Learn PLC programming from anywhere in South Africa — Gauteng, the Cape, KZN, or a small town with one capped line. Write ladder logic, run it, and get auto-graded in your browser. No imported software licence, no lab hardware to buy, and a free tier so you can start today. Works on a Chromebook and on low data.
Join 1400+ learners practicing PLC programming
Browser-based. No hardware required. Create a free account to save your progress.
Straight talk: the free tier is genuinely free, it runs on almost any device, and there is no licence to import. We are not a QCTO- or SETA-accredited provider — the certificate here is a portfolio credential, not a formal NQF qualification. Many South African learners use this to build real skill before or alongside an accredited course. Fee and salary figures on this page are public-source estimates, not quotes.
The landscape
Most PLC training in South Africa is instructor-led and place-bound. Vendor training arms (Siemens SITRAIN, Schneider Electric, Omron) and independent training centres (AGE Technologies, EM/Mechatronics Academy, Resolution Circle, School of IT and others) run multi-day classroom courses, usually in the major metros, often on specific vendor hardware. TVET colleges deliver Industrial Electronics (N3–N6) and mechatronics with whatever lab rigs they own. All of this is valuable — but it shares the same constraints: you travel to it, it costs real money up front, lab time is shared, and practice stops when the course ends.
The gap is everyday, low-cost practice. A learner in a town without a nearby training centre, a student whose lab has 30 people to one rig, an electrician who wants to try PLC programming before paying for a course, or a college that cannot fund one panel per student — none of them are well served by hardware-first, metro-bound, paid-up-front training. A free browser simulator that runs on any device closes exactly that gap.
Runs in the browser on a Chromebook, a school PC, a Mac, or a budget laptop. No metro commute, no imported licence.
Beginner curriculum, simulator, and graded scenarios are free. Build skill before you decide to spend on a course.
Light on data and available 24/7, so you practise when the power and your schedule allow — not only in a booked lab slot.
What you actually practise
Every concept below is something you build, run, and get auto-graded on in the browser — no rig, no install, no imported licence. It is the same IEC 61131-3 logic model used on real South African plant floors, so the skill transfers to Siemens, Allen-Bradley, Schneider and the other vendors local employers run.
Follow it all in the free curriculum, or jump straight into the browser PLC simulator.
For individual learners
If you are an electrician, an N-diploma graduate, or a technician wanting to move into automation, ladder logic is the most transferable skill you can build. It is deliberately drawn like a relay control schematic, left to right — so if you can read a motor start-stop circuit, you already understand half of it. Start free, reach fluency, then put it on your CV with a portfolio you can demonstrate live.
See the PLC training overview and the free PLC training guide for an honest breakdown of what the free tier covers.
For institutions
The one-rig-per-student model was never affordable. A browser-based platform lets you put a full PLC environment in front of an entire cohort on the lab PCs and Chromebooks you already have — no per-machine install, no admin rights, no hardware capital request. Lecturers assign a learning path and see who is behind before a practical assessment, instead of collecting and marking files by hand.
Run N3–N6 Industrial Electronics and mechatronics practicals in the browser. Individual student logins, cohort progress reporting, and per-student portfolio PDFs to support your PoE compilation. (The platform is not QCTO-accredited — your programme holds accreditation; it supplies the evidence trail.)
Deliver blended PLC courses without funding a hardware lab per venue. Reassignable seats mean a withdrawn learner’s seat moves to a replacement — no wasted spend. Pro-forma quotation available for your finance process.
Upskill maintenance and electrical staff to read and modify PLC code across mining, water, FMCG, packaging and food & beverage. Staff practise on their own laptops between shifts — no booked lab, no travel.
Browser-based and light on data, so it works on capped lines and survives load shedding better than a single physical lab. It needs an internet connection — it is not offline-capable — but mobile data (3G+) is usually enough.
Tell us about your college, training centre, or team and your cohort size. We’ll come back with institutional pricing for South Africa — and, on request, a pro-forma quotation for procurement. We’ll be straight about what the platform does and doesn’t do (no accreditation claims).
Skills development context
South Africa’s skills-development system — SETAs such as merSETA for manufacturing and engineering, and QCTO-overseen occupational qualifications — pushes employers and colleges toward measurable, practical, work-relevant training. A browser PLC simulator supports those goals practically: it gives learners far more hands-on programming time per Rand than shared hardware, and it produces timestamped, name-attributed activity records and portfolio PDFs that help evidence what a learner has actually done.
Honest scope: we are not a SETA-accredited provider and the platform is not a QCTO qualification. Accreditation sits with your college or training provider. We provide the practice environment and the evidence trail — not the accreditation.
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Any device. No imported licence. No hardware to buy. Free to start.