Free AI Courses, Cloud Credits & Tech Jobs
Explore courses, cloud learning tools, and career opportunities from education and technology providers. Eligibility, availability, pricing, and payment requirements can change; check the provider’s current terms before signing up. A listing is not a guarantee of eligibility or a job offer.
A practical starting point for your school
Share our three-page school pack with your principal. It includes proposed session formats, a complete 30-minute facilitator guide and printable sorting cards. The classroom activity needs no devices, internet or learner accounts.
Free AI & Technology Courses
Bite-sized, practical courses from global universities and tech leaders. Learn AI concepts, coding logic, and ethical innovation without paying a cent.
AWS Skills Center Cape Town
Free introductory AI, cloud and computer foundations classes for beginners, plus interactive exhibits. Visit 57 Heerengracht Street, Cape Town City Centre.
- No technology background needed
- Foundational instructor-led classes and interactive exhibits
- Group learning enquiries welcome
Reviewed 5 October 2026 · Provider guidance
Scratch Creative Coding
Create games, animations and interactive stories with visual blocks. Use a computer or supported tablet for project creation; smartphones are for playing projects.
- Visual blocks introduce sequencing, loops and conditions
- Can work offline after the app has been downloaded
- Begin with local projects before choosing whether to share online
Reviewed 5 October 2026 · Provider guidance
Experience CS: Free Classroom Curriculum
Free computer science lesson plans, starter materials and Scratch projects that connect coding with other classroom subjects.
- Ready-to-use lessons and classroom presentations
- Scratch projects in a structured classroom environment
- Teacher support for introducing computer science
Reviewed 5 October 2026 · Provider guidance
Elements of AI: Introduction to AI
The world’s most popular beginner AI course. Explains how neural networks, search algorithms, and machine learning work without complicated math.
- No programming or advanced mathematics needed
- Covers AI ethics, bias, neural networks, and real limitations
- Over 1 million students enrolled worldwide
Google Generative AI Learning Path
A 5-course introductory pathway covering Large Language Models (LLMs), attention mechanisms, diffusion models, and responsible AI principles.
- Earn official shareable digital skill badges for your CV / LinkedIn
- Explains transformer models and responsible AI development
- 100% free with no credit card required
CS50’s Introduction to AI with Python
Prerequisite: CS50x or at least one year of Python programming. Harvard’s famous introductory AI curriculum. Covers graph search algorithms, minimax game playing, classification, neural networks, and NLP in Python.
- World-class instruction by Prof. David J. Malan and Brian Yu
- Hands-on coding projects: Tic-Tac-Toe AI, PageRank, Parser, Nim
- Complete open-access lecture notes and transcripts
Kaggle Learn: 3-Hour AI & Python Micro-Courses
Short, practical 3 to 4-hour courses designed for short attention spans. Code inside live cloud notebooks without installing anything on your PC.
- Bite-sized modules designed to be completed in one sitting
- Interactive coding exercises with instant automated feedback
- Free certificates of completion for every micro-track
Practical Deep Learning for Coders
Renowned "top-down" machine learning course that starts by training state-of-the-art computer vision and NLP models on day one before teaching math.
- Teaches PyTorch and the fastai library from the ground up
- Used by thousands of production machine learning engineers
- Accompanying open-source book available free online
Cloud Provider Free Credits & Student Grants
Step-by-step guides on how to access official free tiers, start-up grants, and student credit bundles with strict budget-safety rules.
Microsoft Azure for Students ($100 Annual Credit)
Eligible full-time higher-education students aged 18+ can apply for $100 in Azure credits, valid for 12 months, without a credit card at sign-up. The offer requires enrollment at an accredited, degree-granting two-year or four-year institution.
- No credit card required at sign-up
- Access to selected Azure services, subject to limits
- Annual renewal subject to continued student eligibility
AWS Educate & Student Cloud Labs
A cloud learning program for learners 13+ that provides free access to hands-on AWS console lab sandboxes without requiring a credit card or billing details.
- Zero billing information collected; completely risk-free
- Interactive AWS console sandboxes with step-by-step challenges
- Digital badges to showcase on LinkedIn or job applications
GitHub Student Developer Pack
A collection of student developer offers including AI coding tools, cloud credits, domains, and software. Each partner sets its own eligibility rules; Azure student credits require qualifying higher-education enrollment and age 18+.
- Free GitHub Copilot Pro AI coding assistant
- Azure student credit subject to Microsoft’s separate age and higher-education eligibility requirements
- Free Namecheap domain + SSL for your personal portfolio
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) $300 Trial & Always Free
New adult customers receive $300 in free trial credits for 90 days, plus perpetual Always Free access to Cloud Run, BigQuery, and Cloud Functions.
- Always Free: 2 million Cloud Run requests/month
- Always Free: 1 TB/month of BigQuery SQL queries
- Automatic spending shut-off prevents auto-billing upon trial expiry
Microsoft Azure $200 Free Trial + 12 Months Free Services
Provides $200 USD credit for 30 days, 12 months of free popular services (virtual machines, SQL databases, blob storage), and 55+ Always Free services.
- 55+ Always-Free cloud products (Azure Cosmos DB free tier, App Service)
- 12 Months free Linux & Windows virtual machine hours
- Use Azure Cost Management budget alerts to monitor spending
AWS Free Tier: New-Customer Credits
New customers can receive $100 in credits and earn up to $100 more. The Free plan lasts up to six months or until credits are exhausted, with access to selected services.
