CompTIA Network+ (N10-009) Exam Cost 2026

01 How much does the N10-009 cost?

The exact number you pay moves around more than it does with single-vendor exams. CompTIA sells direct, but authorized resellers, training partners, and bundle deals routinely land the same voucher anywhere from about $338 to $385. Verified students through the CompTIA Academic Store, plus active-duty military and veterans, can pay meaningfully less. Always price-check a reputable reseller and look for an academic or military rate before you buy at the full counter price.

It is worth being clear about what that ~$369 actually buys. It is one seat for one exam attempt at a Pearson VUE test centre or via online proctoring — not a course, not study material, and not a guarantee of a second try. A voucher is typically valid for around a year from purchase, so you can buy now and schedule later, but do not let it expire unused. If you are weighing the cost, treat the voucher as the floor: the question is not whether ~$369 is worth it, but what the total climbs to once practice and the possibility of a resit are added in, which is what the next section walks through.

02 The true total cost of getting certified

The number on the checkout page is rarely what people actually spend. Once you add preparation and the real-world chance of a resit, the picture for a typical self-study candidate looks like this:

Two things drive the receipt up or down. The first is whether you buy expensive instructor-led training or rely on self-study plus a focused question bank — the gap between those two paths can be several hundred dollars on its own. The second, and bigger, is the resit. Network+ is harder than many candidates expect because it blends straight multiple-choice with performance-based questions that ask you to configure, sort, or troubleshoot in a simulated environment, and those are where under-prepared candidates lose points. Build a home lab from old switches and routers, or use a free emulator such as GNS3 or Packet Tracer, and you de-risk those question types for little or no money. The exact totals will vary with your starting knowledge, but for most self-studiers the realistic all-in lands close to the ~$385 figure above — provided the first attempt sticks.

03 How the price compares across CompTIA exams

The ~$369 puts Network+ mid-ladder for CompTIA. Fees climb roughly with how advanced the cert is, so knowing where N10-009 sits helps you plan a path and budget the whole journey, not just one exam:

04 Every fee, explained

Beyond the headline price, here is every charge you might meet across the life of the certification — including the renewal ones that often surprise people three years in.

The renewal line deserves a closer look, because it is the cost most people forget about when they first certify. Network+ is good for three years from the day you pass. To keep it active you do not retake the exam — you renew through CompTIA's Continuing Education program by earning 30 CEUs across the cycle, by completing a CertMaster CE course that auto-renews on completion, or by earning a higher-level CompTIA certification that rolls Network+ up with it. The CE program carries an annual maintenance fee in the region of $50, so budget roughly $150 over the three years if you renew that way; pricing can shift, so confirm the current figure with CompTIA before you commit. One neat consequence of the roll-up rule: if you go on to pass Security+, that single act renews Network+ (and an A+ underneath it) at the same time, so an active cyber-security learner often never pays a standalone renewal at all.

05 How to spend less getting certified

You cannot wish the ~$369 away, but you have more levers here than with most exams — and the costliest line, the resit, is the one you control most directly.