CompTIA A+ Certification (2026): Exams, Cost, Practice Tests and Best Prep

Last updated: 5 November 2026. Exam details, prices and renewal rules read that day on CompTIA’s own pages; course ratings read on each provider’s page. Written by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. See our review methodology.

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CompTIA A+ is the entry-level certification for IT support and help desk work. You earn it by passing two exams, Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202), at $274 each at CompTIA’s US list price. This guide covers the current exam series, the domains and weights, every cost, how to study, where to get practice tests, how renewal works and whether it is worth paying for in 2026.

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See Jason Dion’s A+ Core 1 Course → New to IT? See Google IT Support →

We have not sat this exam ourselves. Everything below comes from CompTIA’s published pages and objectives PDFs and from each provider’s live course page, and we say where a figure is our own estimate or one candidate’s account.

What is CompTIA A+ certification?

CompTIA calls A+ the “industry standard” certification for entry-level IT roles, and says on its A+ page that it “appears in more tech support job listings than any other IT credential.” That is the vendor’s own claim, so weigh it accordingly.

It tests whether you can install and maintain hardware, connect devices to small networks, support Windows, Linux and macOS, apply basic security and work with users. CompTIA’s V15 page names IT support specialist and help desk technician as the target roles. It proves broad entry-level knowledge. It does not prove you have done the job.

Which CompTIA A+ exams are current: 220-1201 and 220-1202

The current series is V15. CompTIA launched it on March 25, 2025 and estimates it will retire in 2028. The older V14 exams (220-1101 and 220-1102) are gone: CompTIA’s A+ page metadata told candidates to “complete V14 before it retires on September 25, 2025,” and its old V14 page now redirects to V15. If a course, book or practice test still names 220-1101 or 220-1102, it was built for exams you can no longer take. Some well-ranked guides still describe the old codes, including Coursera’s A+ article when we read it, so check the code yourself.

Three rules catch people out. Both exams must come from the same version; CompTIA says “no mixing allowed.” You can take them in any order. And passing one exam earns nothing on its own: CompTIA is explicit that Core 1 is the first of two exams required, so budget for both from the start.

CompTIA A+ exam objectives: Core 1 and Core 2 domains

These weights come from CompTIA’s own objectives PDFs for Core 1 and Core 2, read in November 2026. They are free to download, and they are the best study checklist you will find, because every legitimate course is built from them.

Two things stand out. Troubleshooting carries the largest single share of Core 1 at 28%, so memorizing part names will not be enough. And Core 2 gives security the same weight as operating systems, so A+ is far from a hardware-only certificate.

One useful detail from the Core 1 PDF: CompTIA’s six-step troubleshooting methodology appears in the document, but CompTIA states that the methodology itself is not a formal objective and will not be tested. Learn it anyway, because you will use it at work and the exam’s scenarios still assume you can troubleshoot in a job context.

CompTIA A+ certification cost

These are US dollar prices from the buy-now sections of CompTIA’s Core 1, Core 2 and combined pages, read on 5 November 2026 in a logged-out browser session. CompTIA’s site has a country selector, so if you are outside the US, check your own country before budgeting.

If you want CompTIA’s own training for both exams, buy the two-exam product on the combined Core 1 and 2 page instead of two single-exam products. Each two-exam bundle includes two vouchers, each with one retake. The Complete Bundle’s savings cannot be compared directly: the two-exam version pairs CertMaster Perform with Practice, as does the Core 2 bundle, while the Core 1 bundle pairs Learn with Practice.

The bundle most worth a look is Practice and Exam. Two separate retake vouchers at $359 each would come to $718, so the $748 bundle adds CertMaster Practice for both exams for $30 more. Practice costs $279 on its own.

You can pay less than list. Professor Messer’s voucher page showed $245 per A+ voucher against the $274 list price, with Retake Assurance as a $76 add-on, and Dion Training listed its A+ voucher from $246.60. Messer’s terms limit those vouchers to people physically in the US, Canada or a US territory. Vouchers run about 12 months from purchase, and CompTIA’s terms, reproduced on that page, say it is not responsible for vouchers bought through unauthorized resellers. Treat unusually cheap vouchers on marketplace sites as a risk.

A realistic self-funded budget: $490 in discounted vouchers with free videos at the low end, or $548 plus a paid course and practice exams in the middle. We would not start with the $1,293 bundle unless an employer is paying. CertMaster follows the same public objectives as the cheaper options on this page.

