What are the Network+ requirements? To sit the exam, there are none. CompTIA has no eligibility check, no experience form and no required earlier certification. You buy a voucher, schedule the N10-009, and take it. The line you will see on CompTIA's Network+ page about A+ and 9 to 12 months of hands-on work is a recommendation, and nobody verifies it.
The requirements that do exist start after you pass. Network+ is valid for three years from your certification date. To keep it, you either earn 30 continuing education units (CEUs) in that cycle and pay a $150 CE fee for the period, or you renew through a single qualifying activity, such as passing a higher-level CompTIA certification. Both halves are below: what the recommended experience really buys you, and how renewal works. For the exam itself, see what the Network+ certification is.
Do the Network+ requirements include any prerequisites?
No. This is the single most common misreading of the Network+ page. CompTIA lists "recommended experience", and the word recommended is doing all the work. You do not need A+ to register. You do not need a networking job title. You do not upload a resume or get an employer to sign anything.
That separates Network+ from certifications that hold your result until experience is verified. With Network+, pass the exam and you are certified. There is no pending status and no endorsement step.
One rule on the testing side is worth knowing. Once you pass, you cannot sit the same exam code again without CompTIA's consent. That matters only if you were hoping to retake for a higher score, which you cannot.
What experience does CompTIA recommend for Network+?
The live Network+ page recommends "CompTIA A+ certification, with 9 to 12 months of hands-on experience in a junior network administrator or network support technician role."
CompTIA's own documents do not word this identically. The N10-009 exam objectives PDF says "a minimum of 9-12 months of experience in the IT networking field." Older CompTIA blog posts phrase it differently again. The differences are small and none of them change the status: every version describes a suggested background, not a condition of entry.
So treat the recommendation as a profile of the candidate CompTIA wrote the exam for. That person has passed A+, has spent most of a year around switches, cabling and tickets, and is ready to move from fixing desktops to running the network those desktops sit on.
What does that experience actually buy you on the exam?
This is the useful question, because it tells you what to make up for if you do not have the background. Nine to twelve months in a network support seat does not teach you the whole syllabus. It teaches you a handful of things that are hard to get from reading alone.
Troubleshooting instinct. Network Troubleshooting is the heaviest domain at 24%. The exam expects you to know CompTIA's seven-step troubleshooting methodology in order, from identifying the problem through documenting findings, and to spot when a technician in a scenario has skipped one. Someone who has worked a help desk queue has watched people implement a fix before testing the theory, and has seen what happens next. That makes the steps feel obvious instead of memorized.
Reading tool output. A support tech has run ping, tracert, ipconfig and nslookup against a real fault and seen what normal output looks like. On the exam, you are often handed output and asked what it means. Knowing what a healthy result looks like is half of spotting a broken one.
Physical layer familiarity. If you have terminated a cable, traced a patch panel or swapped a transceiver, the cabling and interface objectives read as descriptions of things you have touched. If you have not, they are lists of standards and connector names.
Comfort with scenarios. Ten of the 25 exam objectives begin with "Given a scenario". Work experience trains you to read a messy description, ignore the noise and find the one detail that matters. That skill carries straight into scenario questions.
Subnetting under pressure. Junior admins assign addresses and fix overlapping ranges. Doing that a few dozen times turns subnet math from a puzzle into arithmetic.
What experience does not give you is the vocabulary CompTIA uses or the parts of the objectives your job never touched. A support tech at a small office may never have configured wireless beyond the basics, or seen a disaster recovery plan. Everyone, experienced or not, studies the objectives. The five Network+ domains explained breaks the syllabus down, so you can see which parts your work already covers.
Can you pass Network+ without A+ or a networking job?
Yes. People do it, and there is no rule against it. The catch is that you need to replace the experience with deliberate practice, and that takes longer than reading.
Here is how I would close the gap:
Build the muscle memory at home. Every command-line tool in the troubleshooting objectives runs on an ordinary laptop. Run them against your own home network until the output is familiar. Break something on purpose, such as a wrong DNS server or a bad gateway, and diagnose it.
Invent an office and address it. Give yourself five departments of different sizes and one /24 to carve up, then assign every subnet, gateway and broadcast address on paper. That is the job a junior admin does, and it is the fastest way to reproduce what experience gives you.
Narrate your own outages. Next time your Wi-Fi drops, say out loud what you think is wrong, how you will test it and what you will change. It feels silly. It also builds the habit of separating a theory from a fix.
Give yourself more calendar time. A candidate with the recommended background is reinforcing what they know. A candidate without it is learning it fresh. Plan accordingly. The Network+ study plan has schedules for both starting points.
Skipping A+ is a reasonable choice if you already have hardware and operating system basics from somewhere. Skipping it with no IT background at all is the harder road, and the exam will feel it. For how the difficulty plays out on the day, see how hard the Network+ exam is.
