CompTIA A+ exam cost in 2026: the real total, not just the voucher
By SunTzu, founder of CertOwl • Published • 4 min read
Quick answer
A CompTIA A+ voucher costs about $274 per exam in 2026, and certification requires two exams, so plan on roughly $548 before study materials. Authorized resellers and academic pricing bring vouchers down, while every retake costs full price.
The number nobody says out loud: getting A+ certified in 2026 costs most people somewhere between $548 and $720 once everything is counted. A breakdown of where the money goes, and where you can legitimately save.
The vouchers (the unavoidable part)
The CompTIA A+ is two exams, Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202), and each needs its own exam voucher. A single A+ voucher was $265 in the US until CompTIA's price increase on June 1, 2026, and it now runs about $274, which puts the pair at roughly $548.
Prices differ by country and currency, so check CompTIA's official store for your region. And prices have been climbing yearly, which leads to an unpopular but true observation: waiting six months to "save up while studying slowly" has repeatedly cost people more than studying faster would have.
A voucher is valid for 12 months from purchase. You book your exam (at a Pearson VUE test center or online proctored from home) any time inside that window.
Retakes: the hidden budget item
Fail an exam and the retake costs the full voucher price again. There are no free retakes and no discounted second attempts. One failed exam adds $274 to your total, which is why the cheapest thing you can do is prepare properly the first time.
The retake rules themselves are mild (no waiting period after a first fail, 14 days from the third attempt onward), and we cover them in detail in the retake policy guide. But the invoice doesn't care about rules. Budget as if you'll pass first try, prepare so that you actually do.
Study materials: $0 to a few hundred
This is the part of the budget you control almost completely.
Free and excellent: the official exam objectives PDF (your study checklist), full free video courses on YouTube covering every A+ objective, and community resources like the r/CompTIA subreddit where thousands of people share what worked.
Cheap: study apps and practice question banks. This is the tier where CertOwl lives, and the entire A+ track in it is free, because the paywall in most study tools sits exactly where a broke career changer is most price sensitive.
Expensive and usually unnecessary for A+: live bootcamps and instructor-led courses running hundreds to thousands. They make sense when an employer pays; self-funded beginners rarely need them for this particular cert.
A realistic self-study materials budget in 2026 is $0 to $100. Spending more doesn't reliably buy a better pass rate. Practice volume and consistency do.
Legitimate ways to pay less
Student discounts. CompTIA runs an academic store with meaningful voucher discounts for eligible students. If you have a school email, check it before paying retail.
Authorized voucher resellers. Several training companies are authorized to sell official vouchers below CompTIA's list price. The word doing the work in that sentence is "authorized": buy only from sellers CompTIA lists as partners. A too-cheap voucher from a random marketplace can be region locked, expired or fake.
Bundles. CompTIA sells voucher bundles with a retake included or with training materials attached. The A+ voucher plus retake bundle sits around $359 per exam, which beats paying $274 twice if you end up needing the second attempt. If you're nervous about first-attempt success, do the math for your case.
Someone else's money. Employers often have training budgets that go unspent because nobody asks. In the US, workforce development programs (like WIOA) and military education benefits routinely cover CompTIA exams. Veterans and service members have several routes for this. Five minutes of asking can save $548.
The bottom line
| Item | Realistic 2026 cost |
|---|---|
| Core 1 voucher | ~$274 |
| Core 2 voucher | ~$274 |
| Study materials | $0 to $100 |
| Retake (hopefully not) | $274 |
| Typical total | $548 to $720 |
Not cheap for someone changing careers, which is exactly the audience the A+ serves. But measured against what it buys you (a first IT job and the salary jump from most non-technical work), it's one of the more defensible investments out there. Just don't donate an extra $274 to CompTIA through an underprepared first attempt.
Test yourself: 3 quick questions
Which connector on a laptop motherboard accepts small SSDs shaped like a thin card, often connected over the NVMe/PCIe interface?
M.2 is a narrow connector that accepts a card-shaped SSD (held by a small screw); M.2 NVMe drives run over PCIe, making them far faster than SATA models. PCIe x16 is for graphics cards, and mSATA is an older, larger format.
When manually configuring email with encryption (SSL/TLS), what are the typical ports for IMAP, POP3 and outgoing SMTP?
Encrypted (SSL/TLS) access uses IMAPS 993, POP3S 995 and SMTP submission 587 (or the older 465). Ports 143/110/25 are the unencrypted versions, and the other combinations belong to different services (RDP, DNS, HTTP...).
An older laptop uses CCFL backlighting. Which component converts the direct-current (DC) voltage into the high alternating-current (AC) voltage needed to light the fluorescent tube?
CCFL backlighting needs an inverter that converts DC voltage into the high AC voltage that lights the tube; a failed inverter gives a dark image. A modern LED backlight needs no inverter, the digitizer senses touch, and the GPU renders the image content.
Score: · Hundreds more with explanations, free in the app: Get CertOwl on the App Store
Frequently asked questions
How much are both exams together?
About $548 at list price, two vouchers at roughly $274 each. Add study materials and the risk of a retake and a realistic budget lands between $548 and $720.
Where do vouchers cost less?
CompTIA authorized reseller partners and the academic store for eligible students. Always verify the seller is authorized before paying.
How long is a voucher valid?
Roughly twelve months, with the exact date shown at purchase. Buy it when your exam date is weeks away, not months.
I built CertOwl to attack the study-materials line of that budget: 3,400+ original practice questions with explanations, daily lessons, and full exam simulations, offline. The A+ and Network+ tracks cost nothing.
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