CompTIA Security+ Exam Cost 2026: $439 + How to Pay Less

How Much Does the Security+ Exam Cost in 2026?

A single CompTIA Security+ exam voucher costs $439 when you buy it directly from CompTIA in the US. CompTIA raised prices across its lineup on June 1, 2026, and Security+ moved from $425 to $439. Prices differ in other regions, so check the store for your country before budgeting.

Here is what CompTIA sells today, straight from its US store:

Look closely at the third row. The Practice and Exam bundle costs only $14 more than the voucher-plus-retake, and it adds CertMaster Practice, which sells for $209 on its own. If you were going to buy the retake insurance anyway, that bundle is the best deal on CompTIA's store.

What the voucher covers

• One attempt at SY0-701 (or SY0-801 once it launches, see below)
• 90 minutes, a maximum of 90 questions, multiple-choice plus performance-based questions (PBQs)
• Passing score of 750 on a 100-900 scale
• A certification valid for three years

CompTIA vouchers expire 12 months after purchase and cannot be extended or refunded, so buy when you are four to six weeks from ready, not on day one of studying.

SY0-701 or SY0-801: Does the New Version Change the Cost?

CompTIA lists November 17, 2026 as the launch date for Security+ V8, exam code SY0-801. The English SY0-701 exam retires on June 11, 2027 (August 13, 2027 for the Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai versions). Both run side by side for about seven months.

The price does not change with the version. What changes is your study material: a SY0-701 book will not match SY0-801's objectives, which regroup the content into five domains with Security Operations as the biggest at 27%. A CompTIA voucher can be used for any live version of the exam, but a retiring exam's date overrides the voucher's expiry, so do not plan to sit SY0-701 after June 11, 2027.

In practice: if you are already studying SY0-701 material, finish and sit it. If you are starting from zero in late 2026, pick up SY0-801 resources as they appear.

Study Material Costs

The voucher is the fixed cost. Study materials are where budgets swing from $50 to $1,000. You need four things: one structured course, one book or study guide, practice exams, and some hands-on time for the PBQs.

Video courses: $0-$30

• Professor Messer's SY0-701 course: free, complete, and the most common starting point
• Jason Dion on Udemy: usually $15-$30 during Udemy's frequent sales
• LinkedIn Learning, Pluralsight, CBT Nuggets: subscription platforms your employer may already pay for

Books and study guides: $40-$150

• CompTIA Security+ Get Certified Get Ahead (Darril Gibson, updated by Joe Shelley): a popular single-book option
• CompTIA Security+ All-in-One Exam Guide (McGraw Hill): thorough, with practice questions
• CompTIA CertMaster Study: CompTIA's official study guide, $149

Check your local library before buying. Many carry current certification guides, and a borrowed book costs nothing.

Practice exams: $15-$209

• Jason Dion's practice exams on Udemy: six full exams, cheap on sale
• CompTIA CertMaster Practice: $209 on its own, or effectively $14 inside the Practice and Exam bundle

Take at least three full timed practice exams. When you score 85% or better consistently, book the real one.

Hands-on practice: $0-$200

PBQs drop you into small simulations: read a log, place firewall rules, match attacks to indicators. You cannot memorize your way through them. A free home lab with a couple of VMs works, and browser labs remove the setup entirely. CompTIA's own CertMaster Labs costs $199.

Total Security+ Cost by Study Path

Here is what the full bill looks like for four realistic approaches, using CompTIA's retail prices:

For most people the insured self-study path is the sweet spot: two attempts, an adaptive question bank from the exam's author, and one good book. Bootcamps make sense mainly when an employer pays.

How to Pay Less for Security+

Buy the voucher from an authorized reseller

CompTIA partners sell genuine vouchers below retail. In September 2026, GetCertified4Less listed the SY0-701 voucher at $395 (standard) or $365 (early expiry, must be used by April 30, 2027), and a voucher plus retake at $510. Other partners, including Professor Messer's voucher page, run similar discounts. The voucher works identically; you just pay less.

Use the academic store if you are a student

CompTIA's Academic Store sells discounted vouchers to verified students. You will need a school email or proof of enrollment, and the price appears after verification.

Get your employer to pay

Security+ is one of the easiest certifications to get funded. It appears in the US Department of Defense's DoD 8140 cyber workforce qualification requirements, it is vendor-neutral, and many security job postings name it. If your company has no formal training budget, ask anyway. A short note explaining how it maps to your role often works.

Time your purchases

Udemy courses drop to $15-$20 several times a year, and CompTIA and its partners run promotions around Black Friday and back-to-school. Since vouchers last 12 months, buying during a sale and sitting the exam months later is fine.

Know the retake rules

There is no discount on a second attempt unless you bought retake assurance. You can retake immediately after a first fail; a third attempt requires a 14-day wait. That is why the $140 retake add-on (or the $593 bundle) is worth it for anyone not already scoring well on practice exams.

Renewal: What Security+ Costs After You Pass

Security+ is valid for three years. To keep it active through CompTIA's continuing education (CE) program you need:

• 50 continuing education units (CEUs) over the three years, earned through training, conferences, relevant work, or higher certifications
• The CE fee: $50 per year, $150 per three-year cycle

Two shortcuts exist. Earning a higher CompTIA certification such as CompTIA PenTest+ or CySA+ renews Security+ automatically. And CompTIA's CertMaster CE course ($209) renews it in one go. Let it lapse and you pay for the full exam again.

Is Security+ Worth the Money?

For a first security job, usually yes. The reason is less about what you learn and more about access: many entry-level postings, and a large share of US government and defense contractor roles, name Security+ explicitly. Without it, automated filters drop your resume before a human reads it.

The salary side is real but needs context. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median pay for information security analysts at $129,180 (May 2025), with the lowest 10% under $75,090. Entry-level roles such as SOC analyst sit toward the lower end of that range, but even there a $600 certification pays for itself quickly.

What it will not do is prove you can operate. Hiring managers know Security+ is a knowledge exam. Pair it with visible hands-on practice and it becomes the base for the next step, whether that is CySA+ on the defensive side or a practical offensive certification later.