Are you looking for the best penetration testing courses online that are worth your time and money in preparing for a certification and a career?
This article will give you the penetration testing training courses you need to succeed as a certified penetration testing professional.
Weβll highlight the 20 best penetration testing courses. Weβve divided them into seven sections: reconnaissance, beginner, social engineering, web application hacking, python, advanced, and red teaming. All of these courses are available for purchase with lifetime access as part of different course bundles.
Without further ado, letβs begin.
- Best OSINT and Recon for Penetration Testing Courses
- Best Penetration Testing Courses for Beginners
- Best Social Engineering Training Courses
- Best Web Application and Bug Bounty Training Courses
- Best Python for Penetration Testing Courses
- Advanced Penetration Testing Training Topics
- Best Red Teaming Courses
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Best OSINT and Recon for Penetration Testing Courses
βIf you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.ββSun Tzu, The Art of War
Before any infiltration operation, you must understand what youβre facing. The following courses will teach you reconnaissance and open-source intelligence (OSINT) for penetration testing.
1. Learn OSINT Techniques From Scratch & OSINT Certification
Requiring no prior experience, this course equips you with essential OSINT skills for ethical hackers, intelligence analysts, security professionals, and anyone interested in gathering information legally, respecting applicable regulations on data collection.
Youβll learn the following (and more) from your instructor, Zaid Al-Quraishi, a seasoned ethical hacker and computer scientist:
- Actionable Intelligence Extraction
- Open-source Data Discovery
- Geolocation Tools
- Reverse Image Search
- Data Leak Analysis
- Advanced Search Operators
This course is ideal for ethical hackers, security professionals, journalists, and anyone keen to learn legal data gathering using OSINT techniques.
Itβs part of the Google Hacking Course Bundle, but it involves more than just advanced Google search techniques for reconnaissance. Click the link above to get lifetime access.
2. What Is Open Source Intelligence: OSINT Tools
Gain hands-on experience with OSINT methodologies to gather information about individuals and companies. Analyze public data and uncover hidden connections using advanced search operators, digital forensics, and intelligence-gathering tools.
Youβll learn the following (and more) from your instructor Serhii Nesterenko, a cyber security consultant and trainer with 20+ years of experience in investigations, OSINT, and cyber security:
- Information Sources
- Individual Tracking
- Social Media Insights
- Relationship Mapping
- Dark Web Discoveries
- Online Privacy Protection
This course is ideal for investigators, security professionals, and journalists, encompassing more than just Google-related techniques.
Purchase it now and gain lifetime access to our Google Hacking Course Bundle.
3. The Complete Nmap Ethical Hacking Course
Designed to take you from Nmap novice to seasoned pro, this comprehensive course in using Nmap for ethical hacking, system administration, and network security covers all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Hereβs what youβll learn from your instructor, Nathan House, who brings over 25 years of experience in cyber security as an advisor to top-tier companies and holds certifications including CISSP, CISA, and CISM:
- Installation, hacking labs, scan techniques, and port selection
- Discovering active, vulnerable hosts
- Service detection, version detection, OS detection, timing, and performance
- Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE)
- Sidestepping firewalls and evasion tactics
- Nmap GUI version, Zenmap
This course is ideal for anyone aspiring to deepen their understanding of network security and penetration testing using Nmap.
Get lifetime access in the Nmap Training Course Bundle.
4. Recon for Bug Bounty Hunting Course
This bug bounty hunting course equips you with vital skills in reconnaissance and advanced ethical hacking techniques. Designed for beginners and experienced professionals alike, youβll learn how to expand targets, discover vulnerabilities, and perform live attacks using real-world examples.
Youβll learn how to do the following (and more) from your instructor Rohit Gautam, an esteemed specialist in network exploitation and red teaming:
- Master Shodan Vulnerabilities
- Wfuzz and FFUF Expertise
- Automated Reconnaissance Tasks
- DNS Dumpster Utilization
- Identify Underlying Technologies
- Visualize Attack Strategies
By the end, youβll be well-prepared to conduct thorough recon and effectively exploit vulnerabilities in live environments.