How long is Network+ valid?
Three years from the date you certify. CompTIA calls this the renewal cycle, and every Network+ holder has one, whatever the route they took to pass.
If the three years run out and you have not renewed, the certification expires. To be certified again, you pass the latest version of the exam.
CompTIA allows a 30-day grace period after the cycle ends, but only to settle outstanding fees or to submit CEUs you earned inside the cycle. It is not extra time to earn new units. Treat your expiry date as the real deadline.
One related point. N10-009 launched June 20, 2024, and CompTIA's page gives its retirement as "usually three years after launch (estimated 2027)". No successor has been announced. That retirement date affects which exam you would sit, not whether your current certification stays valid. Your certification is governed by your own three-year cycle.
How many CEUs does Network+ require?
Thirty CEUs over the three-year cycle. That figure comes from CompTIA's continuing education program table, which lists the CEU requirement for each certification. You may come across other numbers on older pages. The CE program table is the source, and it says 30 for Network+.
CompTIA defines which activities qualify and how many units each one earns. Check the current activity list on CompTIA's CE pages before you count anything toward your 30, and keep your records, because you upload the evidence yourself.
What does Network+ renewal cost?
If you renew by earning and uploading CEUs, the CE fee is $150 for the whole three-year period. It is not an annual charge. You pay it once per cycle, and only when you renew through CEU uploads.
The single-activity routes skip the CE fee. They have their own costs.
| Renewal route | What you do | CE fee |
|---|---|---|
| Earn CEUs | Collect 30 CEUs in the cycle and upload them | $150 for the 3-year period |
| Pass the latest Network+ | Sit the current release of the exam | None (you pay the exam price) |
| Earn a higher-level CompTIA cert | Pass one that fully renews Network+ | None (you pay for that exam) |
| CertMaster CE | Complete CompTIA's CE course for Network+ | None (CertMaster CE for Network+ is $199, U.S. price) |
For scale, the Network+ exam voucher is $399 (U.S. price; CompTIA prices vary by country). Retaking the exam to renew is the most expensive route if Network+ is the only thing you want to keep. The Network+ exam cost breakdown covers vouchers, bundles and retakes in detail.
Which certifications renew Network+?
Passing a higher-level CompTIA certification fully renews Network+. CompTIA's renewal table lists these as qualifying:
Security+
CySA+
PenTest+
SecurityX
Cloud+ V3
This is the route most people should plan around. If you are heading toward security or cloud work anyway, the next certification you earn resets your Network+ clock as a side effect.
Which renewal route should you pick?
My view: decide in your first year, not your third.
If Security+ or another cert on that list is already in your plans, schedule it inside the three-year window and stop worrying about CEUs. Your Network+ renews when you pass, at no CE fee.
If Network+ is where you plan to stay for a while, the CEU route is usually the steadiest. Thirty units over three years is a modest pace when you log qualifying activities as you go. The trouble comes from leaving it all to the last few months, then discovering that an activity does not count.
CertMaster CE suits people who want one defined task and a clear finish line. Retaking the exam suits almost nobody, unless you want the current version on your record for a specific job.
If you are still deciding whether Network+ is the right step at all, whether Network+ is worth it weighs that decision. If you have decided and want structured prep, the CompTIA Network+ N10-009 Study Guide 2026 is organized one chapter per exam objective, which makes it easy to skip what your job already taught you and spend your time on the gaps.
FAQ
Do I need A+ before taking Network+?
No. CompTIA recommends A+ along with 9 to 12 months of hands-on networking experience, but it does not require either one. You can register for and pass Network+ without holding A+.
Does CompTIA verify my work experience for Network+?
No. There is no experience check, no application and no endorsement. Pass the exam and you are certified. The recommended experience only describes the candidate the exam was written for.
How many CEUs do I need to renew Network+?
You need 30 CEUs within your three-year renewal cycle, according to CompTIA's continuing education program table. Renewing this way also carries a $150 CE fee for the three-year period.
Is the Network+ CE fee charged every year?
No. The $150 CE fee covers the full three-year period, and you pay it only if you renew by uploading CEUs. Renewing through a higher-level certification, the latest Network+ exam or CertMaster CE carries no CE fee.
Does passing Security+ renew Network+?
Yes. Security+ fully renews Network+, as do CySA+, PenTest+, SecurityX and Cloud+ V3. Passing any of them inside your cycle renews your Network+ with no CEUs to upload.
Preparing for Network+? The CompTIA Network+ N10-009 Study Guide 2026 teaches all 25 exam objectives in plain English, one chapter per objective, with worked drills for the scenario objectives and 164 practice questions in five domain banks, every answer explained.
Simply Certified is an independent publisher. Network+, A+, Security+, CySA+, PenTest+, SecurityX, Cloud+, CertMaster and CompTIA are trademarks of CompTIA, Inc. Our books are independent study material and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CompTIA.