- Free plan: up to six months or until credits run out
- Paid plan: pay-as-you-go usage beyond credits or free allowances
- Some services have ongoing free usage within defined limits
Reviewed 5 October 2026 · Provider guidance
Zero-Card Free GPUs & AI Sandboxes
Instant cloud environments where kids, teens, and students can run Python, train machine learning models, and test AI models without entering payment info.
Google Colab: Browser-Based Python
Run Python notebooks in a browser without setting up a local environment. Free computing resources, including accelerators when available, have changing limits.
- Hosted Python notebooks with no local setup
- Useful for supervised programming and data exploration
- Free resource availability and runtime limits vary
Reviewed 5 October 2026 · Provider guidance
Kaggle Notebooks (30 Hours/Week Free GPU & TPU)
Kaggle offers every user 30 hours of free Nvidia GPU compute (P100 or 2x T4) and 20 hours of Google TPU v3-8 compute every week.
- 30 hours of free GPU accelerator time refreshed every Sunday
- Over 50,000 open-source datasets ready to import with one click
- Never charges a cent; quota simply pauses when weekly hours reach 30
GroqCloud Developer Playground & Free API Tier
An adult developer playground and API for experimenting with supported AI models. Free-tier availability, models and rate limits may change; check the current console before starting.
- Model availability and rate limits vary
- A free tier subject to current provider limits
- Drop-in replacement for OpenAI API library in Python/TypeScript
Reviewed 2026-10-06 · Provider guidance
Hugging Face Spaces & Free AI Inference
The GitHub of machine learning. Build and deploy interactive web applications for your AI models using Streamlit or Gradio with free CPU hosting.
- Free 16GB RAM CPU compute for every community space
- Test thousands of open-source vision, audio, and language models directly in your browser
- Share your projects with classmates and prospective employers
South African Tech Jobs, Learnerships & Academies
Zero-rated job platforms, fully funded coding academies, and entry-level IT opportunities for young South Africans.
SA Youth (sayouth.mobi) Zero-Rated Network
A 100% free national portal connecting young South Africans (18–34) to certified learnerships, IT internships, and entry-level digital roles with zero mobile data charges.
- Zero mobile data charges on major South African networks
- Direct pathway into SETA-accredited IT helpdesk and data entry learnerships
- Never pay a fee to apply—scam-free verified employers
WeThinkCode_ Software Engineering Academy
A 2-year full-time software engineering academy in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban. 100% tuition-free with monthly transport/living stipends for learners.
- Fully sponsored by top corporate partners; zero student debt
- Monthly living/transport stipends provided throughout the 2 years
- Over 90% graduate employment rate in South African software companies
Capaciti Digital Skills Programmes (UVU Africa)
Specialised digital accelerator programmes for unemployed youth from Cape Flats, townships, and underrepresented communities. Training in software, data, cloud & cybersecurity.
- Deep roots in Cape Town, Cape Flats, and Gauteng youth communities
- Covers practical cloud foundations, software testing, and helpdesk support
- Includes professional soft-skills and workplace transition mentoring
OfferZen Tech Hiring & Career Guides
South Africa’s premier developer hiring platform. Over 1,000 top tech companies send interview requests directly to candidates with transparent salary bands.
- Publishes annual State of the South African Developer Nation salary report
- Top hiring platform for developers in Cape Town, Johannesburg & remote SA
- Free community tech talks and mentorship sessions
GirlCode South Africa: Girls in Tech
Nonprofit empowering South African girls and women through coding workshops, annual all-women hackathons, online bootcamps, and career mentorship.
- Dedicated support network for female developers across South Africa
- Free weekend coding workshops and annual hackathons with prizes
- Direct partnerships with leading South African banks and tech employers
Pnet & CareerJunction Entry-Level IT Vacancies
South Africa’s two largest recruitment job boards with dedicated categories for Junior Support Technicians, Helpdesk Analysts, and IT Interns.
- Thousands of entry-level helpdesk and technician postings across SA
- Filter specifically by province (Western Cape, Gauteng, KZN, Eastern Cape)
- Free job alert emails sent daily as new openings are posted
The AI Grassroots Zero-Card & Cloud Safety Rules
We want young people to explore high-performance technology without placing family finances at risk. Read these four rules before setting up any cloud accounts.
Zero Card Rule for Learners
School learners should strictly stick to zero-card sandboxes: Google Colab, Kaggle, Scratch, and AWS Educate. Never borrow a parent’s card without permission.
Check Each Student Offer’s Eligibility
Student offers have different requirements. The $100 Azure for Students offer requires age 18+ and eligible full-time higher-education enrollment. GitHub Student Pack has separate rules, and individual partner offers may add restrictions.
Monitor Costs and Free-Service Limits
For an adult-managed cloud account, configure budget notifications and check usage and offer limits regularly. Azure budget alerts do not stop resources or enforce a spending cap; review paid upgrades before proceeding.
Never Pay to Apply for a Job
In South Africa, legitimate jobs and learnerships (SA Youth, Harambee, WeThinkCode_) NEVER ask applicants for interview fees, uniform fees, or training costs.
Want hands-on guidance for your school or community?
AI Grassroots is developing proposed school talks and unplugged workshops in South Africa, demonstrating how to access these free tools without computer labs or costly data.