What Is Training Lab Software?
Mix (16 tools)
- License: 4 open source · 12 proprietary
- Hosting: 4 self-hosted · 12 SaaS · 0 both
Training lab software provides hands-on, interactive computing environments for learners. Unlike traditional LMS platforms (see Learning Management Systems) that focus on course content delivery, video lectures, and quizzes, training lab software provisions actual infrastructure – virtual machines, containers, cloud resources, and network topologies – that learners interact with directly through a browser or remote desktop.
The distinction matters: an LMS teaches you about a technology; a training lab lets you use the technology in a sandboxed, time-limited environment where mistakes have no consequences.
Training lab platforms provide domain-specific capabilities that general virtualization or LMS tools cannot:
- Lab provisioning – on-demand creation of pre-configured environments (VMs, containers, cloud resources) from templates or blueprints
- Browser-based access – in-browser terminals, desktops, and application UIs without requiring local software installation (SSH, RDP, VNC)
- Time-limited sessions – automatic teardown of lab environments after a set duration to control costs and enforce schedules
- Instructor dashboards – real-time visibility into learner progress, environment status, and the ability to assist or take over sessions
- Guided tutorials – step-by-step instructions with validation checks that confirm the learner completed each task correctly
- Skill assessments – challenge-based labs that grade learner actions against expected outcomes (file changes, service states, configs)
- Sandboxed infrastructure – isolated environments that prevent learners from affecting production systems or each other
- Content authoring – tools for instructors to create lab blueprints, write instructions, and define validation scripts
- Environment snapshots – save and restore lab state for multi-session courses or debugging
About this data & disclaimer
The information on these pages was researched by a combination of human review and large language models. This catalogue serves as a reference for the resources, applications, devices, deployment payloads, and other components that the ResorsIT platform integrates, deploys, and manages. To suggest an addition or correction, please contact us. Prepared by Rhodium Systems Inc., author of the ResorsIT platform — a unified IT operations management platform for IT teams and MSPs that integrates a curated suite of open-source, commercial, and SaaS applications into a single system with shared identity, single sign-on, access control, and a common audit trail. This information is compiled on a best-effort basis: it may be incomplete, contain errors, and become out of date as tools, vendors, licences, and features change. Use this catalogue only as a starting point for your own research, and independently verify and review any tool carefully against your own requirements before relying on it.
Comparison
Feature Matrix – Lab Platforms
| Feature | Instruqt | Killercoda | LabEx | Strigo | CloudShare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud VMs | Yes | No* | No | Yes | Yes |
| Containers | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Browser terminal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Browser desktop | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Guided labs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto validation | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Instructor tools | Basic | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Self-paced | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Video conf | No | No | No | Yes | No |
* = pre-configured Ubuntu VMs, not cloud- provisioned
| Feature | Skillable | Appsembler | ReadyTech | Hatsize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud VMs | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A* |
| Containers | Yes | Yes | No | N/A |
| Browser terminal | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A |
| Browser desktop | Yes | No | Yes | N/A |
| Guided labs | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A |
| Auto validation | Yes | No | No | N/A |
| Instructor tools | Yes | Basic | Yes | N/A |
| Self-paced | Yes | Yes | Basic | N/A |
| Video conf | No | No | Yes | N/A |