CompTIA A+ retake policy: what happens if you fail

CompTIA’s retake policy sets no waiting period between your first and second attempts at an exam. Before a third or later attempt you must wait at least 14 calendar days. You pay the exam price every time, and the policy says CompTIA does not offer free re-tests or discounts on retakes. The paid exception is Retake Assurance, which you buy up front: $85 more per exam from CompTIA’s store.

Is it worth buying? If you are confident in your practice scores, no. If you are new to IT and paying your own way, $85 against a possible $274 is reasonable insurance on the first exam. Once you pass, you cannot retake the same exam code without CompTIA’s consent, so you cannot sit it again to improve a score.

How to get CompTIA A+ certification, step by step

1. Download the objectives for Core 1 and Core 2. Confirm your materials say 220-1201 and 220-1202.
2. Pick one main course and one practice-exam source from the list below. More resources rarely help.
3. Set up a cheap home lab. An old PC, a free Linux install and a virtual machine give you hands-on practice if you lack the recommended 12 months of experience.
4. Take a practice exam early, then study the domains you scored lowest on rather than rewatching everything.
5. Buy your voucher and schedule. You schedule through CompTIA Central and choose a Pearson VUE test center or online testing through OnVUE. CompTIA’s V15 page lists English as the exam language.
6. Pass one exam, then the other. Either order works.

Best CompTIA A+ study guide and courses

We ranked these for one job: passing 220-1201 and 220-1202. All ratings were read live on 5 November 2026. The Dion and Meyers courses named below show a last-updated date of October 2026 and name the V15 exam codes in their titles.

Professor Messer: start here if money is tight

Professor Messer’s V15 video courses are completely free and say they cover every topic on CompTIA’s objectives. The two courses total just under 24 hours. He also runs free monthly live study groups and a pop quiz, and sells optional extras: A+ Core 1 course notes or practice exams at $30 each in PDF, a $50 notes-and-exams combo, and a $119 Success Bundle. We have no affiliate relationship with him and earn nothing from this recommendation. Find him by searching for Professor Messer 220-1201.

The limit is that you only watch. Video alone leaves you short on hands-on practice and exam-style questions, so plan to add a practice-exam source.

Jason Dion on Udemy: our default paid course

Dion’s A+ Core 1 course (198,488 students) and his Core 2 course (110,900 students) are the highest rated of the large A+ courses we checked, on both exams, and Core 1 runs 26 hours. Dion also sells separate six-exam practice sets, which makes it simple to stay with one teacher from course through final review. The tradeoff is length: 26 hours of video on Core 1 before you reach practice exams, so set a weekly schedule before you start.

Mike Meyers and Total Seminars on Udemy: the largest audience

Meyers’ TOTAL: A+ Core 1 has the largest audience here, with 240,573 students and 89,638 ratings, and the Core 2 course has 149,468 students. Ratings sit slightly below Dion’s at 4.6 and 4.5. Core 1 is shorter at 20 hours 38 minutes and includes one practice exam. Choose it if you want a shorter Core 1 course or prefer his teaching style. One caution: the separate Total Seminars Core 2 practice exams on Udemy rate just 3.8 from 2,117 ratings and were last updated in January 2026, so we would buy practice exams elsewhere.

Google IT Support on Coursera: for people starting from zero

The Google IT Support Professional Certificate (2,209,549 enrolled) takes about 3 months at 10 hours a week and requires no experience. Google’s page says it “aligns with the objectives” of A+ and tells you to download the objectives to check you have studied everything, which is a fair hint that it is not a dedicated exam course. Finish it and A+ and you get a joint CompTIA and Google badge. It is included with Coursera Plus ($239 a year, normally $399). Take it if you are unsure IT support is for you, then use an exam course for the final push. Our verdict on Google certificates goes deeper.

Coursera also hosts a Packt specialization for Core 1 (220-1201), three courses over about four weeks at 10 hours a week. It is a reasonable extra if you already pay for Coursera Plus, but it would not be our first choice over the options above.

CompTIA CertMaster: good, expensive, best when someone else pays

CompTIA’s own CertMaster products come in tiers. Perform adds real and simulated labs (30-60 hours), Learn combines lessons and simulated labs (25-40 hours), and Practice is timed exams and objective quizzes (10-20 hours). You get content from the exam’s own publisher and mastery scores that estimate readiness. At $389, Core 1 Learn costs more than three times Professor Messer’s $119 Core 1 Success Bundle. CertMaster Practice, at $154 per exam or $279 for both, is the piece most worth considering if you can pay for only one.

