Artificial Intelligence is everywhere today—whether it’s content creation, education, business, or even daily productivity. But at the core of all these tools lies one essential skill: AI Prompting.
If you’ve ever typed a sentence into ChatGPT or Gemini and instantly received a detailed response, you’ve already seen prompting in action. The magic is that even a small change in your prompt can completely change the output. That’s why learning AI Prompt Engineering has become so important.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through the 11 Best Free AI Prompting Courses in 2025. These courses are great for beginners just starting out, intermediate learners who want to polish their skills, and even professionals looking to get more out of AI tools.
So if you want to master the art of writing prompts and unlock the full power of AI, let’s dive in.
Why Learn AI Prompting in 2025?
Before we go into the courses, let’s talk about why you should even spend time on this skill.
First, learning AI Prompt Engineering gives you better control over tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Midjourney. Instead of getting generic answers, you can craft precise instructions that save time and effort.
Second, prompting can boost productivity. From writing blogs to analyzing data or generating visuals, you’ll complete tasks much faster once you know how to guide AI properly.
And finally, employers are now looking for people with AI prompting skills. It’s quickly becoming a valuable skill in areas like marketing, education, tech, and business. Simply put, knowing how to write effective prompts can make you stand out in the job market.
1) ChatGPT for Everyone – Learn Prompting
One of the most popular beginner-friendly courses is ChatGPT for Everyone by Learn Prompting, created in collaboration with OpenAI. With more than 82,000 learners worldwide, this short 1-hour course introduces you to the basics of ChatGPT, how to write simple prompts, real-world use cases, and even touches on AI safety.
It doesn’t offer a free certificate, but the knowledge you gain makes it worth taking if you are just starting out.
2) Google Prompting Essentials – Coursera
If you want a practical framework to start with, check out Google Prompting Essentials on Coursera. Taught by AI experts from Google, it shares a 5-step prompting framework along with techniques like prompt chaining and multimodal prompting.
It takes about 6–10 hours to complete. You can audit the course for free, but you’ll need to pay if you want a certificate.
3) OpenAI Prompt Engineering Best Practices
This is a quick guide directly from OpenAI. It’s short (around 15 minutes) but very effective for learning the basics of writing clear prompts. The guide includes practical tips and examples, making it easy to apply what you learn instantly.
There’s no certificate, but it’s free and highly recommended for beginners.
4) Introduction to Prompt Engineering – LearnPrompting
This course goes deeper into the fundamentals of AI. You’ll learn about elements of a good prompt, how large language models (LLMs) work, and ways to handle AI issues like hallucinations and bias.
It takes about three days to finish and is taught by the founders of Learn Prompting. A certificate is available with a paid upgrade.
5) Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT – Coursera (Vanderbilt University)
Hosted on Coursera and taught by Dr. Jules White, this is one of the most detailed free courses available. With over 487,000 learners, it covers everything from prompt patterns to advanced techniques like chain-of-thought prompting.
It takes about 18 hours to finish. You can audit it for free, but like most Coursera courses, certificates require a paid plan.
6) Generative AI: Prompt Engineering Basics – Coursera (IBM)
This course by IBM is another popular choice. It introduces you to different prompting techniques such as zero-shot, few-shot, and tree-of-thought prompting. You’ll also explore generative AI tools and best practices.
It runs for around 7–9 hours. Again, certificates are paid, but you can learn the full content free by auditing.
7) Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT – Great Learning
If you prefer shorter courses, Great Learning’s Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT is a good option. It takes about 2.25 hours to complete and covers fundamentals, basic prompting workflows, and even some advanced strategies.
It’s self-paced and free to learn, though you’ll need to pay if you want the certificate.
8) Google Cloud Prompt Engineering Guide
Google Cloud Skills Boost offers this quick 45-minute guide that explains the basics of AI tools, types of prompts, and best practices. You’ll also learn how to enhance Gemini outputs.
Instead of a certificate, you get a digital badge that you can share online.
9) ChatGPT Prompt Engineering – Udemy
Udemy also offers a beginner-friendly course called ChatGPT Prompt Engineering. It’s just 1 hour long but introduces you to key terms, elements of prompts, and real-life examples.
Over 35,000 learners have taken it, and while there’s no free certificate, it’s a handy resource if you’re short on time.
10) Prompt Engineering Guide – Prompting Guide AI
Created by Elvis Saravia from DAIR.ai, this is more of a comprehensive text-based guide than a video course. It’s designed for intermediate learners and covers everything from designing prompts to fine-tuning GPT-4o and exploring AI agents.
It doesn’t come with a certificate, but it’s a goldmine of information if you’re serious about learning prompt engineering in detail.
11) ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers – DeepLearning.AI
Finally, for developers, there’s ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers by DeepLearning.AI, taught by Isa Fulford and Andrew Ng.
It requires basic Python knowledge and shows you how to design prompts, build iterative workflows, and even create a custom chatbot. The course is about 1.5 hours long and is perfect if you want to combine coding with AI prompting.
Bonus: AI Image Prompting Guide – Let’s Enhance
Besides text prompts, image prompts are equally important. The AI Image Prompting Guide by Let’s Enhance is a free resource that helps you write better prompts for tools like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E.
If you’re into design or content creation, this guide will help you generate much better visuals with AI.
Final Thoughts
So, there you have it—11 Best Free AI Prompting Courses for 2025 that can take you from a beginner to an advanced user. Whether you want a short crash course or an in-depth program, there’s something here for everyone.
Personally, I’d recommend starting with the OpenAI Best Practices guide if you’re a complete beginner. Once you’re comfortable, move on to detailed courses like Coursera’s Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT or IBM’s Generative AI Basics.
No matter which one you choose, investing time in learning AI Prompt Engineering will definitely give you more control, save you time, and make you more valuable in today’s AI-driven world.
So, which of these courses are you planning to try first?
