Quick answers
- How often do you renew?
- Every 3 years, for all Continuing Education (CE) certifications.
- How many CEUs?
- 20 (A+) up to 75 (SecurityX), depending on the certification.
- What does it cost?
- $25/year for A+ and Data+, $50/year for all other certifications.
- Hold multiple certs?
- Renew your highest certification - the lower ones renew automatically, free.
- What if it expires?
- Retake the current version of the exam at full price.
On this page
- How often do you have to renew CompTIA certifications?
- CEU requirements for every CompTIA certification
- The CompTIA renewal pyramid
- Your four renewal options
- CompTIA renewal costs
- Renewing multiple CompTIA certifications
- Cert-by-cert renewal notes
- What happens if a certification expires
- Tracking CompTIA renewals across a team
How often do you have to renew CompTIA certifications?
CompTIA certifications in the Continuing Education program must be renewed every three years, measured from the exact date you passed your exam - not the calendar year. If you passed Security+ on 15 January 2026, your renewal deadline is 15 January 2029.
The CE program applies to all current "ce" designated certifications: A+, Network+, Security+, Linux+, Cloud+, CySA+, PenTest+, Data+, DataSys+, DataAI, Server+, Project+, CloudNetX and SecurityX (which replaced CASP+). This aligns with ISO/ANSI 17024 accreditation standards, which require certification bodies to verify that holders keep their skills current.
Two things reset your three-year clock:
- Completing renewal requirements (CEUs submitted and CE fees paid) extends your certification for another three years.
- Passing a higher-level CompTIA exam renews eligible lower certifications, and their new expiry date aligns with the higher cert's date - three years from the day you passed the new exam.
Older CompTIA certifications earned before 1 January 2011 are "good-for-life" and never expire. Everything earned since then under the CE program follows the three-year cycle.
CEU requirements for every CompTIA certification
The number of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) you need scales with the level of the certification. One CEU roughly equals one hour of qualifying activity.
| Certification | CEUs (3-year cycle) | Annual CE fee | Total fees per cycle |
|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | 20 | $25 | $75 |
| Data+ | 20 | $25 | $75 |
| Network+ | 30 | $50 | $150 |
| Server+ | 30 | $50 | $150 |
| Security+ | 50 | $50 | $150 |
| Linux+ | 50 | $50 | $150 |
| Cloud+ | 50 | $50 | $150 |
| CySA+ | 60 | $50 | $150 |
| PenTest+ | 60 | $50 | $150 |
| SecurityX | 75 | $50 | $150 |
Every CEU activity must meet three requirements: it must be completed within your three-year renewal cycle, at least 50% of the content must relate to the exam objectives of the certification you are renewing, and you must provide supporting documentation (completion certificates, employer letters, publication URLs).
Qualifying activities include training courses and webinars (1 CEU per hour), college courses (10 CEUs per 3-4 credit class), earning other industry certifications (a CISSP or CCNA can cover most or all of your requirement in one go), teaching and mentoring, publishing articles or whitepapers, and up to 3 CEUs per year for relevant work experience.
Not sure how many CEUs you still need or when your deadline lands? Our free CompTIA renewal calculator works it out per certification.
The CompTIA renewal pyramid: one exam renews everything below it
The most efficient renewal path in the CE program is what the community calls the CompTIA renewal pyramid (CompTIA officially calls it the certification hierarchy). Passing a higher-level CompTIA exam automatically and fully renews qualifying lower-level certifications - no CEU submissions, and the CE fees for the fully renewed lower certs are waived.
Pass any tier and every tier beneath it renews automatically.
Here is exactly which exam renews which certifications:
| If you pass | It automatically renews |
|---|---|
| Network+ | A+ |
| Security+ | Network+, A+ |
| Linux+ | A+ |
| Cloud+ | Linux+, Network+, A+ |
| CySA+ | Security+, Network+, A+ |
| PenTest+ | Security+, Network+, A+ |
| SecurityX | PenTest+, CySA+, Security+, Linux+, Cloud+, Network+, A+ |
Some CE certifications sit outside the pyramid: earning or renewing Project+, Server+, Data+, DataSys+, DataAI or CloudNetX does not renew any other CompTIA certification, even though they are all in the CE program.
