CompTIA Security+ Renewal: Requirements & Costs (2026)

Quick Answer

CompTIA Security+ is valid for three years from the date you pass. To renew it you either earn continuing education units through the CompTIA Continuing Education program and pay the annual CE fee, or you pass a higher-level qualifying certification, which renews Security+ automatically. Most holders take the CEU route because it costs less than re-sitting an exam and the qualifying activities are things working professionals already do.

Validity Period

3 Years

Renewal Route

CEUs or Higher Cert

CE Fee

Annual, per CompTIA

Grace After Expiry

None — must retake

How Security+ Renewal Actually Works

Security+ carries a three-year validity period that begins the day you pass, not the day your certificate arrives. During that window you have two ways to extend it.

The first is the CompTIA Continuing Education program. You accumulate continuing education units through approved activities, log them in your CompTIA account, and pay the CE fee. When you have enough units logged and the fee is current, your certification renews for another three years from the original expiry date — you do not lose time by renewing early.

The second is certification-based renewal. Passing a qualifying higher-level certification renews Security+ automatically, with no CEU logging required. This is the route most people take if they were planning to advance anyway, because one exam handles both goals.

There is a third path people forget: re-taking the current version of the Security+ exam itself. It always works, but it is usually the most expensive and time-consuming option, so treat it as the fallback rather than the plan.

Whichever route you use, the responsibility for tracking is yours. CompTIA sends reminders, but the renewal deadline does not move and there is no automatic extension.

What Counts as a CEU

The CE program accepts a wide range of activities, and each has a unit value and usually a cap on how much of your total requirement it can satisfy. The categories generally available include:

Higher-level or related certifications — earning another industry certification contributes units, and higher-level ones may renew the certification outright.

Training courses and industry seminars — instructor-led or self-paced training with a documented completion record. Conference attendance falls here too.

Publishing and content creation — writing articles, books, blog posts, or developing training material on relevant topics, with evidence of publication.

Teaching and presenting — delivering training or presenting at industry events, typically with a higher unit value than attending.

Relevant work experience — documented on-the-job experience in the certification's subject area, usually capped at a portion of the total requirement.

College coursework — completed courses in a related field.

The recurring theme is documentation. Every submission needs evidence: a certificate of completion, a syllabus, a published link, an employer letter. Candidates who lose renewals almost always did qualifying activities but kept no proof. Start a folder on day one of your three-year window and drop the evidence in as it happens rather than reconstructing three years of history in the final month.

Unit values, category caps, and the total number of units required are published by CompTIA and vary by certification level, so confirm the current numbers in your account before assuming an activity covers what you need.

The Real Cost of Renewing

There are two cost components and people frequently only budget for one.

The first is the CE program fee. CompTIA charges an annual fee to maintain certifications in the CE program, and it scales with the level of the certification you hold. If you hold multiple CompTIA certifications, the higher-level one typically covers the ones beneath it — meaning a Security+ holder who later earns a higher CompTIA certification usually pays a single fee rather than one per certification. This is the single biggest cost saving available and it is routinely missed.

The second is the cost of the qualifying activities themselves. This ranges from zero to substantial depending on how you approach it. Free or near-free routes include employer-provided training, free vendor courses with completion certificates, documented work experience, and writing or presenting. Expensive routes include paid conferences and commercial training courses.

Compare that against the fallback: re-sitting the Security+ exam at full voucher price, plus the study time. For most people the CE route is dramatically cheaper, which is why the exam retake is a fallback rather than a strategy.

One planning note: the CE fee and the CEU requirement are separate obligations. Paying the fee without logging units does not renew you, and logging units without a current fee does not either. Both must be satisfied before the expiry date.

What Happens If You Let It Expire

If the three-year window closes without renewal, the certification becomes inactive. You cannot log CEUs retroactively to revive it, and there is no grace period that lets you catch up after the fact. The only way back is to pass the current version of the exam again.

