The first-year budget, line by line
The table splits the year into the items a self-taught developer actually pays for. The free column is a complete path, not a teaser: every item in it is a finished curriculum or a working host. The low and paid columns show what money changes.
All prices are those shown on official pages on October 30, 2026. Educative was showing a sale price on its annual plan, so the table gives both the sale price and the crossed-out price.
| Line item | Free | Low | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curriculum | freeCodeCamp or The Odin Project, $0 | One annual subscription: Educative Standard $149 on sale ($298 crossed-out) or Coursera Plus $399 | Coursera Plus billed monthly all year, 12 x $59 = $708 |
| Certificates | freeCodeCamp certifications; its curriculum page lists no price | Included with the subscription you chose | Included; no separate fee needed |
| Portfolio hosting | GitHub Pages, Netlify Free or Vercel Hobby, $0 | $0 | Netlify Personal at $9 a month, $108 a year, or Vercel Pro at $20 a month, $240 a year |
| Domain name | Free github.io subdomain from GitHub Pages, $0 | One domain at the registry price shown at checkout | Same; a domain does not get better with a pricier registrar |
| Computer | One you already own that meets the OS requirements below | Same | Not priced here |
| First-year total (excluding computer and domain) | $0 | $149 to $399 | $816 to $948 |
Curriculum: what the free routes include
freeCodeCamp's curriculum page says you can sign in to save your progress and that doing so is free. It lists certifications including Responsive Web Design, JavaScript, Front-End Development Libraries, Back-End Development and APIs, Relational Databases and a Certified Full-Stack Developer Curriculum.
The Odin Project's home page says its full stack curriculum is free and supported by an open source community. It is project-heavy and assumes you set up a real development environment, which is good practice and also the main reason people stall in the first weeks.
A paid subscription earns its place when you want a different format, not more content. Educative is text-based with in-browser coding; Coursera Plus bundles university and company courses with certificates. Coursera's page lists $59 a month with a 7-day free trial, or $399 a year with a 14-day money-back guarantee, and says you can earn unlimited certificates after the trial ends. Educative's pricing page says it does not issue refunds on cancellation.
Hosting and domain: free tiers and their limits
A portfolio of static projects fits comfortably inside free hosting. The limits worth knowing before you build:
- GitHub Pages: published sites up to 1 GB, a soft bandwidth limit of 100 GB a month, a soft limit of 10 builds an hour, and deployments time out after 10 minutes. GitHub says Pages is not intended for running a business, e-commerce or commercial SaaS site.
- Netlify Free: $0 with a 300-credit monthly limit, custom domains with SSL, unlimited deploy previews and functions. The Personal plan is $9 a month with 1,000 credits.
- Vercel Hobby: $0, described as the starting place for a web app or personal project. Pro is $20 a month with $20 of included usage credit.
- Cloudflare Registrar says it sells domains at cost with no markup on registration, transfer or renewal. It shows the price in its search tool; we did not record a specific price for any extension, so check before you budget.
| Host | Free plan | First paid step | Best fit for a learner |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Pages | Free, 1 GB site, 100 GB a month soft bandwidth | None needed for a static portfolio | Static HTML, CSS and JavaScript projects kept in a repository |
| Netlify | $0, 300 credits a month | Personal, $9 a month | Static sites plus small serverless functions |
| Vercel | Hobby, $0, personal projects | Pro, $20 a month | Framework apps such as Next.js |
The computer: requirements, not a shopping list
The Odin Project's prerequisites lesson is the clearest official statement of what a learner needs. It supports macOS and Ubuntu (including official Ubuntu flavors). It does not support Windows on its own; Windows users run Linux in a virtual machine, by dual-booting, or through WSL2, which it treats as an advanced option. It supports laptops, desktops and supported Chromebooks that can run a Linux terminal, and it does not support devices such as a Raspberry Pi.
The lesson does not set RAM or processor minimums. It does say dual-booting suits lower-end systems because no virtualization is required, which is a useful hint: if your current machine struggles to run a virtual machine, try dual-boot before buying new hardware.
Because we did not verify any laptop prices, this guide does not put a number on the computer line. If you are deciding whether to buy, first confirm that the machine you have can run one of the supported setups above.
A month-by-month spending plan
This timeline delays every purchase until there is evidence it is needed. It is our illustrative plan, built from the prices above.
| Months | What you do | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Start freeCodeCamp or The Odin Project; set up your environment | $0 |
| 3 | If you want a structured course, use Coursera Plus's 7-day trial before paying | $0 |
| 3 to 5 | Pay monthly for one subscription only if the free route left a specific gap | 3 x $59 = $177 |
| 6 | Decide: keep paying monthly, switch to annual, or stop. Coursera Plus annual ($399) beats monthly only after 6 months, since 6 x $59 = $354 and 7 x $59 = $413 | $0 to $399 |
| 6 to 12 | Build and deploy portfolio projects on a free host | $0 |
| 10 to 12 | Buy a domain only when you start applying for jobs | Registry price at checkout |
Where people overspend
A realistic low-budget year is one subscription plus a domain. A realistic free year is the same portfolio with a github.io address.
- Paying for two learning subscriptions at once. Pick one format and finish a project in it first.
- Upgrading hosting for a portfolio. The free tiers above cover static portfolio traffic; paid plans add team and production features.
- Billing monthly for a full year. On Coursera Plus, 12 monthly payments ($708) cost $309 more than annual ($399).
- Buying an annual plan with no refund, such as Educative's, before testing the format on a monthly payment or a free course.
- Buying a domain in month one. Nobody needs your custom domain until you are applying for jobs.
Questions before you decide
Can you become a web developer for free?
The learning path can be free. freeCodeCamp and The Odin Project describe their curricula as free, and GitHub Pages, Netlify Free and Vercel Hobby can host a portfolio for $0. The main cost you cannot avoid is a computer that meets the curriculum's operating system requirements.
Do I need a paid hosting plan for a portfolio?
Usually not. GitHub Pages allows published sites up to 1 GB and a soft bandwidth limit of 100 GB a month, and Netlify Free and Vercel Hobby are $0. Paid plans such as Netlify Personal at $9 a month add features most portfolios do not need.
What computer do I need to learn web development?
The Odin Project supports macOS, Ubuntu, and Windows only through a Linux virtual machine, dual-boot or WSL2, plus supported Chromebooks that can run a Linux terminal. It does not state RAM or processor minimums, so test your current machine before buying a new one.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- freeCodeCamp: curriculum and certifications Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- The Odin Project: free full stack curriculum Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- The Odin Project: prerequisites and supported operating systems Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Coursera Plus: monthly and annual prices, trial and refund Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Educative: Unlimited plans, prices and refund policy Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- GitHub Docs: GitHub Pages limits Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Netlify: pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Vercel: pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Cloudflare Registrar: at-cost domain pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
Sources link directly to providers. Product buttons may use separately labeled affiliate links. Read our disclosure.