Brief: Best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals that should be of interest to many Linux users. The deals are on Linux gadgets, courses, books, magazines, merchandises, and servers.
To the American readers of It’s FOSS, happy thanksgiving!
Black Friday is here which means it is time for some crazy discounts and deals. Good thing is that you don’t have to be an American to enjoy the discounts.
Black Friday tradition has caught up with many other countries as well. Internet-specific products are anyway available in almost all countries. Which means, the Black Friday is a global event now.
But finding Black Friday deals of your interest is a daunting task. Even if you spend the entire day on the internet looking for good deals, chances are that you would still miss a good deal.
And this is why I created this page to collect the best Black Friday deals for Linux users. Keep your wallet ready. Here are the deals in different categories:
- Software and services
- Servers
- Books and Courses
- Gadgets and accessories
Please note that some of the links in this article are affiliate links. Please read our affiliate policy for more details.
Best Black Friday deals for Linux users
Most of these deals are time sensitive so you have to act fast to grab the offer in time.
[Recommended] Up to 60% off on Linux Foundation Certifications and Training
This has to be the best offer for anyone serious about making a career in Linux.
Linux Foundation, the official non-profit organization behind Linux, offers several certifications and training courses. These certifications are trusted in the job market and they give your resume a boost, landing you a job or career change.
The training include hands-on labs & assignments, video content, 12 months of access to online course, discussion forums, PDF certificate, digital certification badge.
If you are opting for a certification, you’ll have to appear for an exam. These certifications are highly valued in the job market.
You can get trained and certified on Linux, Kubernetes, Node.Js and more cutting edge technologies.
You’ll also get a stuffed Tux merchandise for free.
There are instructor-led classes as well and you can get 40% off on that as well. They will teach you some real complex topics like Kernel debugging, security, embedded kernel development, Linux performance tuning, enterprise automation, high availability and a lot more.
You’ll find more details on their deals page below. Different course bundles may have different coupons so please pay attention to that. You’ll have to add the coupon on the checkout page to get the discount.
[Recommended] 75% off on the lifetime plan of pCloud encrypted cloud storage
Switzerland based pCloud is one of my favorite cloud storage providers. It provides a native client for desktop Linux users but that’s only one of the many features.
Switzerland is now synonymous with privacy and data protection. pCloud takes pride in it and provides a 256-bit AES encryption along with TLS/SSL channel protection.
Personally, I use pCloud and I am very happy with their overall service. I highly recommend them as an alternative to Dropbox and Google Drive.
pCloud is offering its lifetime plan at
[Recommended] 50% off on Insync Google Drive & One Drive synchronization tool for Linux
Insync is one of the best ways to use Google Drive and One Drive client natively on Linux. It also allows multiple account synchronization. You’ll have to buy one license for each account.
If you have tons of cloud storage from Google Drive or One Drive, you can invest in Insync to use these service on Linux desktop.
Insync is giving up to 50% off on its plans on the occasion of Black friday. The deal starts on 29th November and ends on 2nd December. So do keep a tab on the time and date and set your calendar accordingly.
[Recommended] 50% off on ProtonMail and ProtonVPN
As I said earlier, Switzerland has become synonymous to privacy. The strict data protection and privacy laws has resulted in many privacy-focused services booming in Switzerland. One such startup is ProtonMail.
They have two privacy oriented services:
- PortonMail: Encrypted, secure and private email service
- ProtonVPN: Privacy-focused VPN service
Here’s their Black Friday offer for ProtonVPN:
- 33% off on ProtonVPN Plus yearly package ($80 instead of $120).
- 40% off on ProtonVPN Plus 2 years package ($144 instead of $240).
- 50% off on 2 years combo package of ProtonVPN and ProtonMail ($180 instead of $360).
There is a similar offer for ProtonMail as well:
- 33% off on ProtonMail Plus one year package ($40 instead of $60).
- 40% off on ProtonMail Plus 2 years package ($72 instead of $120).
- 50% off on 2 years combo package of ProtonVPN and ProtonMail ($180 instead of $360).
Alternatively, you can use Singapore based Ivacy VPN which is available at 87% discount.
