AWS CloudFormation Master Class v2 [2025] (Udemy.com)
Write Complete AWS CloudFormation Templates using YAML. Learn all the Recent Cloud Formation Features
Created by: Stephane Maarek
Last updated March 2026
Our take
Based on the ratings of 14,376 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in March 2026. No course pays to be reviewed.
Stephane Maarek's CloudFormation class is a 6.8 hour survey of the whole tool, spread over 112 lectures. The syllabus runs from parameters, mappings and conditions through CFN Init, nested stacks and StackSets to custom resources, macros, and short intros to SAM and CDK. It is built for people who already use AWS. The description says it assumes viewers know the cloud, and one reviewer notes it does not stop to explain EC2 or security groups. The course was last updated in March 2026.
Most of the 14,376 ratings are four or five stars. The praise is for practical, well-paced coverage and a teacher reviewers call fantastic. The complaints are consistent too. Several say Stephane mostly opens finished templates and deploys them instead of writing one from scratch, so learners watch stacks go up rather than learn to author them. Others say it rushes near the end, that his speed and accent can be hard to follow, and that the console screens and S3 public access steps look dated.
Value is solid for the length. It works as a map of what CloudFormation can do, and the AWS documentation fills in the detail, which some reviewers found frustrating and others found useful. Keep a text file of current values such as AL2023, since one reviewer notes the demos use older ones. Pick it for fast breadth if AWS is already familiar. Pick something more hands-on if the goal is writing templates line by line.
Pros
- Covers the full feature list, from Parameters and Conditions to StackSets, Macros and Custom Resources
- Short lectures and a total of about 6.8 hours, so it is quick to get through
- Stephane's teaching is called clear and practical, and it points learners to the AWS docs
- Refreshed in March 2026 and includes 20 quizzes to check understanding
Cons
- Mostly opens finished templates, so there is little practice writing one from scratch
- Console screens and some steps are dated, such as the old UI and S3 public access
- Moves fast near the end, and a few reviewers struggle with his speech pace and accent
Great course! Helps you understand all the different aspects with examples along the way to cement the information.
Labeled All Levels, but it really suits people with working AWS knowledge and some YAML or JSON.
Featured in our guide: The 10 Best AWS Courses on Udemy in 2026
What you will learn
- YAML
- Parameters
- SSM Parameter Types
- Resources
- Advanced Resources (DependsOn, DeletionPolicy, UpdateReplacePolicy, CreationPolicy, UpdatePolicy)
- Mappings
- Pseudo Parameters
- Outputs & Cross Stack References
- Conditions
- Rules
- Metadata
- CFN Init
- Drift
- Nested Stacks
- StackSets
- Deployment Options (ChangeSets, StackPolicy, Rollback, Termination, Service Roles)
- Continuous Delivery with CodePipeline
- Custom Resources (Lambda & SNS)
- WaitCondition
- Dynamic References
- Registry, 3rd-party Resource Types & Modules
- Resource Imports
- SAM (Serverless Application Model) Intro
- CDK (Cloud Development Kit) Intro
- Macros
- Template Validation
- Best Practices
Course content
22 sections · 112 lectures · 6.8 hours of video 20 quizzes, 10 articles
- 1AWS CloudFormation Introduction 2 free previews3 lectures · 1 quiz · 9 min
- 2Code Download & Tools Setup3 lectures · 3 min
- 3CloudFormation Introduction 2 free previews2 lectures · 1 quiz · 9 min
- 4CloudFormation - Getting started 9 free previews10 lectures · 1 quiz · 33 min
- 5CloudFormation Parameters4 lectures · 1 quiz · 24 min
- 6CloudFormation Resources7 lectures · 1 quiz · 23 min
- 7CloudFormation Mappings4 lectures · 1 quiz · 10 min
- 8CloudFormation Outputs3 lectures · 1 quiz · 10 min
- 9CloudFormation Conditions3 lectures · 1 quiz · 9 min
- 10CloudFormation Rules2 lectures · 1 quiz · 8 min
- 11CloudFormation Metadata2 lectures · 1 quiz · 4 min
- 12CFN Init and EC2 User Data16 lectures · 1 quiz · 46 min
- 13CloudFormation Drift2 lectures · 1 quiz · 5 min
- 14CloudFormation Nested Stacks6 lectures · 1 quiz · 13 min
- 15CloudFormation StackSets6 lectures · 1 quiz · 22 min
- 16CloudFormation Deployment Options8 lectures · 1 quiz · 43 min
- 17CloudFormation - Continuous Delivery2 lectures · 1 quiz · 13 min
- 18CloudFormation Resources - Advanced: Custom Resources, Registry, Modules13 lectures · 1 quiz · 1.1 hours
- 19Generating CloudFormation templates: Imports, SAM, CDK & Macros8 lectures · 1 quiz · 41 min
- 20Open-source and 3rd party projects for CloudFormation4 lectures · 1 quiz · 6 min
- 21Intrinsic Functions references1 lecture · 1 quiz · 6 min
- 22Course Conclusion (including examples)3 lectures · 3 min
Who it is for
The instructor says it suits
- Developers who want to learn about AWS CloudFormation and how to write templates
- DevOps who want to learn how to deploy and orchestrate CloudFormation templates
- Solutions Architect who want to understand the benefit of using CloudFormation to manage infrastructure and steer their team to use CloudFormation
What you need before you start
- Must have some understanding about AWS
- Knowledge of JSON and / or YAML is preferred
- Recent Mac / Linux / Windows machine
- Lots of desire to learn new exciting things!
How it compares
Against the other 235 rated Udemy courses in AWS on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.8 out of 5higher than 95% of them
- Reviews14,376#21 of 236 by number of reviews
- Length6.8 hoursshorter than 59% of them
- Last updatedMarch 2026more recently than 70% of them
Course Description
[June 2021 Update - AWS CloudFormation Master Class v2]: the ENTIRE course has been re-recorded, and new sections and features have been added, to cover every CloudFormation feature.
[March 2019 Update]: Added two sections on Drift and Nested Stacks
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
AWS CloudFormation is the best way to write, deploy and maintain your AWS Infrastructure. It helps you create efficient solution architectures, all self-contained in one file. It supports most of the AWS Services and is the safest way to make your AWS Infrastructure evolve over time.
Thanks to YAML, writing AWS CloudFormation Templates has become extremely easy and natural. AWS CloudFormation is powerful and supports Parameters, Mappings, Resources, References, Cross-Stack References, Conditions, Outputs, Metadata, and so much more!
In this course AWS CloudFormation Master Class, I will teach you about all the CloudFormation features. In just a few hours, you will know everything about CloudFormation and seamlessly deploy your infrastructure in no time.
Take a look at these student reviews..
★★★★★ "An excellent course on AWS CloudFormation. It covers everything, but this is definitely not for AWS Beginners. You need to know the fundamentals of AWS if you want to really get something out of it. It is very worthwhile for AWS System Architects, AWS Developers, and SysOps/DevOps professionals. I hold two AWS associate certifications and enjoyed this course." – Gerry H.
★★★★★ "I really enjoyed the course. I spent a day or two going through the overwhelming sea of official documentation before landing on this video. Like the instructor says in the introduction, you need to have knowledge of most of the popular AWS services like EC2, security groups, key-pair, floating ips, volumes, AWS Billing, etc. before watching this as he doesn't waste any time explaining about those services. A slight knowledge of JSON or YAML is really helpful." – Purmode R.
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
AWS CloudFormation Master Class is the easiest way to start learning AWS CloudFormation:
> Learn CloudFormation and master all its concepts
> Go through Hands-On examples to practice what we learned
> Learn how to use YAML to write the CloudFormation Templates
> Learn how to write your infrastructure as code
> Keep all the course material as a reference for your future templates!
> Learn each CloudFormation building blocks in-depth: Parameters, Mappings, Resources, Outputs, Conditions, Metadata
> Learn about CloudFormation Init, the most powerful way to bootstrap your EC2 instances
> Advanced CloudFormation features Drift, Nested Stacks, etc.
> So much more!
Note: This course assumes you know how to use the AWS Cloud. It will help you transform your solution architecting skills into CloudFormation templates.
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
Instructor
My name is Stephane Maarek, and I'll be your instructor in this course. I teach about AWS certifications with my focus always on helping my students improve their professional proficiencies in AWS. I am also the author of some of the most highly-rated & best-selling courses on AWS Lambda, AWS CloudFormation & AWS EC2.
Throughout my career in designing and delivering these certifications and courses, I have already taught 2,000,000+ students and gotten 350,000+ reviews!
With AWS becoming much more than a buzzword out there, I've decided it's time for students to properly learn how to write complete AWS CloudFormation Templates using YAML. So, let’s kick start the course! You are in good hands!
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
This course also comes with:
Lifetime access to all future updates
A responsive instructor in the Q&A Section
Udemy Certificate of Completion Ready for Download
A 30 Day "No Questions Asked" Money Back Guarantee!
Join me in this course if you want to learn about all the latest features of Cloud Formation and master the AWS platform!
Instructor Details
- 4.8 Rating
14,376 Reviews
Stephane Maarek
Stephane is a solutions architect, consultant and software developer that has a particular interest in all things related to Cloud & Big Data. He's also a many-times best seller instructor on Udemy for his courses in AWS and Apache Kafka.
[See FAQ below to see in which order you can take my courses]
Stéphane is recognized as an AWS Hero and is an AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional & AWS Certified DevOps Professional. He loves to teach people how to use the AWS properly, to get them ready for their AWS certifications, and most importantly for the real world.
He also loves Apache Kafka. He used on the Program Committee organizing the Kafka Summit in New York, London and San Francisco. He also was an active member of the Apache Kafka community, and has authored blogs on Medium and the guest blog for Confluent. He also has co-founded Conduktor, a prominent company in the Kafka ecosystem.
