The Best Free Godot 4 Tutorials and Projects (2026)

The best free Godot 4 tutorials right now are the official Godot docs, GDQuest's Learn GDScript From Zero app, Brackeys' 77-minute beginner video, and KidsCanCode's Godot Recipes. In the docs, do the Step by step series, then "Your first 2D game" and "Your first 3D game." For free example projects to download and read, start with the official Godot demo projects, GDQuest's two starter games, and the 12 MIT-licensed projects I publish at CodingQuests. All of them are free and work with Godot 4.

Which one is best depends on where you're starting. A total beginner needs something very different from a Unity developer who just wants the Godot way of doing things. So this guide sorts the picks by need.

A disclosure: I run CodingQuests, and it appears below, so I've given it only the spots it actually fits. I also checked every resource here on October 13, 2026, to confirm it's still online, still free, and still works with Godot 4. Anything I couldn't confirm, I left out. Paid courses are compared separately in the best Godot 4 courses for beginners.

Learn GDScript From Zero is a free, open-source app from GDQuest. It teaches the basics of programming in GDScript, Godot's own scripting language, through short lessons with practice exercises. It runs in your browser with nothing to install, and there are desktop versions on itch.io. The official Godot docs point beginners to it.

Cost: free, with MIT-licensed code. Godot 4 status: the app runs on Godot 4.6, and its repository was still getting updates in October 2026.

It's built for someone who has never written a line of code and wants the alphabet first: variables, functions, arrays, the game loop.

The limitation is one GDQuest states in its own README: it is "not a complete programming course." It's a stepping stone. The exercises run in a sandbox, not the Godot editor, so you still have to jump into a real project afterward. It also needs a wide, landscape screen, so it's not one for your phone.

If you'd rather go from zero straight into Godot, my free Code From Zero quest is the other option. It's 11 lessons of real GDScript in the browser, every step checked, ending with a sprite moving in Godot 4. For a week-by-week first month that uses both, see learning Godot with no programming experience.

The official Godot docs have a beginner path that programmers move through quickly. Step by step is six short pages: nodes and scenes, instances, scripting languages, your first script, player input, and signals. Then Your first 2D game builds "Dodge the Creeps" over seven pages, and Your first 3D game builds "Squash the Creeps" over ten.

Cost: free. Godot 4 status: the stable docs are written for Godot 4.7, with code in both GDScript and C#.

It suits programmers who are happy reading documentation and want the engine's vocabulary from the source. If you're coming from Unity, having C# side by side helps.

Where it falls short: nothing checks your work. When your game doesn't behave like the page says, you compare your code to theirs line by line. Both games are also deliberately small.

The CodingQuests option here is Godot for Programmers: 6 free lessons that map what you already know onto the scene tree, GDScript, the node lifecycle, signals and resources.

Two free options take you from an empty project to an exported game.

Brackeys' beginner tutorial

Brackeys' Godot beginner tutorial, How to make a Video Game, is a single 77-minute video, published in April 2024. You build a 2D platformer with a player, platforms, coins, an enemy, a score and sound, then export it. The finished project is on GitHub in the public domain.

Cost: free. Godot 4 status: made with Godot 4.2.

Pick this if you want a playable game in one evening.

The catch is age. In Godot 4.3, the TileMap node the video uses to paint the level was deprecated in favor of TileMapLayer, so that part looks different today. My TileMapLayer guide covers the change. And watching someone type a game is not the same as being able to write it yourself.

GDQuest's free first-game series

GDQuest has two free beginner series: Your first 2D game, a Vampire Survivors-style game, and Your first 3D game, an arena shooter. Both are video lessons with written notes. The starter and finished projects are in the getting-started-with-godot-4 repo.

Cost: free. Godot 4 status: both projects are set up for Godot 4.6.

It's the better fit if you want a longer build with more explanation.

The limitation is the art license. The code is MIT, but the art is CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, a non-commercial license. You can learn from it, but you can't ship that art in a game you sell.

My pick: Brackeys if you want it done tonight, GDQuest if you want a slower build with notes to come back to.

Sometimes you don't need a course. You need coyote time working by Friday.

Godot Recipes

Godot Recipes by KidsCanCode is a free collection of short pages that each solve one problem. Recipes follow the same shape: the problem, the solution, and often a project to download. The 4.x section covers movement, animation, input, UI, game math, AI, physics and audio, with recipes like coyote time, a minimap and a homing missile.

Cost: free. Godot 4 status: a dedicated 4.x section, separate from the older Godot 3 recipes.

The limitation: the 4.x home page still opens with the Godot 4.0 release announcement, so many recipes date from early Godot 4. If a function name doesn't match your editor, check the class reference. A recipe also shows you one piece, and fitting it into a bigger game is still your job.

CodingQuests free quests

When you want to build a whole system rather than paste a snippet, this is where CodingQuests fits. In every lesson you write real GDScript in the browser, and each step is checked before you move on. The courses target Godot 4.7 and are tested on 4.7.2. These free quests each build one system from start to finish:

• Inventory System, 10 lessons: item data, stacking, a grid UI and drag and drop.
• 2D Roguelike: Top-Down Controller, 8 lessons: movement, mouse aim, a dash and screen shake.
• 2D Top-Down Character Movement, 9 lessons: movement, animation and a follow camera.
• Move & Jump and A Jump That Feels Amazing, 3 lessons each: a platformer jump, then coyote time and jump buffering.
• Two Windows Talking and RPCs: Who Is Allowed To Say What, 9 and 8 lessons: first steps in online multiplayer.
• Co-op Crate Combustion, 13 lessons: a local two-player 3D co-op game.