Grab it, and five other great courses, as part of the Bug Bounty Hunter Course Bundle.
Best Penetration Testing Courses for Beginners
βThe journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.ββLao Tzu
Once youβve got a background in networking and cyber security, here are our top picks for you:
5. Penetration Testing Training for Beginners
This hands-on course introduces the fundamentals of penetration testing, specifically designed for beginners.
Youβll learn the following from your instructor Prof. K, who has over 25 years of experience in technology, network infrastructure, and cyber security:
- Pentesting tools and techniques
- Scoping engagements and reports
- Data gathering with Nmap, WinPEAS, and Recon-ng
- Weakness identification with OpenVAS and ZAP
By building your virtual lab with Kali Linux and other tools, youβll gain the practical experience needed to start a career in penetration testing. Perfect for aspiring ethical hackers and certification candidates.
This course is available for purchase as part of the Nmap Training Course Bundle.
6. Learn Hacking From Scratch: Ethical Hacking Course
This hands-on course provides 135+ videos to take you from beginner to intermediate skill levels. Youβll learn the fundamentals and how to set up a hacking lab environment on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Youβll learn the following and more from your instructor, Zaid Al-Quraishi, an experienced ethical hacker and computer scientist who brings years of practical experience to the course:
- Cracking WEP, WPA, and WPA2 encryptions
- Launching man-in-the-middle and denial-of-service attacks
- Utilizing tools like Metasploit, Aircrack-ng, SQLmap, and BeEF
- Exploiting systems
- Gathering intel through social engineering
- Finding vulnerabilities like SQL injections
- Carrying out reflected and stored XSS attacks
This course is ideal for aspiring ethical hackers, penetration testers, and anyone interested in exploring hacker techniques and defenses.
This is the first course in our top-rated Ethical Hacking Courses Bundle: Learn Hacking for Beginners.
7. Learn Windows and Linux Privilege Escalation Attacks
This course covers essential techniques for identifying and exploiting system vulnerabilities in Windows and Linux to elevate access to root or administrative levels during ethical hacking.
Youβll learn from your instructor, Atil Samancioglu, a seasoned educator with extensive experience, how to:
- Exploit escalation vectors and misconfigured systems
- Prepare for OSCP and other certifications
- Utilize tools like Metasploit and Python payloads
- Perform brute-force attacks and shadow file cracking
- Gain insights into post-exploitation strategies
This course is ideal for aspiring penetration testers, ethical hackers, and anyone preparing for certifications or real-world scenarios where privilege escalation is critical.
Part of our six-course Bug Bounty Hunter Course Bundle, available for a one-time purchase.
8. Top 5 Bug Bounty Tools and Tricks Course
This practical course introduces you to the five most widely used tools in bug bounty hunting, giving you the knowledge and confidence to start testing web applications for real vulnerabilities. With step-by-step demonstrations, youβll learn how to apply these tools in live environments.
Youβll learn the following and more from your instructor, Rohit Gautam, CEO and Founder of Hacktify Cyber Security, whose students rank among Indiaβs top cybersecurity researchers:
- Using Nmap for network scanning and service discovery
- Mastering Burp Suite for web application testing
- Automating directory and file discovery with Dirsearch
- Applying Google Dorks for targeted information gathering
- Leveraging Shodan to uncover exposed systems and devices
- Combining tools for effective bug bounty workflows
Gain hands-on experience identifying and exploiting web application vulnerabilities, making it perfect for beginners.
Get lifetime access to this course in the Bug Bounty Hunter Course Bundle.
Best Social Engineering Training Courses
The following two courses take you from beginner to advanced penetration testing.