Two rules worth knowing before you rely on the pyramid:
- The expiry dates align. When a higher cert renews a lower one, the lower cert's new expiry becomes three years from the date you passed the higher exam. If your A+ had 18 months left and you pass Network+ today, both now expire three years from today.
- The higher cert must fully renew the lower one for fees to be waived. If it only grants partial CEUs (for example, some certs grant partial credit toward Cloud+), you still pay the CE fee for the lower certification.
For the security track specifically - which certifications renew Security+, and whether CySA+, PenTest+ or CISSP count - see our detailed breakdown: Which certifications renew CompTIA Security+?
Your four CompTIA renewal options
Earn CEUs through multiple activities
The classic path. Accumulate your required CEUs (20-75 depending on the cert) across training, webinars, conferences, other certifications, publishing, teaching and work experience, then submit each activity with documentation through your CompTIA certification account. Pay the annual CE fee and your cert renews at the end of the cycle.
Complete CompTIA CertMaster CE
CertMaster CE is CompTIA's official self-paced e-learning renewal course, available for A+, Network+ and Security+ (you must have passed a previous version of that exam). Completing it renews the certification as a single activity - no CEU uploads, no separate CE fees for that renewal. For many holders this is the fastest, most predictable route, typically a few hours of coursework. It does not renew any other certifications the way a higher-level exam does.
Pass a higher-level CompTIA exam
Climb the renewal pyramid. You gain a new credential and renew everything below it in one sitting, with lower-cert CE fees waived. This is the best-value option for anyone progressing up the CompTIA ladder anyway.
Earn a qualifying non-CompTIA certification
Certifications from ISC2, GIAC, Cisco, Microsoft, AWS, ISACA, EC-Council and others carry pre-approved CEU values. A CISSP alone grants 50 CEUs - enough to fully renew Security+ and everything below it. GIAC certifications also carry substantial CEU values; if you hold both CompTIA and GIAC certs, a single GIAC renewal cycle can feed your CompTIA renewal too (and you can track both side by side with our GIAC certification tracker).
Retaking the same exam version does not count. You cannot renew by passing the identical exam version twice. If you sit an exam to renew, it must be the current version - or a higher-level certification.
CompTIA renewal costs in 2026
| Renewal path | Typical total cost |
|---|---|
| CEUs + CE fees (A+ or Data+) | $75 in fees + activity costs |
| CEUs + CE fees (all other certs) | $150 in fees + activity costs |
| CertMaster CE (A+, Network+, Security+) | Course fee only, CE fees waived |
| Pass a higher-level exam | Exam voucher (~$250-$500), lower-cert CE fees waived |
| Let it expire and retake | Full current exam price, plus lost certified status in the meantime |
CE fees are due before your expiration date. You can pay annually or pay the full three-year amount upfront, and if you hold multiple certifications you only pay fees at your highest certification level - not per cert.
Plenty of CEU activities are free: vendor webinars, published blog posts, documented work experience and many community events all qualify with the right documentation, so a $150 fee-only renewal is realistic for an organised holder.
Renewing multiple CompTIA certifications
If you hold several CompTIA certifications, you do not renew each one separately. The CE program works on an "intent level" system: when paying fees or submitting CEUs, you select your highest-level certification as your intent level, meet its requirements, and all qualifying lower-level certifications renew automatically alongside it.
Example: you hold A+, Network+ and Security+. Set Security+ as your intent level, earn 50 CEUs, pay $50/year - and all three renew together. Renewing them individually would mean 100 CEUs and triple the fees, so getting the intent level right matters.
The catch is that certifications outside the pyramid (Server+, Project+, Data+, DataSys+) still need their own renewals, and each cert in your stack can have a different original expiry date until an alignment event syncs them. That is exactly the kind of date bookkeeping where a free CompTIA certification tracker beats a spreadsheet.
