About 40% of first-time CompTIA Security+ candidates don't pass on their first attempt—a figure that surprises people who assume an entry-level cert is a weekend project. Jason Dion noticed that gap years ago and built his Security+ prep materials specifically around closing it. His Udemy course now has over 400,000 enrollments, making it one of the best-selling cybersecurity courses on the platform. That kind of reach isn't random.
This review covers what's actually inside the Jason Dion Security+ course, how it stacks up against Professor Messer, the Sybex study guide, and CompTIA's own materials, and the honest cases for and against buying it depending on where you're starting from.
Who Is Jason Dion?
Jason Dion is a retired U.S. Navy officer with over 20 years in IT and cybersecurity operations. He founded Dion Training Solutions and teaches primarily through Udemy, where he covers the full CompTIA certification stack—A+, Network+, Security+, CySA+, PenTest+, and more. His credential list is long: CISSP, CEH, PenTest+, CySA+, Security+, Network+, A+, and several others.
His military background matters for understanding the course's tone. He's not an academic—he ran real security programs for real organizations. That shapes how he explains threat modeling, access controls, and cryptography: less theoretical framework, more "here's why this decision matters when you're defending an actual network."
One source of confusion worth clearing up: his company is called "Dion Training Solutions," which causes people to search "Dion Security+" without his first name. The instructor is Jason Dion. Some older forum posts and even aggregator sites refer to him incorrectly. If you've seen "Dion Michelle" cited as the instructor anywhere, that's an error.
What the Jason Dion Security+ Course Actually Covers
The current course targets the SY0-701 exam, which became the only active Security+ version in July 2024. CompTIA restructured the domains significantly with this version, and Dion updated his materials accordingly. The five domains and their exam weightings:
- General Security Concepts — 12%
- Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations — 22%
- Security Architecture — 18%
- Security Operations — 28%
- Security Program Management and Oversight — 20%
Security Operations is the heaviest domain, reflecting CompTIA's shift toward practical, role-relevant content. Dion's course weights coverage proportionally, so you spend more time on what the exam actually tests—not an even split across everything.
Video Lectures
The core video content runs roughly 25–30 hours, broken into short segments of 5–15 minutes each. Dion uses narrated slide presentations—not live terminal sessions or whiteboard walkthroughs. For abstract concepts like cryptographic key exchange or PKI trust chains, this works well. For topics where seeing configuration in action would help (firewall rules, SIEM dashboards), you'll want to supplement elsewhere.
Practice Questions and Performance-Based Questions
This is the strongest part of the Dion package. The Security+ exam includes performance-based questions (PBQs)—drag-and-drop scenarios, multi-select situational questions, and simulation-style tasks that trip up candidates who only reviewed definitions. Dion's practice materials include PBQ simulations that approximate real exam formatting more accurately than most competitors.
His practice exam bundles (sold separately on Udemy) typically include six full-length 90-question exams. That's 540 practice questions at varying difficulty levels, with explanations for both correct and incorrect answers. Exam forums consistently rate Dion's practice tests as harder than the real exam—intentionally so. If you're consistently scoring 80%+ on Dion's tests, you're almost certainly ready to sit.
Supplementary Materials
Depending on the version purchased, the course includes PDF study guides and acronym sheets. Useful for commute review, not the core value. Some editions include access to flashcard decks. These are supplementary, not replacements for working through the video content and practice questions.
Jason Dion Security+ vs. Other Prep Options
The market for Security+ prep is crowded. Here's an honest comparison of the main alternatives:
Professor Messer — Free video series, updated for SY0-701, with paid study group recordings and practice exam bundles (~$50). Messer's free content is genuinely excellent and covers every exam objective. The trade-off: the videos are encyclopedic and reference-style rather than narrative. Many candidates watch Messer to check coverage on specific topics and rely on Dion for their primary instruction.
Mike Chapple & David Seidl (Sybex Official Study Guide) — The official CompTIA-partnered study book. Comprehensive, well-organized, and better for people who retain information through reading rather than video. Chapple also has a LinkedIn Learning course, which is more condensed than the book. Good as a primary source for text-learners; less useful as a standalone for video learners.
CompTIA CertMaster Learn — Official platform, $399 standalone. Includes adaptive practice and some labs. Hard to justify for individuals when third-party options are cheaper and better-reviewed. Makes more sense for organizations purchasing training at scale.
ITProTV / ACI Learning — Subscription-based, $30–50/month. Strong video production, solid instructors. Worth considering if you're pursuing multiple certs back-to-back; expensive for a single certification compared to a one-time Udemy purchase.
Where Jason Dion Security+ lands: for video learners who want one coherent course to follow start-to-finish, Dion is the default recommendation. His practice exam quality consistently outperforms Messer's paid tests in community reviews. If you're budget-constrained, the most common effective combination is Messer's free videos (for initial content exposure) paired with Dion's practice exam bundle (for test readiness assessment).
