6 Best Spring Framework Courses & Certifications in 2026

Last updated: November 2026. Written by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. See our review methodology.

QUICK VERDICT

Spring is the dominant framework for Java applications, and Spring Boot removed most of the configuration that once made it intimidating. But the ecosystem is large (Boot, MVC, Data JPA, Security, Cloud, Batch and now Spring AI), it moves fast, and course quality varies more than the star ratings suggest. Two of the courses we recommended in July 2026 turned out to teach versions that are years out of date once we read their pages closely. Below are the Spring courses that get a Java developer to a working, current application, ranked on how current the material is, how much of the ecosystem it covers, and how well it teaches the core ideas.

The best Spring courses at a glance

1. Spring Boot 4, Spring 7 & Hibernate for Beginners — best overall

Chad Darby’s course is the closest thing the Spring world has to a standard on-ramp. On 2 November 2026 it was rated 4.6 from 95,689 ratings, had 468,111 students and had been updated in July 2026 for Spring Boot 4 and Spring 7. It is long (35 hours 28 minutes across 419 lectures) because it covers the core of Spring and the parts nearly every job uses: Java configuration and annotations, Spring REST, Spring MVC with Thymeleaf, AOP, Hibernate and JPA, Spring Data JPA and Spring Data REST, Spring Security, and OpenAPI documentation. You type every line along with him in IntelliJ’s free edition, and the source code and PDFs are downloadable.

Darby is the instructor Redditors name most often when someone asks where to start; one developer with five years of Spring experience wrote that his course was enough to build a first CRUD application before moving on to the documentation. It is broad rather than deep on any single module, which is what a beginner needs before specializing.

2. Spring Framework Master Class (in28minutes) — fastest intro

Ranga Karanam’s in28Minutes course takes a leaner path: about 14 hours 38 minutes, rated 4.7 from 29,327 ratings, 165,120 students, updated June 2026. It starts with the ideas that make Spring work (dependency injection, the IoC container, the application context, and the core annotations such as @Autowired, @Component and @Configuration), then covers Spring MVC, Spring Boot starters, AOP, JDBC and JPA, and unit testing with JUnit and Mockito. If you learn best by moving quickly and want to understand what Spring Boot is doing for you, it gets there faster than Darby’s course. Its web module still builds a JSP-and-Servlets application, so take Darby’s course or Spring Academy afterward for modern REST work.

3. Spring Academy and the Spring Certified Professional path — best free and official

Spring Academy is Broadcom’s own training site for Spring, with video lessons and browser-based labs. On 2 November 2026 its course pages showed no price; you need an account to start a course. Its FAQ refers to Spring Academy Pro as a subscription people paid for before 5 April 2024. The catalog we read included:

• Building a REST API with Spring Boot (beginner, 20 lessons, 5 hours 10 minutes): you build a “Family Cash Card” REST service from Spring Initializr to Spring Security. One of its instructors is Josh Long, Spring’s developer advocate.
• Spring Framework Essentials (48 lessons, 8 hours 42 minutes) and Spring Boot (45 lessons, 11 hours 37 minutes), the core of the certification path.
• Spring AI Introduction (26 lessons, about 8 hours): chat, retrieval-augmented generation, tool calling and the Model Context Protocol in a Spring Boot app.
• Securing a REST API with OAuth 2.0, Building a Batch Application with Spring Batch and Building an Event Driven System with Spring Cloud Stream for the wider ecosystem.
• Upgrading from Spring Boot 3.5 to 4.1 (21 lessons), useful if your job runs on the previous generation.

It is the best free place to learn Spring from the people who build it. The trade-off: it assumes you already know Java well and offers less hand-holding than Darby’s videos. Browse Spring Academy courses.

4. Create REST APIs with Spring and Java (Codecademy) — best interactive path for beginners

Codecademy’s skill path is rated beginner, takes about 20 hours, and includes 15 projects, 18 quizzes and a certificate of completion; 21,196 learners had enrolled on 2 November 2026. It starts with Java basics and web concepts (HTTP, REST, CRUD) before building a web API with Spring, so it suits someone coming to Java and Spring at the same time. It is narrower than Darby’s course: it builds REST APIs and stops there.

