Free Study Resources for Every Entry-Level IT Cert (2026 Edition)

You Don’t Need to Spend a Dime to Start Studying

One of the biggest myths in IT certification is that you need to drop hundreds of dollars on training materials before you even pay the exam fee. You don’t. For every major entry-level cert, there are free resources good enough to get you from zero to exam-ready. Some of them are better than the paid options, honestly. The catch is that nobody organizes them in one place, so people end up buying courses they didn’t need because they didn’t know what was already out there.

This is that one place. Every cert below is one that a career changer or IT newcomer might reasonably pursue in 2026. For each one, I’ve pulled together the free study materials that are actually worth your time. No garbage, no “free trial that becomes $200 a month,” no PDFs from 2019 with the wrong exam objectives. Just real resources that work.

CompTIA A+ (Exams 220-1101 and 220-1102)

The A+ is still the most widely recognized entry-level IT cert, and it has one of the most generous free resource ecosystems of any certification. Two exams are required to earn it, Core 1 and Core 2, each costing $265 (so $530 total for the exam fees alone). That price tag makes free study materials even more important.

Start with CompTIA’s own exam objectives PDF, which is free to download directly from their site. This is your roadmap. Every question on the exam ties back to a specific objective in this document, so print it out or keep it open while you study. Anything your study materials don’t cover from this list, you need to find coverage for somewhere else.

For video content, ITFreeTraining offers a full A+ course for free with downloadable PowerPoint slides for each lesson. ExamCompass has free practice tests organized by exam domain with no registration required. Union Test Prep publishes free study guides and flashcards for both Core 1 and Core 2.

For hands-on practice (which matters a lot for the performance-based questions), grab an old computer and take it apart. Seriously. The A+ tests hardware identification, troubleshooting, and basic configuration. You can practice most of this with a $30 used desktop from a thrift store. Install Windows, install Linux, break things, fix things. That’s better prep than any flashcard deck.

CompTIA Network+ (Exam N10-009)

Network+ is the logical next step after A+ for a lot of people, and it’s where free resources start to thin out a little compared to A+. The exam costs $265 and covers networking concepts, infrastructure, security, and troubleshooting.

Again, start with the official exam objectives from CompTIA. Free. Non-negotiable. Union Test Prep has a free Network+ study guide for the N10-009 exam that covers all five domains with practice questions.

For hands-on networking practice, download Cisco Packet Tracer (free with a Networking Academy account). It’s technically a Cisco tool, but subnetting is subnetting and routing is routing regardless of what vendor made the equipment. You can build virtual networks, configure switches and routers, and troubleshoot connectivity issues without buying any hardware.

Subnetting trips up more Network+ candidates than any other topic. SubnettingPractice.com is free and will drill you until you can subnet in your sleep. You’ll want that, because the exam doesn’t give you a calculator and it doesn’t care if you’re nervous.

CompTIA Security+ (Exam SY0-701)

Security+ is where a lot of career changers are headed, and for good reason. It’s approved for DoD 8570/8140 compliance, which means government and defense contractor jobs often require it specifically. The exam costs $265 and covers general security concepts, threats, security architecture, operations, and program management.

Exam objectives PDF, as always, first. Union Test Prep has a free Security+ study guide for the SY0-701 exam. Ian Neil’s SecurityPlus.Training website offers free flashcards, performance-based question practice, and study tips to complement his book (you don’t need the book to use the free stuff on the site). HowToNetwork.com has a free Security+ study guide covering the key domains, though it’s based on a previous exam version so you’ll want to supplement it with current SY0-701 material.

For hands-on security practice, set up a home lab. You don’t need anything fancy. A free copy of VirtualBox, a couple of Linux ISOs (Kali and Ubuntu are both free), and a weekend of tinkering will teach you more about security concepts than rereading flashcards for the twentieth time. Configure firewalls, scan your own network with Nmap, look at packet captures in Wireshark. All of those tools are free and open source.

Google IT Support Professional Certificate

This one is different from the CompTIA certs because it’s not a traditional pass-an-exam certification. It’s a program developed by Google, available through their Grow with Google platform. The program itself runs on a subscription model (currently $49/month after a 7-day free trial), so it’s not technically free. But there are ways to access it at no cost.

Several community colleges, workforce development programs, and libraries offer free access to the Google IT Support certificate. In some states, dislocated workers can access the training for free through workforce programs. Check your local library system first, because many have partnerships that provide free access to online learning platforms where this certificate lives.

If you can’t get free access to the full program, you can still study the same material using free resources. Google’s own Skillshop has free courses on various Google technologies. The program’s curriculum covers troubleshooting, networking, operating systems, system administration, and security. Sound familiar? It should. There’s significant overlap with CompTIA A+ content, which means the free A+ resources listed above will cover a big chunk of what Google’s program teaches.

