9 free learning apps for adults, no subscription required
Choose by what stays free: a continuing course, a limited preview, or browser access. Compare the learning limits and device options before you install anything.
Want to get better at something specific?
Try Cadence for a course built around your goal, with short lessons, practice, and saved progress. Start free on iPhone or request Android access.
Learning Cadence editorial, , 10 min readHow we work
For fully free academic course materials and practice, start with Khan Academy or MIT OpenCourseWare. For flashcards, Anki is free on desktop and Android, with AnkiWeb available in a browser; the official AnkiMobile iPhone app is paid. These are different from a free tier, such as Cadence or Duolingo, and from limited course access, such as a Coursera first-module preview or a time-limited edX audit.
Choose by your learning goal as well as the price. Cadence offers a custom daily course on your own goal; Khan Academy covers maths, science and economics; Duolingo focuses on languages; Anki supports recall practice. Cadence is our app, and its current public app is on iPhone. Android testing access is requested separately.
We checked each app's official pages on 20 August 2026 and compared what you can keep using without entering a trial. That distinction matters. Coursera now gives a free first-module preview of nearly every course, while edX still lets you audit nearly all courses free for a limited period.
What you get freeOn iPhone, build 2 new custom courses a month with unlimited daily lessons and audio. Android testing access is requested separately. This is our app.
What you get freeFree desktop app, AnkiDroid on Android, or AnkiWeb in a browser. The official AnkiMobile iPhone app is paid.
The apps
Every app, with what it is bad at.
Start with the job you need the app to do, then read the tradeoff.
01
Cadence
A course built around your starting point
This is our app. See the disclosure above.
Cadence starts with a problem you want to solve or a curiosity you want to explore, then builds an ordered 7 to 30 lesson course around it. Each lesson takes about ten minutes, can be read or played as audio, and stays connected to the course. Lessons use checks or practice when they help, and Ask Coach stays inside the lesson.
Best for
Turning your own starting point into one coherent course you can keep progressing through.
Not for
Anyone who needs a recognised certificate, a named instructor, or a language course with speaking practice.
Price
Free to start, with unlimited daily lessons and audio and 4 lesson voices included, and 2 new custom courses a month. Plus adds 8 more voices, for 12 in total, and makes new courses, practice, and Ask Coach unlimited for US$49.99 a year on the web, with a 7-day trial.
Khan Academy is a nonprofit that publishes full course sequences in maths, science, economics, and test preparation. Every lesson is free, there are no ads, and the practice sets tell you which idea you have not understood yet instead of only marking you wrong.
Best for
Rebuilding a foundation you missed at school, especially in maths and science.
Not for
Soft skills, workplace situations, and creative subjects.
Price
Free. It is funded by donations, not subscriptions.
Kinnu builds what it calls pathways: short lessons with multiple-choice practice, flashcards, and spaced review, framed around cognitive science. Its general knowledge app is free, and it now also publishes exam-preparation products for the SQE, SAT, and CFA, which is where the business has moved.
Best for
Free, low-commitment general knowledge with real retrieval practice built in.
Not for
Workplace situations and soft skills, which its pathways do not cover.
Price
The general knowledge app is free. The exam-preparation products are sold separately and its site does not publish those prices, so check each product page.
Duolingo uses short exercises, daily goals, reminders, and a streak to make returning feel automatic. Its courses are available free, supported by ads and optional paid tiers. Language learning remains its main strength, while maths, music, and chess broaden the free catalogue.
Best for
Building a daily language habit with short, guided exercises.
Not for
Learning a broad workplace topic or reaching confident conversation through the app alone.
Price
Courses are free with ads. Paid tiers remove ads and add premium features.
Brilliant teaches through problems and not lectures. You are given a puzzle, you try it, and the explanation arrives once you have already thought about it. That order is harder work than watching a video and it is why the ideas tend to stay.
Best for
People who want to think during a lesson instead of watching one.
Not for
Subjects outside maths, science, and computing, or learners who need unlimited daily access without a subscription.
Price
Brilliant Free provides two keys a day. Each key unlocks one lesson or practice set, and free users move through courses in order. Premium removes the daily limit, allows jumping ahead, removes ads, and gives full Koji access.
edX lets you audit nearly all of its online courses at no cost for a set access period, usually four to twelve weeks. The audit track includes readings, videos, discussions, and ungraded assignments. A verified certificate and graded work require the paid track.
Best for
Following a current university course when you do not need the certificate.
Not for
Permanent course access or a verified credential, because free audit access is time limited.