During his spare time, Stéphane composes piano music, that he publishes online under the artist name Makera ?
FAQ: In which order should you learn?...
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Reviews
By Mykhaylo Vovk on 11/7/2025
It seems course is quite outdated. For example you cannot anymore make S3 bucket public. So whatever is working for author, - doesn't work for us. He is concentrating too often on a simple things ie "you cannot delete not empty S3 bucket" and even making demo, - instead concentrating on why S3 bucket might fail. Also things are getting renamed. Now it is called "Infrastructure Composer". SO further I am going deep into the course, - and it is possibly many years old already.
By Oleksii Kyzymyshyn on 8/21/2023
Firstly, I'd like to express my deep appreciation for the "AWS CloudFormation Master Class" course. The comprehensive content, well-structured modules, and hands-on examples provided an enriching learning experience. It's evident that a significant amount of effort and expertise has been poured into designing this course, ensuring learners like me truly grasp the concepts of AWS CloudFormation in-depth. However, I did notice that certain sections of the course appear to be a bit outdated, particularly in light of recent AWS updates. While these sections still offer valuable insights, refreshing them to align with the latest AWS features would greatly enhance the course's relevancy and value. That said, the three-week journey through the course was enlightening. The in-depth explanations, combined with practical exercises, reinforced my understanding of CloudFormation. The course has undoubtedly bolstered my confidence in utilizing AWS CloudFormation in real-world scenarios. Kudos to the entire team for creating such an impactful learning platform!
By Martin Pucovski on 5/8/2023
For me, the start of the course which covers the basics was very well explained. When it came to more advanced topics, I had the feeling that it was too fast and the examples used were more complicated than needed to be. I'm aware that it is impossible to create a course for every person, but Stephane did a very good job. In overall, I would recommend this course to anyone that want to learn CF.
By Balaji S on 10/11/2021
Before taking this course I was not much confident with CloudFormation but after completing this course I am super confident and feeling happy that I have learnt a lot of CF concepts like Modules, CloudFormation Registry etc.. which is not taught in any of the other udemy courses. Stephane amazing work man. Kudos to you. :)
By kislaya Srivastava on 7/30/2021
The course was amazing. I took it for in-depth understanding of cloudformation and i was not disappointed. I have understood the theory and then doing practicals helped me imbibe concepts better. There were a few niggles wrt to running python code in the advanced section 19 on cloudshell but i managed to figure it out. Would highly recommend the course to anyone who is interested in understanding cloud formation in detail. Keep up the great work Stephane.
By Devashish Kureel on 6/9/2018
Thanks, Stephane for such a comprehensive course on cloudformation which really covers all the dimensions in cloudformation in the shortest possible time. Like the way, you adjusted lab exercises with theory sessions. I really appreciate the way you inculcate your audience. I highly recommend this course to understand quickly every possible minor insight of cloudformation. Expecting a course on AWS automation using Python.
By Ahmad Awadallah on 1/12/2018
This is the man if you want to get a sound foundation in AWS CloudFormation. I went from zero experience to working on creating cloudformation templates for my company. You still need to look things up since there is so much info but the more you do it easier it becomes. You start to know where everything is, but you got to keep doing it! Not to mention you will need to go over the vids, but they are short and sweet! I would like to see more complex (real world) CF templates (layered with multiple CF templates... VPC, Instances, ELB, etc...) walk through step by step. This would be more of an optional advance course(s) but it would really be beneficial. Really great course. Probably the best course I have taken in Udemy!
By Peter Menage on 12/14/2017
This course was great! I had no issue with understanding the accent of the instructor, it was barely noticeable in my opinion. I really enjoy the templates and found this course extremely useful! Only thing I would want to change is to have more of a breakdown of what the sections of the code are doing and more examples. Stephane is also very responsive and it doesn't take long to hear back from him, 5 stars!
By Ben on 11/9/2017
I had a task of automating deployment on AWS; I found this course at right time. The instructor has done an excellent job of explaining the fundamentals of CloudFormation (you can scale very easily and quickly). If you do any work on AWS, I would strongly recommend taking this course. Particularly, if you design and admin Infrastructure on AWS, CloudFormation is the tool you're going to work very frequently and this course will be of great help. Just take it!
By Anh Nguyen on 11/2/2017
Stephane has great teaching style! He made my learning so easy. One of the best things I like about Stephane is that he taught us how to find and read documents. To me, knowing where to find help documents and knowing how to read them are the MOST IMPORTANT skill in learning anything. The content of the course is excellent. Students are sure becoming an expert with CF within a short time if we spend some time playing with different templates. BTW: He does respond to our questions very FAST too. I look forward to learning more courses from Stephane.
Quality Score
No CourseDuck member has rated this course yet. Taken it? Give each part a thumbs up or down.
Overall Score : 96 / 100

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