CompTIA exam cost calculator

The calculator above gives you a number. Here is what sits behind it, and what it deliberately leaves out, so you can judge whether that figure applies to you.

What the calculator includes

Three lines, no more.

The voucher, at CompTIA's 2026 list price after the June 1 increase: about $274 per A+ exam, up from $265 before that date, and the A+ needs two of them, so roughly $548. Network+ is $399 for a single exam. Security+ is $439, also a single exam.

A possible second attempt, priced at the full voucher again, because CompTIA sells no discounted retake. Tick that box only if you are honestly unsure of yourself. It is the single largest lever in the entire total.

Continuing education, for Security+ only: $50 a year across the three year cycle, so $150. A+ and Network+ also expire after three years and also cost money to keep alive, but we do not have a confirmed 2026 figure for either, so the calculator leaves that line out rather than inventing one.

What it does not include: study materials, which run from nothing to well past $1,000 depending almost entirely on your self control, local taxes, and the discount you would get from an authorized reseller. The calculator quotes list price on purpose. A budget that is pleasantly wrong is worse than one that is boringly right.

How to pay less

Buy from an authorized reseller. Partners routinely list Network+ vouchers around $350 to $365 and Security+ around $350 to $375 as standard pricing, not as a flash sale. Check the seller against CompTIA's partner list first. Bargains found outside it arrive region locked, expired, or fake, and CompTIA will not rescue you.

Check academic pricing before paying anything, if you have a school email. Eligible students get a materially lower rate through CompTIA's academic store, and checking takes five minutes.

Consider the bundle if you are genuinely uncertain. CompTIA sells a Security+ voucher with a retake attached at about $474, which is $35 set against the risk of paying $439 twice.

Or pass the first time. Unglamorous, but it beats every discount on this list combined. Our retake guide has the rules if it happens anyway: no waiting period after a first fail, 14 days from the third attempt onward, full price every single time.

The cost nobody budgets for

Certifications expire. All three run on a three year cycle, and staying certified means collecting continuing education units and paying a renewal fee, or sitting the newest version of the exam again. For Security+ that is 50 CEUs plus $50 a year. There is one route that turns the fee into progress instead of maintenance: earning a higher CompTIA certification pulls the ones below it forward automatically.

Most people budget the exam, pass, and are then surprised in year four. Put the renewal in the plan now, while it is still an abstraction.

Where these numbers come from: the A+ cost breakdown, the Network+ cost breakdown, and the Security+ cost breakdown.