IT, cloud & cybersecurity Certifications: Cost Comparison
Informational only — not financial or career advice. