Web Development
Python
SQL
Data Science
JavaScript
Artificial Intelligence
IT & Software
IT Certifications
Hacking
Arduino
AWS
DevOps
3D Modeling
Graphic Design
Photoshop
Drawing
Digital Painting
UX Design
Business
Data Analysis
Communication Skills
Leadership & Management
Project Management
Human Resources
Digital Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Marketing
SEO
Google Analytics
Branding
Excel
Office Productivity
SAP
PowerPoint
Microsoft Access
SharePoint
Finance & Accounting
Trading & Investing
Accounting
Bitcoin
Personal Finance
Video Editing & Animation
Photography
Adobe Premier Pro
Adobe Lightroom
Personal Development
Productivity
Career Development
Life Coaching
Health & Fitness
Meditation & Mindfulness
Yoga
Music
Music Production
Guitar
Piano
Singing
Language Learning
Teaching & Academics
Engineering
Math
Lifestyle
48 Best VMware Courses & Certificates [2026]
Ranked by Michael Kuhlman, CourseDuck's founder, from student reviews across every provider. How we rank
Our top picks
- Complete VMWare vSphere ESXi and vCenter Administration [Udemy]
- The Complete VMware vSphere: Beginner to Advanced [Udemy]
- VMware vSphere 6.0 Part 1 - Virtualization, ESXi and VMs [Udemy]
- Clear and Simple VMware vSphere 6.5 Foundations VCP - Part 1 [Udemy]
- Clear and Simple VMware vSphere 7 Professional VCP 2V0-21.20 [Udemy]
- VMware vSphere Fundamentals [Udemy]
- Clear and Simple VCTA VMware Technical Associate - vSphere 8 [Udemy]
- Clear and Simple VMware vSphere 6.7 Professional VCP-DCV [Udemy]
- Clear and Simple VMware vSAN 6.7 (Virtual SAN) [Udemy]
- Clear and Simple VMware Certified Associate (RetiredVCA-DBT) [Udemy]
About the best VMware courses
Frequently asked questions
The most-reviewed course in this category is Complete VMWare vSphere ESXi and vCenter Administration by Imran Afzal, with about 14,600 reviews at 4.7 as of October 2026. Next is The Complete VMware vSphere: Beginner to Advanced by Fettah Ben, with about 4,500 reviews at 4.7.
VMware vSphere, ESXi and vCenter administration, building a home lab with VMware Workstation, vSAN, NSX and Horizon, automating with PowerCLI, and VCP and VCTA exam prep. Many courses teach vSphere 6.x, so check the version before you buy.
Paid Udemy video courses include a certificate of completion when you finish; free courses and practice-test-only courses do not. It shows you did the work, but it is not an accredited qualification. For a VMware certification such as VCP or VCTA you pass the official exam; the course certificate is not the certification.
1
Complete VMWare vSphere ESXi and vCenter Administration (2026)
An 11-hour, beginner-friendly walk through ESXi, vCenter, vMotion, HA and DRS, taught from a classroom course, with a huge student base but older 6.5-era screens.
Best for: Newcomers to VMware who want ESXi, vCenter, vMotion and HA explained from the basics, with a GUI-first walkthrough.
-
- Reviewers say Imran explains ESXi and vCenter concepts simply and from the basics
- Covers the full path: ESXi install, vCenter, vMotion, HA with NFS, DRS and datastore clusters
- Quizzes, homework and handouts in most modules give some structure to the videos
- Huge audience: 72,120 students and over 13,500 four- and five-star ratings
-
- Reviewers say the screens are vSphere 6.5, not the version 8 some expected
- Some videos are basic or repetitive, with a few only reading out slide headings
- Home labs can stall on hardware, disk issues or Broadcom's corporate email download rule
2
The Complete VMware vSphere: Beginner to Advanced (2026)
A 12.6-hour, hands-on walk through ESXi 7 and vCenter for working sysadmins, covering home labs, VMs, permissions, virtual switches and shared storage.
Best for: Windows or Linux admins who need to run ESXi and vCenter day to day and want a home lab to practice in.
-
- Starts with a home lab build, so every later exercise has somewhere to run
- Reviewers say the ESXi and vCenter sections are clear, with practical examples from the instructor's field work
- Covers the admin basics in one place: VMs, clones, templates, permissions, standard and distributed switches
- Refreshed in 2026 with a vCenter 7.0.3 install section
-
- The accent and weak captions trip up some students, and a few found the English hard to follow
- No vMotion, HA or DRS section in the syllabus, so it is not full VCP prep
- Light on troubleshooting; some reviewers wanted more real-world admin scenarios
3
VMware vSphere 6.0 Part 1 - Virtualization, ESXi and VMs (2018)
A beginner-paced walk through installing ESXi 6.0, building virtual networks, mounting NFS shares and cloning VMs, with screen demos for each task.
