PLC programming 路 Free
Siemens TIA Portal
From zero electrical knowledge to a working, simulated S7-1200 program, for nothing.
Inside the course
From the lessons
What Automation Is, and What a PLC Actually Does
Instrumentation Tools
Meet Siemens and TIA Portal
Instrumentation Tools
Simulation, Running a PLC You Do Not Own
Instrumentation Tools
Latching, Holding and Interlocks
Instrumentation Tools
Counters, CTU, CTD and CTUD
Instrumentation Tools
Maths Instructions
Instrumentation Tools
Lesson frames belong to the creators named in the Credits below and are shown from YouTube.
What you will learn
Configure an S7-1200, write ladder logic with timers, counters, comparators and analog scaling, structure it into reusable function blocks, drive a WinCC HMI screen, and prove all of it in simulation.
- Read a ladder rung and predict what the PLC will do with it
- Wire sinking and sourcing sensors to an S7-1200 without guessing
- Build timers, counters and comparators into working interlocks
- Scale a 4-20 mA analog input to real engineering units
- Structure a program into reusable function blocks instead of one long routine
- Drive a WinCC HMI screen and link it to live PLC tags
- Find a fault using the online monitor rather than by rewriting code
- Prove a complete program in S7-PLCSIM with no hardware at all
For you
Taking Siemens TIA Portal from the United States
- Free in the United States, as everywhere, and self-paced: lessons, notes and the final assessment are open at any hour, so your time zone and shift pattern do not matter.
- The optional certificate for learners in the United States is a one-off US$23.99. What you get for it
- Siemens is one of the automation brands most widely installed across the Americas, so this is a skill plants and integrators near you ask for.
- See automation and engineering jobs in the United States, and what the industry looks like in Houston, Detroit and Chicago.
- EDWartens also has a regional site for the United States, for classroom training and local support: edwartens.com/us.
The course project 路 about 16 hours
Two-pump water station: from I/O list to signed FAT on an S7-1200
Design, program, test and document the control panel for a two-pump station that fills a factory's overhead tank: lead/lag duty with alternation, level and pressure from 4-20 mA transmitters, dry-run and high-pressure protection, and a KTP700 operator screen. You deliver the program, your own I/O list and FAT record, and the hand-over note. The sample document pack shows what each one looks like when a system integrator delivers it.
Sample document pack, 11 documents, filled in for the scenario
- URSUser Requirements: Process Water Pumping Station PS-1
- FDSFunctional Design Specification: PS-1 Control System
- I/O listI/O List: Panel CP-101
- Panel GAControl Panel CP-101: General Arrangement
- BOMBill of Materials: Panel CP-101 and Field Instruments
- Tag listPLC Tag List and Naming Convention
- Alarm listAlarm List: PS-1
- FATFactory Acceptance Test Record: Panel CP-101
- Loop checkLoop Check Sheet: LT-101 Tank Level
- O&M manualOperation and Maintenance Manual: Pumping Station PS-1 (Operation section)
- Handover certificateSite Acceptance and Handover Certificate: PS-1
Read inside the course and download as a workbook. The project is optional practice, marked when you submit it; the certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
Course content
22 modules 路 60 lessons 路 12h 53m
In order, at whatever pace suits you. Each module ends with a practice task that builds on the last.
- 01What Automation Is, and What a PLC Actually Does2 lessons31m
- 02Inside the PLC, Hardware and the Scan Cycle2 lessons17m
- 03Wiring Basics, Sinking, Sourcing and 24 V DC1 lesson9m
- 04Meet Siemens and TIA Portal4 lessons28m
- 05Your First Project and Hardware Configuration2 lessons33m
- 06Addressing, Inputs, Outputs and Memory3 lessons42m
- 07Simulation, Running a PLC You Do Not Own1 lesson11m
- 08Contacts and Coils, The Two Symbols That Matter2 lessons18m
Requirements
- Who it is for
- Absolute beginner. No prior PLC, electrical or programming knowledge assumed.
- Software
- TIA Portal V17+ (21-day trial) with S7-PLCSIM What to download, and how
- Hardware
- None, everything runs in simulation
Software you need
What to download, where from, what it costs and how to install it. Every link goes to the maker's own site, never a mirror.
Required
- 01Free trial: 21 days
SIMATIC STEP 7 Professional and WinCC (TIA Portal) V21 Trial
Siemens
- Runs on
- Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise 64-bit (24H2), Windows 10 Enterprise 2021 LTSC, or Windows Server 2022/2025. Windows 11 Home is supported only for the Basic editions.
- Account
- A free Siemens account registered for Industry Online Support (SiePortal)
- Size
- about 8.1 GB for the main ISO, plus an optional 3.1 GB DVD 2 with hardware support packages
Siemens lets registered users download the V21 trial of STEP 7 (Basic and Professional), STEP 7 Safety and WinCC and test it for 21 days. The same package is used for the full product; after 21 days you need a purchased licence to keep working.
Steps
- 1.Open the Siemens trial page (entry 109989774) and sign in with your Siemens Industry Online Support account.
