There are many high-quality digital tools available to teachers at no cost, yet many remain underused. These tools can support lesson planning, teaching, assessment, creativity, and professional development without placing additional strain on school budgets.
Quick checklist: free tools for teachers
- Creative design and classroom resources (Affinity, Canva)
- Professional development and AI support (Google certifications, Google AI in the Classroom)
- Literacy support (Microsoft Reading Coach)
- Video creation and explanation tools (Sethi De Clercq’s tools, VLC)
- Planning, revision, and thinking tools (Mind mapping tool, Anki)
- Productivity and documents (LibreOffice, CryptPad Sheets, Apple productivity apps)
- Finding further free alternatives (AlternativeTo)
1) Design and classroom resources
Affinity offers professional-grade creative software that is free for teachers through education schemes, providing strong alternatives to paid design tools. Alongside this, Canva for Education offers a free, web-based design platform that is widely used in schools for creating presentations, worksheets, posters, and infographics with minimal setup. Together, these tools cover both professional design workflows and quick, classroom-ready resource creation, allowing teachers to choose the level of complexity that best suits their needs.
https://www.affinity.studio/
https://www.canva.com/education/
2) Professional development and classroom AI support
Google provides a range of certifications for educators, supporting professional development and digital teaching skills. These include general teaching certifications as well as AI-focused learning, although it is important to note that not all languages are available for free. The English certification pathways can be accessed here:
https://edu.google.com/intl/ALL_us/learning-center/certifications/
Google also offers Google AI in the Classroom, which supports practical and responsible use of AI for planning, teaching, and feedback while keeping pedagogy at the centre:
https://edu.google.com/ai/education/
3) Literacy support
Microsoft Reading Coach is a free tool designed to support literacy development. It allows students to practise reading aloud while providing feedback on fluency, pronunciation, and confidence. This makes it particularly useful for independent practice, intervention, and differentiated learning.
https://coach.microsoft.com/
4) Video tools that reduce workload
Sethi De Clercq’s teaching tools offer a growing collection of free, browser-based resources designed to reduce teacher workload, with a particular strength in video-based tools. These tools help teachers quickly create clear instructional videos, explanations, and walkthroughs without the need for complex editing software or time-consuming setup. They are especially useful for flipped learning, revision, and catch-up lessons.
https://sethideclercq.com/teachingtools/
VLC Media Player is a free, open-source media player that supports a wide range of video and audio formats without requiring additional codecs. It is useful in education for playing lesson videos, screen recordings, and student-created media reliably across devices. Features such as playback speed control and subtitle support can support accessibility.
https://www.videolan.org/vlc/
5) Planning, revision, and thinking tools
Mind mapping tools help students organise ideas, revise topics, and plan extended writing or projects. The free mind mapping tool available here allows teachers and students to create structured mind maps directly in the browser without accounts or subscriptions. It also includes an optional custom GPT to support idea generation and refinement while keeping structure under learner control.
https://jamesabela.github.io/mindmap/index.html
Anki is a free, open-source flashcard tool designed to support long-term memory through spaced repetition. It is effective for vocabulary, definitions, formulas, and key concepts, and works offline across platforms.
https://apps.ankiweb.net/
6) Documents, spreadsheets, and privacy-friendly collaboration
LibreOffice is a free, open-source productivity suite that includes word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation software. It works offline and supports common file formats.
https://www.libreoffice.org/
CryptPad Sheets offers a privacy-focused spreadsheet tool that supports real-time collaboration without requiring user accounts, making it suitable for schools with strong data protection requirements.
https://cryptpad.fr/
For teachers using a Mac or iPad, the built-in productivity suite is free and works offline. Tools such as Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Freeform support writing, data handling, presentations, and visual planning.
https://www.apple.com/my/iwork/
Find more free alternatives
For discovering additional free and open-source software, https://alternativeto.net/ allows teachers to find alternatives to paid tools, compare features, and filter by platform and licence type.
