Getting an Oracle Database: FreeSQL and Oracle Free

Before you can practice, you need a stove to cook on. This lesson shows three ways to get one, from "ready in a minute" to "your own computer's own database."

Unlike SQLite, Oracle isn't a file you can just open. It's a big server program. The good news is that Oracle now offers several free ways to use it, and all of them run a real Oracle Database. Pick the one that suits you. You can always try another later.

Option	Setup	Best for
FreeSQL (in your browser)	none	starting right now, on any computer
Oracle AI Database Free (installed)	a real install	working offline, and the full experience
Oracle Free in a container	Docker or Podman	people who already use containers

Which version?

At the time of writing (September 2026), the newest release is Oracle AI Database 26ai. It was called Oracle Database 23ai before, so you'll still see that older name on many pages, and in the names of downloads. Its free edition is Oracle AI Database Free. Everything in this track works with it, and most of it also works with older releases like 19c, except for a few conveniences that the lessons point out.

Option 1: FreeSQL, in your browser

FreeSQL is a free website from Oracle, at freesql.com, that gives you an Oracle database and a worksheet where you write SQL and see the results. There's nothing to install.

1. Go to freesql.com. The worksheet opens with an editor at the top and result tabs underneath.
2. Type a query, and run it with the play button, or press Ctrl + Enter. To run several statements at once, use Run Script (the button next to it).
3. The results appear in the Query result tab, or in Script output, which looks like a traditional Oracle terminal. There's also a tab for DBMS output, which you'll use for PL/SQL.

Without signing in, you can read the sample HR tables (employees, departments, jobs, and more) and run queries, and PL/SQL blocks, on them. But your own database objects are another matter: creating tables, inserting rows, and saving your work needs a free Oracle account. Sign in from the top-right corner of the page. (Without an account, CREATE TABLE stops with ORA-01031: insufficient privileges, since a visitor's session can only connect and read.)

Once you're signed in, FreeSQL gives you your own private schema (you'll learn what that is in Schemas, Users, and Privileges), where you can create and change whatever you like.

Try this query, which asks the database about itself and works for anyone:

SELECT sys_context('USERENV', 'SESSION_USER') AS who_am_i FROM dual;

FreeSQL is great for learning, but it's a shared service. Sessions can time out, and it isn't a place for real data.

Option 2: Oracle AI Database Free on your computer

The Free edition installs on Windows and Linux, on a normal PC. It has limits: it uses up to 2 CPU threads and 2 GB of memory, and stores up to 12 GB of user data. Those are plenty for learning.

On Windows:

1. Go to oracle.com/database/free and download Oracle AI Database Free for Windows (a zip file). Oracle's site may ask you to accept its license terms first.
2. Extract the zip file, and double-click setup.exe. You must be logged in to Windows as an administrator for the install to work.
3. Follow the installer's steps. It asks you to choose a password for the administrative accounts (SYS, SYSTEM, and PDBADMIN). Choose one you'll remember, and write it down somewhere safe.
4. When it finishes, Oracle runs in the background as a Windows service.

If you had another Oracle Database XE or Free installed before, uninstall it first: the installer only allows one, using the name FREE.

On Linux, Oracle provides an RPM package for Oracle Linux and its relatives, and a set of instructions on the same download page. The exact steps depend on your distribution, so follow Oracle's installation guide for yours.

What the installer creates

The installation makes a container database called FREE, containing one pluggable database called FREEPDB1. Think of the container as a building, and the pluggable database as one apartment in it where you do your work. The listener, the program that answers connections, uses port 1521.

You'll usually connect to FREEPDB1. Connecting to the container itself (FREE) is for administrators.

