DevOps has become one of the fastest-growing and most demanded tech career paths across the world. Companies are hiring DevOps engineers who can manage cloud platforms, automate deployments, build CI/CD pipelines, monitor production systems, and deploy reliable software at scale.

But the biggest problem beginners face is very simple:

Where should I learn DevOps for free?

Most freshers think they need expensive bootcamps or a paid course to start.
Good news — you don’t. You can learn DevOps completely free if you follow the right roadmap and know where the best resources are.

This guide contains the best free DevOps courses and certifications, updated for 2026, including hands-on labs, cloud skills, and beginner-friendly content. Whether you’re a fresher, student, IT engineer, or someone switching from non-IT to IT, this guide will give you a simple learning path and real learning resources—without paying a single rupee.

What You Will Learn in This Guide

• What DevOps is
• Why DevOps is a high-earning career
• Best free DevOps courses
• Free DevOps certifications
• Resources for Git, Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, AWS & Linux
• A beginner-friendly DevOps roadmap

What Is DevOps?

DevOps is the practice of connecting development (Dev) and operations (Ops) to deliver software faster, more reliably, and with fewer issues.

Here’s a simple way to understand it:

Old way (Traditional IT):

• Developers write code
• Testers test it
• Operations deploy it
• Everything takes days or even weeks
• Lots of manual work

DevOps way (Modern companies):

• Code → test → deploy → monitoring → updates
• Everything is automated using tools
• Tasks that took hours now take minutes
• Teams work together instead of separately

This is why DevOps engineers are in huge demand today. Companies want fast releases, fewer failures, and fully automated systems—and DevOps makes that possible.

Why DevOps Is a Great Career in 2026

High demand

Almost every tech company needs DevOps professionals.

High salary

Even freshers earn better than many other tech roles.

Works with modern technologies

Cloud, Kubernetes, Docker, CI/CD, automation.

Beginner-friendly

You don’t need a computer science degree. Skills matter more.

Future-proof

AI and automation depend heavily on DevOps pipelines.

By 2026, cloud-native and DevOps skills are expected to grow even faster, because AI applications also require automated deployment and monitoring pipelines.

If you’re still confused about the future of DevOps, you can also read my guide on whether DevOps is a good career in India — it clears every doubt in simple language.

Best Free DevOps Courses & Certifications

This list includes the most trusted, high-quality, and beginner-friendly free DevOps courses available online.

1. FreeCodeCamp – DevOps for Beginners (YouTube)

Certificate: No
Duration: 4–6 hours
Best For: Complete beginners

FreeCodeCamp explains DevOps in the simplest possible way. If you have zero background, this is a great starting point.

What you learn:

• DevOps basics
• CI/CD
• Linux introduction
• Git & GitHub
• Docker fundamentals
• App deployment basics

Why it’s great:
Clear, beginner-friendly explanation without unnecessary complexity.

You can watch the full beginner-friendly DevOps playlist here on the official FreeCodeCamp YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/Freecodecamp

2. Google Cloud – Introduction to DevOps (Coursera – Free Audit)

Certificate: Paid
Duration: 12–16 hours

One of the best DevOps foundational courses created by Google engineers.

You can audit the full course for free on Coursera using Google Cloud’s learning program: https://www.coursera.org/googlecloud

Topics covered:

• DevOps vs SRE
• CI/CD
• Monitoring & logging
• Deployment strategies

Why take it:
Google teaches DevOps from an industry perspective.

3. AWS Cloud DevOps Engineer Basics (AWS Skill Builder)

Certificate: Free digital badge
Duration: 5–10 hours

AWS is the most used cloud platform for DevOps. Their Skill Builder portal provides high-quality learning for free.

What you learn:

• AWS CodePipeline
• CodeDeploy, CodeBuild
• Infrastructure automation
• Cloud monitoring

AWS Skill Builder offers this training completely free for beginners. You can access it here: https://aws.amazon.com/training

4. Microsoft Learn – DevOps Engineer Learning Path

Certificate: Yes
Duration: 10–20 hours

This learning path is extremely useful if you want to work with Azure DevOps.

Topics covered:

• Azure DevOps pipelines
• YAML pipelines
• Version control
• Security & monitoring

Microsoft provides this entire DevOps learning path for free on their official Microsoft Learn platform: https://learn.microsoft.com

5. KodeKloud – DevOps Basics (Free Tier)

Certificate: Available for some modules
Duration: 20+ hours

KodeKloud is famous for hands-on labs where you actually practice real DevOps tools.

