Free Siemens PLC courses with certificate

Where to start

Begin with Siemens TIA Portal, which assumes nothing and runs in PLCSIM. If you want a short first look, Siemens TIA Portal in Three Hours takes an evening or two. After that:

• S7-1200 tutorial series for the instruction set.
• Program Structure and Best Practice once you can write logic.
• HMI with WinCC for the operator screen.
• Commissioning, Simulation and Troubleshooting before your first site job.

Siemens S7-1200 and S7-1500 controllers run a large share of UK machines and process plant, and the older S7-300 and S7-400 are still in service in many factories, which is why the S7-300 STEP 7 course is here too.

The longer Siemens route

Once the first course is done, the rest of the Siemens range is free too:

• Organisation blocks, interrupts and timers and PID Compact and analog for control that reacts to the process.
• Factory I/O virtual commissioning and Build a Machine for projects that move.
• S7-1500 advanced, SCL structured text and Safety Integrated for larger systems.
• WinCC SCADA, SINAMICS drives and PCS 7 DCS for plant-wide work.

Is TIA Portal free?

TIA Portal is commercial software. Siemens offers a trial licence for 21 days, and PLCSIM, the simulator the courses use, comes with it. You can reinstall the trial. Check the current terms on Siemens' site. Ladder practice that needs no install is in the EDWartens Lab PLC simulator.

Siemens training: free and paid

Checked 24 October 2026

SITRAIN is Siemens' own training and is the vendor route. On 24 October 2026 we found no free SITRAIN e-learning for TIA Portal programming, and platform access was bundled with paid courses. These courses are free self-study that let you start, or compare, before you spend money.

EDWartens is not affiliated with or endorsed by Siemens, and our certificate is not a Siemens qualification.

Where Siemens controllers are used in the UK

Siemens S7-1200 and S7-1500 controllers, programmed in TIA Portal, run a large share of UK machines and process plant. Machine builders, panel shops, system integrators and maintenance teams meet them daily. A maintenance engineer who can open a project, go online, read a diagnostic buffer and make a safe change is useful on many sites, which is why the commissioning and troubleshooting course is worth taking early.

Using it in practice

The PLC Programmer and Commissioning Engineer job simulations let you practise the work (days 1 to 5 are free, and it is practice, not employment). See what employers ask for on the PLC and automation jobs board.