HackerDNA

What HackerDNA is

HackerDNA is a hands-on ethical hacking platform for individual learners. It gives you intentionally vulnerable machines to attack from inside your browser, short courses that explain the theory, and an AI coach that nudges you toward the answer when you get stuck. Its home page headline, "Apprenez le Hacking Éthique en pratiquant pour de vrai" (learn ethical hacking by practicing for real), sums up the pitch: practice penetration testing on real vulnerable machines, from web application attacks to privilege escalation. The site runs in English, French and Brazilian Portuguese.

The home page counts 27,000+ hackers in training and promises new content every day. A recent post on the company's blog describes the catalog as 170+ real-world cybersecurity labs and 30+ courses.

How the labs work

The FAQ defines a hacking lab as an isolated virtual environment containing intentionally vulnerable systems. You use real pentest techniques to find and exploit the flaws, capture flags as proof of a successful exploit, and earn experience points (XP) for each one.

Setup is the part HackerDNA has removed. Kali Linux runs in the browser with 600+ pentest tools preinstalled and nothing to configure, and one click launches a dedicated target machine with a public IP address, ready in 9 seconds according to the home page. The company's own blog stresses that everything, including the target machines, runs in the browser with no VPN and no local virtual machine.

Featured labs show the range of difficulty:

• Capture the Flag 101 (very easy): what a CTF is, and how to find and submit a first flag step by step, with 10,400 solves listed
• Nmap commands lab (very easy): from port scanning to escalating to root, with 1,900 solves
• ClearDesk (medium): exploiting broken access controls
• Hidden CMS Breach (medium): a web and API security lab about finding what is hidden

Labs are organized into learning paths: a beginner path with guided labs, web hacking (SQL injection, XSS, SSRF, authentication bypass), Linux labs (privilege escalation, enumeration, system exploitation), privilege escalation (SUID exploits, sudo misconfigurations and kernel exploits), digital investigation challenges (memory analysis, disk investigation, network traffic analysis) and cryptography. The FAQ lists the skills taught as web application hacking, network penetration testing, Linux privilege escalation, cryptography, digital investigation and reverse engineering, and the blog adds password cracking.

A typical win looks like the terminal demo on the home page: a sudo -l check reveals that the find command can run as root without a password, the learner abuses it to become root, and the root.txt flag is captured. The footer describes the goal as training on production-grade vulnerabilities to speed up a pentest career.

Free resources around the labs

Beyond the lab catalog, the site offers free learning material that does not need a Pro plan. The company's blog links to free hands-on exercises such as Hack the Cookie, in which you decode a Base64 session cookie, edit your role and escalate from guest to admin in a live web app, and the Nmap lab that runs from a first port scan to root access. The resources menu lists a getting-started guide, a CTF for beginners guide, an Nmap cheat sheet, a learning roadmap, free tools and a refer-and-earn program.

Time per lab

The FAQ gives a clear guide to how long things take. Very easy labs take 15-30 minutes, easy labs 30-60 minutes, medium labs 1-2 hours, and difficult labs 2-4+ hours. Challenges are quick 10-15 minute exercises, and a free Daily Hack puzzle offers something small to do each day.

The Hacking Coach

Each lab has an AI tutor, the Hacking Coach, available around the clock. The home page says it reads your lab and points you toward the answer but never hands over the flag. Its sample exchange shows the style: a learner stuck on a login form is asked what the page checks before sending data, realizes the validation is client-side JavaScript, and is prompted to send the request straight to the API instead. The company's blog presents the coach as a way to get hints instead of jumping straight to a published writeup. It is included on the free plan, and Pro raises the allowance tenfold.

Ranks and leaderboard

Progress is gamified. Every flag earns XP, and total XP sets your global ranking among all users. There are 8 ranks, from Rookie through Apprentice, Junior, Senior, Expert, Master and Grandmaster to Legend, and a live global leaderboard shows the top players. Achievements sit alongside the rankings on the free plan.

Plans and pricing

HackerDNA has a free plan and a Pro plan, and no credit card is needed to start.

• Free ($0): access to the free labs, challenges and courses, the Hacking Coach, and global rankings and achievements. The FAQ says the free tier opens many labs, courses and challenges.
• Pro: $10.19 a month billed annually, which the page shows as a 40% saving on the $16.99 monthly price. Pro adds all labs and challenges, all courses with the official solutions, 10x more Hacking Coach, the ATTACK Terminal, and faster, more durable machines.

The plans shown are for individuals.

What learners say

Testimonials on the home page come from a cybersecurity student at ASU, a former red team intern at CyberX who says the platform helps with practicing real scenarios, a cybersecurity engineer who recommends it to beginners and experienced users alike for its interface and range of challenges, and an OSCP-certified professional who praises its challenges for their novel ideas and realistic scenarios. The blog post, written by the HackerDNA team, is candid about its limits: it lists a smaller lab library and a younger platform with a smaller community as the drawbacks.

Who HackerDNA suits and who it does not

HackerDNA suits beginners who want to learn offensive security by doing it. The FAQ says no prior experience is needed and points newcomers to a "Commencer Ici" (start here) section, with courses, AI coaching and step-by-step solutions to carry them from complete beginner to advanced pentester. The browser setup removes the usual first hurdle of building a Kali VM and a VPN connection, and the short lab and challenge formats fit study around a job or classes. Intermediate learners who want realistic web, Linux and privilege escalation practice, with hints rather than answers when they stall, get a lot from the free tier alone.

It is a newer and smaller platform, by its own account, so someone who wants the largest possible lab library or a big community around it may outgrow it. It is also built around individual practice: the pages describe personal plans, ranks and leaderboards rather than tools for training a team.