34 Best + Free Hacking Courses & Certificates [2026]
- 1. The Complete Ethical Hacking Course: Beginner to Advanced! [Udemy] - Best Paid Course
- 2. Learn Python & Ethical Hacking From Scratch [Udemy]
- 3. Complete Ethical Hacking Bootcamp [Udemy]
- 4. Wireshark: Packet Analysis and Ethical Hacking: Core Skills [Udemy]
- 5. Artificial Intelligence & ChatGPT for Cyber Security 2026 [Udemy]
- 6. The Complete Ethical Hacking Course [Udemy]
- 7. Learn Ethical Hacking: Beginner to Advanced [Udemy]
- 8. TOTAL: CompTIA CySA+ Cybersecurity Analyst (CS0-004) [Udemy]
- 9. The Complete Nmap Ethical Hacking Course : Network Security [Udemy]
- 10. Introduction to Cyber Attacks [Coursera] - Best Free Course
As featured on Harvard EDU, Stackify and Inc - CourseDuck identifies and rates the Best Hacking Courses, Tutorials, Providers and Certifications, based on 12,000+ student reviews, public mentions, recommendations, ratings and polling 5,000+ highly active StackOverFlow members. Learn more
💻 Which Hacking Course Provider is best for me?
- Udemy and Eduonix are best for practical, low cost and high quality Hacking courses.
- Coursera, Udacity and EdX are the best providers for a Hacking certificate, as many come from top Ivy League Universities.
- YouTube is best for free Hacking crash courses.
- PluralSight, SkillShare and LinkedIn are the best monthly subscription platforms if you want to take multiple Hacking courses.
- Independent Providers for Hacking courses & certificates are generally hit or miss.
💼 What is Hacking used for?
Becoming a professional in security hacking not only provides a better professional career but also can protect your online data and help others to prevent data breaches. ... If you are an ethical hacker, you could prevent such kind of acts, and thereby contribute your part to this society.
📃 Is a Hacking Certificate worth it?
Yes and No. Certified Hacking developers on average make more money. Having a Hacking certificate greatly increases the chance of landing an interview and can open otherwise closed doors. Coursera, Udacity and EdX offer excellent certificate options for impressing your future employers. Eduonix, Udemy and several other providers offer certificates, but they aren't as reputable. If you have a Computer Science Degree, certificates are not as important. Still, many employers won't care about certificates, but rather your interview skills, experience and/or skills assessment.
Sort By:
Provider
University
Tags
Rating
Duration
Difficulty
Publication Year
Language
66 Filtered Courses
Sponsored
Learn Ethical Hacking From Scratch (2025)
4.6
Become an ethical hacker that can hack like black hat hackers and secure systems like cybersecurity experts
Pros
Cons
-
- Every lesson is structured around a real-world example. While theory is covered, students are developing practical skills with this course.
- Course strikes the right balance between theory and examples. Students wont be limited to working within the space of the provided examples.
- Supplemental information is exhaustive. While the course introduces students to the information, the supplemental resources give them the freedom to pursue mastery.
-
- Course starts from a point of no computer experience. Students with IT or computer science backgrounds will be bored through the first 25 percent of the course.
- Difficulty ramps up quickly. It goes from lessons on installing resources to penetrating secure systems within a matter of hours.
- Course requires students to have specific wireless adapters for the lectures that cover WiFi cracking.
Best Paid Course
1 )
The Complete Ethical Hacking Course: Beginner to Advanced! (2017)
4.5
Learn how to do ethical hacking, penetration testing, web testing, and wifi hacking using kali linux!
What You'll Learn
- Answers to every single question you have about ethical hacking and penetration testing from an experienced IT professional!
- Tips for remaining anonymous in hacking and penetration testing activities.
- A guide to using these skills to get a better job and make money online as a freelancer.
- The ability to secure and protect any network from hackers and loss of data.
- A complete tutorial explaining how to build a virtual hacking environment, attack networks, and break passwords.
- Step by step instructions for insulation VirtualBox and creating your virtual environment on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
2 )
Learn Python & Ethical Hacking From Scratch (2025)
4.6
Write 20+ hacking programs to learn hacking and programming at the same time | No prior knowledge required
What You'll Learn
- 180+ videos (25 hours) on Python programming & ethical hacking
- Write over 20 hacking and security programs
- Learn 2 topics at the same time - Python programming & Ethical Hacking
- No programming, hacking or Linux knowledge required
- Write programs in Python 2 and 3
- Write cross platform programs that work on Windows, Apple Mac OS & Linux
- Have a deep understanding on how computer systems work
- Install hacking lab & needed software (on Windows, Apple Mac OS and Linux)
- Start from 0 up to a high-intermediate level
- Learn by example, by writing exciting programs
- Model problems, design solutions & implement them using Python
- Have a strong base & use the skills learned to write any program even if its not related to hacking
- Understand what is Hacking, what is Programming, and why are they related
- Design a testing lab to practice hacking & programming safely
3 )
Complete Ethical Hacking Bootcamp (2026)
4.7
Learn Ethical Hacking + Penetration Testing! Use real techniques by black hat hackers then learn to defend against them!
