CompTIA voucher discounts: student pricing, bundles, retake vouchers and the Black Friday sale

What CompTIA vouchers cost on 2 November 2026

A voucher is a single-use code that you redeem when you book the exam with Pearson VUE. CompTIA's US store listed these prices on 2 November 2026:

• Security+ (SY0-701): $439, or $579 with Retake Assurance.
• Network+: $399, or $519 with Retake Assurance.
• A+: $274 per exam, or $359 with Retake Assurance. A+ needs two exams, Core 1 and Core 2, so the bare vouchers come to $548.

CompTIA's UK site lists Security+ at £274, or £361 with Retake Assurance. Other countries have their own price lists, so check the store for your country before you compare.

Every CompTIA voucher bought from CompTIA is valid for 12 months. CompTIA's voucher terms say you cannot return, refund or exchange it, and the expiry date cannot be extended. One rule matters more than the expiry date: when an exam retires, vouchers for that exam stop working, even if the voucher has months left. The English Security+ V7 exam retires on 11 June 2027, and Security+ V8 (SY0-801) is due on 17 November 2026. CompTIA's own blog says a purchased voucher can be used for any version of the exam as long as it is used before it expires, so a plain voucher bought now still works after the switch. A retake voucher does not, and the next section explains why that matters.

The prices also moved in a year. CompTIA's Security+ page, as archived on 28 November 2025, listed the voucher at $425 and the voucher with Retake Assurance at $474. Today those are $439 and $579. Waiting for a better deal has a cost when the list price can rise in the meantime.

Student pricing: 35 to 55 percent off, with limits

This is the largest discount CompTIA offers to individuals. CompTIA's blog says actively registered students of four-year institutions, and some two-year institutions, in the United States get 35 to 55 percent off all products in the CompTIA Store. CompTIA does not publish a fixed price per exam, so you see the number only at checkout.

How it works:

1. Log in to your CompTIA shopping account, or create one.
2. Add the voucher or bundle to your cart and go to checkout.
3. Click the link that reads "Student? See if you qualify for a discount."
4. Enter your country, school, name, date of birth and student email address. SheerID, a third-party service, checks your enrollment.
5. If you are verified, the academic price replaces the list price in your cart.

Two limits come with it. CompTIA's student page says the SheerID discount covers one of each learning product and two of each exam type every six months, and A+ Core 1 and Core 2 count as separate exam types. It also says no other discount can be added on top of the verified student price. That second rule decides your Black Friday plan: if you qualify as a student, a holiday promo code cannot stack on your student price, so there is no reason to wait for one.

If you are a student but your school is not eligible, ask your IT department or careers office. Some colleges include the exam voucher in a course fee, which CompTIA lists as a separate route that can cover up to 100 percent of the cost.

Bundles and Retake Assurance: when the extra money pays

Retake Assurance adds $140 to the Security+ voucher ($579 against $439). If you fail without it, a second voucher costs another $439, because CompTIA's retake policy says you pay the exam price each time you sit and that it offers no free re-tests or discounts on retakes. The arithmetic is simple: $140 buys insurance against a $439 bill, so it pays off if your chance of failing is above roughly 32 percent. For Network+ the premium is $120 against $399 (about 30 percent), and for each A+ exam it is $85 against $274 (about 31 percent). If your practice test scores are well clear of the pass mark, skip it. If you are booking a date before you finish studying, buy it.

Two conditions come with every retake voucher. CompTIA's terms say you must sit and fail the first attempt to activate the retake, and the retake is exam specific: it cannot be redeemed for another version of the same exam. A V7 retake voucher is a V7 voucher. If you buy one on Black Friday, both attempts have to happen before the English V7 exam retires on 11 June 2027. CompTIA lets you retake straight away after a first fail, then makes you wait 14 days before a third attempt. What to do after a failed Security+ attempt covers the score report and the replan.

The Security+ Practice and Exam Bundle with Retake costs $593. Bought separately, CertMaster Practice ($209) and the voucher with Retake Assurance ($579) come to $788, so the bundle saves $195. Put another way, if you already planned to buy the retake voucher, CertMaster Practice costs you $14 more. The Learn and Exam Bundle with Retake is $884 against $1,178 separately ($599 for CertMaster Learn plus $579), a $294 saving.

A bundle is only a saving if you would have bought its parts. If you study from free videos and a third-party practice bank, the $439 voucher, or a partner voucher, is the better buy. The Security+ practice test comparison prices the alternatives to CertMaster.

Authorized partner vouchers and the 9-month catch

CompTIA's voucher terms recommend buying from three places only: the CompTIA Store, a CompTIA sales representative, or a CompTIA Authorized Partner. Partners buy vouchers in volume and some pass part of the saving on.