The limitation is scope. CodingQuests has 43 released quests, and 10 are fully free. In total, 167 lessons can be started free, and the rest needs the paid membership. It's also hands-on and written, so if you learn best by watching, pick a video above.

For quick reading, the blog has free guides like the inventory system tutorial, the state machine tutorial and a GDScript cheat sheet.

A working project shows you what tutorials skip: how files are organized and how scenes talk to each other.

The official Godot demo projects

The godot-demo-projects repo is the engine team's own collection, under the MIT license. It has folders for 2D, 3D, audio, GUI, networking, XR and more. Download the ZIP, press Scan in the Godot Project Manager, and every demo shows up at once. Most also run in your browser on the demo projects site.

Cost: free. Godot 4 status: the master branch tracks the next 4.x release, and older Godot versions have their own branches.

The limitation: each demo shows one feature on its own, with little explanation. It teaches you how a feature works, not how to structure a game around it.

CodingQuests' MIT projects

I publish 12 free Godot 4 projects, each a complete game system that runs when you press F5. Every one is on GitHub under the MIT license, with a README that lists its features and its known limitations. All were tested on Godot 4.7.2 on Windows.

• Multiplayer Starter: a lobby, chat and server-checked movement.
• Save System: save slots and chests that stay open.
• Inventory System: stacking, drag and drop and tooltips.
• Top-Down Controller: mouse aim, a dash and camera shake.
• Dialogue and Quest System: branching dialogue and quests.
• Game Feel Lab: one sword swing split into seven layers.
• Hitbox and Hurtbox: health and damage as components.
• Enemy AI: four enemy types and a boss.
• Stats and Leveling: modifiers, an XP curve and stat points.
• State Machine: one node per state, on a slime enemy.
• Platformer Controller: coyote time, double jump and wall jump.
• Menu System: main, pause and options menus.

The limitations: these are systems, not full games, and they were tested on Windows only. Three of them (the top-down controller, hitbox and hurtbox, and enemy AI) use the Mobile renderer, which needs Vulkan, Direct3D 12 or Metal. Read those lists before you build on one. The enemy AI, for example, has no pathfinding.

Finding more open-source projects

awesome-godot is a curated list of free and open-source Godot games, templates, demos and plugins. Its games and templates are split into Godot 4 and Godot 3 lists, so check you're reading the right one. Like any directory, its projects vary a lot in size, quality and upkeep. For tutorials rather than projects, the Godot docs keep their own list of community tutorials.

The ultimate introduction to Godot 4 by Clear Code is about 11.5 hours long. It builds a 2D top-down shooter while walking through most of the editor: scenes and nodes, physics, signals, tilemaps, particles, lights, animation, tweens, UI and shaders. The project code is on GitHub under CC0, and a second part carries the project further.

Cost: free. Godot 4 status: recorded on Godot 4.0 in June 2023.

Watch it if you want to see what the engine can do before picking a direction.

It's also the oldest pick here. The tilemap chapters use the old TileMap node, and some panels have moved since 4.0. It's also long, so treat the chapter list as a menu rather than watching start to finish.

Free resources have one real risk: there is always one more video. It's easy to keep starting and never build anything alone. That loop is called tutorial hell, and I wrote a full guide on how to escape tutorial hell.

Four rules keep free tutorials working for you:

1. Pick one resource per stage from the table, and finish it before starting another.
2. When you finish, change something with no tutorial open, like adding a second enemy.
3. Build one tiny thing from a blank project before your next tutorial.
4. When you get stuck, look up that one thing. Godot Recipes and the docs are made for this.

If you can follow any tutorial but freeze in an empty project, this post explains why. Not sure which stage you're at? The free Godot skill test takes about five minutes.

What is the best free Godot tutorial for complete beginners?

If you have never coded, start with GDQuest's Learn GDScript From Zero, a free browser app that teaches programming basics in GDScript. Then follow the official docs' Step by step series and "Your first 2D game." If you want a finished game fast, Brackeys' 77-minute beginner video builds a small platformer in one sitting.

Where can I download free Godot 4 example projects?

The official godot-demo-projects repo on GitHub has MIT-licensed demos for 2D, 3D, GUI, audio, networking and more. GDQuest's getting-started-with-godot-4 repo has two complete beginner games. CodingQuests publishes 12 MIT game-system projects at codingquests.io/resources, and awesome-godot lists open-source Godot 4 games and templates.

Do Godot 3 tutorials work in Godot 4?

Often not without changes. Godot 4 renamed many nodes and functions, for example KinematicBody2D became CharacterBody2D, and the GDScript syntax for exports and signals changed. Even early Godot 4 tutorials can be out of date, since TileMap was replaced by TileMapLayer in 4.3. Check the Godot version before you start.

Is CodingQuests free?

Partly. 10 of its 43 quests are fully free with no card, including Code From Zero, Godot for Programmers and the Inventory System. In total, 167 lessons can be started free, and the 12 MIT projects at codingquests.io/resources are free to download and use. The rest of the quests are part of a paid membership.

Are free Godot tutorials enough to make a real game?

Yes, if you build between them. The free docs, demo projects and video series cover the engine well. What no tutorial can do is practice for you. Finish one, then build something small on your own before you start the next.

Find your row in the table and start there today. One resource, finished, beats five half-watched.

If you want to learn by building, with every step checked, start with the free Code From Zero quest. It's 11 lessons of real GDScript in your browser, ending with a sprite moving in Godot 4. If you already code, Godot for Programmers is the faster on-ramp. If you'd rather read working code, grab a project from the free resources library.

Start the Quest