JavaScriptBeginner
Learn JavaScript for Free
Scrimba's interactive JavaScript course lets you edit code right inside the video player. Covers syntax, functions, arrays, objects, DOM manipulation, and building real mini-projects.
Free alternative to Frontend Masters
Free alternative
Free alternative to Frontend Masters: the top free front-end & javascript courses
Frontend Masters is a serious platform for intermediate and advanced front-end developers, and it is genuinely good, which makes the free alternative a fair question. Scrimba, The Odin Project, and Full Stack Open cover modern JavaScript, React, and TypeScript to a real professional depth for nothing. Frontend Masters' edge is its named expert instructors and workshop format. If you want the same depth without the $390 a year, the free path below gets you most of the way, especially for React and TypeScript.
Frontend Masters costs $39/month or $390/year. Here is what to use instead.
The free courses that replace Frontend Masters
Every course below is free to access or free to audit. Start with one, finish it, then move on.
ReactIntermediate
Learn React for Free
Scrimba's interactive React course teaches components, state, props, hooks, effects, and routing. Build a travel journal, color scheme generator, and meme generator. The interactivity sets it apart.
JavaScriptIntermediate
Full Stack JavaScript Path
The Odin Project's full-stack JavaScript curriculum. Covers advanced JavaScript, Node.js, Express, databases, React, and deployment. Projects include a weather app, todo list, and full-stack web application.
ReactIntermediate
React Path (The Odin Project)
The Odin Project's dedicated React curriculum. Covers components, JSX, state, effects, routing with React Router, testing, and performance. Build a full series of projects including a shopping cart application.
Full Stack OpenCertificate
JavaScriptIntermediate
Full Stack Open
The University of Helsinki's free Full Stack Open MOOC. Covers React, Redux, Node.js, REST and GraphQL APIs, MongoDB, testing, and CI/CD. Earns optional University of Helsinki ECTS credits on completion.
Full Stack OpenCertificate
TypeScriptIntermediate
Full Stack Open: TypeScript
The TypeScript module of Full Stack Open. Covers static typing, generics, type-safe React, and adding TypeScript to existing Node.js and Express projects.
Free courses that reach real depth
Frontend Masters is not a beginner platform, and neither are these. Scrimba's Learn JavaScript and Learn React are interactive and go beyond the basics. The Odin Project's Full Stack JavaScript and React paths build large, real applications. Full Stack Open, from the University of Helsinki, is a demanding course on modern React, Redux, GraphQL, and TypeScript that many working developers use to level up. For TypeScript specifically, Full Stack Open's TypeScript part and The Odin Project's TypeScript material are free and current.
Where the free path is strongest
If your goal is deep, modern React and full-stack JavaScript, Full Stack Open is arguably as good as anything paid, and it is free. Pair it with The Odin Project's React path for more project practice. Use Scrimba when you want to learn by editing code inside the lesson rather than watching a workshop recording. The gap versus Frontend Masters is narrowest exactly where most front-end developers spend their time: JavaScript, React, and TypeScript.
The honest catch
Frontend Masters' real value is the instructors: recognized experts teaching deep, sometimes niche topics (advanced TypeScript types, performance, specific frameworks) in long workshop sessions, updated regularly. The free path covers the mainstream well but thins out on the advanced and specialized corners, and you lose the single, curated, expert-led library. For a senior developer chasing depth in a narrow area, that catalogue can justify the fee.
Verdict
Our verdict
For learning modern JavaScript, React, and TypeScript, Full Stack Open plus The Odin Project matches Frontend Masters for free. Pay for Frontend Masters only when you want a specific expert's deep workshop on an advanced or niche topic.
Where these courses come from
Keep going
Follow the free learning path
A step-by-step order to work through these courses, not just a list.
See the full roadmap
Every skill to pick up, in order, with a free course for each phase.
When you are ready to invest
Free will take you a long way. If you later decide paid structure or career support is worth it, we keep an honest shortlist of the ones worth the money.
See the paid options we recommend →Frontend Masters: your questions, answered
Is there a free alternative to Frontend Masters?
Yes. Full Stack Open from the University of Helsinki covers modern React, Node, GraphQL, and TypeScript at professional depth for free. Scrimba and The Odin Project add interactive and project-based front-end learning.
What is the best free way to learn advanced React?
Full Stack Open is the standout: rigorous, current, and free. The Odin Project's React path adds more hands-on project building. Both go well beyond beginner React.
Does Frontend Masters have free content?
Frontend Masters offers a handful of free courses and a trial, but the bulk of its library is subscription-only. The free platforms above cover the core front-end skills without a paywall.
More free alternatives