CySA+ renewal: 60 CEUs, the $150 fee, and the shortcuts

Every figure below was read off CompTIA’s own continuing education pages on October 6, 2026, and each is linked to the page it came from. CompTIA publishes one set of tables for all its certifications, with a column per certification, so everything here is the CySA+ column. If you also hold Security+, its numbers are different, and our Security+ renewal guide has them.

The three year clock and the 60 CEUs

Your renewal cycle is three years from the date you certified, not from January. CompTIA’s CEU tables set the CySA+ requirement at 60 CEUs for the cycle, which is 10 more than Security+ needs.

Two rules apply to every activity. It has to happen during the cycle, so nothing you did before you passed counts. And at least 50 percent of the content has to relate to the CySA+ exam objectives. CompTIA says it looks at more than topic names when it judges that, including the cognitive level of the material, so a course that only mentions security operations in passing may not qualify.

What earns CEUs toward CySA+, and the caps

The caps decide how you plan. Training, college courses, and CompTIA exam workshops can carry the whole 60 on their own. Webinars and conferences cannot: each tops out at 15 for the cycle. Work experience is worth 9 at most across three years, so a full time analyst job alone gets you less than a sixth of the way.

The documentation rules are specific, and worth knowing before you start rather than at month 35. Training needs a course outline and a completion certificate showing your name, the provider, the date, and the hours. Work experience needs a letter from your employer on company letterhead with your job title, the tasks you performed, the CE year it covers, and your supervisor’s signature; CompTIA says work orders, performance reports, and resumes do not count. On-demand webinars and YouTube videos count only with proof of registration or a completion certificate.

The $150 fee

The CE fee for CySA+ is $150 for the three year period, and it is due by your expiration date. You pay it with CE tokens, sold at $25 and $50, which do not expire but are not refundable once uploaded. If you hold several CompTIA certifications, you pay only for the highest level one.

No fee is due at all if you renew by passing the latest version of the exam or by earning a higher level CompTIA certification that fully renews CySA+. The fee does still apply when you renew with CEUs or with a non-CompTIA certification.

Renewing with one activity instead of sixty CEUs

The exam route is open right now for anyone who certified on CS0-003 or earlier. CS0-004 launched on June 23, 2026, and CS0-003 retires in English on December 22, 2026. Once you pass a version you cannot take that same version again to renew, so if you passed CS0-004 the exam route waits for the next release.

SecurityX is the clean upgrade path: CompTIA lists it as fully renewing CySA+ and waives the CE fee for it. Our guide to SecurityX, formerly CASP+ covers what that exam looks like now. PenTest+ is the odd one. CompTIA’s table says it fully renews CySA+ when you first earn PenTest+ by passing the exam, but the footnote describes the PenTest+ CEUs being applied to CySA+, and the page does not say whether the fee is waived on that route. We have marked it “not stated” rather than guess.

One route CySA+ holders do not get: CompTIA CertMaster CE. CompTIA offers it for A+, Network+, and Security+ only. There is also a partial route: earning SecAI+ during your cycle is worth 10 CEUs toward CySA+.

The certifications that renew CySA+ outright

Each certification on CompTIA’s CySA+ list is worth the full 60 CEUs, as long as you earn or renew it during your CySA+ cycle. You submit the certificate, transcript, or badge link; CompTIA does not accept a score report or a training certificate for this route. The CE fee still applies.

Two absences are worth knowing before you plan around this. On October 6, 2026 the list included no GIAC certification, and it did not include CEH. Renewing CISSP, CISM, or CISA within your CySA+ cycle also counts, because the rule covers a certification “earned or renewed” during the cycle.

Renewing CySA+ renews Security+ too

CompTIA’s higher level renewal table says CySA+ fully renews Security+, Network+, and A+. Its fee page adds that when you renew the higher level certification, the lower ones renew automatically with no additional fee. If you hold Security+ and CySA+, you renew CySA+ and stop thinking about Security+ separately.

There is a catch in the dates when you earn CySA+ while holding Security+. CompTIA aligns the lower certification’s expiration date to the higher one’s, three years from the day you earned the higher level certification. Security+ does not get three years added to its old date; it simply inherits the CySA+ date. The exam domains and current versions are on our CySA+ certification page.

What happens if CySA+ lapses

CompTIA’s certification renewal policy gives a 30 day grace period after the expiration date, only to pay outstanding fees or submit CEUs you already earned inside the original cycle. It is not 30 more days to go and earn them. After that, the only way back is passing the latest version of the exam.

FAQ

Renewing by passing CS0-004? Our CySA+ course is built on the CS0-004 objectives, and its first module, Security operations, is free.