βBetter an open enemy than a false friend.ββEnglish proverb
Social engineering differs from traditional penetration testing by exploiting human psychology rather than technical vulnerabilities. It involves convincing someone to willingly grant access to a target environment. Here are courses that teach you how to become a βfalse friend.β
9. Learn Social Engineering Testing From Scratch
Covering information gathering, undetectable malware creation, delivery methods, and post-exploitation techniques, this course prepares you to leverage human vulnerabilities while safeguarding against attacks.
Your instructor, Zaid Al-Quraishi, an accomplished ethical hacker, pentester, and educator, will show you how to:
- Ethically exploit human vulnerabilities for security insights
- Create backdoors and keyloggers across platforms
- Utilize phishing and fake sites for ethical testing
- Practice privilege escalation and maintain access
Learn how to secure systems against social engineering attacks and enhance organizational defenses.Β
This is part of our Ethical Hacking Courses Bundle.
10. Breaching The Perimeter With Enterprise Phishing Training
Ideal for aspiring ethical hackers, penetration testers, and cyber security professionals seeking to learn advanced enterprise phishing techniques.
Hereβs what youβll learn from your instructor, Brandon Dennis, who brings over a decade of Ethical Hacking and Red Teaming experience, guiding you through the complete attack chain beyond basic phishing:
- Advanced Phishing Infrastructure
- Bypassing 2FA
- Python Automation
- Full Attack Simulation
- EvilGinx2 & GoPhish
- Human Psychology in Phishing
- Domain & Email Setup
This hands-on course dives into advanced enterprise phishing techniques, informed by seasoned penetration testers.
Get lifetime access to this in our complete Red Team Hacker Bundle.
Best Web Application and Bug Bounty Training Courses
βEvery fence has a weak spot. You just got to know where to look, right?ββZana Fraillon
Learn how to identify vulnerabilities in websites and web applications and secure them with our top courses below.
11. Pentesting and Website Hacking Course: Learn From Scratch
This comprehensive course walks you through the process of identifying and exploiting common web vulnerabilities, helping you master the fundamentals of website hacking while building practical skills from the ground up.
Youβll learn the following and more from your instructor, Zaid Al-Quraishi, an experienced penetration tester and ethical hacker with years of hands-on teaching experience:
- DNS hacking and subdomain discovery
- Exploiting SQL injection vulnerabilities
- Manipulating session cookies for unauthorized access
- Breaking passwords and authentication flaws
- Exploiting common website misconfigurations
- Launching cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks
- Performing real-world website exploitation
This hands-on course is ideal for web developers, administrators, penetration testers, and ethical hackers who want to understand how attackers compromise websitesβand how to defend against these threats.
Part of our complete Ethical Hacking Courses Bundle, available as a one-time purchase.
12. The Complete Web Penetration Testing & Bug Bounty Course
This in-depth course takes you from beginner-friendly concepts to advanced exploitation techniques, equipping you with the skills needed to test modern web applications and succeed in bug bounty hunting. Youβll not only learn how to discover vulnerabilities, but also how to exploit and report them effectively.
Youβll learn the following and more from your instructor, Atil Samancioglu, a seasoned cybersecurity trainer with extensive experience guiding students into penetration testing careers:
- HTML and PHP injection techniques
- Directory traversal attacks
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) exploitation
- Access control bypasses and IDOR attacks
- Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) exploitation
- SQL injection exploitation and prevention
- Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks
- API penetration testing methods
This course is ideal for aspiring penetration testers, ethical hackers, and anyone looking to break into bug bounty programs by mastering the most common and impactful web application attack vectors.
Purchase it now with our Bug Bounty Hunter Course Bundle.
Best Python for Penetration Testing Courses
βA small key opens big doors.β β Turkish proverb
Python is a vital programming language for penetration testers. Here are our recommended courses for getting started:
13. The Ultimate Python Hacking Course: Beginner To Expert
This hands-on course bridges Python programming and ethical hacking, giving you the practical skills to script exploits, automate tasks, and analyze networks. Youβll start with beginner-friendly coding concepts before advancing to penetration testing projects that mirror real-world scenarios.
