Professor Messer and Mike Meyers are the two most-recommended CompTIA instructors. In 2026, both produce thorough A+, Network+, and Security+ courses. The differences come down to delivery style, pacing, and price — not content quality.
Messer is free, tightly organized, and updated quickly when objectives change. Mike Meyers is paid (~$15–25 on Udemy), more entertaining, and stronger on storytelling and analogies. Both pass the exam — the choice is teaching style. Pick Messer if you want organized, no-frills coverage. Pick Meyers if a more energetic teaching voice keeps you engaged. Many candidates use Messer as primary and Meyers as a "stuck on a topic" backup.
Teaching Style: Calm vs Energetic
Messer's style is measured and information-dense. He moves through objectives at a steady pace with minimal tangents. Many candidates describe him as "the textbook in video form."
Meyers is the opposite — energetic, story-driven, and full of analogies. His Udemy A+ course feels closer to attending a live class. Some learners find this engaging; others find the tangents frustrating when they're trying to study efficiently.
Depth and Accuracy
Both teach to the current CompTIA objectives. Meyers occasionally goes deeper on hardware history and "why" explanations. Messer stays tighter to "what you need for the exam."
Neither has notable accuracy issues. If you watch all of either course, you'll know the material at exam-passing depth.
Cost and Access
- Messer: 100% free on YouTube. Optional $25 practice exams. - Meyers: Sold on Udemy ($15–25 on sale, $200 list). Sometimes bundled with practice exams.
For pure value-per-dollar, Messer wins. For Meyers fans, his sale pricing is reasonable.
The Most Common Winning Approach
Many candidates use Messer as primary content and Meyers as a tiebreaker: when a Messer explanation doesn't click, they search the same topic in Meyers' course for a different angle.
That works because the two teaching styles are genuinely different — hearing the same concept explained two ways often locks it in.
Teaching Style: Story-Driven vs Tight Objective Coverage
Mike Meyers leans heavily on storytelling, analogies, and personal anecdotes — his videos feel like a conference talk from an engineer who's seen everything. That works brilliantly for visual learners and people who retain through narrative. Messer is more clinical and exam-focused: he explains the concept, maps it to the objective number, and moves on. If you have unlimited study time, Meyers builds deeper intuition. If you're working backward from an exam date with limited hours, Messer's targeted approach wastes less time. Neither is universally better — match the style to your learning brain and your timeline.
Pricing Model Differences
Meyers operates through Udemy ($15–25 per course on sale) and his own Total Seminars site (subscription bundles). Messer is free with optional $25 practice packs. Per cert, total spend ranges from $0 (Messer free) to ~$25 (Meyers Udemy on sale) to $99+ (Total Seminars bundles). For pure cost efficiency, Messer wins decisively. For learners who specifically need Meyers' teaching voice, the $15–25 Udemy spend is justified — but be disciplined and wait for sales rather than paying list price.
Depth Per Objective
Meyers tends to go longer on individual topics — 20–40 minute videos that fully unpack a concept with multiple examples. Messer is the opposite: short 6–12 minute videos hitting one objective at a time. For genuinely difficult topics (cryptography, subnetting, threat modeling), Meyers' depth pays off. For routine objective coverage, Messer's brevity wins on study-time efficiency. Candidates who use both often watch Meyers on weak topics and Messer on everything else — combining strengths without paying full price for duplicate coverage.
Community Reputation and Trust
Both instructors enjoy strong reputations on r/CompTIA, but Messer has the wider community footprint. His decade-plus consistency and free-access model have built deeper trust signals — more pass posts cite him as primary, and his content is recommended in nearly every "where do I start?" thread. Meyers has a passionate fan base but a smaller one. If you're choosing based on community-validated reliability, Messer is the safer bet. If you've previewed both and prefer Meyers' voice, the $15-25 investment is reasonable.
Pacing and Lesson Length
Messer's videos run lean — typically 5-15 minutes per topic, optimized for skimming and replay. Meyers leans into longer, narrative-driven lessons (often 20-40 minutes) that build context before introducing the technical detail. Lean lessons suit candidates with limited daily study windows or those who want to drill specific objectives. Longer narrative lessons suit candidates who retain information through story and analogy. Try both formats in a single study session — whichever one keeps you engaged through to the end is the right primary resource for your brain. Mixed use also works: Meyers for first-exposure depth, Messer for fast review near exam day.
Note-Taking Workflow Compatibility
Messer publishes free PDF notes that mirror his video curriculum — directly importable into Notion, OneNote, or Obsidian for personal annotation. Meyers' Udemy courses don't bundle PDF notes by default; you'll need to take notes from scratch or buy a separate study guide. For candidates who study by transforming source material into personal notes (a proven retention strategy), Messer's pre-built notes save 10-20 hours per cert. For candidates who prefer audio-first learning and reference questions later, the missing notes are less of a concern. Match the tool to your study workflow rather than the other way around.
Pro Tips
Watch Messer first for the full course, then dip into Meyers only on topics that didn't click.
Don't buy Meyers at full price — Udemy sales drop him to $15 monthly.
For A+, both instructors cover both cores. Pick one and stick with it through Core 1.
Listen to Meyers at 1.5x speed if his pacing feels slow — content is the same.
Cross-reference any topic where the two instructors seem to disagree — usually it's wording, not substance.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Watching both courses end-to-end — doubles your time with diminishing returns.
Paying $200 for Meyers when sales are everywhere.
Picking an instructor based on Reddit popularity instead of trying both for 20 minutes first.
Believing one is "more accurate" — both teach to current objectives.
Skipping practice questions because the videos felt thorough.
There's no objectively "better" instructor between Messer and Meyers — only the one whose teaching voice keeps you engaged for 30+ hours. Watch 10 minutes of each before committing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Neither is objectively better. Pick the teaching style that keeps you engaged. Both consistently pass the exam.
Mostly yes — A+, Network+, Security+ are the overlap. Messer covers a few additional certs Meyers doesn't.
Only if Messer's style doesn't click for you, or you want a second explanation for tough topics.
Roughly 30+ hours across both cores, similar to Messer's total runtime.
Some Udemy bundles include them; others sell them separately. Verify before buying.
Yes — he refreshes Udemy courses when CompTIA updates objectives, though sometimes with a lag.
Only if Meyers' teaching voice clicks better for you on tough topics. Otherwise, save the $15-25 and invest it in a Dion practice pack instead.
Total Seminars bundles add labs and study guides. Worth it only if you specifically value those — most candidates do fine with just the Udemy course.
Yes — many candidates watch Meyers on weak topics for depth and Messer on everything else for efficiency. This combination outperforms either alone.
Related Resources
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