CompTIA A+ practice tests

Practice exams are the most useful spend after your main course, because they show which domains to restudy and get you used to the 90-minute limit. In rough order of cost:

• CompTIA’s free sample questions: 10 questions with an answer key for Core 1 and 10 for Core 2. Too few to measure readiness, but they show CompTIA’s wording.
• Professor Messer: free pop quizzes, plus paid practice exams from $30 in PDF per exam.
• Jason Dion on Udemy: six practice exams for Core 1, 540 questions, rated 4.6 from 1,733 ratings. The Core 2 set rates 4.6 from 753 ratings.
• CertMaster Practice: $154 per exam or $279 for both, with timed exams and objective-level mastery scores.

Performance-based questions deserve separate preparation, because they take longer than multiple choice. One candidate on CompTIA’s CIN community forum wrote that each exam opened with about five of them and that they took about 10 minutes each. That is one account from one sitting, but 90 minutes for up to 90 questions leaves little slack, so decide in advance how long you will spend on one slow task.

Exam dumps and AI helpers: do not use them

Sites selling “real exam questions” and tools promising live AI help during the test will cost you more than the voucher. CompTIA’s Candidate Agreement prohibits brain dump material and lists “utilizing any artificial intelligence (AI) software, program, or application in any way during the examination” as a violation. Consequences can include revocation of that certification and all other CompTIA certifications you hold, plus at least six calendar months without being able to test. CompTIA also uses data forensics and can invalidate scores.

Its unauthorized materials FAQ is clear about what is allowed: your own notes, study groups, and free videos, as long as they do not share real exam questions or answers. Using AI to explain a concept while you study is a different thing from using it in the exam, but do not use it to recreate exam content, which the agreement also bars. If a practice source claims to match the live exam word for word, walk away.

How long does it take, and how hard is it?

CompTIA’s own figures give a usable baseline. It estimates 25 to 40 hours of CertMaster Learn plus 10 to 20 hours of CertMaster Practice for each exam. That is 35 to 60 hours per exam, or 70 to 120 hours for A+. At 10 hours a week, that works out to seven to twelve weeks. Add time for labs and a retake buffer and our estimate for a true beginner is two to four months.

People with IT experience move much faster. Coursera’s guide says experienced candidates may need only a few days of review, while newcomers may need a few weeks or months. The candidate quoted above prepared in about a week and took the exams about seven days apart, but he is an active member of a CompTIA community forum with several certifications to clear, so do not use that as your plan.

On difficulty, A+ is entry level but wide. The challenge is holding nine domains in your head, from printer maintenance to malware removal, and working through performance-based tasks against the clock. CompTIA’s recommendation of 12 months of experience tells you who the exam is written for. If you do not have that, the home lab is what closes the gap.

Does CompTIA A+ expire? Renewal and continuing education

Yes. A+ runs on a three-year cycle, and your expiry date appears on your certificate and in your CompTIA Central account. CompTIA’s continuing education program gives you several ways to renew:

• Earn 20 CEUs (the A+ requirement) from documented activities in your cycle, such as training, related work or other certifications, and pay the $75 CE fee for the three-year period.
• Pass the latest A+ exams, which renews automatically with no CE fee. You must wait for a new series, because you cannot resit the same exam code without consent.
• Earn a higher certification. CompTIA’s renewal table says renewing Network+, Security+, Linux+, CySA+, PenTest+ or SecurityX fully renews A+.
• CertMaster CE, $139 and 8 to 10 hours, renews automatically. There is a catch: CompTIA says it is for people who passed V14 or earlier, and that the course version you were certified under does not count. If you pass V15 now, wait for the next version or use another route.

For most people the practical answer is that moving up to Network+ or Security+ within three years takes care of A+ for you.

Is CompTIA A+ certification worth it? Jobs and salary

For a first help desk job with no IT background, usually yes. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says computer support candidates “may qualify with a high school diploma plus relevant information technology (IT) certifications,” which is the route A+ serves. Even CompTIA is measured here: its own article says A+ can be enough to get a job, but it depends on your experience.