5. Become a Spring Boot Developer (Educative) — best for readers

Educative’s text-based format suits you if you retain more from reading and running code than from watching video. The Become a Spring Boot Developer path has three modules: core Java concepts, Spring Boot, and the Spring MVC architecture, plus Maven fundamentals. The code runs in the browser, so there is no local setup. Educative also offers Building Enterprise Applications with Spring Boot as a next step. Codecademy’s Create REST APIs with Spring and Java path is the other interactive option; we cover it in the added picks below.

6. Spring Framework Specialization (Coursera) — structured, with a certificate

LearnQuest’s four-course specialization suits learners who want graded assignments and a shareable certificate: it is rated beginner level, estimates four weeks at ten hours a week, and 35,179 learners had enrolled. Read the syllabus first, though. Its applied project targets Eureka, Ribbon, Hystrix, Feign and Zuul. Ribbon, Hystrix and Zuul are Netflix projects that Spring Cloud has since replaced with Spring Cloud LoadBalancer, Resilience4j and Spring Cloud Gateway, and the courses averaged 3.9 from 706 reviews, the lowest rating here. Take it for the certificate and the structure, and expect to update what you learn about Spring Cloud.

A course we no longer recommend: Spring Framework 5: Beginner to Guru

We recommended John Thompson’s course in July 2026 for its testing discipline. We no longer do. Its Udemy page carries an August 2026 update date, but the course description still says it teaches Spring Framework 5 and Spring Boot 2, two major versions behind the current Spring Framework 7 and Spring Boot 4, and its rating had slipped to 4.1 from 19,624 ratings. The course emphasizes SOLID design and test-driven development and still covers Spring Data JPA, Spring MVC, reactive programming with MongoDB and running Spring Boot in Docker. But a beginner would spend hours on configuration that has since changed. Take Darby or in28Minutes instead, and use Spring Academy’s upgrade course if you inherit an older codebase.

It was our number-three pick in July 2026; we have kept this note so readers who used our earlier ranking can see what changed and why.

Free ways to learn Spring

You do not strictly need a paid course. The official Spring Guides at spring.io are short, task-focused and maintained by the Spring team; they are the best free starting point for a specific job such as building a REST service or connecting to a database. Baeldung is the reference the community reaches for when solving a specific Spring problem, though some developers on r/SpringBoot find its quality uneven. Spring Academy, covered above, adds structured courses with hands-on labs. The trade-off is structure: free resources answer “how do I do X?” well, while a course takes a beginner from zero to a coherent mental model of the framework.

For a book, the one Redditors recommend most is Spring Start Here by Laurentiu Spilca (Manning, September 2021, 416 pages). It explains the core ideas behind all of Spring carefully and is still a good first read, but it predates Spring Boot 4, so pair it with a current course for the newest configuration.

Is there a Spring certification?

Yes. Broadcom runs the Spring Certified Professional credential. According to Spring Academy’s FAQ, read on 2 November 2026 (Spring Academy FAQ):

• You certify by passing the Pearson VUE exam 2V0-72.22 (Spring Professional Develop).
• The exam voucher costs $250, with no discounts available. Training is optional.
• Spring Academy’s Spring Certified Professional learning path (four courses, about 26 hours) is the recommended preparation.
• Your badge arrives through Broadcom’s Certification Manager, usually within ten business days of passing.
• The exam questions are based on Spring Boot 2.7 and Spring Framework 5.3, not the current releases.

That last point matters. The credential proves you understand Spring’s fundamentals (dependency injection, data access, REST, testing, security and Boot auto-configuration), which have not changed much, but it does not prove you know Spring Boot 4. It carries weight with employers that run large Spring codebases; it is not a prerequisite for Spring jobs, where a portfolio of working applications matters more. If your focus is Spring Boot alone, see our best Spring Boot courses guide.

