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Do you need the A+ before the Network+? (No, but read this first)

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

Officially: no. The CompTIA Network+ has no prerequisites. Nobody checks for an A+ certificate when you book it, and skipping straight to Network+ is completely allowed.

Whether it's smart depends on who you are, so let's sort that out, and then look at what the Network+ involves in 2026.

CompTIA's certs are a path, not a ladder

CompTIA describes A+, Network+ and Security+ as a recommended progression, and the recommendation makes sense pedagogically: hardware and OS basics, then networking, then security built on both. But it's a suggestion, not a rule. Every exam stands alone, and hiring managers care about the cert you hold, not the order you earned them in.

Who can safely skip the A+

You already work in IT. A year on a help desk teaches most of what the A+ certifies. Getting certified in things your resume already proves is a $530 souvenir; put that money toward the cert that adds new signal.

You're aiming at networking specifically. Future network technicians and engineers sometimes go A+ then Network+ then CCNA, but if networking is the clear goal and you have some technical footing, starting at Network+ (or even CCNA) is a legitimate shortcut.

You have a technical degree or serious hobby background. If subnetting doesn't scare you and you know why DNS matters, the A+ will mostly bore you. Jump ahead.

Who should do the A+ first anyway

True beginners. The Network+ assumes you're comfortable with what devices, operating systems and basic infrastructure are. It moves faster and goes deeper than the A+ networking domain. Beginners who skip straight to it usually end up backfilling A+ material mid-study anyway, just without a plan.

Career changers who need a job soon. One practical argument outweighs everything: entry level IT job listings ask for the A+ far more often than the Network+. If the goal is escaping your current field this year, the A+ opens the help desk door, and the help desk pays for the rest of the journey. The Network+ then becomes your promotion cert instead of your entry cert.

What the Network+ looks like in 2026

Current version: N10-009, released mid-2024.

• Questions: up to 90, mixing multiple choice and performance-based questions
• Time: 90 minutes
• Passing score: 720 on the 100 to 900 scale (higher bar than either A+ exam)
• Price: $399 in the US after the June 2026 price increase
• Valid for: 3 years, renewable through continuing education

Content-wise it covers networking concepts (the OSI model lives here, and yes, you'll memorize it), network implementation, operations and monitoring, network security fundamentals, and troubleshooting, which carries the most weight. Expect subnetting, VLANs, routing concepts, wireless standards and a long list of protocols with their port numbers.

If you've done the A+, the overlap is real but shallow: the A+ networking domain is roughly the shallow end of the Network+ pool. Budget similar study patterns but expect the material to demand more genuine understanding and less pure memorization.

Does the pair matter more than either alone?

For entry level roles, A+ plus Network+ is a strong combination that signals you can support machines and understand the network they live on. It's also the natural runway toward the CompTIA Security+, which is where salaries and government job requirements start getting interesting, thanks to US Department of Defense rules that mandate certifications for security roles. More on that in the Security+ guide.

Where that leaves you: skipping the A+ is fine when your background covers it. If you're not sure whether your background covers it, it probably doesn't, and that's fine too. Start where you'll actually learn.