The SY0-701 version of CompTIA Security+ launched in November 2023, and by spring 2024 Udemy had more than 50 courses claiming to cover it — at prices ranging from $9.99 (during sales) to $129 full retail, which almost nobody pays. Most share nearly identical slide decks, identical section names, and practice questions recycled from older SY0-601 material without meaningful updates. A few are genuinely useful. This guide covers how to tell the difference, what the exam actually requires, and what's worth your time and money when you search "Udemy Security+".
What the Udemy Security+ Exam Covers (SY0-701 Edition)
The SY0-701 revision was substantial — not a minor version bump. Five domains, with significantly different weightings than SY0-601:
- General Security Concepts (12%) — cryptography fundamentals, authentication types, security controls
- Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations (22%) — threat actors, attack vectors, hardening, vulnerability scanning
- Security Architecture (18%) — cloud vs. on-premises, zero-trust models, network segmentation, infrastructure security
- Security Operations (28%) — the heaviest domain: incident response, monitoring, identity management, endpoint security, log analysis
- Security Program Management and Oversight (20%) — governance, risk management, compliance frameworks, privacy regulations
The 701 shift introduced testable zero-trust architecture content, expanded cloud-specific threats, and added operational technology (OT/ICS) security scenarios. SY0-601 retired in July 2024. Any exam taken today is SY0-701 — and any Udemy course last updated before Q4 2023 is studying for the wrong exam, regardless of how its title is labeled.
What Separates Useful Udemy Security+ Prep from Expensive Noise
Udemy does not curate its catalog for accuracy. Anyone can publish a Security+ course with no verification of content against actual CompTIA exam objectives. That puts the filtering burden entirely on you.
The Update Date Matters More Than the Star Rating
A course with 4.7 stars last updated in January 2022 is SY0-601 prep relabeled, not SY0-701 coverage. The "Last updated" date is visible on every Udemy course page — check it before looking at anything else. Stars accumulate over time from students who passed the old exam and left reviews before the certification version changed. Those reviews are accurate for the version they studied, not the one you'll sit.
Practice Questions Are the Actual Product
Video lectures are the cheap part of any exam prep course. What actually predicts pass rates is practice question quality — specifically whether the course includes Performance-Based Questions (PBQs), which require you to configure a firewall, analyze a network diagram, interpret a SIEM log, or walk through an incident response scenario. CompTIA's SY0-701 includes PBQs that no amount of multiple-choice drilling will prepare you for.
Many Udemy Security+ courses include 300–500 practice questions that are 100% multiple-choice. That format doesn't mirror the actual exam. Look for courses that explicitly cover PBQ simulation or that bundle access to a separate practice exam set.
Instructor Credentials: Look Past Enrollment Numbers
High enrollment on Udemy is a function of marketing and pricing strategy, not content quality. Instructors with verifiable professional backgrounds — active CISSP, CISA, CEH credentials, documented security roles — tend to produce more accurate material and push updates when exam content shifts. Instructors without a professional security background can still produce solid courses, but review their curriculum against CompTIA's official exam objectives document (free to download from CompTIA's site) before purchasing.
Price Reality
Udemy's full retail price for Security+ courses runs $79–$129. The actual price, given Udemy's near-constant promotional events, is almost always $9.99–$14.99. There is no quality difference between a course purchased at $10 versus $100 — the platform discounts uniformly across the catalog. Do not buy at full price. If a course shows $84.99, open it in an incognito window or check back in 48 hours.
Udemy Security+ vs. Other Prep Methods
Udemy isn't your only option, and for certain learner types it's not the best one.
- Professor Messer's free video series — free, SY0-701 complete, actively maintained, widely regarded as the most accurate mapping to actual exam objectives. No practice questions included natively, but the companion study guide adds those.
- CompTIA CertMaster — official, expensive ($399+), adaptive learning, includes performance-based question simulation. If your employer will expense it, this is the authoritative option.
- Dion Training practice exam sets — available as a standalone purchase on Udemy for $10–15 on sale. If you already have solid security knowledge and just need timed exam simulation, buying only the practice exam bundle is a smarter spend than a 30-hour lecture package you don't need.
- Cybrary — subscription-based, includes Security+ content, often used by DoD personnel because the platform tracks completion for 8570 compliance reporting purposes.
Udemy's real advantage is cost and lifetime access. A $10 course covering 80% of what you need, supplemented with free resources, is often more practical than nothing — especially when self-funding.
Top Courses on Udemy for Security and Platform Training
The courses below span direct exam prep infrastructure and platform-level tools — relevant depending on whether you're an individual learner or an IT administrator deploying Security+ training across a team.