Price
The audit track is free on nearly all courses. Verified certificates and full programmes are paid.
MIT publishes the actual materials from its courses: lecture notes, problem sets, exams, and often video. There is no account, no upsell, and no certificate. It is the raw course, and you supply the discipline.
Best for
Self-directed learners who want depth and do not need a credential.
Not for
Anyone who needs structure, reminders, or someone to tell them what to do next.
A free first-module preview of university and company courses
Coursera lets you preview the first module of nearly every course at no cost, including the module's videos, readings, and assessments. Coursera introduced this model in August 2025 to replace broad audit access, so it is now best treated as a way to test a course before paying rather than a way to finish most courses free.
Best for
Trying the opening module before paying for a course or certificate from a university or company.
Not for
Completing most full courses without paying.
Price
The first module of nearly every course is free to preview. Continued course access, graded work beyond the preview, and certificates are generally paid.
Anki is a flashcard tool that schedules each card for the day you are about to forget it. It is plain, it is powerful, and it does nothing to help you decide what is worth learning. Medical students and language learners rely on it for a reason.
Best for
Facts, vocabulary, and anything you must recall exactly.
Not for
Understanding a subject. Anki assumes you already know what belongs on the card.
Price
Free on desktop and Android. AnkiWeb is a free account-based option for studying in a browser; AnkiMobile for iPhone is a paid app.
Find the free route that fits your device and goal.
If your budget is zero, choose the route you can finish using, not just a free download. Here are four practical starting decisions, based on the official access pages linked in References.
I want flashcards on an iPhone without buying an app: use AnkiWeb in the browser with a free account. If you already have cards in desktop Anki, sync that collection first. The paid AnkiMobile app is a separate choice, not a requirement for browser study.
I want to finish university material without buying a certificate: look for edX's audit option on the course you chose and check its access deadline. If you need materials you can revisit without an audit window, consider MIT OpenCourseWare instead.
I only want to check whether a course fits: Coursera's first-module preview can help. Do not plan on finishing the rest free unless that course explicitly offers full free access or you receive financial aid.
I want a Cadence course around my own goal: get the current iPhone app and use Free. On Android, request testing access through Get Cadence; submitting a request is not an immediate public-store download.
Read this first
How to choose the right free learning app.
Start with the learning job, not the size of the catalogue. A large library is useful only when it contains the subject and teaching format you need.
Choose Cadence when the subject is specific to your goal and a fixed catalogue does not cover it closely enough.
Choose Khan Academy for guided academic foundations, or MIT OpenCourseWare when you want raw university-level depth and can direct yourself.
Choose Kinnu for broad general knowledge, Duolingo for languages, Brilliant for interactive STEM, and Anki for facts you need to recall exactly.
Choose edX when you want to follow a current university course free. Use Coursera's free first module to test whether a paid course is worth continuing.
Try before you settle
Use the free tier to run a seven-day learning test.
Do not install nine apps and compare their home screens. Choose the one that best fits a single learning job, use only its free path for seven days, and judge what changed in your understanding or ability. A useful test has one result, one normal place in your day, and one small piece of evidence at the end.
For a workplace skill, try one idea in a real low-risk conversation and record what happened. For an academic subject, solve a short problem without looking at the explanation. For facts, test recall after a day. The evidence does not need to be formal. It needs to show more than time spent or a streak preserved.
Fit: did the free material address the subject and level you actually chose?
Sequence: did today's activity build on yesterday's, or did it feel like a new fragment?
Practice: did you have to produce an answer, explanation, or action rather than only recognise one?
Return: after missing a day, could you see the next useful step without starting over?
Boundary: did the free limit interrupt the learning itself, or only reduce volume and optional features?
A changed boundary
Coursera and edX no longer offer the same kind of free access.
Older comparison lists often say that both services let you audit courses. That is no longer accurate. Coursera replaced broad audit access in August 2025 with a free preview of the first module of nearly every course. The preview includes that module's videos, readings, and assessments, but continuing usually requires payment.
edX still offers a free audit track on nearly all online courses. Audit access usually lasts four to twelve weeks and includes readings, videos, discussions, and ungraded assignments. You pay for graded work, longer access, and the verified certificate.
Worth knowing
An overlooked source of free access.
If you have a public library card, check whether your library provides LinkedIn Learning. Many library systems do, and cardholders get the full catalogue at no cost. LinkedIn publishes a help page for library patrons explaining the sign-in, and you do not need a LinkedIn profile to use it.