- 2.Download TIA_Portal_STEP7_Safety_WinCC_V21.iso (8.1 GB).
- 3.Download S7-PLCSIM_V21.iso (2.5 GB) from the same page: PLCSIM is a separate download.
- 4.Right-click each ISO, choose Mount, and run Start.exe as administrator. Install STEP 7 and WinCC first, then PLCSIM.
- 5.Follow the setup, accept the licence terms and restart the PC when asked.
- 6.Open TIA Portal V21 and create a new project to confirm it runs.
- Install from a local drive with plenty of free space; Siemens lists 20 GB free as the minimum and the ISOs alone are over 10 GB.
- You only need DVD 2 if you want extra hardware support packages.
- If you cannot install locally, Siemens also offers a 21-day TIA Portal Cloud trial in the browser (one-hour sessions, not in every country).
Official download pagesupport.industry.siemens.comAlternatives
- TIA Portal Cloud trial: 21 days free in a cloud virtual machine, no install. Sessions are limited to one hour and it is not available in every country.
- 02Free trial: 21 days
S7-PLCSIM V21 (TIA Portal) Trial
Siemens
- Runs on
- Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise 64-bit (24H2), Windows 10 Enterprise 2021 LTSC, or Windows Server 2022/2025. Windows 11 Home is supported only for the Basic editions.
- Account
- A free Siemens account registered for Industry Online Support (SiePortal)
- Size
- about 2.5 GB (ISO)
S7-PLCSIM V21 is offered as a 21-day trial on the same Siemens page as the STEP 7 and WinCC V21 trial. It needs STEP 7 V21 installed on the same PC.
Steps
- 1.Open the Siemens STEP 7 and WinCC V21 trial page (entry 109989774) and sign in.
- 2.Install STEP 7 V21 from the main TIA Portal ISO first.
- 3.Download S7-PLCSIM_V21.iso (2.5 GB) from the section Download S7-PLCSIM Standard V21.
- 4.Mount the ISO, run Start.exe as administrator and follow the setup.
- 5.In TIA Portal, select your CPU and click Start simulation to open PLCSIM.
- Siemens notes that the PLCSIM Standard V21 installation also includes S7-PLCSIM Advanced V8.0.
Official download pagesupport.industry.siemens.com
Checked against each maker's own page on 27 September 2026. Trial lengths and editions change; the maker's page is the final word.
Siemens TIA Portal at a glance
Siemens TIA Portal is a free, self-paced online course from EDWartens for engineering students, ITI and diploma holders, and working engineers in automation, electrical and instrumentation. It has 22 modules and 12h 53m of video lessons by Instrumentation Tools, ControlByte Automation, with written notes and worked problems, a practical project with a document pack and a 15-question final assessment (pass mark 60%). Learning is free with an account; an optional certificate with a public verification code is issued when you pass. Last updated 27 September 2026.
All course factsHide course facts
- Price
- Free, for good. No trial, no card. The only paid item is the optional certificate, a small one-off fee.
- Who it is for
- Engineering students, ITI and diploma holders, and working engineers in automation, electrical and instrumentation
- Format
- 22 self-paced modules, 12h 53m of video, written notes, a practice task per module and one final assessment.
- Level
- Beginner. Absolute beginner. No prior PLC, electrical or programming knowledge assumed.
- Brand
- Siemens
- Software
- TIA Portal V17+ (21-day trial) with S7-PLCSIM
- Hardware
- None, everything runs in simulation
- Certificate
- Optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, verifiable by code. Not a vendor credential.
- Video lessons by
- Instrumentation Tools, ControlByte Automation (independent creators, credited below)
- Language
- English
- Last updated
- 27 September 2026
A shareable EDWartens certificate
Finish every module and pass the final assessment, and the optional EDWartens certificate is yours. It carries a unique verification code on a public page anyone can check, so it stands up when a recruiter looks it up. See it below.
The course itself stays free whether or not you ever buy one.
Stuck? Ask a practising engineer
A free course usually means a comment section and hope. This one does not. Every module has an Ask-your-trainer panel that reaches the same engineers who teach our paid programme: people who commission panels for a living, not moderators.
Pairs well with
PLC programming 路 FreeSiemens TIA Portal in Three HoursThe first three hours of the Siemens TIA Portal course, cut to end on a win: what a PLC is, how it is wired, a project configured in TIA Portal, and your first ladder program running in simulation. Finish it in an evening or two, earn a certificate, and carry straight on into the full course.
PLC programming 路 FreeTIA Portal: Build a MachineOne machine, start to finish. Take a bottle filling line from a written specification and an I/O list to a structured S7-1200 program with a fill station, a capper, a reject sorter and an operator screen with alarms, then test it against a written record and archive it for hand-over. The lessons are the reference; the machine is yours, and it is what you submit.
PLC programming 路 FreeSiemens S7-1200 with TIA Portal: The Tutorial SeriesEvery S7-1200 instruction, one short video at a time: bits, edges, timers, counters, comparators, maths, MOVE, conversion, analog scaling, jumps and shift registers.
