About
About CertOwl
CertOwl is a preparation app for CompTIA certification exams. A+ Core 1, A+ Core 2 and Network+ are completely free; Pro unlocks Security+, CySA+ and PenTest+. It runs in seven languages and works offline.
Why it exists
Most certification prep is one of two things: a book you never finish, or a bank of leaked exam questions that teaches you nothing. CertOwl sits between them, with short daily lessons, flashcards on a spaced repetition schedule, and full length exam simulations in your own language.
A+ and Network+ are free on purpose. Those are the exams people take when they are trying to get into IT and have the least money to spend on getting there.
Who builds it
CertOwl is built by elvxdev, an independent app studio. It is a small operation, not a publisher with a content department. Everything in the app and on this site is written and checked in house, which means one email reaches the person who can actually fix a mistake.
How the practice questions are written
This is the part worth being precise about.
CompTIA publishes an exam objectives document for every certification: the list of domains, topics and skills an exam is allowed to test. That document is public and free to download. Our questions are written from it. We take an objective, work out what a technician has to be able to do in order to meet it, and write an original question that tests exactly that.
What we never do is copy questions off a real exam. Recalled exam items sold as PDFs or as "practice tests" are known as braindumps. They are not similar questions, they are the actual items, carried out of the testing room by candidates who memorised them and then resold.
Using them is not a grey area. CompTIA's candidate agreement forbids sharing or using live exam content, and candidates found doing it can have their certification revoked and be barred from sitting future exams. It is also a poor way to prepare: exam question pools rotate, so a memorised answer key stops working the moment the wording changes. Someone who studied the objectives passes either way.
How the blog is edited
The blog exists because a lot of the CompTIA cost and difficulty advice online is out of date or simply invented. Ours follows four rules:
- Every number is checked against a primary source before an article goes live.
- Prices, exam codes and policies are always given with the year they apply to, because they change.
- When something changes, the article is updated and the update date is shown next to the original publication date.
- Every article is published in all seven languages the app supports.
What CertOwl is not
- Not affiliated with CompTIA. We are an independent product, not endorsed, sponsored or accredited by them.
- Not a voucher reseller. We do not sell exam vouchers and we do not book exams. When we quote a price, we are telling you what it costs, not charging you for it.
- Not a promise of a pass. No app can promise that. What we can do is make sure nothing on exam day is a surprise.
Contact
Write to info@certowl.app. Corrections to articles, bug reports and feature requests all go to the same address, and we read every one.