Best Resources to Learn SQL in 2026

freeCodeCamp - Relational Databases Certification

Significantly refreshed in 2025, interactive command-line based learning, the most "hands-on" developer experience.

Data with Baraa - YouTube playlists

Trending YouTube playlists and videos. On YouTube it's free (not on the website).

Skillup - SQL course

Structured online course with video lectures and hands-on exercises, offering a completion certificate and professional format similar to paid courses. Note: there's a 90-day access limit, after that you need to pay.

roadmap.sh - interactive course

AI-powered interactive chat-based learning experience. Interesting and modern approach. May lack depth and structured progression - which it seems they offer as well, but for a fee.

Harvard University - CS50's Introduction to Databases with SQL

Academic-quality course with video lectures, problem sets, and projects. Rigorous database design and SQL fundamentals.

Note: Closes on 31st Dec 2025

Alex The Analyst - YouTube video

Condensed single-video format covering SQL fundamentals to advanced topics in under 4 hours, ideal for quick overview. Free on YouTube (Alex has paid courses on his website).

Coursera

Academic courses with videos and exercises. Self-paced. Auditing is free, certificates and grading requires payment.

Khan Academy - Intro to SQL

Free interactive web-based lessons with embedded challenges and auto-feedback, offering a beginner-friendly introduction to SQL basics with immediate practice. Legend!

SQLBolt - Introduction to SQL

Browser-based interactive tutorial with progressive lessons and immediate practice exercises, offering a quick and practical way to learn SQL fundamentals directly in your browser without setup.

Bro Code - YouTube playlist

Playlist that gained popularity in 2023. Covers SQL basics with step-by-step tutorials.

SQLZoo - Interactive SQL Tutorial

Free interactive tutorial with progressive exercises using real-world statistics and Nobel Prize data, offering a systematic approach that has been a gold standard for over two decades.

W3Schools - SQL Tutorial

Free comprehensive reference and tutorial with live code sandboxes. Dependable resource for quick lookups and learning SQL syntax, more as a reference guide than a course.

Reddit

Still the most active place for beginners, welcoming towards individuals, suspicious towards businesses and self-promotion, hostile towards AI (but already infiltrated by it) arguably quite extensively.

Discord

Immediate help from human beings. Mostly.

Skool

Growing platform, and I myself benefited hugely from "Data Alchemy" community there. Here are two SQL related free communities.

Slack

Populated by working professionals, good for networking and career advice alongside technical help.

Lemmy (Fediverse)

Fediverse is a decentralized network of social platforms on independent servers. Go here to avoid the big tech, tracking and advertising. Mastodon is a decentralized X, and Lemmy - a decentralized Reddit alternative.

Stack Overflow

Beginner-UNfriendly collection of human-verified answers that have been provided to all basic questions already 10 years ago. Asking a duplicate question will anger the moderators. Don't go there to vibe, go there to fact-check the answer you got from AI.

Database-Specific Forums

Official forums and mailing lists. Old-school stuff, but still active, good quality information, sometimes friendly towards beginners.

Kaggle: Intro to SQL

Free interactive course using real-world datasets. Perfect for data analysts, teaches SQL fundamentals through hands-on exercises with actual data.

ThoughtSpot (formerly Mode Analytics): SQL Tutorial

Interactive tutorial, one of the best free resources. Teaches to answer typical data analysis questions using a real-world dataset.

Skillup: SQL for Data Analysis

A bit too "light", but provides structured video format if you prefer lectures over interactive tutorials.

Optional - only if you need more structure

DataLemur: SQL Tutorial for Data Scientists & Data Analysts

Great modern "textbook" for analysts that teaches business logic.

Luke Barousse: SQL for Data Analytics - Learn SQL in 4 Hours

Released in 2024, it's a video that teaches SQL needed for reporting and dashboards, skipping SQL for software engineers.

Udacity: SQL for Data Analysis

Hidden gem, focuses on data cleaning and aggregation which is 80% of data analyst's actual job.

Alex The Analyst: Data Analyst Portfolio Projects

Created in 2021, uses a raw dataset and shows how to explore it.

Skillup: SQL for Data Science (2-hour version)

Despite saying "Data science", it's actually a pure data analysis course. (Choose 2-hour version, not 1-hour "Data Analysis" one.)

Alex The Analyst: Data Analyst Bootcamp

Comprehensive bootcamp covering the full data analyst skill set.

Udemy: SQL for Real-World Data Analysis

Comprehensive course focused on practical, real-world scenarios.

Udacity: Intro to Relational Databases

Not for data analysis specifically, but provides deep understanding of how databases work. Useful reference.

SQL Case Files

Free interactive SQL game with crime-solving challenges, realistic datasets, AI "detective assistant"

SQL Noir

Vintage detective game, solving mysteries, complex filtering, text search, multi-table investigations

SQL Squid Game

Inspired by Netflix's Squid Game, answering business questions under pressure

SQL Murder Mystery

City Crime Solver, teaches joins, wildcards, schemas, exploration. Foundational classic, best for rapid introduction to join logic.

Lost at SQL

Disaster Survival, teaches DML (Update/Delete), Data Integrity, System Repair. Niche and good for teaching data modification.

SQL Island

Adventure. Has clear progression system. Best for beginners.

SQL Zoo

Real world statistics, Nobel prizes, has quizzes and challenges. Essential resource for mastering fundamentals as well as advanced topics.

SQL Police Department

Case file analysis, teaches aggregations, pattern matching, reporting. Good for structured hand-held progression for total novices.

Note: It's actually paid, but has a free tier

CodeDex

Gamified interactive course with XP and badges, teaches SQL along with other programming concepts.

Note: Paid, only first chapters are free