Youβll learn the following and more from your instructor, Zaid Al-Quraishi, a seasoned ethical hacker and computer scientist with extensive experience teaching cybersecurity and penetration testing:
- Building Python coding projects for ethical hacking
- Analyzing and crafting network packets
- Applying object-oriented programming (OOP) to hacking solutions
- Developing custom penetration testing tools
- Implementing evasion and bypass techniques
- Setting up and working in a dedicated hacking lab
- Automating repetitive pentesting tasks
This course is ideal for aspiring penetration testers, security enthusiasts, and anyone who wants to harness Python as a powerful tool for ethical hacking.
Check it out in the six-course Complete Python Course Bundle for Hacking and Cyber Security.
14. Ethical Hacking Python Course: From Zero To Mastery
This hands-on course introduces Python as a powerful tool for penetration testing, guiding you through both Python 2 and 3 while teaching essential ethical hacking techniques. Starting with the basics of programming and Kali Linux, youβll progress to advanced topics like backdoors, information gathering, and network sniffing.
Youβll learn the following and more from your instructor, Aleksa Tamburkovski, a cybersecurity professional and educator with practical expertise in Python and ethical hacking:
- Setting up and working with virtual environments
- Mastering Kali Linux basics for penetration testing
- Applying Python for hacking tasks and scripting exploits
- Conducting information gathering and reconnaissance
- Developing advanced backdoors for controlled environments
- Performing network sniffing and packet analysis
- Building hands-on projects to reinforce hacking concepts
Like the previous course, itβs also in our The Complete Python Course Bundle for Hacking and Cyber Security, available for purchase.
15. Windows API Hacking Course With Python
This advanced course teaches you how to leverage Python to interact with the Windows API, manipulate system processes, and build custom security tools. Youβll gain a deep understanding of Windows internals while developing projects that can strengthen your professional portfolio.
Hereβs what youβll learn from your instructor, Brandon Dennis, an ethical hacker and red teamer with over a decade of industry experience:
- Custom Security Tool-Building
- Windows API Interaction
- Professional Portfolio Building
- Deep Windows Internals
- Python to EXE Compilation
- User Impersonation Skills
- Windows Process Manipulation Techniques
- Advanced Token Manipulation Techniques
This course is ideal for penetration testers, ethical hackers, and cybersecurity professionals seeking to advance their skills in Windows exploitation and custom tool development.
Itβs a limited-time bonus course in the Red Team Hacker Bundle, so grab lifetime access now.
Advanced Penetration Testing Training Topics
βA chain is only as strong as its weakest link.β β English proverb
Hereβs our list of advanced penetration testing courses for ethical hackers.
16. How to Hack WiFi and Wired Networks: Beginnerβs Course
Join this beginner-friendly course to learn practical techniques for hacking both WiFi and wired networks. Transition from novice to intermediate as you use advanced penetration testing tools, performing various attacks in a controlled environment.
What youβll learn from your instructor, Zaid Al-Quraishi, an accomplished ethical hacker on the iSecur1ty penetration testing team:
- Pre-Connection Attacks
- Post-Connection Attacks
- Network Traffic Analysis Using Wireshark
- WiFi Hacking: WEP/WPA/WPA2
- ARP Spoofing and Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
- Fake Access Points
Lifetime access to this course is included in the Ethical Hacking Courses Bundle.
17. Cloud Hacking: How to Do Penetration Testing Using the Cloud
This practical ethical hacking course requires no prior experience, but after finishing it, youβll be able to leverage the distributed nature of parallel computing to do penetration testing. It shows you how to use cloud platforms like AWS and set up your hacking environment with Kali Linux in the cloud.