What You'll Learn
- Learn Ethical Hacking from scratch & All 5 phases of Penetration Testing
- Learn Python from scratch so you are able to write your own tools for ethical hacking
- Setting up your Hacking Lab: Kali Linux and Virtual Machines (Works with Windows/Mac/Linux)
- Create additional virtual *vulnerable* machines that we can practice our attacks on
- Create trojans, viruses, keyloggers for ethical hacking
- Learn how to bypass Firewalls & Intrusion Detection System with Advanced Scanning
- Learn how to crack Wireless Access Point passwords
- Bug Bounty: Discover all types of Web Application Bugs that could cause a threat
- Learn how to gain access to any type of machine: Windows/Linux/MacOS
- Sniff passwords over the local area network with Man In The Middle Attacks
- SQL Injection, XSS, Command Injection and other techniques
- Learn how to trick people into opening your program (i.e Social Engineering)
- Le
4 )
Wireshark: Packet Analysis and Ethical Hacking: Core Skills (2025)
4.3
From basic to advanced network analysis using Wireshark! Ethical Hacking using Kali Linux: Passwords, Security, Protocol
What You'll Learn
- Learn how to troubleshoot networks using Wireshark.
- Capture VoIP, OSPF, HTTP, Telnet and many other protocols using Wireshark.
- Learn how to use Wireshark for Ethical hacking.
- Improve your job prospects by adding Wireshark to your resume.
- Understand and interpret network protocols.
- Hack Network Protocols using Kali Linux
5 )
Artificial Intelligence & ChatGPT for Cyber Security 2026 (2026)
4.5
Master Cyber Security/Ethical Hacking With Artificial Intelligence - Implement, Uncover Risks and Navigate The AI Era
What You'll Learn
- Learn ChatGPT for Cyber Security
- Learn Prompt Engineering
- Use Advanced ChatGPT functionality
- Implement Bypassing ChatGPT filters
- Learn Social Engineering with Artificial Intelligence
- Create a Voice Clone with AI
- Create Deepfake Videos For Social Engineering with AI
- Learn AI Based SIEM
- Learn AI Based Firewalls
- Learn Email Filtering with AI
- Learn AI In Identity and Access Management
- Build an Email Filtering System with AI and Python
- Build a Phishing detection system with AI and Python
- Implement Artificial Intelligence in Network Security
- Using Logistic Regression Algorithm for Network Monitoring
- Create Malware Detection system with AI and Python
- Learn Decision Trees Algorithm
- Learn K-Nearest Neighbors Algorithm KNN
- Learn Data Poisoning Attack
- Cover Data Bias Vulnerability
- Learn Model Vulnerabilities
- Cover Ethical
6 )
The Complete Ethical Hacking Course (2026)
4.5
Protect yourself from hackers & cyberattacks. Learn penetration testing + build security and coding tools with Python.
What You'll Learn
- Kali Linux Tools
- Basic Linux Commands
- Fundamental ethical hacking attacks & protection methods
- Network Fundamentals
- Python
- Writing ethical hacking tools with Python
- Website penetration testing
- Wireless networks penetration testing
- System penetration testing
- Social engineering
- SQL Injection
- SQL Fundamentals
- Man In The Middle Attacks and protection
- Tunneling Services
- Metasploit
- ChatGPT for Pentesting
7 )
Learn Ethical Hacking: Beginner to Advanced (2024)
4.3
Learn ethical hacking, penetration testing and network security skills with our comprehensive course!
What You'll Learn
- Ethical Hacking
- Linux Commands
- Kali Linux
- Creating a Secure Environment
- Footprinting
- Scanning
- Website Penetration Testing
- Wireless Cracking
- Man in the Middle Attacks
- System Hacking
- Python Programming Fundamentals
- Coding Custom Pentesting Tools
- Tips for Building a Career in Cyber Security
8 )
TOTAL: CompTIA CySA+ Cybersecurity Analyst (CS0-004) (2026)
4.5
Ethical Hacking and CompTIA Cyber Security Analyst CySA+ (CS0-004) Exam Prep
What You'll Learn
- Threat hunting
- Data analysis to combat cyber attacks
- Digital forensics
- Securing your network to protect critical data
- Business impact analysis and risk mitigation
- Vulnerability management with networks, IoT, mobile, cloud, and more
- Identity and access management (IAM)
9 )
The Complete Nmap Ethical Hacking Course : Network Security (2020)
4.5
Become an expert in the ethical hacking and network security tool Nmap!
What You'll Learn
- You will become an expert in using Nmap for ethical hacking, system administration and network security.
- Learn how to successfully discover active and vulnerable hosts on a network.
- Discover the secrets of ethical hacking and network discovery, using Nmap on this complete course.
- You will explore the Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE) used for more advanced discovery and hacking. We look at many scripts including those used for brute forcing passwords in email and databases, cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection (SQLi) discovery and other cool Nmap scripts.
- Learn Firewall and Intrusion detection evasion, Nmap output (convert, merge and compare) results, Zenmap (Nmap GUI) and how criminal black hat hackers use Nmap.
- Scan to determine firewall rules while avoiding intrusion detection systems (IDS).
- You will understand how Nmap is used in combination with criminal hacking infrastructures (command and control) servers.
- Import
Best Free Course
10 )
Introduction to Cyber Attacks (2018)
4.6
Partnering with NYU, this Coursera course is designed to introduce newcomers to the basics of common cyber security issues. It covers threats like Trojans, worms and network attacks to give a strong overview of how to understand the essence of cyber security.
Pros
Cons
-
- Course is designed to be the very first step towards a cyber security career, and it delivers on both accessibility and quality knowledge.
- The thoroughness of the course ensures that even students with background knowledge of cyber security will learn something new.
- Allows students to be introduced to complex and challenging ideas without being overwhelming.
-
- Students raring to start fending off cyber attacks will be frustrated with the space and scope of the course. It is only an introduction.
- Some supplemental links are dated.
- Supplemental material is not as accessible as the main course. The reading gets dense.