If encrypted email is what you want, you may try Tutanota as well. They don’t run any sales but they are worth supporting with an inexpensive premium plan.
50% off on SimpleLogin (to save your email inbox from spams)
We have covered a review of SimpleLogin on It’s FOSS. It is a service built on top of open source software that helps you add pseudo email addresses. You can use it for non-critical emails like subscribing for product updates, newsletters etc.
SimpleLogin works as a gatekeeper. It never exposes your real email address. When you feel like, you can simply pull the plug and stop the emails from a specific source. Your real email address stays hidden and secure.
You can get 50% OFF during the Black friday sale. No additional coupon is required.
Various Linux courses for just $9.99 on Udemy
If you think Linux Academy is a bit on the expansive side and perhaps not suited for your need, you can try Udemy.
You’ll find a number of Linux courses on Udemy and the good thing is that all of them are priced just $10 (or equivalent in your currency).
And Udemy is not just about Linux. You can find video courses on a range of topics from AI to Photography, from Big Data to GIMP editing and what not.
I suggest that you go for the courses with either best-seller tag or that has good reviews. This would be the best affordable deal of this Black Friday season.
$100 off on A Cloud Guru (previously known as Linux Academy) annual membership
A Cloud Guru (previously Linux Academy) is a prestigious name in the world of Linux and DevOps e-learning. They have a vast range of video courses and labs available on Linux sysadmin, cloud-related technologies, courses on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure etc.
40% off on Pluralsight membership
Pluralsight is an e-learning portal with courses on a range of topics and domains. You can also find plenty of courses on Linux and DevOps.
Until 30th November, you can get the annual membership of Pluralsight for 40% off.
Get SSD, RAM, Raspberry Pi accessories from Amazon
As always, Amazon is also running Black Friday sales. It’s a market place and you can get virtually anything here.
If you like to experiment with electronics, I advise checking out the list of Raspberry Pi accessories and get them from Amazon. You should get them cheaper than the usual price. You should also check Raspberry Pi like gadgets. Chances are that they might be on sale as well.
I also suggest getting SSD disk and RAM to upgrade your desktop/laptop. If your system uses the old HDD system, switching to SSD will give you a much faster computer. Thankfully, the pricing for the SSDs have gone down lately and they are no more as expensive as they used to be.
The same thing goes for RAM. Check your system and see if you can upgrade its RAM.
Up to $50 off on Yubico security keys
Software based two factor autnetication is good but you can take it to the next level with a physical USB-based key with Yubico key. This is getting popular in IT industry and among security concerned people.
You can get various level of discount on Yubico keys on the occasion of Black Friday. Offer valid till November 30.
20% off on SoloKeys open-source FIDO2 security keys
Like Yubico, SoloKeys is also USB-based security key to protect your online accounts against unauthorized access by using FIDO2 security standard.
SoloKeys uses open source hardware and firmware. You can get limited time 20% off with BLACKFRIDAY20 coupon code at the checkout.
Get $100 free credits from Linode cloud server (and a bunch of learning resources)
Linode is a well-known cloud server provider. It’s FOSS has test servers on Linode where we test the tutorials before publishing them for you.
Linode provides easy to use, one-click deploy scripts that allow you to deploy a Linux server with WordPress, Ghost, Discourse etc in just two minutes. How cool is that!
In Cyber Monday offer, new Linode users can get $100 free credits valid for 60 days. Offer runs till December 9th.
40% off on Cloudways Managed Cloud Service
Cloudways is a managed cloud service provider. If you want to host multiple WordPress websites on one cloud server, look no further than Cloudways. You can add as many WordPress websites as you want. And it’s really easy to deploy new website from their intuitive dashboard.
The best thing is that their WordPress deploy comes with server side cache, image compression among other improvements.
You can get 40% off on the first three invoices on any of their plan. Just use the coupon code BFCM2020.
33.7% off on Linux and Open Source books from No Starch Press
No Starch Press is a prestigious name in tech publishing world. No Starch Press puts more emphasis on ethics than making money. All the books you buy are DRM-free.
