2020 has been a challenging year for many people and many reasons.
However, if we focus in on the cloud and cloud training, it has been a noteworthy year.
Many cloud training providers have provided free content to help those that have been impacted due to COVID-19. While others have simply provided free content to help the wider community. It has been inspiring to see the cloud leaders and community gather together and support one another.
Cloud solutions are continuing to grow at a rapid rate. Cloud Providers like Amazon (AWS), Google (Google Cloud), and Microsoft (Azure) have been continuing to advance and providing leading cloud platforms in the industry.
There are other available platforms such as Red Hat, VMWare, Rackspace, and others that offer platforms or specialised platforms as well.
So with all of these platforms available, there is a strong and rapidly growing need for qualified and educated employees.
Before you start
About this post:
- 5 – 10 min average reading time
- Suitable for beginner through to advanced
What you will gain reading this post:
- A list of recommended cloud training providers
- An understanding of what each cloud training provider offers
- An understanding of which one to choose based on what you need
What you can do to help support:
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Let’s begin.
Disclaimer – I am NOT associated or affiliated with any of the services and/or product mentioned in the post.

This year has been and is continuing to be an interesting one for A Cloud Guru, with the acquisition of Linux Academy and the launch of their new platform.
With the end goal of A Cloud Guru to ultimately provide a single platform supporting most content and features from both A Cloud Guru and Linux Academy, this in turn slightly tweaks my recommendation from being either Linux Academy or A Cloud Guru independently.
Previously I would have advised based on your learning style and features you are seeking to either get an A Cloud Guru or Linux Academy subscription or if you have the finances available then both, you can read about this in a previous post – Best Cloud Training Providers for 2019.
However given that A Cloud Guru now has a new platform, which has a lot of new features and content including those key features from Linux Academy, and because A Cloud Gurus new platform and Linux Academy are both being updated with the same new content.
I believe a single subscription to the new A Cloud Gurus platform is the best option.
A Cloud Guru is a highly recommended cloud training provider, with hundreds of hours of cloud training courses to help you learn and prepare, with a strong focus on certifications.
Pros
- Training for AWS, GCP and Azure
- The training instructors are very knowledgable in their area of focus, and if you have previously purchased courses you have lifetime access to the content
- Supports additional skills like DevOps, BigData, Machine Learning, Security, etc
- Contains exam related courses, practice exam, and cloud provider playgrounds to experience and practice exercises with hands-on labs
- Has quality videos and trainers
- Has a community forum to raise questions
- Provides a 7-day trial (https://acloud.guru/membership)
- Supports grandfather pricing
Cons
- Lack of community slack channel to talk and learn from
- Can be considered costly when you compare to other online course providers.free
- The prices are in USD, EUR, or GBP and the conversion fee adds to the cost, if subscribing outside of the US, Europe or the UK.
Why Choose this provider?
- When you are studying for certifications on AWS, GCP or Azure
- For exploring in-depth technologies, for instance, Kubernetes, Linux etc
- If you want to have a cloud provider playground environment to experiment (very beneficial)
- To be part of a community to talk and learn from
- If you are not running on a budget

Udemy is a popular provider of online cloud training courses as well as many other topics.
It has quite a lot of training material for the cloud, however, it also has a very broad range of topics you can learn about as well.
Pros
- Contains good cloud training courses by excellent training instructors
- Courses can be found at a smaller cost when compared to other training platforms
- Cost of each course is a one-time payment and they are generally heavily discounted
Cons
- Course content can be a hit and miss regarding the quality of trainers
- Good when the target audience is a beginner to intermediate but for professional cloud courses, the course material is generally lacking or can be hit or miss.
Why Choose this provider?
- If you wish to purchase practice exams
- If you have a limited budget
- When targeting an individual certification
Independent Trainers

Pros
- Very knowledgable and talented technical trainer
- High success rate of certification passes
Cons
- Solely AWS focused
- New platform and content resulting in a limited range or courses
Why Choose this provider?
- If you have a dedicated AWS course that you would like to learn well
- If you are seeking a dedicated AWS certification

Pros
- Very knowledgable and talented technical trainer
Cons
- Solely GCP focused
- New platform and content resulting in a limited range or courses
Why Choose this provider?
- If you have a dedicated GCP course that you would like to learn well
- If you are seeking a dedicated GCP certification
Recommendation
I would highly recommend that you have obtained a subscription to the popular instructor-led cloud training provider A Cloud Guru.
It is recommended to make use of the 7 days trial to validate what you get out of the platform and is fantastic for anyone seeking a continuous learning experience and values a deep-dive on topics.
If you are purely focusing on certifications, I recommend that you also purchase certification practice tests from the other training providers.
I have found them to be much closer aligned to the actual exams than the practice tests supplied from the popular instructor-led cloud training providers.
- For GCP I recommend the practice tests from Braincert, you can find the links for this in my previous post – How I Passed my GCP Professional Cloud Architect Exam
- For AWS I recommend the practice tests from Jon Bonso or training material from Stephane Maarek in Udemy. Additionally you could follow my approach from my previous post – How I Passed my AWS Certified Solution Architect Associate Exam
- Finally for AWS, GCP or Azure study material that I have used to pass my certifications, you can find the links for this in my previous post – AWS, GCP, Azure certification study material
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