By Gayatri Barnwal, contributing writer. Updated 16 October 2026. Editorial update by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. See our review methodology.
Some links on this page are affiliate links: if you enroll through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change our verdict, and several of the alternatives we name pay us nothing.
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The best free financial analyst courses in 2026 are CFI’s Careers in Finance (free in full), Yale’s Financial Markets and Wharton’s Introduction to Corporate Finance on Coursera (free to study), and Aswath Damodaran’s free valuation webcasts.
- Free with a certificate: CFI Careers in Finance is the clearest case we found
- Free to study, certificate paid: most Coursera and edX courses
- Free and open, no certificate at all: Damodaran, MIT OpenCourseWare, Khan Academy, the 365 Financial Analyst free plan
- Not free: CFI’s FMVA and other certifications, which need a paid plan
We checked every course on this page live in October 2026.
Searches for free financial analyst courses turn up a lot of pages that call something free when it is really a seven-day trial or a preview. This guide separates the courses you can actually finish for free from the ones where only the videos are free, and it tells you where a certificate costs money. Every price and rating below was read on the provider’s own page in October 2026.
What “free” means on each platform
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The word covers four different things. Knowing which one you are getting saves you from discovering a paywall halfway through a course.
| Provider | What is free | Certificate free? | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| CFI (Corporate Finance Institute) | One full course (Careers in Finance) plus previews of every other course | Yes, for Careers in Finance | Certifications such as the FMVA need a paid plan |
| Coursera | Auditing or a free preview on many courses | No, unless you pay or get financial aid | Graded work may be locked; some courses only offer a preview |
| edX | Audit track: videos and readings for a limited time | No | No graded assignments or certificate on audit |
| 365 Financial Analyst | Free plan: 22 hours of video and 106+ exercises | No | Exams and certificates are Premium |
| NYU (Damodaran), MIT OpenCourseWare, Khan Academy | Everything | No certificate offered | You set your own pace and schedule |
Sources: CFI’s free courses help article, Coursera’s financial aid page, edX’s audit vs verified explainer and the 365 Financial Analyst pricing page, all read in October 2026.
The best free financial analyst courses in 2026
1. CFI Careers in Finance: the one CFI course that is free in full
Corporate Finance Institute stopped offering a set of free courses in September 2024. It now gives free previews of every course and keeps one full course free: Careers in Finance. It runs about 1 hour 30 minutes, sits at CFI’s Level 1, has a 4.7 rating and is taught by Sebastian Taylor, who uses Tesla’s growth from startup to global company as the running case study. It maps the main areas of finance, including investment banking, corporate FP&A, commercial lending, private equity and hedge funds, and the role each one plays.
It will not teach you to build a model. Its value is helping you choose which analyst path to aim for before you spend money. If you then want modeling, CFI’s paid FMVA program covers it in 45 courses, 18 of them required.
Start CFI Careers in Finance free →
2. Aswath Damodaran’s free valuation class (NYU Stern)
Damodaran teaches valuation at NYU’s Stern School of Business and publishes a large amount of it free. His online valuation class is a course of 25 short webcasts of about 12 to 20 minutes each, built around his own valuation book, with tool webcasts that show you how to apply the ideas to real companies. In a 2021 r/FinancialCareers thread asking where to learn financial analysis, one of the most upvoted replies pointed to his site and YouTube channel.
There is no certificate and no grading. It suits someone who already knows basic accounting and wants to learn how analysts value a business.
3. Yale Financial Markets (Coursera)
Nobel laureate Robert Shiller’s Financial Markets is one of the most-taken finance courses online: Coursera showed 2,435,986 enrolled learners and a 4.8 rating from 32,327 reviews in October 2026. It has seven modules and takes about three weeks at 10 hours a week. It explains how banks, stock and bond markets, insurance and regulation fit together, which is the context every financial analyst needs.
When we checked, the course page showed “Enroll now” rather than “Enroll for free”, so the free route is Coursera’s preview or financial aid. Look for the audit or preview option on the enrollment screen, or apply for aid if you want the certificate.
4. Wharton Introduction to Corporate Finance (Coursera)
Michael R. Roberts’ Introduction to Corporate Finance is the most practical free pick here. It covers the time value of money, discounted cash flow and how companies decide which projects to fund, in about nine hours. It had a 4.6 rating from 6,477 reviews and an “Enroll for free” button in October 2026.