They have some real good titles like How Linux Works, Wicked Cool Shell Scripts and The Linux Command Line.
You can get up to 33.7% off on all the books published by No Starch Press until 29th November. Just use the code BLACKFRIDAY20 at checkout.
All IT eBooks from Apress at $7
Apress is a New York based publisher of IT books. It has some very good books on Linux, open source and of course software development.
Though these books are usually in the range of $30-$40 range, you can get them in just $7. Discount should be automatically applied but if not, use the coupon code CYBER20AP.
There is also a 20% discount on the print edition. You can avail that with code APRESS20.
You can browse through the books on its website.
Offer is valid from 25th November till 1st December.
Up to 25% Discount on Dell Linux laptops (and accessories)
Dell is one of the largest sellers of Linux laptops. It’s XPS 13 Ubuntu edition is one of the best Linux laptops you can get. I bought it in last Black Friday sale and saved around 150 Euro.
There are sales on Dell laptops again this year. However, this is not generic as the discount varies from devices to devices and region to region. In France, the discount is up to 25%.
You may have to search for Ubuntu laptops on the website as Dell doesn’t display it in the main catalog.
Linux games at hefty discount on Humble Bundle
Humble Bundle is also running the Black Friday sale on a range of gaming titles. These are games that can be downloaded from Steam.
Do note that some of the games might not be available for Linux. Even though you can play those Windows-only games on Linux thanks to the new Steam feature, it’s better to avoid purchasing such games. I would advise to filter the games for Linux platform and then make a purchase.
50% Off on Qoppa PDF Studio
Qoppa PDF Studio is one of the few PDF editors available for Linux. It is a paid, non open source software.
This sale season, you can get 50% off on their license using coupon code THANKS2020. The deal is valid till 1st December.
Bonus: Get 13 Linux and programming stickers for just $1 from Unixstickers [includes free international shipping ]
This is not really a Black Friday deal. It’s an evergreen deal but I wanted to include it here because it’s too awesome to be excluded.
If you are looking for Linux and programming related stickers, look no further than Unixstickers. They have bundles of premium stickers available.
The best thing is that their starting pack of 13 stickers is available for only $1 and this includes free international shipping.
What else can you ask for? Just head over to their website and order a pack of stickers for yourself.
Keep watching this page! More deals will be added in coming days
I’ll be adding more deals as they come. There should be a Cyber Monday sale from Linux Foundation and a few more interesting deals should be coming soon.
You should check out It’s FOSS Shop as well for additional products. It’s an affiliate store and has a range of VPN services and online courses available.
As I had stated earlier, this post contains some affiliate links. Please read our affiliate policy in that regard.
If you know of some other Black Friday deal that might interest Linux users, please feel free to suggest me and I’ll add it to the list here.
I hope this post helps you save some money. Meanwhile, why don’t you share what you already got in this Black Friday sale?
I’m glad there are people like you out there who really want to teach Linux! And I really appreciate your help.
I can not prove it – but I am suspicious of the outside world making Linux harder for the desktop user. Steadily moving away from GUI to command line because the GUI’s just can’t do enough anymore. Maybe it’s so they get discouraged from using Linux. It seems to be getting harder and harder to just make the basic things work. I can’t even play the DVD’s I bought. (I used to be able to just open it up and play the VOB’s.)
Maybe I’m just getting old. I tried to get a midi going with my old synthesizer with a converter cable, and I lost my audio for all of my VMPK program.
It worked before I used the cable.. Reinstalling it didn’t work.
And another thing: A lot of people are having problems, not being able to wake up the screen from from sleep mode when using the Display Port cable. The answers they give on the Web don’t work.
Thanks for listening,
George
Hi Abhishek, first of all, thank you so much for putting this together. But I have a question for which you can answer since you’re already using the pCloud.
I also use pCloud (free version), but the upload/download speed is throttled. Downloads hit max 100kbps and Uploads hit max 2mbps.
What is the transfer speed for pCloud’s premium plan?
Hmmm…. I never really noticed the transfer speed. My internet is slow these days anyone so can’t really test it out. The premium plan may have a trial period so you may give it a try and see if it works better.