What to look for in a good course

Spring courses age faster than most because the framework ships a major release every few years and minor releases twice a year. When you choose, check four things:

• The version it teaches, not the update date. A course can carry a 2026 update stamp and still be built on Spring Boot 2, as we found. Read the description for “Spring Boot 4” or “Spring 7”.
• Spring Boot as the default. Modern Spring development is Spring Boot development. Skip anything that teaches XML-heavy configuration as the main path.
• Real projects, not only concepts. Dependency injection makes sense only once you have wired a real application. The best courses have you build something end to end.
• Data access and REST. Almost every Spring job involves JPA and Hibernate and building REST APIs. A course that skips data access leaves a hole you will have to fill anyway.

Learning Spring remains one of the highest-return moves for a Java developer: it is the framework behind a large share of enterprise back ends and a common line item in senior Java job descriptions. That is why we lead with the most comprehensive current course, not the cheapest.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to know Java before learning Spring?

Yes. Spring is a Java framework, so be comfortable with core Java (classes, interfaces, generics, collections) before starting. If you are not there yet, work through one of our best Java courses first.

Should I learn Spring or Spring Boot first?

Learn them together. Current courses teach Spring Boot as the way to build Spring applications, because Boot handles configuration that used to be written by hand. Darby’s course covers both in one path.

How long does it take to learn Spring?

With solid Java, most learners build simple Spring Boot REST APIs within two to three weeks of steady study and are comfortable with the core framework in two to three months. Starting without Java adds significantly to that.

Are these Spring courses kept up to date?

The two lead Udemy picks are: Darby’s was updated in July 2026 and in28Minutes’ in June 2026. Spring Academy is maintained by the Spring team and already has a Spring Boot 3.5-to-4.1 upgrade course. We note the version each course teaches because update dates alone can mislead.

Which Spring version should a course teach in 2026?

Version matters more for Spring than for most frameworks, because each major release changes configuration and dependencies. On 2 November 2026, spring.io listed:

• Spring Boot 4.1.2 as the current release, with 4.2 at release-candidate stage and planned for the end of November 2026. Spring Boot 4.0 arrived in November 2025.
• Spring Framework 7.0.8 as the current Framework release (7.0 arrived in November 2025).
• Open-source support for Spring Boot 3.5 and Spring Framework 6.2 ended on 30 June 2026; only paid commercial support continues.

So a course should teach Spring Boot 4 and Spring 7. A course on Spring Boot 3 still teaches most concepts correctly, but expect differences in dependencies and configuration. A course on Spring Boot 2 or Spring Framework 5 is out of date for new learning, although its ideas still help if your employer runs an older system.

Spring vs Spring Boot: which guide do you need?

This page covers the whole Spring Framework: the core container, Spring MVC, data access, security, the wider ecosystem and the official certification. If you already know you only want to build services with Spring Boot quickly, our Spring Boot courses guide ranks the Boot-focused courses, including the most popular Udemy options. If your goal is distributed systems, see our best microservices courses, which covers Spring Cloud courses from in28Minutes and EazyBytes.

A learning path that works

The advice in the Reddit threads we read on 2 November 2026 lines up well. In order:

• Core Java first. Spring builds on interfaces, generics and annotations.
• One comprehensive course. Darby’s, or in28Minutes’ if you want something shorter, taken through to a working CRUD application.
• Build your own project. An employee or inventory API with validation, JPA, error handling and tests. One developer with ten years of Spring experience put it simply: one project teaches more than another 20 hours of video.
• Read the official docs and Spring Academy to fill gaps, especially for Spring Security, which nearly everyone says is where tutorials run out.
• Then specialize: Spring Cloud for microservices, Spring Batch for data processing, or Spring AI for LLM features, and consider the Spring Certified Professional exam.