* = Hatsize acquired by CloudShare; no longer available standalone
Feature Matrix – Infrastructure Tools
| Feature | Guacamole | KubeVirt | Proxmox VE | oVirt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VM management | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Container mgmt | No | No | Yes (LXC) | No |
| Browser access | Yes | No* | Basic** | Basic** |
| Guided labs | No | No | No | No |
| Auto validation | No | No | No | No |
| Instructor tools | No | No | No | No |
| Templates | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Snapshots | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
* = VNC console via virtctl; no browser gateway ** = single-session noVNC; not scalable for lab access
Feature Matrix – Platform-Specific
| Feature | AWS Workshop | MS Learn | GCP Skills Boost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud sandbox | AWS only | Azure only | GCP only |
| Browser terminal | CloudShell | Cloud Shell | Cloud Shell |
| Browser IDE | Cloud9 | VS Code | Shell Editor |
| Guided labs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto validation | No | No | Yes |
| Custom content | Yes | No | Limited |
| Free | Resources* | Yes | Freemium |
| Multi-cloud | No | No | No |
* = platform free; customer pays for AWS resources (or AWS provides credits for events)
Deployment Comparison
| Tool | Type | Self-Hosted | SaaS | Hybrid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apache Guacamole | OSS | Yes | No | No |
| KubeVirt | OSS | Yes | No | No |
| Proxmox VE | OSS | Yes | No | No |
| oVirt | OSS | Yes | No | No |
| Instruqt | Commercial | No | Yes | No |
| Killercoda | Freemium | No | Yes | No |
| LabEx | Freemium | No | Yes | No |
| Strigo | Commercial | No | Yes | No |
| CloudShare | Commercial | No | Yes | No |
| Skillable | Commercial | No | Yes | Yes |
| Appsembler | Commercial | No | Yes | No |
| ReadyTech | Commercial | No | Yes | No |
| Hatsize | Acquired | No | N/A | No |
| AWS Workshop | Platform | No | Yes | No |
| MS Learn | Platform | No | Yes | No |
| GCP Skills Boost | Platform | No | Yes | No |
Licensing Comparison
| Tool | License | Cost Model |
|---|---|---|
| Apache Guacamole | Apache 2.0 | Free |
| KubeVirt | Apache 2.0 | Free |
| Proxmox VE | AGPL-3.0 | Free; optional support |
| oVirt | Apache 2.0 | Free |
| Instruqt | Proprietary | Enterprise pricing |
| Killercoda | Proprietary | Free tier; paid Pro |
| LabEx | Proprietary | Free tier; ~$15–20/mo |
| Strigo | Proprietary | Enterprise pricing |
| CloudShare | Proprietary | Enterprise pricing |
| Skillable | Proprietary | Per-lab-launch |
| Appsembler | Proprietary | Enterprise pricing |
| ReadyTech | Proprietary | Enterprise pricing |
| Hatsize | Proprietary | Acquired (CloudShare) |
| AWS Workshop | Proprietary | Resource costs only |
| MS Learn | Proprietary | Free |
| GCP Skills Boost | Proprietary | Freemium (~$29–59/mo) |
SSO / OIDC Comparison
OIDC is the preferred SSO protocol.
| Tool | OIDC | SAML | LTI | Authentik Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apache Guacamole | Yes | Yes | No | Full OIDC support |
| KubeVirt | K8s* | No | No | K8s OIDC provider |
| Proxmox VE | Yes | No | No | Native OIDC support |
| oVirt | No | No | No | LDAP outpost only |
| Instruqt | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full OIDC support |
| Killercoda | No | No | No | Social login only |
| LabEx | No | No | No | No SSO |
| Strigo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full OIDC support |
| CloudShare | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full OIDC support |
| Skillable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full OIDC support |
| Appsembler | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full OIDC support |
| ReadyTech | ? | Yes | ? | SAML via Authentik |
| Hatsize | N/A | N/A | N/A | Acquired |
| AWS Workshop | Yes** | Yes** | No | Via IAM Identity Ctr |
| MS Learn | Yes** | Yes** | No | Via Entra ID |
| GCP Skills Boost | Yes** | Yes** | Yes | Via Google Workspace |
* = Kubernetes-level OIDC, not KubeVirt- specific ** = indirect; requires federation with cloud provider identity service ? = not publicly documented; contact vendor
Best SSO support: Instruqt, Strigo, CloudShare, Skillable, and Appsembler offer native OIDC/SAML that integrates directly with Authentik. Apache Guacamole and Proxmox VE have native OIDC support for self-hosted tools.