You can access KodeKloud’s free-tier labs directly from their official learning platform: https://kodekloud.com

Free modules include:

• Docker for beginners
• Kubernetes basics
• Git and GitHub
• CI/CD foundations

Why it’s powerful:
You get real-world practice in your browser.

6. EdX – Introduction to DevOps (Linux Foundation)

Certificate: Paid, course free
Duration: 10 weeks

This course is respected worldwide and teaches DevOps fundamentals deeply.

The Linux Foundation hosts this course on edX, and you can enroll for free here: https://www.edx.org

What you learn:

• DevOps culture
• Build automation
• Containers
• Deployment strategies
• Observability

7. TechWorld With Nana – Free DevOps Courses Playlist

Certificate: No
Duration: 20–25 hours

Her content is extremely visual and easy to understand.

Learn:

• Docker
• Kubernetes
• Terraform
• Jenkins
• GitOps

Nana’s full DevOps playlist is available free on her YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/TechWorldwithNana

One of the most recommended free resources.

Free DevOps Tools Training (By Skill Area)

DevOps is a combination of multiple skills. Below are the best free resources for each category.

Linux (Free Resources)

• FreeCodeCamp Linux Course
• The Net Ninja Bash & Shell scripting

Git & GitHub (Free Resources)

• Git Course by Kunal Kushwaha
• GitHub Training Lab

Docker (Free Training)

• Docker for Beginners – Nana
• Play With Docker (hands-on)

Kubernetes (Free Training)

• Kubernetes.io interactive labs
• KodeKloud’s free Kubernetes labs

CI/CD (Free Training)

• Jenkins for Beginners – YouTube
• GitHub Actions Course – Free

If you’re interested in how AI is changing tech roles, you should check out my list of Best Agentic AI Tools — these tools automate marketing like magic.

Complete DevOps Roadmap

Phase 1 — Linux Foundations (2–3 weeks)

• Basic terminal commands
• File permissions
• Process management
• Shell scripting
• SSH & remote servers

Linux is the backbone of DevOps. Even learning 30–40 commands can transform your confidence.

Phase 2 — Git & Version Control (1 week)

• Git basics
• Branching, merging, rebasing
• Pull requests
• GitHub workflows

Phase 3 — Scripting (1 week)

• Bash scripting
• Automating daily tasks
• Environment variables
• Simple automation projects

Phase 4 — Containers (2–3 weeks)

• Docker basics
• Dockerfiles
• Images, volumes, and networks
• Multi-container apps

Containers are the foundation of modern DevOps.

Phase 5 — Kubernetes (4–5 weeks)

• Pods, Deployments, ReplicaSets
• Services, Ingress
• ConfigMaps, Secrets
• Helm basics
• Minikube labs

Kubernetes is the 1 most demanded DevOps skill in 2026.

Phase 6 — CI/CD Pipelines (2 weeks)

• Jenkins pipelines
• GitHub Actions
• Automated testing
• Deployment pipelines

Phase 7 — Infrastructure as Code (3 weeks)

• Terraform basics
• Variables, modules, providers
• Infrastructure automation

Phase 8 — Cloud Platform (AWS / Azure / GCP)

Focus on one cloud only.

Learn:

• EC2
• Load balancers
• IAM
• Containers on cloud
• Monitoring

Phase 9 — Monitoring & Logging (1–2 weeks)

• Prometheus
• Grafana
• ELK stack

Monitoring is usually where beginners struggle, so practicing it early helps a lot.

Final Practical Projects

To get hired, build at least 3-4 real projects:

• Deploy a container app on cloud
• Create a complete CI/CD pipeline
• Deploy on Kubernetes
• Automate infra using Terraform
• Create a monitoring dashboard

Conclusion

Learning free DevOps courses doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. With the right roadmap and the free courses listed above, anyone—student, fresher, IT professional, or career switcher—can learn DevOps from scratch.

By 2026, DevOps, cloud automation, and container-based deployments will become even more important. If you start today, even with just 1 hour a day, you’ll be ahead of most beginners in a few months. These free resources are used globally and will help you build real skills without spending money.

Your DevOps journey is not decided by your degree but by your skills and consistency. Keep learning, keep practicing, and keep improving.

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