The case against Dion's full course: if you already have a security background or hold adjacent certifications (Network+, CySA+, CEH), the lecture content will feel slow. Skip to the practice exams in that case.
Who Should—and Shouldn't—Buy Jason Dion's Security+ Course
Buy the full course if: You're new to security concepts, you learn primarily through video, and you want a single structured resource that takes you from zero to exam-ready without having to stitch together multiple free sources.
Buy only the practice exam bundle if: You have security experience or have already worked through another primary resource. Dion's practice tests are widely considered the closest analog to actual exam difficulty and format.
Look elsewhere if: You need hands-on lab practice. Dion's course is almost entirely video and question-based. If you need to actually configure systems, run vulnerability scans, or work through incident response scenarios, pair this with TryHackMe, Hack The Box, or a platform that provides real lab environments.
Top Courses for Security+ Preparation
These are the courses most consistently recommended by candidates who passed SY0-701 on the first attempt.
CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Complete Course & Exam — Jason Dion
The most enrolled Security+ course on Udemy. Best for video learners who want a single, structured path from fundamentals to exam day, with proportional coverage of each SY0-701 domain.
CompTIA Security+ Practice Exams — Jason Dion
Six full-length practice exams (540 questions total) with detailed explanations. Regularly cited on Reddit's r/CompTIA as the most accurate difficulty calibration for the real exam—worth buying even if you use a different primary course.
Professor Messer's CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Study Group
Messer's paid study group recordings offer a different instructional voice and exam-style questions at a lower price point than Dion's full course—useful as a secondary resource or for candidates who want variety in their practice.
Mike Chapple's CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Cert Prep — LinkedIn Learning
Chapple co-authored the official Sybex study guide and brings the same systematic, domain-by-domain structure to video format. A solid option for learners who want the official curriculum perspective from someone who helped write it.
FAQ
Is Jason Dion's Security+ course worth buying on Udemy?
For most video learners, yes—particularly at Udemy sale pricing ($15–20). The course is regularly updated for SY0-701 and covers exam objectives thoroughly. The practice exam bundle is arguably more universally useful than the video course itself, since even candidates who studied elsewhere benefit from Dion's question difficulty calibration.
How long does it take to complete Jason Dion's Security+ course?
The video content alone is 25–30 hours. Add time for practice questions, review of incorrect answers, and re-watching sections on weaker topics, and most candidates spend 60–100 hours total before sitting the exam. Completion time varies significantly based on prior IT experience.
Does Jason Dion cover performance-based questions (PBQs)?
Yes. PBQ coverage is one of the course's strengths. The practice exam bundle includes simulation-style questions that mirror the drag-and-drop and scenario-based formats used in the real exam. Many candidates report that Dion's PBQ practice was the most useful preparation for the questions that caught them off-guard.
Is Jason Dion better than Professor Messer for Security+?
Different strengths. Messer's free videos are encyclopedic and excellent as a reference. Dion's paid course is more narrative and structured for linear study. For practice exams, the community consistently rates Dion higher. A common effective approach: Messer's free videos for initial content exposure, Dion's practice tests for exam readiness assessment.
Does Jason Dion's course cover the SY0-701 exam or the older SY0-601?
Dion has published updated course materials specifically for SY0-701. The SY0-601 exam retired in July 2024, so if you're purchasing now, verify you're getting the SY0-701 version—Udemy listings sometimes surface older courses in search results alongside updated ones.
What certifications does Jason Dion hold?
Dion holds CISSP, CEH, PenTest+, CySA+, Security+, Network+, A+, and several others. His background is active practice in military and government IT security, not just test preparation. That practitioner perspective is noticeable in how he frames threat modeling and risk management topics.
Bottom Line
Jason Dion Security+ materials have the enrollments they do for a straightforward reason: they work. The video course is solid for structured learners starting from limited security background. The practice exam bundle is valuable for nearly everyone, regardless of what primary resource you used—the difficulty calibration is consistently rated as the most representative of actual exam conditions available commercially.
If you're deciding between spending money on the full course versus just the practice tests, lean toward the practice tests if you have any IT background at all. Spend the video course money on a platform with real lab environments like TryHackMe if hands-on practice is what you're missing. If you're genuinely starting from zero with no IT experience, the full Dion course is the right call—it's structured, well-paced, and gives you a realistic sense of where you stand before you pay the $392 exam fee.
Security+ remains a DoD 8570/8140-approved baseline certification required for most federal IT and contractor security roles. That requirement isn't going away, which keeps the credential worth pursuing for anyone aiming at government or defense-adjacent work. Dion's materials are a reasonable way to get there.