Automated Validation / Grading
| Tool | Auto Validation | Scoring | Challenge Mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instruqt | Yes (scripts) | No | Yes |
| Killercoda | Yes (scripts) | No | No |
| LabEx | Yes | No | Yes |
| Skillable | Yes (scripts) | Yes (%) | Yes |
| GCP Skills Boost | Yes (API checks) | Yes (%) | Yes |
| Strigo | No | No | No |
| CloudShare | No | No | No |
| Appsembler | No* | No | No |
| ReadyTech | No | No | No |
| AWS Workshop | No | No | No |
| MS Learn | No** | No | No |
| Guacamole | No | No | No |
| KubeVirt | No | No | No |
| Proxmox VE | No | No | No |
| oVirt | No | No | No |
* = LMS quiz/assessment only, not lab validation ** = knowledge checks (quizzes) but no lab task validation
Best validation: Skillable and Google Cloud Skills Boost offer the most sophisticated automated validation with percentage-based scoring. Instruqt offers script-based validation without numeric scoring.
Virtual Classroom Capabilities
| Tool | Video | Screen Share | Session Observe | Takeover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strigo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ReadyTech | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CloudShare | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Skillable | No | No | Yes | No |
| Instruqt | No | No | Basic | No |
| Others | No | No | No | No |
Best virtual classroom: Strigo and ReadyTech offer integrated video conferencing with instructor tools. CloudShare provides session observation without video.
Tools
16 tools.
Apache Guacamole
Apache Guacamole is a clientless remote desktop gateway that provides browser-based access to remote desktops and servers via RDP, VNC, SSH, Telnet, and Kubernetes exec.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: direct, docker · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
Appsembler
Appsembler combines a managed Open edX LMS with virtual lab environments, bridging the gap between content delivery and hands-on training.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
AWS Workshop Studio
AWS Workshop Studio (formerly AWS Workshop) is Amazon’s platform for creating and delivering hands-on AWS training workshops.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
CloudShare
CloudShare is a virtual IT labs platform for training, demos, sandboxes, and proof-of-concept environments.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
Google Cloud Skills Boost
Google Cloud Skills Boost (formerly Qwiklabs) is Google’s hands-on learning platform for Google Cloud technologies.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
Hatsize
Hatsize was a virtual lab platform for training, demos, and proof-of-concept environments. In 2019, Hatsize was acquired by CloudShare and its technology and customers were integrated into the CloudShare platform.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
Instruqt
Instruqt is a proprietary SaaS platform for interactive, hands-on technical training labs, provisioning real cloud infrastructure per learner with browser access and automated challenge validation.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
Killercoda
Killercoda is an interactive learning platform that provides browser-based Linux and Kubernetes lab environments.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential
KubeVirt
KubeVirt extends Kubernetes to run traditional virtual machines alongside containers using the same Kubernetes API and tooling.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: direct, k8s · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
LabEx
LabEx is an interactive technical learning platform that provides browser-based Linux lab environments with guided, hands-on exercises.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential
Microsoft Learn Sandbox
Microsoft Learn is Microsoft’s official learning platform that includes free, browser-based sandbox environments for hands-on Azure exercises.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
oVirt
oVirt is an open-source virtualization management platform built on KVM. It provides a centralized web-based management console (oVirt Engine) for managing multiple KVM hypervisor hosts, VMs, storage, and networking.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: direct · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Directory / LDAP
Proxmox VE
Proxmox Virtual Environment (Proxmox VE) is an open-source server virtualization platform that combines KVM hypervisor and LXC containers with a web-based management interface.
License: AGPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: direct · SSO: OIDC
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
ReadyTech
ReadyTech is a virtual classroom and hands-on lab platform focused on instructor-led training (ILT) delivery.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
Skillable
Skillable (formerly Learn on Demand Systems) is an enterprise lab platform used by major training organizations, certification bodies, and software vendors.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
Strigo
Strigo is a virtual classroom and hands-on lab platform designed for instructor-led technical training (ILT) and self-paced learning.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