What youβll learn from your instructor, Zaid Al-Quraishi, an accomplished ethical hacker on the iSecur1ty penetration testing team:
- Cloud-Based Phishing
- Cross-Platform Malware Delivery
- Remote System Access
- Command & Control (C2) Servers
- Cloud Infrastructure for Hacking
- Browser-Based Exploits
- Trojan Creation & Payloads
Anyone interested in ethical hacking, network security, cloud infrastructure, red teaming, or defending against data breaches will find this course both engaging and informative.Β
You can explore this and other advanced penetration testing courses in the Ethical Hacking Courses Bundle.
Best Red Teaming Courses
βIf you know the rules well, you can break them effectively.β β Dalai Lama
Red teams test systems' defenses, exploiting vulnerabilities to mimic real attacks and Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs).
These courses offer comprehensive training from beginner to advanced, covering real-world hacking skills, exploitation techniques, Windows and Linux internals, Active Directory, and more.
18. Red Teamer Hacking Course: Learn Ethical Hacking Volume 1
Start with the fundamentals of red teaming and build a solid base across Windows, Linux, and Active Directory. Youβll learn how real assessments are structured and how operating systems actually work under the hood.
Youβll learn the following and more from your instructor, Brandon Dennisβan ethical hacker and red teamer with 10+ yearsβ experience:
- Red vs Blue vs Purple: roles and objectives
- The penetration testing process and workflow
- Windows and Linux essentials for red teaming
- OS internals and how they impact attacks/defense
- Intro to Active Directory: objects, domains, trust
- Kerberos basics for later attack chaining
- Data handling and manipulation fundamentals
This course is ideal for beginners and career-changers who want a rigorous, practical foundation for red teaming and penetration testing.
Purchase it now and gain lifetime access in our Red Team Hacker Bundle.
19. Red Teamer Hacking Course: Learn Ethical Hacking Volume 2
Build on the basics with the network and tooling layer that red teamers rely on. Youβll configure defensive controls to learn how to bypass them, script with Python, and touch low-level concepts youβll use in later exploitation.
Youβll learn the following and more from your instructor, Brandon Dennis, seasoned red team operator and educator:
- Networking fundamentals that matter for attackers
- VPNs, segmentation, and attack surface discovery
- Firewalls in practice: rules, logging, evasion thinking
- Hands-on pfSense configuration (attacker/defender view)
- Python for automation and custom tooling
- Assembly basics to demystify how exploits work
- Defining scope, targets, and rules of engagement
- Reconnaissance methods that set up successful attacks
This course is ideal for students with fundamentals who want to level up into practical networking, recon, and tooling for real red team ops.
This course is included in our Red Team Hacker Bundle, available as a one-time purchase with lifetime access.
20. Red Teamer Hacking Course: Learn Ethical Hacking Volume 3
Move into advanced offensive operations: exploitation, post-exploitation, stealth, and reporting. Youβll chain techniques against enterprise environments and Active Directory while learning how to communicate results professionally.
Youβll learn the following and more from your instructor, Brandon Dennis, OSCP/OSCE/OSWE-certified red teamer:
- Exploitation planning and execution in real scenarios
- Post-exploitation: persistence, pivoting, and data access
- Password cracking and credential abuse in practice
- Covering tracks and operating with stealth
- Reporting that lands: evidence, impact, and fixes
- Active Directory attack paths and lateral movement
- Privilege escalation strategies across Windows/Linux
This course is ideal for aspiring red teamers and penetration testers who want to operate end-to-endβcompromise, persist, pivot, and report like a pro.
Get this course today as part of the Red Team Hacker Bundle and enjoy lifetime access.
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed our long list of the best penetration testing training courses. To broaden your skill set, why not get all the bundles above (and more) in our very own Masterβs Program?
We host courses on a wide array of cyber security topics and an active, thriving community, complete with mastermind groups, mentorships, career and certification roadmaps, and accountability, helping you craft the best trajectory for your cyber security journey.
Whatβs more, for a limited time, weβre offering up to 30% off your next PenTest+, CySA+, or SecurityX exam. Hereβs our CompTIA voucher page, helping you break into penetration testing and furthering your career in a way that literally saves the world. Seize the opportunity now.