CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-004): Cost, Exam Format, and Renewal Math

By the time you are staring at a SIEM dashboard trying to separate a real intrusion from routine noise, you have outgrown entry-level security certs, and CySA+ is CompTIA’s credential for that specific job. This page covers the version change candidates need to know about right now, the real cost, the exam itself, and renewal math over nine years.

Who this cert is actually for

CySA+ is built for working security analysts doing detection and response day to day: SOC analysts, vulnerability management staff, and threat-hunting-adjacent roles that live in log data and alert queues rather than architecture diagrams. CompTIA recommends Security+ or equivalent knowledge plus roughly four years of hands-on experience before attempting it, and while none of that is a hard requirement, the exam’s scenario-heavy format punishes anyone who has not actually triaged an incident before. Security+ vs CySA+ covers that progression, including how leveling up here renews Security+ for free.

Skip it if you are still in a generalist help desk or sysadmin role with no security-specific duties; go earn Security+ first and get real exposure to the work before spending on CySA+. Skip it too if your interest is offense rather than defense. PenTest+ is the sibling credential built around attacking systems rather than defending them, and picking the wrong one wastes both the voucher and the study time.

It is also worth naming who this is not built for at the top end: a decade-long SOC lead already fluent in threat intelligence platforms and formal incident command is more likely to get value from a vendor-specific detection certification or a senior architecture credential than from an analyst-tier exam like this one.

What it costs all-in

CySA+ recently changed exam codes: CS0-004, the V4 exam, launched June 23, 2026 and is now the version CompTIA promotes as current, while the older V3 exam (CS0-003) is being phased out, with its English-language exam retiring December 22, 2026. If you have not started studying yet, prepare for CS0-004; if you are deep into V3 material already, you still have a window to sit CS0-003 before it retires, but check your own timeline against that date directly.

The voucher price is $439, matching the lineup-wide figure CompTIA set for its security certifications after its 2026 price increase; one official CompTIA blog post from mid-June still listed the pre-increase $425, but every reseller listing and the dedicated price-tracking coverage checked for this page converge on $439 as the current retail figure, so that is the number used here. There is no free retake, and CompTIA’s own exam objectives are the free starting point for study; a paid video course runs $20 to $30 on sale, and a practice-question set in the $20 to $35 range is worth it given how much of this exam is applied scenario work. Authorized partners typically discount 10 to 15 percent off list. Compare that all-in figure against every other credential on the ROI Index.

The exam itself

CS0-004 caps at 85 questions in 165 minutes, longer than most CompTIA exams, and needs a 750 on the 100-to-900 scale to pass. Four domains make up the exam: Security Operations (34 percent, the largest slice), Vulnerability Management (26 percent), Incident Response and Management (24 percent), and Reporting and Communication (16 percent). That last domain surprises people who assume a technical exam only tests technical skill; CySA+ explicitly checks whether you can write up a finding and communicate risk to people who are not in the SOC with you.

V4 folds in more coverage of AI-assisted attack and defense tooling and cloud-native security than V3 did, reflecting how the analyst job itself has shifted. CompTIA does not publish a pass rate for CS0-004 or for CS0-003, so treat any number you see quoted for either version as unverified.

Renewal math over 9 years

CySA+ is valid for three years, so nine years covers three cycles. Each cycle requires 60 CEUs, the highest CEU count among the four certifications covered on this page, reflecting how much the underlying skill set moves in three years of security work. CySA+ sits in the $150-per-cycle CE fee tier, and unlike A+, Network+, and Security+, CertMaster CE is not offered for CySA+ at all, so the auto-fulfill convenience path some other CompTIA certs have simply is not available here.

That leaves three realistic renewal routes: gather 60 CEUs the old-fashioned way through approved training, conferences, or documented work experience and pay the $150 fee each cycle, for $450 total over nine years; earn a qualifying non-CompTIA certification that CompTIA accepts for full CEU credit; or earn a higher-level CompTIA certification such as SecurityX, which renews CySA+ automatically and waives the fee. If your career keeps moving upward, the honest nine-year figure trends toward $0 in dedicated renewal spend; if CySA+ is where you plan to stay, budget the full $450.

What it does for the occupation you are entering

CySA+ maps to the information security analyst occupation (BLS code 15-1212), the same occupation Security+ maps to. The panel on this page shows the current national median wage and headcount for that field, sourced from BLS data, and it describes the occupation broadly rather than measuring what CySA+ specifically adds to your pay. What the certification concretely does is signal, to a hiring manager screening for a detection-and-response role, that you can read the language of a SOC and act on it without hand-holding. What that becomes in actual compensation depends on the employer and the work you land, not the credential.

Common mistakes

Studying V3 material after V4 already launched. With CS0-004 live since June 23, 2026, buying a course or question bank still built around CS0-003 wastes study hours on content weighted differently than what you will actually sit for, unless your exam date is locked in before the V3 retirement date.

Confusing CySA+ with PenTest+. Both sit at the same experience tier and both assume Security+-level background, but one is defensive and one is offensive; read the domain lists before buying either voucher, not after.

Expecting CertMaster CE to cover renewal. Since CompTIA does not offer it for this certification, assuming it will auto-renew CySA+ the way it does Security+ is a planning mistake that surfaces only when your three-year clock is already running out.