That is worse than it sounds, because the current version will not be the one you studied. CompTIA revises Security+ periodically, so a lapsed holder returning two years later faces new content, restructured domains, and a fresh study cycle — on top of the exam fee.

There is also a professional cost. Roles and contracts that require an active Security+ typically verify status through CompTIA's verification service, which shows current state rather than history. An expired certification does not satisfy those requirements, and in environments with mandated certification baselines, lapsing can have immediate employment consequences.

The avoidance strategy is unglamorous: set two calendar reminders, one at eighteen months and one at thirty months from your pass date. At eighteen months, review how many units you have logged and whether you are on pace. At thirty months, finish whatever is outstanding. Handling it in two short sessions is far easier than a panic in month thirty-five.

Choosing the Right Renewal Route for You

If you are already planning to advance your career with another certification, the certification route is almost always the best choice. You get renewal as a byproduct of something you wanted anyway, and depending on which certification you earn, you may also consolidate your CE fee.

If you are staying in your current role and do not need another certification right now, the CEU route is more efficient. Build renewal into your normal year: one documented training course, ongoing work experience in the field, and one piece of published or presented content will usually get most people where they need to be over three years without a dedicated effort.

If you have been out of the field and your certification is close to expiry with no units logged, be realistic. Cramming units in the final months is possible through self-paced training with completion certificates, but if the window is genuinely too short, plan for the exam retake and start studying rather than gambling on approvals landing in time.

Whatever route you choose, do the administrative part early. Submissions require review, and a unit logged in the final week may not be processed before the deadline.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Confirm your exact expiry date

   Log into your CompTIA certification account and note the expiry date. Work backwards from that, not from a rough memory of when you passed.

   Add the date to your calendar with reminders at eighteen and thirty months.

2. Check the current CEU requirement and fee for your level

   Requirements and fees are set by CompTIA and change over time. Read the current figures in your account rather than relying on a forum post.

   If you hold more than one CompTIA certification, check whether the highest one consolidates your CE fee.

3. Decide between CEUs and a qualifying certification

   If a higher certification is already on your roadmap, that route renews Security+ automatically and saves the CEU tracking entirely.

   Verify that the certification you are considering is currently on the qualifying list before relying on it.

4. Collect and store evidence as activities happen

   Completion certificates, syllabi, publication links, employer letters. Keep everything in one folder from the start of your window.

   Name files with the date and activity type so submission is a copy-paste exercise rather than an archaeology project.

5. Submit units and pay the fee well before the deadline

   Submissions are reviewed, not auto-approved. Leave at least a month of buffer so a rejected or queried activity can be replaced.

   Renewing early does not shorten your new term — the extension runs from your existing expiry date.

Expert Insight

The most common renewal failure is not laziness — it is that people plan around the exam date rather than the expiry date, and only start counting in year three. Treat renewal as a three-year background process with two check-ins rather than a task, and it costs almost nothing in effort. Everything about the CE program is designed to reward the person who logs as they go.

Study Tips

• Holding a higher-level CompTIA certification usually consolidates your CE fee across lower ones — check before paying multiple fees.

• Renewing early costs you nothing in validity time, so there is no reason to wait until the final months.

• Documented work experience in the field counts toward renewal but is capped, so it cannot be your only source of units.

• Teaching or presenting typically earns more units per hour invested than attending the same session.

• Keep evidence in one folder from day one. Reconstructing three years of activity in month thirty-five is how renewals get missed.

Common Mistakes

• Assuming the CE fee alone renews the certification. The fee and the unit requirement are separate obligations and both must be met.

• Doing qualifying activities but keeping no documentation, so nothing can be submitted.

• Waiting until the final weeks, when submissions may not be reviewed before the expiry date.

• Believing there is a grace period after expiry. There is not — a lapsed certification requires passing the current exam again.

• Paying a separate CE fee for each CompTIA certification without checking whether the highest-level one already covers the others.

Frequently Asked Questions

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