Free video courses developers recommend

Video learners on r/SpringBoot, r/learnjava and r/developersIndia keep naming the same free YouTube teachers. We have not reviewed these channels course by course, so treat them as community suggestions rather than picks:

• Telusko: praised for explaining why each technology is used; several commenters also mentioned the Telusko course on Udemy.
• Dan Vega: named alongside the official Spring examples on GitHub as a dependable source.
• Concept and Coding (Shreyansh) and Coder Army: popular with Indian developers; Coder Army’s Java and Spring Boot playlist is in Hindi, with auto-dubbed English.

Two cautions from the same threads. First, free playlists rarely cover Spring Security in depth; developers repeatedly say that authentication, JWT and OAuth2 are where they had to go back to the official documentation. Spring Academy’s OAuth 2.0 course is the most structured free fix for that gap. Second, several developers now use an AI assistant alongside a course to explain errors and quiz them. That works well for quick questions, but beginners still need a course or path that teaches concepts in order, because you cannot ask about ideas you do not yet know exist.

How we chose these courses

We re-loaded every course page in a clean browser on 2 November 2026 and recorded the rating, rating count, student count, length and last-updated date. We read each course description for the Spring and Spring Boot versions it actually teaches, and we read four Reddit threads on r/SpringBoot and r/developersIndia about how working developers learned Spring. We rank on how current the material is, how complete the build is, and how well the course teaches core Spring, not only the latest annotations. Some links are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you; that never decides the order. Ratings change, so check the course page before you buy.

More questions about Spring courses

What is the best Spring course?

Chad Darby’s Spring Boot 4, Spring 7 & Hibernate for Beginners on Udemy: rated 4.6 from 95,689 ratings, with 468,111 students, updated July 2026 and covering Spring Boot 4. If you want a shorter course, in28Minutes’ Spring Framework Master Class runs about 15 hours and is rated 4.7.

Can I learn Spring for free?

Yes. Spring Academy, run by Broadcom (the company behind Spring), offers hands-on courses such as Building a REST API with Spring Boot, and its course pages showed no price on 2 November 2026. The official Spring Guides at spring.io and Baeldung’s tutorials are free as well. A paid course mainly adds a guided path from zero to a working application.

Is there an official Spring certification?

Yes: Spring Certified Professional, earned by passing the Pearson VUE exam 2V0-72.22. The voucher cost $250 on 2 November 2026, training is optional, and Spring Academy’s free learning path prepares you for it. Its FAQ says the exam questions are based on Spring Boot 2.7 and Spring Framework 5.3.

Should I learn Spring or Spring Boot first?

Learn them together, with Spring Boot as the way you build applications. Boot handles configuration; the core Spring ideas underneath it (dependency injection, beans, the application context) are what you need to understand when something breaks. Darby’s and in28Minutes’ courses both teach core Spring inside Boot projects.

Which Spring version should a course teach in 2026?

Spring Boot 4 and Spring Framework 7. On 2 November 2026 spring.io listed Spring Boot 4.1.2 as the current release, and open-source support for Spring Boot 3.5 ended on 30 June 2026. A course built on Spring Boot 2 or Spring Framework 5 teaches configuration you will have to relearn.

Do I need to know Java before learning Spring?

Yes. You should be comfortable with core Java: classes, interfaces, generics, collections and exceptions. If you are not there yet, take a Java course first; Codecademy’s Spring path and Educative’s Spring Boot path both include a Java section at the start.

How long does it take to learn Spring?

With solid Java, most learners build a simple REST API with Spring Boot within two to three weeks and feel at home in the core framework within two to three months. Darby’s course is about 35 hours of video; Spring Academy’s certification path is about 26 hours of lessons and labs.

Is Spring still worth learning?

Yes. Spring Boot is the most common framework for Java back-end services, and Spring keeps moving: Spring Boot 4 and Spring Framework 7 arrived in November 2025, and Spring AI brings large-language-model features to Spring applications.

Related course guides

Best Spring Boot Courses  •  Best Java Courses  •  Best Microservices Courses  •  Best Coding Courses  •  Best Web Development Courses