The same is worth checking with your employer. A lot of companies pay for LinkedIn Learning or Coursera seats that go unused because nobody announced them.
Where we fit
Where the Cadence free tier is unusually strong.
We make Cadence. Its free plan is built for continued learning, not only a preview. Daily lessons are unlimited on every course you start, the whole library is free to start, and you can build 2 new custom courses a month. Every lesson can be listened to with audio. Progress, streaks, reminders, and the in-lesson coach are also available within the published free limits.
That makes Cadence a strong free choice when you want a guided course on a topic that a fixed catalogue does not cover. You can keep moving through the course each day without starting a payment trial. Daily lessons and audio are unlimited on Free. Plus makes new courses, Practice, and Ask Coach unlimited and adds offline access, subject to fair-use protection. Plus costs US$49.99 a year on the web, with a 7-day trial.
Cadence is strongest for a custom work or growth goal that needs a guided daily path. Choose Khan Academy for maths, science, or exam preparation, Duolingo for a language, edX for a university course, and Anki for pure memorisation. Use credentialed course platforms when you specifically need a recognised certificate or named instructor.
Put it into practice
Start it today, ten minutes at a time.
Cadence builds a course around your own goal instead of a catalogue, with short daily lessons, practice and saved progress. Cadence is our app.
Questions
Common questions.
What is the best free learning app for adults?
Cadence is the best fit here for a custom daily course on your own work or growth goal. Khan Academy is better for completely free maths, science, economics, and test preparation. Duolingo is better for languages, edX for auditing a university course, and Anki for memorising facts.
Which learning apps are completely free with no subscription?
Khan Academy's core videos, articles, lessons and practice questions are free and ad-free. Kinnu's general knowledge app is free, while its exam-preparation products are separate. MIT OpenCourseWare publishes materials from more than 2,500 MIT courses with no account or subscription. Anki is free on desktop and Android, while its iPhone app is a one-time purchase.
Can I take university courses for free?
Yes. edX lets you audit nearly all online courses free for a limited period, although graded work and certificates are paid. MIT OpenCourseWare publishes course materials free with no account. Coursera now offers the first module of nearly every course as a free preview instead of broad audit access.
Is Duolingo really free?
Yes. Duolingo says its courses are free and the free experience is supported by ads. Paid tiers remove ads and add premium features. Its strongest use remains building a daily language-learning habit.
How can I get LinkedIn Learning for free?
Many public libraries provide LinkedIn Learning free to cardholders, and LinkedIn publishes a help page for library patrons covering the sign-in. You sign in with your library card number and PIN, and no LinkedIn profile is required. Availability varies by library system, so check your library's website. Some employers also pay for seats that go unused.
Is Cadence free?
Yes. Cadence Free includes unlimited daily lessons with audio, 4 lesson voices, the whole library, and 2 new custom courses a month. Plus includes all 12 voices and makes new courses, practice, and Ask Coach unlimited for US$49.99 a year on the web with a 7-day trial. Cadence is our app, so treat that as a disclosure, not an independent review.
Are free learning apps worse than paid ones?
No. Price does not determine teaching quality. Khan Academy, for example, is nonprofit-funded and provides full course sequences without a subscription. A free tier may instead limit volume, remove a certificate, or include ads, so inspect the actual boundary.
See it in concrete terms
Open a real Cadence course.
These are Cadence courses you can start on the free plan. You can inspect the complete syllabus before you sign up.
We included apps adults use for self-directed learning that provide meaningful access without starting a payment trial. We then sorted them by the learning job each app does best and stated the free boundary before the paid features. Every classification comes from the current official pages linked below.
What we checked directly: On 20 August 2026, we checked the official access pages for the nine options. On 13 September 2026, we rechecked Anki downloads and AnkiWeb documentation, edX auditing, Coursera previews, Khan Academy core access, and Cadence device access for the added starting guidance. We did not repeat every signed-in flow.
Limits of this review: We did not subscribe to the paid tiers of apps we do not publish and did not test every signed-in limit. Free plans can change without notice. No exact competitor prices are quoted because they vary by region, platform, and offer. Library access to LinkedIn Learning varies by library system, so check with yours.
Learning Cadence is not affiliated with the other products named here. Product names belong to their owners.
Keep reading
Related guides.
Start with Cadence Free
Choose your next learning step.
Get the current iPhone app or request Android testing access. On iPhone, Free includes unlimited daily lessons and audio, plus 2 new custom courses a month. You can use Free without starting the Plus trial. Cadence is our app.