Start Wharton Corporate Finance free →
5. UC Irvine Finance for Non-Financial Professionals (Coursera)
David Standen’s Finance for Non-Financial Professionals (4.6 from 4,598 reviews, about seven hours) teaches how to read financial statements and use ratios. It is aimed at managers outside finance, which makes it a gentle first course if you have no accounting background. Our guide to finance for non-finance managers courses compares it with the alternatives.
6. MIT OpenCourseWare 15.401 Finance Theory I
MIT publishes the full materials for 15.401 Finance Theory I, taught by Professor Andrew Lo in fall 2008: lecture videos, notes and problem sets. It is the most rigorous free option here and the oldest, so use it for theory (present value, risk and return, capital budgeting) rather than for current market data.
7. 365 Financial Analyst free plan
365 Financial Analyst’s free plan includes 22 hours of video and more than 106 exercises, which is enough to try its Excel and accounting lessons properly. Exams, certificates and the rest of its 181-hour library need Premium, which cost $36 a month or $29 a month billed annually in October 2026. We do not earn from 365 Financial Analyst.
8. Khan Academy Finance and capital markets
Khan Academy’s Finance and capital markets unit is the gentlest start on this list: short videos on interest, stocks, bonds, balance sheets and inflation. It is free, needs no account and is ideal for filling gaps before a Coursera or CFI course.
9. UTAustinX Fintech (edX, audit)
The University of Texas at Austin’s Fintech: The Future of Finance professional certificate on edX has four courses: an overview of fintech, blockchains and cryptocurrencies, AI and machine learning in finance (from credit scoring in marketplace lending to robo-advising), and insurance and electronic payments. You can audit the courses free for a limited time without graded work. The full certificate listed at $2,880, or $2,592 after edX’s discount, in October 2026.
Free financial analyst courses compared
| Course | Provider | Length | Best for | Certificate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Careers in Finance | CFI | About 1.5 hours | Choosing an analyst career path | Free |
| Valuation webcasts | NYU Stern (Damodaran) | 25 webcasts, 12 to 20 min each | Learning to value companies | None offered |
| Financial Markets | Yale on Coursera | About 30 hours | How markets and institutions work | Paid or financial aid |
| Introduction to Corporate Finance | Wharton on Coursera | About 9 hours | Time value of money and DCF basics | Paid or financial aid |
| Finance for Non-Financial Professionals | UC Irvine on Coursera | About 7 hours | Reading financial statements | Paid or financial aid |
| 15.401 Finance Theory I | MIT OpenCourseWare | Full semester | Rigorous finance theory | None offered |
| Free plan | 365 Financial Analyst | 22 hours | Excel and accounting practice | Premium only |
| Finance and capital markets | Khan Academy | Self-paced | Absolute beginners | None offered |
| Fintech (4 courses) | UTAustinX on edX | Audit, limited time | Fintech context | Paid ($2,592 discounted) |
Which free course should you take first?
- No finance or accounting background: start with Khan Academy, then UC Irvine’s Finance for Non-Financial Professionals. Both assume nothing and teach the vocabulary the other courses use.
- Business or economics student: go straight to Wharton’s Introduction to Corporate Finance, then Damodaran’s webcasts. You will recognize most of the theory and get to valuation faster.
- Career changer unsure which finance job to target: CFI Careers in Finance first. It takes an evening and tells you whether FP&A, banking or research suits you before you invest more time.
- Already working in a finance-adjacent role: skip the basics and use Yale’s Financial Markets for context, then build a model. Your bottleneck is likely Excel and modeling practice rather than theory.
A four-week free study plan
If you have five to eight hours a week, this sequence takes you from vocabulary to valuation without paying anything.
- Week 1: CFI Careers in Finance to pick your target role, then the Khan Academy finance unit to fill any gaps in the basics.
- Week 2: Wharton’s Introduction to Corporate Finance for the time value of money and discounted cash flow.
- Week 3: UC Irvine’s Finance for Non-Financial Professionals for financial statements and ratios. Open a public company’s annual report and calculate five ratios yourself.
- Week 4: The first ten of Damodaran’s valuation webcasts, then build a simple valuation of the same company in a spreadsheet.
Save the spreadsheet. A small, finished model you can explain is more useful in an interview than a list of course names.
