Best CompTIA Security+ Courses in 2026 (SY0-701)

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

QUICK VERDICT

PREMIUM PICKS — IF YOU WANT THE SECURITY JOB, NOT JUST THE CERT

CompTIA Security+ is the entry-level security certification most employers actually recognise, and it is frequently the credential that gets a CV past an HR filter for a security or IT role. It is vendor-neutral, it has no enforced prerequisites, and it maps to US federal work roles — which is why it appears in more job listings than any other security certification at this level.

Picking a course for it is mostly a question of exam version and instructor, and there is far less genuine variety than the number of listings suggests. Below are the four routes worth considering, each opened and checked at the provider in August 2026 — plus a timing issue that no other guide to this exam currently mentions.

Read this before you buy: SY0-701 is in its final stretch

CompTIA publish two dates on the Security+ page that matter together and are almost never quoted together. SY0-701 launched on 7 November 2023, and their stated convention is that an exam version retires “usually three years after launch” — for SY0-701 they give an estimated retirement of 2026.

That does not mean you should wait, and it does not devalue the certification. Three things follow from it, and they are all practical:

• Your certification is unaffected by the exam retiring. Security+ is valid for three years from the date you pass, regardless of which exam version you sat. Retirement only governs which version is available to book.
• If you are ready soon, sit SY0-701. The material, the practice exams and the community knowledge are all mature right now — which is the best possible position to study from. A brand-new version means thin prep material and untested question banks.
• If you are 6–12 months out, check the exam calendar before you buy a course. CompTIA announce version changes in advance and typically run both versions concurrently for a period. Buying a lifetime-access SY0-701 course you will not start until the successor lands is the one genuinely wasteful outcome.

The same logic is why we say to confirm any course targets SY0-701 specifically. Plenty of material still on sale is written to SY0-601 or even SY0-501, both long retired, and a course teaching a retired blueprint will fail you on domains that no longer exist in the same form.

The SY0-701 exam at a glance

Every figure here is published by CompTIA on the Security+ certification page:

Note the scaled passing score of 750. Security+ tells you how close you were; CompTIA’s expert-tier SecurityX exam is pass/fail with no score at all. If you fail Security+ you at least learn where you stood, which makes a second attempt easier to plan.

The five SY0-701 domains — and where to spend your study time

SY0-701 is organised into five domains with published weightings. Most study plans treat them as equal; they are not, and the difference is large enough to change how you allocate a ten-week run:

Two things are worth pulling out. Security operations is the largest domain at 28% — more than twice General security concepts — and it is the most practical of the five, covering the day-to-day work of monitoring, responding and hardening. If you are coming from a helpdesk or sysadmin background, this is where your existing experience pays off most directly.

And Security program management and oversight is 20% — governance, risk, policy and compliance. This is the domain technical candidates consistently under-prepare because it is the least hands-on, and it is a fifth of the exam. Every point there is as valuable as a point anywhere else. If you are failing practice exams, check this domain’s score before assuming you need more technical depth.

The best Security+ courses in 2026, compared

1. Jason Dion — CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Complete Course & Practice Exam (Udemy)

This is the default recommendation and it earns it. 4.7 from 122,465 ratings across 265 lectures, and — the part that matters on a certification course — it was last updated in August 2026, the same month we checked it. Dion Training’s material is maintained rather than recorded once and left, which is why it stays current through objective revisions.

It includes a full-length practice exam, and the performance-based question drilling is the specific reason to pick it over a cheaper alternative. PBQs are where most first-time candidates lose time, and reading about them does not prepare you the way attempting them does.

Best for: almost everyone taking Security+ as a paid, structured route. Watch out for: Udemy list prices are not real — the course is routinely discounted heavily, so never pay full sticker.

Check the Dion SY0-701 Course →

2. Professor Messer — SY0-701 video course (best free option)

James Messer has been producing free CompTIA training for well over a decade, and his SY0-701 course is the community’s standard free answer. The full video series covering the exam objectives costs nothing; he funds it by selling optional study groups, notes and practice exams alongside.

We have no affiliate relationship with Professor Messer and earn nothing if you use it — it is here because a great many people have passed on it alone, and recommending a paid course over it without saying that would be dishonest. If money is the constraint, this plus the official objectives is a complete path.

