on Coursera.

In this course, you'll learn the basic structure of a web application, and how a web browser interacts with a web server. You'll learn about the request/response cycle, including GET/POST/Redirect.

You'll also explore of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), as well as the basic syntax and data structures of the PHP language, variables, logic, iteration, arrays, error handling, and superglobal variables, among other elements.

Lastly, you'll gain the skills and knowledge to install and use an integrated PHP/MySQL environment like XAMPP or MAMP.

Even though I know PHP and Web Development, I still enjoyed this course a lot and learning quite much from it as well. Highly recommended to everyone who is interested in Web Development using PHP.

5. Learn E-Commerce Website in PHP & MySQL From Scratch!

This is another awesome free course to learn PHP and MySQL from Udemy. While the previous course was great in terms of educating you with PHP and MySQL and showing some of the essential stuff, you really need to do a project by yourself to apply whatever you have learned.

This is critical for your learning and this is what this course teaches you.

In this course, you will learn to create an Online Shopping Store (E-COMMERCE) website in PHP & MySQL from scratch with Paypal Integration.

The course will teach you step by step how to do create the project and the knowledge you have learned in the previous course will help you to grasp the material and complete the task at your hand.

I recommend you to create the project at your end along with the course to make the most of it. If you are a beginner who has never created a megaproject in PHP then this course will help you a lot. It can also help you in creating your final year project for your university or college.

6. Real-Time Chat System Using PHP MySQL PDO and AJAX

This is another hands-on course that will teach you PHP and MySQL by building a project, a real-time chat system.

This was actually my project on final year college submission and many of you might have done it before on different programming languages.

I was inspired by Yahoo Chat messenger at that time as there was no [Facebook Design] but I like this project because you can easily relate to it which makes learning easier.

In this course, you will build a real-time online chat application using PHP, AJAX, and MySQL database. The course will teach you everything from front to back like creating front end in HTML and styling using CSS to make it more attractive and beautiful.

If you already know the basics of PHP and JavaScript or JQuery then you will easily understand it. However, this course is created while keeping all levels in mind, so if you are a beginner then still you can easily learn this course with a simple approach.

7. Build CRUD Application --- PHP & MySQL

This is another awesome, hands-on PHP and MySQL course which will teach you PHP by doing things rather than just teaching concepts and theory.
In this course, you will learn how to create a CRUD application, which is what most of the web applications are. CRUD is a short form of Create, Read, Update and Delete which are four essential task website allows their user to do.

Learning this concept will help you to better understand how to create a registration system in PHP, and also it will help you to let your users interact with data if you building users based website like Facebook where users have the ability to update their messages or upload their images.

In this course, you'll build a simple TODO list app that will help you to understand how CRUD actions are implemented and how pagination works.

You'll build a database and interact with it and also use the Bootstrap framework from Twitter for styling your website. In short, a great hands-on course for junior web developer and web designer or anyone who is interested in web development using PHP and MySQL.

Here is the link to access this course --- Build CRUD Application --- PHP & MySQL**

8. Learn PHP from Scratch by Educative

This highly interactive course introduces you to fundamental programming concepts in PHP, one of the most popular languages in the world.

It begins with a simple Hello world program and proceeds on to cover common concepts such as Conditional Statements, Loop Statements, and Logic in PHP. It then reflects upon the idea of Functions and Arrays, as well as the power they give to the programmer to write better code.

Finally, it dives deeper in order to teach about advanced concepts such as Classes, Inheritance and Exception Handling in PHP. By the time you're done, you'll have a good grip on the basics of PHP, and will be ready to study advanced concepts.

Here is the link to access this course --- Learn PHP from Scratch

9. Learn PHP by [Codecademy]

If you like interactive courses then you will love this course which will teach you one of the most important skills for web developers. PHP is a widely used server-side programming language that's become increasingly fast and powerful over the years.

PHP works well with HTML and databases, making it a great language for anyone interested in building dynamic web applications and n this course, you'll learn fundamental programming concepts in PHP.

PHP is the foundation of:

• Many CMS (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla)
• E-Commerce Platforms (WooCommerce, Magento)
• Web Development Frameworks (Laravel, CakePHP, Symfony)

Here is the link to access this course --- Learn PHP

10. The Complete PHP MYSQL Professional Course with 5 Projects

If you like project-based learning then you will love this course. As the title suggests you will build 5 projects using PHP which is great for learning this most popular programming language of web development.

This course is designed in a more logical way from easy to complex modules step by step. Here is a description of the course

Road Map:

Building Blocks Fundamentals 5 Hour 30 mints of Content

Projects:

1. Regular Expressions 25 mints
2. Complete Contact Form + Email 1 Hour of Content
3. Dynamic Web Pages (Directory Project) 1 Hour of Content
4. CMS Based Employee Management CRUD 2 Hour + 30 minutes of Content
5. CMS + Admin Panel with Stunning blog + FREE Bootstrap 4.2.1 12 Hour of Content

This course will focus on all the Fundamentals, Building-blocks and Advance Concepts of PHP in complete details which are essentials for beginners. In this course, students will build a project after every section to see the real-world representation of PHP.

The best thing is that Students can watch more than 2 hours of initial content free of cost to decide whether to buy this course or not.

Here is the link to sign up --- The Complete PHP MYSQL Professional Course with 5 Projects

That's all about some of the best and free online training courses to learn PHP and MySQL from scratch. These courses are really great resources and some of the course, especially "Beginner PHP and MySQL tutorial" is better than many paid courses and 182,255 enrolled students just prove that.

Some of the courses are paid but I don't mind paying money for such kind of course because they are worth it. Anyway, you can get that for free and many other practical courses to kick start your PHP and MySQL journey.

Other Free Programming Resources you may like
2020 Web Developer RoadMap
The 2020 React JS Developer RoadMap
The 2020 DevOps Developer RoadMap
5 Free Courses to Learn Git and Github
5 Free Eclipse and JUnit Courses for Java Developers
5 Free Docker Courses for Java and DevOps Engineer
5 Free Courses to Learn Python from scratch
5 Free Courses to Learn Data Structures and Algorithms
5 Free Spring Framework Courses for Java Developers
5 Online training courses to learn Angular for Free
5 Free Linux Courses for Application Developers and Sysadmins
Top 10 Java and Web Development Courses from Udemy

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these PHP and MySQL courses then please share with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop a note.

Closing Notes

Thanks for reading this article so far. You might be thinking that there is so much stuff to learn, so many courses to join, but you don't need to worry.

There is a good chance that you may already know most of the stuff, and there are also a lot of useful free resources which you can use, I have also linked them here and there along with best resources, which are certainly not free, but worth of money.

I am a particular fan of Udemy and Coursera courses as they are very affordable and provide a lot of values in a very small amount, but you are free to choose the course you want.

At the end of the day, you should have enough knowledge and experience about the things mentioned here.

Good luck with your Web Development journey! It's certainly not going to be easy, but by following these courses and RoadMap, you are one step closer to becoming the Web Developer, you always wanted to be

If you like this article then please consider following me on medium (javinpaul). if you'd like to be notified for every new post and don't forget to followjavarevisited on Twitter!