Financial analyst course fees: when it is worth paying
Free courses cover the concepts well. Paying makes sense when you need one of three things: structured modeling practice with feedback, a credential employers recognize, or continuing education credits.
| Paid option (checked 16 Oct 2026) | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| CFI FMVA (Self-Study plan) | $323.05 a year (list $497; current price) | All CFI courses and certifications, including the 45-course FMVA |
| CFI Full-Immersion plan | $465.85 a year (list $847; current price) | Self-Study plus extra support and templates |
| 365 Financial Analyst Premium | $29 a month billed annually, or $36 monthly | 181 hours of video, exams and certificates |
| Coursera course certificates | Varies by course or subscription | A shareable certificate; financial aid available |
| UTAustinX Fintech (edX) | $2,592 after discount ($2,880 list) | Four-course professional certificate |
Our FMVA review covers whether CFI’s paid program is worth it, and what is actually free on CFI explains the free previews in more detail.
What these courses teach, and what they leave out
Taken together, the free courses above cover finance vocabulary, how markets work, the time value of money, discounted cash flow, financial statements and ratio analysis. That is most of the knowledge a junior analyst interview tests.
They are thin on three things employers screen for: Excel speed (shortcuts, lookups, pivot tables), three-statement modeling (linking the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement), and presenting a recommendation. Plan to practice those separately, either with free spreadsheets you build yourself or with a paid modeling course.
How to turn free courses into a job offer
- Pick one target role. FP&A, equity research and credit analysis ask for different skills. CFI Careers in Finance helps you choose.
- Build two or three small models. A DCF of a company you follow and a three-statement model are enough to talk through in an interview.
- List skills, not just course names. In a 2016 r/finance thread, the advice on putting a completed course on a resume was to name both the skills learned and the course.
- Know the pay range you are aiming for. Our financial analyst salary guide has 2026 figures by level and state.
- Follow the full career path. Our guide to becoming a financial analyst covers degrees, certifications and the first role.
What learners say on Reddit
- Build your own Coursera plan. The top answer in a 2021 r/FinancialCareers thread suggested auditing university courses on finance, accounting, statement analysis, budgeting and Excel rather than waiting for one perfect program.
- Damodaran comes up constantly. In the same thread, one commenter called his website “a gold mine of information” for learning valuation.
- Free certificates are rare. The thread’s original poster asked whether these sources gave free certificates. They do not, and one reply noted that CFI is paid but gives certificates.
- Cheap beats free for modeling. In a 2022 thread on learning financial modeling for free, one of the most upvoted replies said good modeling material is usually cheap rather than free.
Reddit threads are self-reported and some are several years old, so we used them for the questions learners ask and checked every course detail on the provider’s own page.
CORRECTIONS
Earlier versions of this page said Alison offers a free financial analyst certificate and promoted a CFI coupon code. We could not verify the Alison claim, and CFI’s current discount needs no code, so both have been removed. CFI course descriptions now reflect its 2024 change from free courses to free previews.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there free financial analyst courses with a certificate?
A few, but fewer than search results suggest. CFI’s Careers in Finance course is free in full and includes its course certificate. Coursera’s free routes (auditing or a preview) let you study without a certificate, and Coursera offers financial aid that can cover one. edX audit tracks give no certificate. Most “free certificate” offers elsewhere are either a preview, a limited trial or a low-value badge.
Is CFI free?
Mostly not. Since September 2024 CFI has offered free previews of every course plus one full free course, Careers in Finance. The FMVA and its other certifications need a paid plan. The Self-Study plan currently costs $323.05 a year and Full-Immersion $465.85 (list $497 and $847; these figures update automatically).
What is the best free course to start with?
Start with Yale’s Financial Markets on Coursera if you want the big picture, or Wharton’s Introduction to Corporate Finance if you want the time value of money and valuation basics in about nine hours. Add Aswath Damodaran’s free valuation webcasts once you know the vocabulary.
Can free courses get me a financial analyst job?
They can get you through the knowledge part. Employers also look for Excel and modeling skill, a relevant degree or experience, and evidence you can apply what you learned, such as a model you built. Free courses rarely give you a credential an employer recognizes, which is where a paid program like the FMVA or a CFA exam comes in.
How much do financial analyst courses cost?
From nothing to a few thousand dollars. CFI currently costs $323.05 a year (Self-Study); on 16 October 2026: 365 Financial Analyst $29 a month billed annually, single Coursera courses usually through a Coursera subscription or a per-course fee, and the edX UTAustinX Fintech certificate $2,592 after discount. The CFA program costs far more and is a different commitment.
How long does it take to finish these courses?
The individual courses here run from about an hour and a half (CFI Careers in Finance) to about 30 hours (Yale Financial Markets at roughly 10 hours a week for 3 weeks). A focused learner can work through a core set in four to six weeks of evenings.
Related: financial analyst salary · how to become a financial analyst · FMVA review · CFI free courses · finance for non-finance managers · best financial modeling courses · CFI review · FMVA salary