CompTIA Security+ course: the 10 best in 2026

Best for learners with A+ and Network+ knowledge who want practical exercises. It covers the CIA triad, threats and attack vectors, network security, cryptography and secure protocols, identity and access management, incident response, business continuity and disaster recovery, governance, and an introduction to ethical hacking and penetration testing.

It has 4.5 stars from 230 reviews and more than 3,300 students, with about 26 hours of video and 11 quizzes. It is the only intermediate course here and was last updated in November 2024.

Best for experienced IT staff who want a fast overview of every domain. In about two hours and 20 minutes it moves through the CIA triad, access control models, PKI and Zero Trust, threat actors and malware, vulnerability management, network segmentation and the cloud shared responsibility matrix, incident response, digital forensics and chain of custody, and risk and compliance.

It has 4.9 stars, but from only 65 reviews and 186 students, so it entered below our 100-review cut. It has no quizzes or practice tests, uses AI in production, and was updated in June 2026. We lowered it because it is too short to be a complete exam course.

Best for learners who want labs alongside the theory. It covers the five SY0-701 domains in five modules, with hands-on activities such as configuring secure systems, testing honeypots, working with symmetric encryption and exploring SCADA environments.

It has 4.7 stars from 245 reviews and more than 2,100 students, with more than 30 hours of video and a practice exam. It was last updated in January 2026.

Best for people who already know basic security and want a compact course. It covers the five SY0-701 domains with labs, real-world scenarios, exam strategies on time management and question analysis, and a free e-book study guide.

It has 4.7 stars from 453 reviews and more than 3,100 students. At about 15 hours with 18 quizzes and a practice exam it's the shortest full course here, but it was last updated in September 2024.

Best for learners who want a long, lab-based course from a newer instructor. It covers every SY0-701 objective, from the CIA triad and threats like ransomware, phishing and social engineering to securing networks, applications and devices, incident response, encryption, hashing, key management and the regulations and frameworks behind security policy.

It has 4.8 stars, but from only 52 reviews and 420 students, so it entered the list below our 100-review cut. It runs 32 hours across 400 lectures with two quizzes and two practice tests, and was last updated in February 2026.

Best for career changers who want a long, structured foundation, not a cram course. Cyvitrix covers all SY0-701 domains with case studies from cloud, critical infrastructure and enterprise operations, plus scenario exercises and alignment with NIST, ISO and Zero Trust frameworks.

It has 4.6 stars, but from only 184 reviews and more than 5,500 students. It runs about 40 hours with 29 quizzes, two practice tests and 156 resources, and was updated in October 2026. AI is used in production, and the narration is synthesized with text-to-speech.

Best for complete beginners who want lots of practice questions and a walkthrough of how to answer them. OAK Academy splits SY0-701 into 11 modules covering the CIA triad, cryptography and PKI, zero trust, SIEM, digital forensics, identity and access management and GRC, and ends with a video section where the instructor solves exam-style questions and explains PBQ strategy.

It has 4.3 stars from more than 2,300 reviews and more than 15,000 students. With 115 quizzes it has by far the most on this list, plus two practice tests and about 33 hours of video, updated in October 2026.

Best for hands-on learners who want to practice in their own lab. The instructor shows you how to build a lab to follow along, covers the exam objectives in detail and sticks to exam topics, with a study plan and the CompTIA objectives PDF.

It has 4.7 stars from more than 13,000 reviews and more than 53,000 students. It runs more than 25 hours with 25 quizzes and a practice exam, and was last updated in August 2025.

Best for learners who want several expert voices and a slightly shorter course. Mike Meyers, Dan Lachance and Lyndon Williams teach authentication, authorization and accounting, network scanning, cryptography and PKI, risk management, incident response, disaster recovery and business continuity, mapped to the SY0-701 domains.

It has 4.6 stars from more than 38,000 reviews and more than 150,000 students. It runs about 20 hours with 15 quizzes, a practice exam and 31 resources, and was updated in September 2026. The description also explains exam logistics and the jobs Security+ can lead to.