Udemy Business Onboarding for Admins
Rated 9/10, this course is specifically for IT and L&D administrators setting up Udemy Business accounts — the enterprise subscription tier many DoD contractors and corporate IT departments use to fund Security+ certification at scale. If your organization is paying for employee certifications through Udemy Business rather than individual seat purchases, this covers user provisioning, learning path configuration, license management, and compliance reporting. Relevant for managers responsible for deploying Security+ training across a team, not for individual learners studying solo.
Achieve Udemy Success with Course Marketing
Rated 8.8/10, this is an instructor-side course covering how to build an audience for technical content on the Udemy platform. For cybersecurity professionals who've earned Security+ and are considering turning their exam prep experience into a second-income stream — a legitimate path for credential holders — this covers course marketing strategy, pricing, and platform optimization. Not exam prep, but relevant if certification is a step toward becoming a technical instructor.
How to Create and Sell Courses on Udemy
Covers the full pipeline from content recording to launch strategy for Udemy instructors. Security+ holders looking to create practice exam content, lab walkthroughs, or domain-specific deep dives — areas where the Udemy catalog genuinely has gaps — will find the platform mechanics covered here useful for getting course content in front of a certification-prep audience.
Who Should Actually Use Udemy for Security+ Prep
Udemy Security+ courses are a reasonable choice if:
- You're self-funding and need to minimize upfront cost before the exam
- You have 1–2 years of IT experience and need targeted gap-filling rather than ground-up foundation building
- You learn well from structured video and want to study asynchronously
- You're using Udemy as one layer of prep alongside Professor Messer's series or CompTIA's official objectives document
It's a poor fit if:
- You have no IT background and expect a single $10 course to carry you through the exam without supplemental work
- The course you're considering hasn't been updated since 2022
- You're relying on Udemy's standard multiple-choice question banks without any PBQ simulation
- Your organization has a CertMaster contract or Cybrary subscription you're not using
FAQ
Is there a Udemy Security+ course that actually covers SY0-701?
Yes — several, but verification is required. Check that the course was last updated after November 2023 and that the curriculum explicitly lists SY0-701 domain coverage. Instructors who have historically tracked CompTIA version changes include Jason Dion and Mike Chapple. Avoid anything last updated pre-Q4 2023 regardless of title or star rating.
How long does Udemy Security+ prep take?
Most Udemy Security+ courses run 20–35 hours of video. Including practice question time, expect 60–80 total study hours to pass SY0-701 with no prior security background; less with relevant IT work experience. Udemy's self-paced format typically means 6–12 weeks for working professionals studying part-time.
Can I pass Security+ with only a Udemy course?
Some people do, but the success stories consistently involve supplementing Udemy video with external practice exam sets, direct review of CompTIA's published exam objectives, and at least one full-length timed simulation under test conditions. The PBQ component of the real exam catches candidates who studied only from multiple-choice banks.
Does Udemy Business cover Security+ courses?
It depends on the organization's subscription tier. Udemy Business subscribers access a curated subset of the full catalog — not every course is included. Check with your L&D administrator. DoD contractors may have CertMaster or another CompTIA-approved provider already under contract for 8570 compliance purposes.
What's the real cost of Udemy Security+ prep?
Budget $10–15 for a full lecture course (on sale, which Udemy essentially always is) and another $10–15 for a dedicated practice exam bundle. Total prep cost: $20–30 plus time. CompTIA charges $392 for the exam voucher at full price; approved exam voucher resellers often have 10–15% off codes.
What changed from SY0-601 to SY0-701 on Udemy courses?
SY0-601 retired July 2024. The 701 update added zero-trust architecture as a testable concept, increased cloud security weighting, and introduced OT/ICS security content. Many Udemy courses that were labeled SY0-601 have been partially revised and retitled — check the actual curriculum section breakdown against CompTIA's official exam objectives to verify coverage, not just the headline.
Bottom Line
Searching "Udemy Security+" surfaces 50+ courses; roughly 10–15 are genuinely current SY0-701 material. The exam earns its pass-rate reputation — the 28% weighting on Security Operations and the PBQ format consistently catch candidates who prepared exclusively through definition-heavy video and multiple-choice drilling.
Use Udemy as a cost-efficient starting layer, not a complete solution. Verify your chosen course was updated after November 2023, supplement with Professor Messer's free video series for exam-objective accuracy, and add a separate practice exam package for timed simulation. If you're managing Security+ certification for a team — particularly in a DoD or enterprise context — Udemy Business's admin tooling makes seat management and compliance reporting considerably more tractable than individual purchases at scale.
The certification itself is worth earning: Security+ consistently appears in entry-level and mid-level security analyst job postings, satisfies DoD 8570 baseline requirements at IAT Level II, and provides a vendor-neutral foundation that holds value independent of which platforms or products your employer runs.