Cert-by-cert renewal notes
CompTIA A+ renewal
A+ is the cheapest and lightest renewal in the catalogue: 20 CEUs over three years and a $25 annual fee ($75 total). Renewal routes: earn 20 CEUs, complete CertMaster CE for A+, or pass Network+ or any higher pyramid certification, which renews A+ automatically with fees waived. For most A+ holders early in their careers, passing Network+ or Security+ is the smarter move - you advance and renew simultaneously.
CompTIA Network+ renewal
Network+ needs 30 CEUs and $50/year. CertMaster CE is available, and passing Security+, CySA+, PenTest+, Cloud+ or SecurityX renews it automatically (along with A+).
CompTIA Security+ renewal
Security+ requires 50 CEUs and $50/year, with CertMaster CE available as a single-activity option. Passing CySA+, PenTest+ or SecurityX renews it automatically. We have written a full step-by-step walkthrough here: How to renew CompTIA Security+: the complete CEU and renewal guide.
CompTIA CySA+ and PenTest+ renewal
Both require 60 CEUs over three years plus the $50 annual fee. There is no CertMaster CE option at this level, so your renewal options are CEU accumulation, qualifying industry certifications (CISSP, GIAC certs, and others carry pre-approved values), or passing SecurityX, which fully renews both. Note that PenTest+ and CySA+ sit at the same tier - passing PenTest+ does not renew CySA+, or vice versa; only SecurityX above them renews both.
CompTIA SecurityX (CASP+) renewal
SecurityX - the rebranded CASP+ - sits at the top of the pyramid and carries the heaviest requirement: 75 CEUs over three years plus $50/year. Nothing above it renews it, so SecurityX holders renew through CEUs or qualifying expert-level industry certifications. The upside: renewing SecurityX keeps your entire CompTIA stack current in one motion. If you hold a legacy CASP+ certification, it follows the same 75-CEU cycle and renews under the SecurityX requirements.
What happens if a CompTIA certification expires
When your three-year cycle ends without completed renewal requirements, your certification status changes to expired:
- Your Credly badge and CertMetrics record show the certification as inactive.
- You can no longer represent yourself as CompTIA certified for jobs, contracts or compliance frameworks that require an active cert - a hard problem for DoD 8140/8570 roles and client security requirements.
- Lower-level certifications that depended on your expired higher cert are affected at their own expiry dates too.
CompTIA provides only a short 30-day window after expiry, and only for admin: paying outstanding CE fees or uploading CEUs already earned inside your original three-year cycle. You cannot earn new CEUs after your expiry date to catch up. Once that window closes, the only route back is passing the current version of the exam at full price.
The renewal itself is not difficult - the failure mode is simply losing track of the date. Three years is long enough that expiry dates slip out of mind, especially across multiple certifications with mismatched cycles.
Tracking CompTIA renewals across a team
For an individual, one calendar reminder might do the job. For IT and security managers, the problem compounds: a ten-person team can easily hold 25+ CompTIA certifications across every tier of the pyramid, each on its own three-year clock, plus GIAC, Cisco, AWS and Microsoft certs with entirely different renewal rules. One silently expired Security+ can break a compliance requirement or a client contract.
TrackACert solves this for free:
- Every CompTIA cert tracked - A+, Network+, Security+, CySA+, PenTest+, SecurityX and the rest of the catalogue, alongside 80+ other IT certification bodies.
- Automatic expiry alerts by email at 60, 30 and 7 days before each renewal deadline - enough runway to finish CEUs or book an exam instead of paying for a retake.
- Credly import to pull your team's existing badges in seconds.
- Team-wide visibility with a searchable cert directory and skill gap analysis.
Track every CompTIA renewal, free
Automatic email reminders at 60, 30 and 7 days before every cert expires - across CompTIA, GIAC, Cisco, AWS and 80+ more. No credit card, all features included.
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