HMI 路 FreeSiemens TIA Portal HMI: KTP and Comfort Panels with WinCCEvery screen a plant operator touches, built in TIA Portal: tags, buttons, symbols, numeric input, bar graphs, navigation and templates, trends, alarms, recipes, faceplates, pop-ups, users and languages.More free courses: Free Siemens PLC courses 路 Free PLC programming courses
Learning paths with this course
- Siemens engineer path 路 13 coursesThe Siemens stack most plants actually run: TIA Portal from zero, the S7-1200 instruction series, program structure, HMI panels, interrupts, PID, commissioning, Factory I/O projects, the S7-300 installed base, advanced S7-1500, safety, WinCC SCADA and LOGO!.
- PLC foundations 路 4 coursesOne PLC from scratch, the networks it talks over, the HMI on the door and the panel it lives in. The four things a maintenance engineer meets on day one.
- Process control 路 4 coursesInstrumentation, PID loops and drives on top of a PLC: the combination process plants, water boards and pharma lines hire for.
Learner reviews
5.0
2 reviews from learners who finished the course
- 52
- 40
- 30
- 20
- 10
- Kuldeep Sonawane路 finished the course 路 September 2026
It is Good To learn From here
The Course Content and the Teaching is Too good.
- Vijay路 finished the course 路 September 2026
Excellent course! I gained practical knowledge of Siemens TIA Portal, PLC programming, ladder logic, timers, counters, HMI, analog scaling, and simulation using PLCSIM. The explanations were clear and beginner-friendly, and the practical approach helped me understand how PLC automation works in real industrial applications. Highly recommended for anyone starting their journey in industrial automation and PLC programming.
Common questions
Do I need to buy TIA Portal?
No. Siemens publishes a free 21-day trial of TIA Portal, and it is the full product for those 21 days: STEP 7 for the PLC, WinCC for the HMI screen, and S7-PLCSIM for simulation. You need a Siemens account to download it, which is also free.
The trial is 21 days. Is that enough for a 22-module course?
It is if you install it at the right moment. The trial clock starts when the software is installed, not when you first open it, so installing on day one wastes days you have not used. Modules 1 to 3 need no software at all, so do those first, then install before module 4. That leaves the full 21 days for modules 4 to 22, which is comfortable at about an hour a day. If the trial does run out before you finish, the remaining lessons still make sense to watch and the assessments do not require the software.
Do I need a real PLC?
No. Every exercise runs in S7-PLCSIM, the simulator included in the trial. A physical S7-1200 is useful later, but nothing in this course requires one and no exercise assumes you have one.
What kind of computer do I need?
A 64-bit Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise machine (the current TIA Portal V21 no longer supports Windows 10 Pro; older versions such as V17 still install on Windows 10) with 8 GB of RAM, around 50 GB free on the drive, and administrator rights to install. TIA Portal does not run on macOS or Linux; people do run it in a Windows virtual machine, but give the VM plenty of memory or it will be painful.
I have no electrical background. Is that a problem?
No, and the first three modules exist for exactly that reason. They cover what a PLC is, what the scan cycle means, what 24 V DC is, and how sinking and sourcing inputs differ, before any software is opened.
Is the Siemens TIA Portal course really free?
Yes. Every module, every practice task and every assessment. You create an account so your progress is saved and so the assessments can be marked. The only paid item is the certificate, and only if you decide you want it.
What certificate do I get, and is it a Siemens qualification?
It is an EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you pass the final assessment, and it carries a unique number anyone can verify on our site. It is not a Siemens credential and we will never describe it as one. Siemens issues its own certifications separately, and no third party can award them.
Will this course get me a job?
On its own, no course will. What it gives you is a program you wrote and can talk through in an interview, which is more than most new graduates bring. It covers the Siemens fundamentals that appear in almost every automation job advert worldwide, and it is a reasonable way to find out whether the work suits you before paying for anything.
What you walk away with
Your certificate for Siemens TIA Portal
Finish the course, pass the final, and this is the document with your name on it.
Verifiable by anyone
Adds to LinkedIn in one click
QR code on the certificate
Names what you can do
A permanent link
Earned, not attended
Learning is free. The certificate is optional.
Add it now and pay only when you have finished the course, or come back for it later. One-off, US$23.99, with a receipt.
Issued by EDWartens, the training division of Wartens, as a Certificate of Completion for this self-paced course. Sold by Wartens Ltd (England and Wales). It is not a vendor certification, a university award or a CPD-accredited activity, and it does not certify competence on live equipment. Delivered electronically; see the refund policy.
Credits
Who made the video lessons
The video lessons in this course were created by the people below, not by EDWartens. Every lesson streams from its creator's own YouTube channel; EDWartens neither hosts nor sells that footage, and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens and do not endorse this course. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.
- Instrumentation Toolsthe Siemens TIA Portal lesson series
- ControlByte Automationsupplementary TIA Portal lessons
If you are one of these creators and would like a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@wartens.com.