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)

The Cloud Practitioner is Amazon’s entry-level cloud certification and it’s become one of the most popular “first certs” for people who want to get into cloud computing without a deep technical background. The exam costs $100, which is one of the cheapest entry-level cert exams out there. It covers cloud concepts, AWS services, security, architecture, and pricing.

AWS gives away a staggering amount of free training for this cert. AWS Skill Builder has the Cloud Practitioner Essentials course (about 12 hours of content) available for free, plus free practice question sets and a learning plan that walks you through everything. AWS Cloud Quest, their game-based learning platform, also has a free Cloud Practitioner path where you solve puzzles while learning AWS concepts. It sounds goofy but it actually works pretty well for cementing the basics.

W3Schools published a free AWS Cloud Practitioner course that covers the exam subjects with their usual clean, readable tutorial format. Kananinirav’s GitHub study notes (available at kananinirav.com) are a popular free resource that maps every exam domain with concise summaries. And AWS’s own Free Tier lets you actually use AWS services without paying, so you can get hands-on experience with EC2, S3, Lambda, and other core services while studying.

The combination of AWS Skill Builder plus the Free Tier plus one set of practice questions is enough to pass this exam. You don’t need to buy anything.

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)

AZ-900 is Microsoft’s equivalent of the AWS Cloud Practitioner. It validates foundational knowledge of Azure cloud services, and like the Cloud Practitioner, it doesn’t require deep technical expertise. The exam costs $99.

Microsoft’s free training for this cert is excellent. Microsoft Learn has a complete, free learning path for AZ-900 that includes interactive modules, knowledge checks, and sandbox environments where you can practice with actual Azure resources without needing a credit card. This is one of the few cases where the vendor’s own free training is probably the single best resource available, paid or unpaid.

John Savill’s AZ-900 YouTube course (about 9 hours total) is free and widely considered one of the best video resources for the exam. Adam Marczak’s AZ-900 study guide is free, organized by episode, and includes links to relevant Microsoft documentation for deeper reading on each topic.

Microsoft also periodically offers free virtual training days for AZ-900 that sometimes include a free exam voucher. These fill up fast when they’re available, so keep an eye on the Microsoft Events page if you want to save the $99 exam fee on top of the free study materials.

Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals (SC-900)

SC-900 is newer than AZ-900 but it’s gaining traction fast, especially for people interested in cybersecurity. It covers security concepts, Microsoft Entra (formerly Azure Active Directory), Microsoft security solutions, and compliance features. The exam costs $99 and there are no prerequisites.

Microsoft Learn has a free learning path for SC-900 that follows the same format as the AZ-900 path: interactive modules with hands-on exercises. The coverage maps directly to the exam blueprint, so if you complete the full learning path, you’ve covered every domain.

Vlad Talks Tech has a free SC-900 study guide that curates the best free and paid resources organized by learning style (books, video, practice tests). OpenExamPrep offers 200+ free SC-900 practice questions with no signup required.

One thing that makes SC-900 easier to study for than most security certs is that it’s focused specifically on Microsoft’s security stack. You don’t need to know general cybersecurity theory at the depth Security+ requires. If you can learn what Microsoft Defender does, what Microsoft Sentinel is, and how Entra ID handles identity and access, you’re covering the biggest exam domains. Microsoft’s own free documentation and Learn modules are the best path here, full stop.

A Few Things Worth Knowing About Free Resources

Free doesn’t mean low quality, but it does mean you need to be a little more careful about what you’re using. Here’s what I’d keep in mind.

Always check the exam version your resource covers. CompTIA, AWS, and Microsoft all update their exams periodically, and free resources sometimes lag behind the current version. If you’re studying for the SY0-701 Security+ and your study guide is still covering SY0-601 objectives, you’re going to have gaps. The exam objectives PDF from the vendor is always current and always free, so cross-reference everything against that.

Practice tests are worth more than video courses. Watching someone explain a concept feels productive, but it’s passive learning. Taking practice questions and getting them wrong is where actual retention happens. Most of the free practice test resources listed above give you explanations for wrong answers, which is where the real learning lives. Prioritize practice questions over video hours.

Hands-on labs matter more than either one. Every cert listed here benefits from actual time spent configuring, breaking, and fixing things in a real or virtual environment. VirtualBox costs nothing. Same with Linux, the AWS Free Tier, and Azure sandbox environments. You can pick up an old desktop for pocket change. There’s no excuse not to get your hands dirty, and candidates who do hands-on practice consistently outperform candidates who just read and watch.

Finally, the Cyber Training Guide is a solid free resource for mapping out your overall certification path, especially if you’re interested in cybersecurity. It won’t replace cert-specific study materials, but it’s useful for understanding how different certifications relate to each other and which ones make sense for the career direction you’re aiming at.

You’ve got the resources. The exam fees are the only thing that costs money, and even some of those can be reduced with vouchers and promotions if you look around. The rest is time, effort, and a willingness to study material that’s available to anyone with an internet connection. Get started.