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PenTest+ vs CEH: format, price and which to pick

By SunTzu, founder of CertOwl • Published August 9, 2026 • 3 min read

A job posting goes up for a junior penetration tester. Halfway down, the requirements line reads "CEH preferred". You have been eyeing CompTIA PenTest+, the maths says it costs a third as much, and now you are wondering whether the cheaper route costs you the interview. That posting is the real battleground of this comparison, so let us take the two certifications apart properly.

What each one is

CompTIA PenTest+ is a vendor-neutral exam about doing the work: planning and scoping an engagement, finding and exploiting vulnerabilities, moving through a network, and writing the report that clients actually pay for. The current version, PT0-003, arrived in December 2024 and folds in cloud targets and AI-assisted attack tooling.

CEH, from EC-Council, is the older name. It certifies the vocabulary and workflow of ethical hacking across a long list of attack types, and its v13 revision leans into AI on both sides of the keyboard. It is the certification non-technical recruiters recognise on sight, and that recognition is its strongest card.

Side by side

The two rows that decide most real decisions are the last three. PenTest+ has no gate: you pay $439 and book. CEH without EC-Council training requires two years of verifiable security experience, an employer attestation and a $100 non-refundable application, and the exam voucher alone costs roughly twice to nearly three times the CompTIA one before any training is added.

What the formats tell you

PenTest+ mixes multiple choice with performance-based tasks, so part of the exam is you doing things rather than recognising them. The CEH knowledge exam is 125 multiple-choice questions; hands-on skills live in a separate CEH Practical, which is a second exam and a second cost. If your goal is proving you can run an engagement rather than describe one, that difference matters more than the logos.

For defence work the choice is often made for you. Both certifications appear in the DoD 8140 framework, and the role you are targeting decides which is listed. We mapped where the CompTIA exams sit in the DoD 8140 guide; check the posting before you spend anything.

The order most people should take

Neither exam is an entry point. CompTIA aims PenTest+ at people with Network+ and Security+ level knowledge plus a few years of hands-on security work, and CEH's own eligibility rule assumes two years in the field. If you are earlier than that, the certification path guide shows the usual ladder, and the same logic we described for the blue-team side in CySA+ vs Security+ applies here: the offensive certifications sit after the fundamentals, not instead of them.

So which one

Choose CEH when a specific job posting, a government contract or your employer's approved list names it, or when someone else is paying for the training bundle. The name still unlocks doors on paper, and that is worth real money in some markets.

Choose PenTest+ when you are funding yourself, when you want hands-on questions in the main exam, and when the postings you care about say "penetration testing experience" rather than a specific logo. You keep several hundred dollars for lab time, which does more for your first engagement than any certificate.

Frequently asked questions

Is PenTest+ equivalent to CEH?

They cover similar territory at a similar career stage, and both appear in DoD 8140, but they are not copies. PenTest+ tests hands-on tasks in the main exam; CEH splits knowledge and practice into two separate exams.

Is CEH worth the extra cost?

Only when the name itself is the requirement. If no posting or contract in front of you says CEH, the extra several hundred dollars buys recognition you may never use.

Do I need Security+ before PenTest+?

There is no enforced prerequisite, but the exam assumes Security+ level knowledge plus real security experience. Sitting it straight after your first certification usually ends in an expensive lesson.