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Harvard CS50: Here’s How to Earn a Free Certificate

CS50 2022 in Harvard’s Sanders Theater

With over 3.5M enrollments, CS50, Harvard’s Introduction to Computer Science, is one of the world’s most popular online courses, and it’s one of Class Central’s Best Online Courses of All Time.

Having taken the course myself, I can’t say I’m surprised. The course is excellent. It has a fantastic instructor; it offers a rich learning experience; and its curriculum is refreshed annually.

Most notably, the course is entirely free, and it includes a free certificate of completion. But figuring out how to obtain it can be a bit confusing. So let’s discuss CS50 and how, exactly, you can earn a free certificate.

(If you’re interested in some of the other courses in the CS50 lineup — which include Python, webdev, and AI courses — check our Harvard CS50 guide.)

CS50 in 2022

In 2022, CS50 is back to Sanders Theater and has a live audience again, but with masks still on, to be safe.

CS50 is taught by David J. Malan, and one of the best aspects of the course is that it’s updated annually. More specifically, the course is recorded every Fall in Harvard’s beautiful Sanders Theater ⁠— except last year, when it was filmed in the American Repertory Theater and without a live audience due to the pandemic.

In my experience, this is extremely rare. In the vast majority of online courses, lectures are recorded once and reused throughout the lifespan of the course. The only other course I can think of that records them annually is MIT’s Introduction to Deep Learning. It seems to be a prerogative a few big courses at rich institutions.

Beyond recording new videos, CS50 also refreshes its curriculum annually. In 2022, the course introduced the following changes, among others:

• New Lectures: The course includes two new lectures. One discusses cybersecurity. And the other discusses emojis (more specifically, how emojis become emojis), to end the course on a light note.
• New Problem: Week 7 of the course focuses on databases and culminates in a new problem, which involves scouring a database using SQL to solve a mystery.
• New Code Editor: CS50 involves many coding exercise. You complete these via an in-browser coding environment. CS50 used to use a Cloud9 environment. Now, they’ve transitioned to a VS Code environment.

Like in previous years, CS50 ends with an open-ended software project ⁠— an opportunity for students to put into practice what they’ve learned throughout the course.

Free Certificate: How to Earn One

Since its launch, CS50 has maintained a firm stance toward openness. In 2022, the course remains entirely free, including its certificate of completion. This is how the free certificate looks:

CS50 free certificate of completion in 2022

But earning a free certificate of completion in CS50 can be a bit confusing. Indeed, the course is offered through three platforms:

• EdX, which is the platform most people will be familiar with. On edX, CS50 doesn’t include a free certificate. Instead, it offers a paid verified certificate, which costs $150.
• Harvard OCW, which is Harvard’s open online course platform. On Harvard OCW, CS50 includes a free certificate of completion, like the one above. Note that the course is the same as on edX, including the assignments. The only difference is that the free certificate doesn’t involve ID verification.
• Harvard Extension School, which is part of Harvard’s division of continuing education. On Harvard Extension, CS50 doesn’t include a free certificate either. Instead, students can take the course for credit and receive a formal transcript, which costs $1500–3000.

So if you’re interested in a free certificate, head to Harvard OCW. To further confuse matters, note that even when you take the course via Harvard OCW, you may have to create an edX account to submit assignments. However, this should be entirely free: you don’t need to pay for the edX verified certificate.