Read these carefully. The BLS medians cover all experience levels, so a first-year help desk hire should expect something closer to the Glassdoor figures or the bottom of the BLS range. Pay also varies by city and employer. And the job outlook is the honest catch: the BLS projects a decline, with all the openings coming from people leaving or moving on. There are still jobs, but this is not a shortage field, and a certification alone will not stand out.

A+ is a good buy if you are changing careers into IT, have no degree or tech experience, or are applying to employers whose listings ask for it. CompTIA names DoD 8140 approved work roles for A+, including technical support specialist, which matters for some government and contractor jobs.

Skip it if you already have a year or more of support work, unless a specific job or employer requires it. Your experience already says what A+ would say, and your exam fees buy more toward Network+ or Security+. Skip it too if you are not sure you want support work at all; try the first course of an entry-level program before spending $548.

CompTIA A+ vs Network+ vs Security+

These three usually come in sequence. CompTIA says A+ builds “the knowledge needed to pursue advanced certifications like Network+ and Security+,” and its certification list ties each to a different job: A+ to help desk support specialist, Network+ to network administrator and Security+ to security analyst.

If you are aiming at cybersecurity, A+ is optional but useful when you have no IT background. Our best cybersecurity certifications guide shows what comes next, and our IT support courses list covers help desk training more broadly.

Frequently asked questions

How much does the CompTIA A+ certification cost?

CompTIA’s US store lists one A+ exam voucher at $274. You need two, one for Core 1 and one for Core 2, so the exams cost $548 at list price. Adding CompTIA’s Retake Assurance raises each voucher to $359. CompTIA’s two-exam bundles with retakes start at $748, which includes CertMaster Practice. Study materials are extra and can be free.

Does the CompTIA A+ certification expire?

Yes. A+ runs on a three-year renewal cycle. To renew with continuing education you need 20 CEUs and a $75 fee for the three-year period. Passing the latest A+ exam or fully qualifying higher-level certifications such as Network+ or Security+ also renews it.

Do you need experience to take the CompTIA A+ exams?

No experience is enforced. CompTIA recommends 12 months of hands-on experience in an IT support role, and its A+ blog says there are no official prerequisites. CompTIA labels CertMaster Learn as needing no prior job-role experience, so beginners can prepare, but they should plan on labs and extra study time.

How long does it take to get CompTIA A+ certified?

Plan on two to four months if you are new to IT and study about 10 hours a week. That is our estimate, based on CompTIA’s figures of 25 to 40 hours of CertMaster Learn plus 10 to 20 hours of CertMaster Practice for each exam. People with IT experience can move much faster.

Is the CompTIA A+ hard?

It is entry level but broad. You have 90 minutes for up to 90 questions, including performance-based tasks, and you must score 675 on Core 1 and 700 on Core 2 on a scale of 100 to 900. The breadth is the usual difficulty: nine domains across hardware, networking, operating systems, security and support procedures.

Is CompTIA A+ worth it for help desk jobs?

Usually yes if you have no IT experience and want a first help desk role, because it gives employers a recognized signal for $548 in exam fees. It is weaker value if you already have IT support experience. It does not guarantee a job, and the BLS projects computer support employment to fall 3 percent from 2025 to 2035.

Can you get CompTIA A+ for free?

The study materials can be free, but the exam vouchers are not. Professor Messer’s full V15 video course and CompTIA’s sample questions cost nothing. The lowest voucher price we read was $245 each from Professor Messer, for US and Canadian test takers, against CompTIA’s $274 list price.

Which CompTIA A+ exams should I take in 2026?

Take the V15 exams, Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202). CompTIA launched them on March 25, 2025 and stated that V14 would retire on September 25, 2025. You must pass both exams from the same version, and you can take them in either order.

Can you take the CompTIA A+ exam online?

Yes. CompTIA says you can take the exam online through Pearson VUE’s OnVUE or in person at a Pearson VUE test center. You schedule either one from your CompTIA Central account.

Are exam dumps or AI helpers allowed on the CompTIA A+?

No. CompTIA’s Candidate Agreement bars brain dump material and any AI software during the exam. Penalties can include revocation of your CompTIA certifications and at least six months without being able to test.

Related guides

• Best IT support courses and certifications
• Best computer repair courses and certifications
• Best CompTIA Network+ courses
• Best CompTIA Security+ courses
• Best cybersecurity certifications, ranked by career stage
• Are Google certificates worth it?

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