Dion Training, which describes itself as a CompTIA Platinum Partner, listed these prices on 2 November 2026:

• Security+ voucher: $395.10 against CompTIA's $439, a saving of $43.90.
• Security+ voucher with Take 2 (its retake option): $521.10 against CompTIA's $579 for Retake Assurance.
• Network+ voucher: $359.10 against $399. A+ voucher: $246.60 against $274.

The catch is the expiry. Dion's product page says its vouchers are valid for 9 months from purchase, against 12 months from CompTIA. If you are buying in November for an exam next autumn, CompTIA's own voucher is the safer purchase. Professor Messer also sells vouchers through his site; his terms say his vouchers can only be used by people physically in the United States, Canada or a US territory, and that a retake is only valid for the version you failed. Read the terms on any partner page before you pay, because they differ from CompTIA's.

If you want to compare the two instructors' paid material as well as their vouchers, Professor Messer vs Jason Dion does that.

A voucher from an auction listing, a social media seller or a stranger in a forum is the expensive option. CompTIA's terms say vouchers may not be resold, that vouchers bought from an unauthorized seller may be voided without a refund, and that CompTIA will not replace a voucher found to be fraudulent or already used. Promo codes carry a heavier penalty: anyone who uses an unauthorized discount code may have their exam result invalidated and can face a lifetime ban, including the cancellation of every CompTIA certification they already hold. A saving of a few dollars is not worth your Network+ and A+.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday: what to expect

Black Friday is 27 November 2026 and Cyber Monday is 30 November. Here is what can be confirmed, and what cannot.

CompTIA's blog lists limited-time flash sales and special offers as one of its five ways to save, says the amount varies by promotion, and tells you to watch its website, social channels and emails to catch them. CompTIA has not published any 2026 holiday sale terms as of 2 November 2026, and its store showed full list prices that day. On Black Friday 2025, its archived Security+ page showed the voucher at the full $425 with no sale price on the product itself, so any discount that week did not appear as a reduced list price on that page.

That gives you a plan for the next four weeks:

1. If you qualify for student pricing, buy now. No promo code can be added to a verified student price.
2. If your exam is booked before 27 November, buy now. A possible discount is not worth a missed slot.
3. If you can wait, compare three numbers on 27 November: CompTIA's sale price, if any, an authorized partner's price, and the bundle price if you want CertMaster. Check the expiry on each.
4. Type a code only if it appears on comptia.org, in an email from CompTIA, or on an authorized partner's own site. A code from a coupon aggregator is the kind CompTIA's terms warn about.
5. If you are sitting V7, count backwards from 11 June 2027. A voucher with a retake bought in the sale gives you two attempts before that date and none after it.

CompTIA's sale terms, if it runs one, will be on comptia.org. Check there on 27 November before you pay.

Getting someone else to pay: GI Bill, employers and workforce programmes

Some readers can get the whole fee covered.

US veterans and eligible dependents. The VA pays back the cost of approved licensing and certification tests, up to $2,000 per test, for people covered by the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the Montgomery GI Bill (Active Duty or Selected Reserve) or Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance. The VA says it pays even if you do not pass, and for retakes. The cost comes out of your entitlement, so check the VA's search tool to confirm the exam is approved and decide whether a $439 test is a good use of months you might want for a degree. Submit VA Form 22-0803 with the receipt and your result. Service members still in uniform have other routes, set out in free certifications for service members.

Employees. IRS Publication 15-B says an employer can give you up to $5,250 a year in educational assistance without it counting as taxable wages. Ask your manager with the exam name, the date and the price. Many employers pay the voucher only after you pass, so keep the receipt.

People out of work. CompTIA's blog says government agencies and nonprofits run free training programmes that include certifications. In the US, the main route for laid-off workers is the WIOA Dislocated Worker programme, and paying for a certification after a layoff explains how to apply before you buy anything, since a voucher bought before approval is generally not reimbursed.

If none of these apply and the money is tight, paying for an exam fee fast has a 30-day plan for raising a few hundred dollars.

The discount that matters most is passing once

Every route above saves between $43.90 and $439. The biggest cost is the second attempt. A fail on Security+ without Retake Assurance turns a $439 exam into $878, plus the weeks you spend on a second round of study instead of applying for jobs.

The Security+ V7 exam has a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes, and you need 750 on a scale of 100 to 900. Before you buy any voucher, check two things:

1. Your date. Work out how many weeks you can study. How long Security+ takes to study gives realistic ranges, and the Security+ exam page has the domains and their weights.
2. Your version. If you will not sit before mid-2027, V8 is your exam, and your prep material needs to match it.

The same logic applies to the other two core exams. Network+ at $399 and A+ at $548 for both exams are cheaper per attempt, but a fail costs the same full price again.