Free certificates
Free language certificates
A free language certificate is almost always unproctored, meaning nobody verifies who took the test. That is enough for a CV and for an employer's first filter, and it is not enough for a university or an embassy. Both are marked separately below.
Last checked:
5 certificates · Languages
EF SET Certificate: reading and listening (50 minutes)
certificateEF SET · ~1 h
An English level on the CEFR A1-C2 scale, with the certificate free and immediate. Adding it to LinkedIn is one click.
The test is unproctored: universities, embassies and immigration services do not accept it.
moderate weightEF SET Certificate: all four skills (90 minutes)
certificateEF SET · ~2 h
Writing and speaking are assessed too, which makes it more convincing to an employer. The certification test can be taken once every 90 days, so choose this one directly.
moderate weightDistance Turkish course A1-C1
certificateYunus Emre Institute · ~60 h
Registration is free and open to everyone, with a completion certificate. Turkey's official qualification, TYS, is separate and paid.
The site's TLS certificate chain is incomplete; some browsers show a warning.
weak signalin TurkishLearnEnglish: free courses and badges
digital badgeBritish Council · ~10 h
Free learning material, with a badge and proof of completion on some courses.
The free level test is for orientation only; no certificate is issued for it.
weak signalLanguage courses in 30+ languages
digital badgeEU Academy · ~20 h
The open tier is reachable from Georgia with a free EU Login, with digital badges.
The signed OLS certificate is only for participants in Erasmus+ mobility.
weak signalin Russian
Advertised as free, and is not
Alison
The course is free, the certificate is not: roughly €21-26, and €34-37 for a diploma. What you get for free is a Learner Record, which is a transcript rather than a certificate.
Coursera Financial Aid
No longer a guaranteed 100%. When approved it is a 50-100% discount that also depends on your location. You apply per course rather than per specialisation, and a decision takes up to 16 days.
Great Learning Academy
The page title says free certificate; their own FAQ says the certificate is issued after completing the course and paying the fee. The fee only appears at the end.
edX and FutureLearn
The material is free, the certificate is not. edX financial aid is an 80% discount, so a card is still needed. FutureLearn's free access is limited to the course duration plus 14 days.
Duolingo English Test
The app is free, the test is $70. Discount vouchers are not issued to individuals: only through a school counsellor, a partner university or an NGO.
Cambridge and British Council free tests
Both state themselves that these are not official exams and cannot serve as proof of language level. No certificate is issued at all.
How to read this list
Every row states three things: what kind of document you walk away with, how much weight it carries with an employer, and when it was last checked on the provider's own page. The mark exam is free too is the rarest and means the most: it says that even the qualifying exam costs nothing.
Where a row has a note set off by a red line, there is a condition or a risk attached: a deadline, a country restriction, a student status requirement, or the fact that we could not confirm something on the provider's page. Those notes are not hidden, because they are what decides whether you lose an evening.
If you are looking for work in this field, see remote vacancies and compare what employers are actually asking for. That section is written in Georgian.
Frequently asked questions
Are there genuinely free certificates in Languages?
Yes. This page collects only those Languages certificates where the document itself is free and no card is asked for. EF SET: EF SET Certificate: reading and listening (50 minutes) is one of them. Every row states what kind of document you receive and when it was last checked.
Where should I start if Languages is new to me?
Start with a row marked as a strong brand: that means the document is issued by the vendor itself or by a recognised institution, and an employer will know the name. Two of those are worth more than ten completion papers from a course marketplace.
What does free mean on this list?
That the document itself, the certificate or the badge, is issued at zero cost. That is not the same as a free course: the most common arrangement on this market is exactly the one where the studying is free and the certificate costs $20-70 at the end. Platforms that work that way are not listed as certificates here, they are in the warnings block.
Do I need a bank card?
One condition for being on this list is that no card is asked for, neither for payment nor for identity verification. The few exceptions are marked individually, for example time-limited offers where one exam is paid and the next one is free after it.
Are these certificates available from Georgia?
Yes. Georgia appears on no major vendor's restriction list: the recurring exclusions in the AWS and Microsoft terms are Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia and Crimea. Where a country restriction does exist it is written on that specific card.
Which free certificate actually counts with an employer?
The one issued by the vendor itself or by a recognised institution: Google, Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Oracle, HubSpot, Harvard's CS50. A completion paper from a course marketplace is a weak signal and we mark it as one. That is why every card states what weight the document carries.