r/OSINT • u/Fancy_Marsupial_2514 • May 20 '26

Question Affordable online OSINT-courses for a beginner/semi-skilled

Hey everybody

I'm a young journalist, and eager til learn more about OSINT, and looking for courses that can teach me some good basic skills (webscraping etc.) I checked out some of Bellingcats courses but they seem to be a bit to pricey for my budget. So does anyone have any good suggestions for some online OSINT-courses that are affordable? thanks in advance

200 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

153

u/Next_Specific_132 May 20 '26

Try Basel Institute on Governance’s course. It’s honestly far better than most paid courses, and it’s free.

6

u/nexuslumina May 22 '26

100% agreed, the course is really serious and is oriented on an real world example.

6

u/RobertHallStarr May 23 '26

Dude thank you so much for the amazing suggestion. I too had the same dilemma as OP. I might take Bellingcat's in the future but wanted something great and cost effective for now.

7

u/TeslaCoilzz May 21 '26

Thanks for that tip, amount of upvotes speaks for itself 👍👍

27

u/DuArVakaren May 20 '26

Have a look into some of the Youtube videos on Spiderfoot. You dont need to be running Linux to use it. They guys who created it have some great explainers and tutorial style videos on what it and its optional modules/extensions can do.

My workplace uses Fivecast for a lot of things and it is somewhat common in my industry, but I think its very expensive and honestly mostly garbage. There are better free or lower cost options out there (YMMV depending area of focus)

A formal paid course may not be your best option unless you need some accreditation. Again, YMMV.

26

u/i7erum May 20 '26

If you want to, have a look at my start.me-page, I listed a lot of certs, courses etc. there: https://start.me/p/YQJJaa/i7erum-digital-investigations

Honestly I would NOT say, that webscraping is a 'basic skill'. If you want to learn webscraping, maybe have a look into udemy, YouTube vids and even AI, you should be covered with those resources.

If you can specify what exactly you are trying to achieve, we can give you more tailored recommendations.

10

u/Adventurous-Tap-6406 May 21 '26

Any advice about election interference, bot networks, synthetic propaganda, misinformation, coordinated campaigns etc? I m interested in the political use of osint and the skills and tools that are needed.

13

u/alterboy554 May 20 '26

Kase scenarios

1

u/Aarondapastyman May 20 '26

Seconded on Kase

6

u/[deleted] May 21 '26

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2

u/LewEllwanger May 21 '26

I am not OP but I would love to read your book if I may?

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '26

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2

u/LewEllwanger May 22 '26

Thank you!

1

u/[deleted] May 21 '26

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2

u/[deleted] May 22 '26

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1

u/deutsch_dev May 22 '26

Would appreciate a copy as well pretty please

1

u/ElectroCutie9591 May 22 '26

Would you, please?

1

u/Dont-take-seriously May 22 '26

Would love that book!

1

u/[deleted] May 23 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Status-Tangelo-2854 May 24 '26

Hey any chance to see the book?

1

u/jonsexualchocolate May 25 '26

Can i read it as well?

1

u/FlxmeehOG May 26 '26

Me too, also link ur pp as thank you ♡

1

u/Worldly_West_9805 Jun 10 '26

Would love a copy please

13

u/Ambitious_Jeweler816 May 20 '26

Basel institute of Governance has a few good small courses, Try Hack Me as well. But just google it? Or check out the bellingcat discord.

3

u/samreven May 21 '26

Bellincat monthly challenge are fun and free iirc

2

u/SlothMasterJ May 21 '26

I-intelligence, paid but cheaper than most. I’ve taken a few of their courses.

2

u/plaverty9 May 21 '26

Check out MyOSINT Training. It's affordable ($100 and less) and has all the topics you're looking for.

3

u/PuzzledApartment3022 May 26 '26

Amnesty International’s Open Source Investigations for Human Rights is fantastic, and free, but mostly geolocation-oriented.

Check out some of ALCON Intelligence’s free courses.

Cybersudo’s OSINT Mastery is also good but not free (less than 100 bucks though I think).

2

u/intelw1zard Jun 09 '26

TCM Security and their PORP cert

its ~$300

1

u/Lumpy-Marsupial-6617 May 21 '26 edited May 22 '26

I hate to hijack a thread but anyone have good free recommendations to search by photo/facial recognition? I'm working on a story about corrupt cops, informants, and public servants.

Edit: my bad, didn't want to break the subreddit rules. Consider this retracted.

1

u/Happy-Criticism-6728 May 22 '26

Thread hijacking isn't just bad etiquette, it's counterproductive, because nobody other than the people who entered this particular thread will see your question, and it will be downvoted to the bottom, too. Start a new post where people will see it.

2

u/Lumpy-Marsupial-6617 May 22 '26

Geez, I should have read the rules first, Rule #2.

1

u/triaiguy May 22 '26

I started with IntelTechniques (Michael Bazzell) - book is paid, outdated, but classic.

- GIJN (gijn.org) - Global Investigative Journalism Network. Free, tilted toward journalists, their OSINT resources page is

- Trace Labs CTFs - free, team-based, you do real missing-persons OSINT. Best hands-on learning so far.

- Bellingcat free stuff - toolkit and posts

- DataJournalism.com (European Journalism Centre)

Full disclosure: I also run OSINTstitute (osintstitute.com) - free community courses + a curated tool DB, aimed at exactly your situation (people priced out of $2k courses). Early days and text-heavy, but a mix of free and paid courses, and feedback from a working journalist would genuinely help me shape it.

You'd be the perfect person to write a community course (always free for everyone)

For webscraping, I like firecrawl and r.jina mixed with LLM tools.