15 Best Penetration Testing Courses for Beginners
We compared 15 Penetration Testing courses currently listed on Coursera and Udemy, priced from $19.99 to $199.99. 2 come from a named university or institution, including University of Colorado System and Johns Hopkins University. They are ordered by our CourseAsk score, which is built from how thoroughly each course describes what it teaches, whether it comes from a named institution, and how it compares on price — not from star ratings, which our course data does not include.
- Courses compared
- 15
- Price range
- $19.99 – $199.99
- Providers
- Coursera, Udemy
- Last updated
- 18 Sep 2026
How these 15 courses were chosen
Every course below is a real, currently listed course from Coursera, Udemy, matched to "penetration testing" by our catalog and ordered by our CourseAsk score. Courses whose own title names the topic rank above those only tagged with it.
The grade on each entry scores how much the provider publishes about the course before you pay — the length and detail of the description, whether it lists learning outcomes and objectives — and whether a named university or institution stands behind it. A is fully documented and institution-backed; E is little more than a title and a price. Courses with almost nothing published are left ungraded rather than marked down, because an unknown course and a poor one are not the same thing.
There are no star ratings on this page — the course feeds we license do not include them, and we would rather leave a column out than fill it with a number we cannot stand behind. What we do have is price: these range from $19.99 to $199.99, as listed by the provider when we last updated the page.
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1
Nmap for Penetration Testing: From Beginner to Advanced
Offered by Packt
Updated in May 2025. This course now features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as yo...
$49.00listed price -
2
![Penetration Testing Basics for Beginners (PTBB) [Arabic]](https://i.udemycdn.com/course/480x270/5680314_1f94_4.jpg)
Penetration Testing Basics for Beginners (PTBB) [Arabic]
تعتبر هذه الدورة بمثابة حجر الاساس و الركيزة الاساسية اللي يتم من خلالها تاكيد و ارساء المفاهيم بشكل مفصل والتي بمجرد الانتهاء منها تكون على اتم الاستعداد لتكملة مستقبلك في مجال امن المعلومات في القسم التي فضلته خلال فتر...
$74.99listed price -
3
Beginners guide to ethical hacking and penetration testing
Hacking (both good and bad) seems to be in the news on a daily basis now. Large data breaches, phishing attacks, voter registration hacked, Smartphones hacked, etc. In this course we go over the basics for ethical hackin...
$99.99listed price -
4
தமிழ் மொழியில் - Penetration testing from Scratch
Penetration Testing from scratch: இந்த வகுப்பு அடிப்படை Linux commands முதல் மேம்பட்ட Penetration testing/hacking நுட்பங்கள் கற்பிப்பதை நோக்கமாக கொண்டுள்ளது . உள்ளடக்கப்பட்ட தலைப்புகள் கீழே உள்ளனSetting Up your Lab...
$79.99listed price -
5
Fundamentals of Computer Network Security
Offered by University of Colorado System
This specialization in intended for IT professionals, computer programmers, managers, IT security professionals who like to move up ladder, who are seeking to develop network system security skills. Through four courses,...
$49.00listed price -
6
An Introduction to Ethical Hacking with Kali Linux
Offered by Packt
This course now features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as you progress through th...
$49.00listed price -
7
Introduction to Ethical Hacking
Offered by Johns Hopkins University
This Specialization is designed for post-graduate students aiming to develop ethical hacking skills. Through three comprehensive courses, you will explore methodologies, penetration testing techniques, and the MITRE ATT&...
$49.00listed price -
8
Security Analyst Fundamentals
Offered by IBM
There are a growing number of exciting, well-paying jobs in today’s security industry that do not require a traditional college degree. Forbes estimates that there will be as many as 3.5 million unfilled positions in the...
$49.00listed price -
9
The Complete Ethical Hacking Bootcamp: Beginner To Advanced
Offered by Packt
Updated in May 2025. This course now features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as yo...
$49.00listed price -
10
Burp Suite Unfiltered - Go from a Beginner to Advanced
Offered by Packt
Updated in May 2025. This course now features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as yo...
$49.00listed price -
11
Ethical Hacking Mastery: Learn Cybersecurity from Scratch
This course is an independent educational program and is not an official course, not endorsed, not sponsored, and not affiliated with EC-Council or any certification body. Any references to ethical hacking concepts are p...
$19.99listed price -
12
Introduction to AWS Pentesting
The AWS Pentesting course is designed to provide learners with the knowledge and skills required to conduct penetration testing on AWS (Amazon Web Services) cloud environments. The course covers various topics related to...
$149.99listed price -
13
Termux Beginner to Beyond
Welcome to "Mastering Termux: Your Portable Linux Environment," an in-depth course crafted for individuals eager to harness the power of Termux, a versatile terminal emulator and Linux environment that runs seamlessly on...
$199.99listed price -
14
Ethical Hacking 2021: Beginners to Advanced level
Ethical Hacking: Beginners to Advanced level.Latest Kali Linux 2020: Hack into systems like a black hat hacker using the best hacking tools.This course is going to highly practical.What we cover in this course:Physical H...
$24.99listed price -
15
Ultimate F5 ASM/WAF Training from Beginner to Expert 2026
I believe my step-by-step training along with the detailed explanation & the Hands on practical demonstration in LAB will help you to understand and gain extensive knowledge about F5 ASM / WAF in detail and will give...
$74.99listed price
Best Penetration Testing Courses for Beginners compared
Prices shown are the provider's listed price when we last updated this page. Confirm on their site before enrolling.
What the prices here tell you
The 15 priced courses on this page run from $19.99 to $199.99, with the middle of the range around $49.00 — a spread of $180.00. That is a wide gap for one subject. A higher price on this page usually reflects who is behind the course rather than how much material it contains, so it is worth opening two or three at different price points and comparing their syllabus before deciding.
Who is behind these courses
These courses come from Coursera and Udemy. The platforms differ in how they sell: some charge once per course, others expect a subscription, and the listed price is not always what you pay at checkout after a promotion. 2 of these are produced by a named university or institution, including University of Colorado System and Johns Hopkins University — which usually means a fixed syllabus and a recognised certificate, rather than an individual instructor’s own course.
Before you enrol
Open the provider’s own page and check three things this comparison cannot tell you: when the course was last updated, what the syllabus actually covers in its later sections, and what recent learners say. Prices shown here are the provider’s listed price when we last rebuilt this page on 18 September 2026 — they change often, and a promotion can move them substantially. We earn a commission if you enrol through our links, which costs you nothing and never affects the order courses appear in.