Best for: self-disciplined learners and anyone on a budget. Watch out for: free video with no built-in assessment means you must source practice exams separately — and practice exams are the single highest-value study purchase for this cert.

3. Zero To Mastery — CompTIA Security+ Certification Bootcamp

A structured bootcamp rather than a video library, built around passing the exam and then actually getting hired. It sits inside ZTM’s subscription, which also gets you their networking and cybersecurity material — useful if you are shoring up the Network+ foundation CompTIA recommend, and the active Discord community is the differentiator over a solo video course.

Best for: people who stall without structure and accountability. Watch out for: a subscription only pays off if you finish — if you are a fast, self-directed learner, the one-off Udemy purchase is cheaper.

View the ZTM Security+ Bootcamp →

4. IBM Cybersecurity Analyst Professional Certificate (Coursera)

The broadest option, and the only one that leaves you with a second credential. A 14-course series rated 4.6 from 28,353 reviews with 363,228 learners enrolled, structured around roughly four months at ten hours a week — and IBM state explicitly that it prepares you for the CompTIA Security+ exam.

It is not the fastest route to a pass — a focused exam-prep course is — but it builds the analyst skills around the certification rather than teaching to the test, which matters if you are changing careers rather than adding a line to an existing CV.

Best for: career changers who want skills plus a recognised certificate. Watch out for: it is a subscription, so finishing quickly is what makes it cheap.

View the IBM Certificate on Coursera →

How to choose between them

The decision is simpler than the number of options suggests, because these four serve genuinely different situations:

• You want the shortest reliable path to a pass. Dion’s course plus his practice exams. This is the majority case.
• You have more time than money. Professor Messer’s free series, plus a paid practice-exam set when you are two weeks out. Do not skip the practice exams — they are the part that converts knowledge into a pass.
• You start things and do not finish them. ZTM’s bootcamp, for the structure and the community.
• You are changing careers, not adding a cert. The IBM certificate, which builds the surrounding skills and leaves you with a second credential.

Whichever you pick, the non-negotiable check is the same: confirm the course targets SY0-701. Look for the exam code in the title or the first line of the description, and be sceptical of anything that says only “Security+” with no version — that is usually older material that has been relisted rather than re-recorded.

What Security+ costs

A single SY0-701 voucher runs around $400 USD. We flag that as an approximate figure deliberately: CompTIA no longer publish the voucher price on the Security+ certification page itself, so this is the widely-reported range rather than a number we could confirm at source in August 2026. Check the current price at checkout before budgeting.

CompTIA also sell bundles that pair the voucher with official study material and, at higher tiers, a retake. Whether a bundle is worth it comes down to one question: how confident are you of passing first time? If you are working full-time and studying in evenings, a bundle with a retake is cheap insurance against a second full-price voucher. If you have been in IT for years and are certifying to formalise it, buy the bare voucher.

Budget for the course as well — typically $15–$150 depending on platform and whether Udemy is running a sale — and for a practice-exam set if your course does not include one. Total realistic outlay for most people is the voucher plus roughly $50.

Security+ and DoD 8140

A significant share of Security+ demand comes from US federal and defence contracting, where certifications map to mandated work roles. CompTIA list Security+ against DoD 8140 work roles including cyber defense analyst, incident responder and vulnerability analyst.

If that is your situation, two practical notes. First, the certification often becomes an employer expense rather than a personal one — ask before you pay. Second, work-role mappings are updated periodically and the authoritative DoD listing sits behind a government login, so confirm the current requirement against your own programme’s documentation rather than any third-party summary, including this one.

Where Security+ sits among the alternatives

Security+ is the entry point, not the destination. Knowing what comes before and after stops you buying the wrong thing:

The common mistake is skipping Security+ and going straight for something advanced because it sounds more impressive. Employers hiring at entry level screen for Security+ specifically; a partially-understood expert cert does not substitute for it. Our guide to cybersecurity certifications by career stage maps the whole ladder.

Is Security+ still worth it in 2026?

