SQLMaxx Learn is the best free SQL course with a certificate, because you write every query yourself, again and again, and you find out immediately if each query is correct. You repeat the work until the probability of your mind going blank on a beginner-level SQL interview question is practically zero. We make SQLMaxx Learn, and this opinion is the reason that we made it.
Our picks, if you want them now:
- For most beginners who want a free SQL course with a certificate: take SQLMaxx Learn, because you get a grade on every query that you write.
- If you want a course that we did not make: take Coddy SQL Fundamentals, because you write and run SQL in every lesson.
- If you need an exam: take freeCodeCamp Relational Databases.
- If you already write SQL: skip the course and take the free HackerRank SQL test.
- If you do not need a certificate: take SQLBolt, then SQLZoo.
Why do so many free SQL courses teach you so little SQL?
You learn SQL when you do SQL. You do not learn it when you watch someone else do it.
Watch a teacher write a JOIN, and you follow each step. You feel that you know JOIN. Then you open an empty editor, and you do not know what to type first. You learned to recognize SQL, and recognition is a different skill.
SQL gives you something that most skills do not. You get a safe place to try, and you get an answer in one second. You write a query, you run it, and you see if the rows are correct. If you only watch videos, you lose the best part of learning SQL.
What does it take to really know SQL?
It takes many repetitions, with a right or wrong after each one.
One correct JOIN does not mean that you know JOIN. You know a pattern when you see it many times, write it many times, and find out each time if you got it. That is how SQL changes from something that you look up into something that you know.
You also forget. So do the same patterns again on a later day, when you can no longer remember them easily. We think that a SQL course with no return to earlier lessons is only half a course.
What is a free SQL certificate worth?
A free SQL certificate is worth what you did to get it, and no more.
In a SQL interview, you write SQL. A certificate for hours of video tells an employer very little, and it tells you even less. Ask yourself one question before you start a course: to earn this certificate, how many queries must I write myself?
No certificate from anyone gets you a job on its own. So choose the course for the practice, and take the certificate as the extra.
Which free SQL courses with a certificate do we recommend?
SQLMaxx Learn. We built all of it around the loop above, so of course we recommend it. All 66 lessons, all 615 practice problems and the certificate are free. You get a grade on every query in a real PostgreSQL database, but you get no video, no teacher and no exam.
Coddy SQL Fundamentals. This is the course that we would pick if we had not made our own. You write and run SQL in every lesson, up to window functions. You also answer 360 quiz questions, and on the free plan, Coddy sets a daily limit on how much you can do.
freeCodeCamp Relational Databases. You do real work here: five PostgreSQL projects and a 50-question exam. If you want a free certification that you can fail, this is the one. But we found no lesson on subqueries or window functions, so you will need more practice after it.
Kaggle Intro to SQL and Advanced SQL. Take it if you work with BigQuery and you know some Python. You must get "Correct" on every exercise question. But you write queries inside Python notebooks, and the two courses are short, about 3 and 4 hours.
Which free SQL courses with a certificate would we skip?
Simplilearn SkillUp SQL. It is a 7-hour video course. We found no graded work and no test, and that is the opposite of what you need. We would skip it.
Oracle Dev Gym Databases for Developers: Foundations. Take it only if your job uses Oracle. You get videos, tutorials and quizzes, and we found no module on subqueries or window functions.
Cognitive Class SQL and Relational Databases 101. You get a real final exam, and we like that. But we found no lesson after joins and grouping, so you stop before the SQL that analysts use every week.
Any "free" course with a paid certificate. On Coursera and Codecademy, you pay for a plan to get the certificate. W3Schools charges $95 for the SQL certificate exam. We would not pay for a certificate until you have written a few hundred queries for free.
What should you do if you already know some SQL?
Skip the course. In HackerRank SQL (Basic), you get 30 minutes for 2 questions, and HackerRank gives each certificate a public page. You pay nothing, and you find out what you really know.
What if you do not need a certificate?
Then do not let a certificate choose your course. Two of the best free ways to practice SQL give you no certificate at all.
Start with SQLBolt: 18 lessons with short tasks and a check mark when your result is correct. Then go to SQLZoo for 132 more questions, up to window functions. You need no account for either.
Where should you start?
Open any course on this list and write your first query today. Close the course if you get to the end of a lesson and you have written no SQL.
If you want the loop that we described, with every lesson and the certificate free, start lesson 1 of SQLMaxx Learn. You need no account to start. For the facts on each course, read our comparison of free SQL certifications.
Top comments (0)