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142 Best + Free C++ Courses & Certificates [2026]
Ranked by Michael Kuhlman, CourseDuck's founder, from student reviews across every provider. How we rank
Our top picks
- Beginning C++ Programming - From Beginner to Beyond [Udemy] - Best Paid Course
- Mastering Data Structures & Algorithms using C and C++ [Udemy]
- C++ Tutorial for Complete Beginners [Udemy]
- Learn C++ Programming -Beginner to Advance- Deep Dive in C++ [Udemy]
- Unreal Engine 5 C++ The Ultimate Game Developer Course [Udemy]
- Learn C++ for Game Development [Udemy]
- C++: From Beginner to Expert [Udemy]
- Learn Advanced C++ Programming [Udemy]
- Introduction to C++ [edX] - Best Free Course
- C++ Tutorial [SoloLearn] - Best Practical Course
About the best C++ courses
CourseDuck compares the 142 C++ courses listed here from 8 providers, 33 of them free, and ranks them from the 471,000 ratings and reviews their students have left, with the price, length and level of each one side by side. No course pays to be listed or ranked. As featured on Harvard EDU, Stackify and Inc. How we rank
Frequently asked questions
- Udemy and Eduonix are best for practical, low cost and high quality C++ courses.
- Coursera, Udacity and EdX are the best providers for a C++ certificate, as many come from top Ivy League Universities.
- YouTube is best for free C++ crash courses.
- PluralSight, SkillShare and LinkedIn are the best monthly subscription platforms if you want to take multiple C++ courses.
- Independent Providers for C++ courses & certificates are generally hit or miss.
Why Learn C++? ... C++ allows you to have a lot of control as to how you use computer resources, so in the right hands its speed and ability to cheaply use resources should be able to surpass other languages. Thanks to C++'s performance, it is often used to develop game engines, games, and desktop apps.
- Average
- $120,433 a year
- Middle half earn
- $95,500 to $140,000 25th to 75th percentile
- Full range
- $46,500 to $178,500
Share of US job postings in each pay band; the dark bar holds the average, the striped bars the 25th and 75th percentiles. Source: ZipRecruiter salary data, gathered when this guide was first published in October 2026.
Yes and No. Certified C++ developers on average make more money. Having a C++ certificate greatly increases the chance of landing an interview and can open otherwise closed doors. Coursera, Udacity and EdX offer excellent certificate options for impressing your future employers. Eduonix, Udemy and several other providers offer certificates, but they aren't as reputable. If you have a Computer Science Degree, certificates are not as important. Still, many employers won't care about certificates, but rather your interview skills, experience and/or skills assessment.
142 Filtered Courses
Best Paid Course
Beginning C++ Programming - From Beginner to Beyond (2025)
4.6
A 46-hour, university-style grounding in modern C++ from a longtime professor, with 64 quizzes and 46 coding exercises and a 4.6 rating from more than 81,000 reviews.
Best for: Complete beginners or self-taught coders who want C++14 and C++17 taught in order, with quizzes and exercises after every topic.
Pros
Cons
-
- Covers modern C++14 and C++17, including smart pointers, the STL and lambdas, not an obsolete dialect.
- Reviewers repeatedly say Frank explains hard topics clearly, with plenty of examples and exercises.
- 64 quizzes and 46 coding exercises mean practice after each section rather than just watching.
- Refreshed in April 2025 and includes a Visual Studio Code setup section.
-
- Mostly syntax and concepts; only two assignments and no project to build along the way.
- One reviewer found the CodeLite IDE unreliable; the VS Code section is the alternative.
- No multithreading coverage, and 46 hours is a long haul for a hobbyist.
Sponsored
1
Unreal Engine 5 C++ Game Development (Fully Updated in 5.6) (2026)
4.7
Four playable Unreal 5.6 games, from a platformer to a third-person shooter, with C++ taught as you build, refreshed in June 2026 and made with Epic Games' backing.
Best for: Programmers from Unity, Godot or any other language who want to learn Unreal by finishing four small C++ games.
Pros
Cons
-
- Four complete projects that step up in scope, from a platformer to a shooter with AI and animation blueprints.
- Refreshed for Unreal 5.6 in June 2026, with the older lectures still included until the remaster is finished.
- Teaching assistants answer questions quickly, and reviewers say the challenges force real practice.
- Kaan Alpar's explanations are detailed and clear, especially for people arriving from Unity.
-
- Listed as all levels, but several beginners say they got lost once the C++ got serious.
- Stays at the basics: no main menu, no level loading, and little guidance on what to learn next.
- Pace is slow early on, and one reviewer felt the difficulty jumped sharply at the third game.
2
Mastering Data Structures & Algorithms using C and C++ (2025)
4.6
A 76 hour whiteboard-first data structures course in C and C++ from a university lecturer, with more than 60,000 reviews backing the slow, thorough teaching.
Best for: Undergraduates and C or C++ developers who want the theory drawn out on a whiteboard before any code appears.
Pros
Cons
-
- Algorithms are dry-run on a whiteboard before the code, which reviewers say makes recursion and trees click
- Refreshed in June 2025, with 449 lectures covering everything from arrays to AVL trees, heaps and hashing
- Opens with a four hour C and C++ refresher so rusty programmers can get back up to speed
- 4.6 rating from over 60,000 reviews, and fewer than two percent give it one or two stars
-
- No notes or slides, a common complaint from students who want something to revise from
- Code demos mix C and C++, which some reviewers found confusing to follow
- Long, slow and repetitive for some, with no built-in coding exercises or projects
3
C++ Tutorial for Complete Beginners (2019)
4.5
A free 18-hour C++ starter from John Purcell that walks total beginners from syntax to pointers and ends with a particle fire simulation, backed by 47,000 reviews.