Yes, and more clearly than most entry-level certifications. Its value is not that it proves deep expertise — it does not, and nobody in the field believes it does. Its value is that it is the credential hiring systems are configured to look for. It is vendor-neutral, so it is not tied to one product stack going out of fashion; it maps to federal work roles, which makes it purchasable on an employer’s budget; and it has no enforced prerequisite, so it is reachable from a helpdesk role in a couple of months.

Where it disappoints people is when it is expected to do more than open a door. Security+ on its own, with no IT experience behind it, does not produce job offers — the people who report it “not working” are usually treating it as a qualification rather than a filter-clearing credential. Paired with real experience, or with a hands-on portfolio, it is the single most efficient certification purchase in security.

The one situation where we would say no: if you already have several years of security experience and are choosing between Security+ and something advanced, skip it. It is a floor, not a ceiling, and CySA+ or SecurityX will do more for a senior CV.

A study plan that works

• Download the official SY0-701 objectives first. They are free from CompTIA and they are the actual specification. Grade yourself against each line; your weak rows are your study plan.
• Watch at speed, then revisit. A full pass through a video course at 1.5x, then a second pass only on your weak domains, beats one slow linear run.
• Drill performance-based questions deliberately. PBQs appear early in the exam and eat time. Many candidates who fail ran out of clock, not knowledge. Consider flagging PBQs and returning to them after the multiple-choice.
• Use practice exams as diagnosis, not rehearsal. Score every attempt by domain, not overall. A 79% average hiding a 50% in one domain is a fail waiting to happen.
• Book the exam before you feel ready. A dated commitment is the strongest predictor of actually sitting it, and 750/900 does not require perfection.

Most people with some IT background need six to ten weeks of consistent evening study. Coming in cold with no IT grounding, plan on longer and consider Network+ first.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best CompTIA Security+ course?

Jason Dion’s CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Complete Course & Practice Exam on Udemy — 4.7 from 122,465 ratings, 265 lectures, and last updated August 2026. For a free alternative, Professor Messer’s SY0-701 video series is the long-standing community favourite and is genuinely sufficient to pass on.

Which Security+ exam version is current?

SY0-701, which launched on 7 November 2023. SY0-601 and SY0-501 are retired. CompTIA state exams usually retire about three years after launch and give an estimated retirement of 2026 for SY0-701, so check the exam calendar if you are planning to sit it more than a few months out.

Can I pass Security+ with only free resources?

Yes, and many people do. Professor Messer’s free SY0-701 series plus CompTIA’s free exam objectives is a complete study path. The one thing we would still pay for is a quality practice-exam set — it is the highest-value study purchase for this certification and free question banks are frequently inaccurate.

How much does the Security+ exam cost?

A single voucher runs around $400 USD. CompTIA no longer publish the price on the Security+ certification page, so treat that as an approximate planning figure and confirm at checkout. Bundles pairing the voucher with study material and a retake are also sold and are worth it if you are not confident of passing first time.

What score do I need to pass Security+?

750 on a scale of 100 to 900. The exam is a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes, mixing multiple-choice with performance-based questions. Because the score is scaled rather than pass/fail, a failed attempt still tells you how close you were.

Do I need Network+ before Security+?

Not as an enforced prerequisite — you can book Security+ with no certifications at all. CompTIA recommend Network+ and two years in a security or systems administrator role, and that recommendation is worth taking seriously if your networking fundamentals are weak, because a good deal of Security+ assumes them.

How long does Security+ take to study for?

For someone with existing IT experience, six to ten weeks of consistent evening study is typical. Coming in with no IT background, plan on considerably longer and consider Network+ first. The variable is your starting knowledge, not the exam.

How long is Security+ valid?

Three years from the date you pass, renewable through CompTIA’s continuing education programme — collecting continuing education units via training, work experience or higher certifications, plus an annual maintenance fee. Earning a higher CompTIA certification renews it automatically. The exam version retiring does not affect the validity of a certification you already hold.

Related guides

• Best cybersecurity certifications — the full ladder, ranked by career stage
• CompTIA SecurityX (formerly CASP+) — where the CompTIA track ends up
• Best cyber security courses — broader training beyond exam prep
• Best ethical hacking courses — the offensive-security on-ramp
• Best penetration testing courses — the OSCP path
• Computer networking courses — the Network+ foundation CompTIA recommend first