Best for: Admins new to vSphere who want ESXi, networking and NFS basics explained slowly, on a 6.0 environment.
-
- Theory with screenshots first, then demo videos, so menus feel familiar
- Karnis adds tips on what to watch out for, which one reviewer singles out
- 66 lectures on ESXi install and setup give the basics real time
- Reviewers call it well organised and good for absolute beginners
-
- Last updated in 2018 and built on vSphere 6.0, so it feels dated
- Karnis can talk long over sparse slides, which makes note taking hard
- Skips distributed switches and SAN block storage, per one reviewer
4
Clear and Simple VMware vSphere 6.5 Foundations VCP - Part 1 (2024)
A five-hour walk through the four vSphere 6.5 Foundations exam objectives, taught by a VMware Certified Instructor, light on hands-on demos.
Best for: Admins with some VMware exposure who want a clear, concept-first pass through the 6.5 Foundations exam objectives.
-
- Explanations are unhurried, with a pause and repeat on the key points
- Follows the four 6.5 Foundations exam objectives in order, in short lectures
- Covers networking, storage (VMFS, NFS, iSCSI, VSAN) and VM templates in about five hours
- Rated 4.5 across roughly 3,770 reviews, with over 16,000 students
-
- No quizzes or practice tests, and few demos beside the theory
- Storage gets little hands-on practice, which reviewers specifically wanted
- Audio quality varies between videos, and newcomers report gaps in setup guidance
5
Clear and Simple VMware vSphere 7 Professional VCP 2V0-21.20 (2024)
Rick Crisci's vSphere 7 lectures for the 2V0-21.20 VCP-DCV exam, with clear explanations and heavy networking and storage, though one reviewer doubts it's enough to pass alone.
Best for: Working vSphere admins who finished Rick's Foundations course and want a video walkthrough of the VCP-DCV topics.
-
- Rick's explanations are called clear and crisp, and reviewers rate his presentation and demos highly
- Networking section gets specific praise for explaining switches and vNICs and how they talk to each other
- Broad VCP-DCV coverage: storage, security, DRS, HA, upgrades and a Kubernetes section
- Short lectures, mostly 5 to 15 minutes, with over 50 live demos in the vSphere Client
-
- One reviewer says it isn't enough to pass the exam and keeps pointing back to the Foundations course
- Reviewers call the structure jumpy, with some topics deep and others skimmed, plus bloat in places
- No quizzes or practice tests; demos run on vSphere 6.7, and the Kubernetes lectures confuse some
What You'll Learn
- Learn to build a lab environment with a mini PC
- Working with ESXi and vCenter Server
- Installing a control center VM
- Using the HTML5 client and the web client
- Performing a cloning operation and using templates
- much more!
7
Clear and Simple VCTA VMware Technical Associate - vSphere 8 (2026)
A 13-hour vSphere 8 course from a VMware Certified Instructor that starts at zero and covers networking, storage, vMotion, DRS and high availability for the VCTA exam.
Best for: Newcomers to virtualization who want vSphere 8 explained slowly, with demos, before sitting the VCTA exam.
-
- Short lectures with demos in the vSphere 8 HTML5 client keep each topic easy to absorb
- Analogies and a calm pace make abstract layers and networking easy to follow
- Clear English that non-native speakers say is easy to understand
- Updated May 2026, with 65 quizzes and a section on the Broadcom changes
-
- Reviewers want more hands-on lab tasks for students to complete in each section
- One reviewer reports some of the linked outside websites are outdated
- No practice exams are listed, so exam prep needs extra material
8
Clear and Simple VMware vSphere 6.7 Professional VCP-DCV (2024)
What You'll Learn
- Pass the VMware VCP 6.7 DCV exam
- Design and Administer a vSphere 6.7 deployment
9
Clear and Simple VMware vSAN 6.7 (Virtual SAN) (2023)
What You'll Learn
- Configure, Monitor, Optimize, and Design VMware vSAN deployments
- Create shared storage for vSphere Clusters using the local capacity of ESXi hosts
10
Clear and Simple VMware Certified Associate (RetiredVCA-DBT) (2024)
What You'll Learn
- Understand basic vSphere concepts
- Identify VMware vSphere products and their use cases
- Explain datacenter virtualization and compare to a physical datacenter
- Identify challenges that can be resolved by vSphere
- Differentiate features, design objectives, and use cases for vSphere, vSAN, Horizon, NSX, and vRealize.
11
Clear and Simple VMware NSX 6.2 and vSphere Virtual Networks (2024)
What You'll Learn
- Describe basic network concepts such as ARP, MTU, Spanning Tree, Routing, and Switching.
- Understand vSphere networking components and terminology, including Standard and Distributed Virtual Switches, VMNICs, vNIC, and VM Port Groups.
- Understand key concepts related to VMware NSX Switching, Routing, and Security.
- Describe the features of the NSX Edge Gateway, such as NAT, VPN, and Load Balancing.