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CompTIA A+ exam cost in 2026: the real total, not just the voucher

By the founder of CertOwl • July 2026 • 3 min read

The number nobody says out loud: getting A+ certified in 2026 costs most people somewhere between $530 and $700 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. After CompTIA's price increase on June 1, 2026, a single A+ voucher runs about $265 in the US, which puts the pair at roughly $530.

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 $265 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. If you're nervous about first-attempt success, a bundle with a retake can be cheaper than buying a second voucher later. 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 $530.

The bottom line

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 $265 to CompTIA through an underprepared first attempt.