Best for: Anyone who has never programmed, wants a calm and slow-paced teacher, and would rather not pay to find out if C++ is for them.
Pros
Cons
-
- Completely free, with reviewers saying it feels like a paid course
- Purcell's clear, easy-to-follow delivery gets repeated praise in reviews
- Nearly five hours spent building one real program, a particle fire simulation
- Exercises after lectures let students check their work as they go
-
- Last updated December 2019, so expect nothing added to C++ or its tools since then
- No quizzes, coding exercises or certificate; practice is on you
- One reviewer finds the pace too slow, and two recent one-star reviews complain about ads in lessons
4
Learn C++ Programming -Beginner to Advance- Deep Dive in C++ (2026)
4.6
Abdul Bari's whiteboard-first C++ course: about 30 hours, 280 lectures, 65 quizzes and 48 coding exercises, taught like a university class and refreshed in May 2026.
Best for: Complete beginners and CS students who want C++ concepts explained on a whiteboard before any code is typed.
Pros
Cons
-
- Every topic is explained on a whiteboard first, then demoed in code, so concepts land before syntax.
- 65 section quizzes and 48 coding exercises build practice into nearly every section.
- Real-world examples for each topic, which one reviewer says make concepts easier to remember.
- Updated in May 2026 and rated 4.6 across nearly 32,000 reviews.
-
- Stays on fundamentals; no concurrency, C++17/20 or large project work beyond a short banking system.
- The in-browser coding exercise checker is rigid and can mark correct code as wrong.
- One reviewer found the instructor's pronunciation a little hard to follow at first.
5
Unreal Engine 5 C++ The Ultimate Game Developer Course (2026)
4.7
A 53 hour build of an open world action RPG in Unreal Engine 5 C++, with teaching that students rate highly and engine version mismatches that trip up the early sections.
Best for: People who know basic C++ and want to learn Unreal by building one melee combat RPG project from an empty level to enemies and loot.
Pros
Cons
-
- Explanations praised as clear and step by step, even by students new to Unreal
- Teaches Unreal class hierarchy and coding practices, not just clicking through the editor
- One project covers combat, enemy AI, Motion Warping, Niagara effects, Chaos destruction and a HUD
- One Unity veteran calls it a good intro to the Unreal Editor and was relieved by how similar the two feel
-
- Recorded in Unreal 5.1; Quixel Bridge moved to Fab and some assets are now paid, so early sections need workarounds
- The 2026 update only patched individual videos, and one reviewer says the course feels inconsistent as a result
- Finished game is thin after 53 hours: one attack, no inventory, no quests
6
Learn C++ for Game Development (2026)
4.7
Learn the basics of C++ to prepare you for game development programming!
What You'll Learn
- Students will be able to start programming in Unreal Engine with C++ without being intimidated by its advanced techniques.
- Students will have a solid understanding of C++ basics.
- Students will learn both theory and practice with classroom style whiteboard talks, and lab style hands-on programming sessions.
7
C++: From Beginner to Expert (2026)
4.3
If youve never written a line of code but want to learn how C++ works, this C++ course was made for you.
What You'll Learn
- How to use C++ language in action
- What is compiler / IDE / Variables / types of variables etc.
- How to work with files - fstream library (i/o operation on files)
- operators - arithmetic, assigment, logical, bitwise
- conditions like if / else / switch
- arrays / multi-dimensional arrays
- loops - for / while / do-while
- functions, overloading functions, passing variables to functions etc.
- structures
- referencers
- pointers
- dynamic allocation of memory
- creating project in IDE
- classes
- object oriented programming
- class and function templates
- namespaces
- exceptions
- input / output streams and validation of data
- STL: vector
8
Learn Advanced C++ Programming (2022)
4.6
Discover intermediate to advanced C++, including C++ 11's fantastic additions to the C++ standard.
What You'll Learn
- Develop complex C++ applications
- Understand C++ 11
- Be in a position to apply for jobs requiring good C++ knowledge
Best Free Course
9
Introduction to C++ (2016)
3.9
Microsoft built this edX course to help aspiring coders build a strong foundation in one of the fundamental languages. With roughly 20 hours of instruction and work, This course will take students through syntax and functions of C++, culminating in an optional certificate.
Pros
Cons
-
- Course comes with a Microsoft certification, which is valuable in the IT world.
- Course focuses on building a coding foundation rather than dazzling newcomers with impractical lessons.
- Course leads nicely into intermediate courses that are also taught and certified by Microsoft.
-
- C++ is declining in popularity. Students who dont have a particular need for C++ might be better off starting with Python or another language.
- Despite the certification, this course does not go beyond beginner concepts.
- Course might be too easy and set bad expectations for students who want to get deeper into C++ and coding.
Best Practical Course
10
C++ Tutorial (2015)
4.1
Sololearn offers this course to get students through the basics of C++. With 80 lessons and hundreds of quizzes, there are ample resources for rolling up sleeves and really getting into C++, even when starting with no background.
Pros
Cons
-
- Course is available via web and mobile app stores, making it extremely accessible.
- Lessons start with a standard Hello, World but culmination in functions, templates and exceptions.
- Over 5 million students have taken this course and approved of it.
-
- Course has a near-excessive amount of information for a purely introductory take on C++. Other courses cover the same information faster.
- Learning methodologies are a bit dated for modern coding.
- Topics are not deep and challenging enough to justify taking 324 quizzes.