Option 3: Oracle Free in a container

If you use Docker or Podman, Oracle publishes ready-made images. This starts a database, with the password of your choice, and keeps its data in a named volume:

docker run -d --name oracle-free -p 1521:1521 -e ORACLE_PWD="ChooseAStrongPassword1" -v oradata:/opt/oracle/oradata container-registry.oracle.com/database/free:latest

The first start takes a few minutes. Watch its log with docker logs -f oracle-free, and when you see DATABASE IS READY TO USE!, it's ready. (Oracle also publishes a smaller "lite" version, and other people publish their own images. Oracle's official image lives at container-registry.oracle.com.)

Connecting

To use a database from your computer, you connect with a client. Oracle's classic one is SQL*Plus, and the newer, friendlier one is SQLcl. Both come with the database, and you'll meet them in Oracle Tools. A connection needs a username, a password, and the address of the database, written like this:

username@host:port/service

For your own computer's database, that's localhost, port 1521, and the service FREEPDB1. To try it as the administrator SYSTEM:

sqlplus system@localhost:1521/FREEPDB1

It asks for the password you chose during setup. If you see the prompt SQL>, everything is working. Try:

SELECT sys_context('USERENV', 'CON_NAME') AS pdb FROM dual;

On your own installation, that shows FREEPDB1. Type EXIT to leave.

The SYS and SYSTEM accounts are the all-powerful administrators, like root in MySQL. Don't use them for practice. In Schemas, Users, and Privileges, you'll create your own everyday account.

The sample HR tables

The HR tables used in this track are a sample that Oracle publishes. FreeSQL already has them, ready to use. On your own installation, they're not there at first: Oracle offers the sample schemas as a free download on its GitHub page, and you can install them once you have a user to put them in. When a lesson uses the HR tables, you can follow it in FreeSQL without doing any of that.

When something goes wrong

The installer says another Oracle Database is already installed

The Free edition can't sit beside a previous XE or Free install, or any database called XE or FREE. Uninstall the old one first.

"ORA-12541: TNS:no listener" or "ORA-12514"

The client couldn't find a database at that address. Check that the Oracle service is running (on Windows, look in Services for the ones with Oracle in their names), and that you typed the port and service name correctly.

"ORA-01017: invalid username/password"

The password is wrong. Passwords are case-sensitive in Oracle.

FreeSQL says you don't have privileges

You're probably not signed in. Sign in, and try again.

Try it

Whichever option you chose, run this query to check that you're connected, and see who you are, and what you're allowed to do. Predict what it shows.

Running Oracle SQL

Syntaxia can't run Oracle Database in the browser, because it needs a real Oracle server. Use FreeSQL, or your own installation. This example shows what someone who isn't signed in to FreeSQL would see. If you're signed in, you'll see more privileges.

Check your prediction

PRIVILEGES
----------
         2

PRIVILEGE
--------------
CREATE SESSION
SET CONTAINER

TABLE_NAME
-----------
COUNTRIES
DEPARTMENTS
EMPLOYEES
JOBS
JOB_HISTORY
LOCATIONS
REGIONS

A visitor to FreeSQL can only connect (CREATE SESSION) and switch container, so they can't create anything. The last query lists the seven HR sample tables that anyone can read. SESSION_PRIVS and ALL_TABLES are data dictionary views: tables Oracle keeps about itself, which you'll use again in Schemas, Users, and Privileges.

Try it yourself

1. Run SELECT * FROM hr.regions; and look at the five rows. What columns does it have?
2. Run SELECT SYSDATE FROM dual; and note the date and time. Is it your local time?
3. Try CREATE TABLE test (n NUMBER); in FreeSQL while not signed in, and read the error. Then sign in and try again.

Check your understanding

Which Oracle option needs nothing installed on your computer?

FreeSQL, in your browser

A container

A Linux RPM

setup.exe

What is FREEPDB1?

The name of the installer

A password

A pluggable database created by the Oracle Free installation, where you do your work

A backup file

Why shouldn't you practice as SYS or SYSTEM?

They cannot run SELECT

They are slower

They only work in FreeSQL

They can do anything, so a mistake can damage the whole database

Up next

You have a database, and you can run a query. Now let's meet the tools people use to work with it every day, in Oracle Tools.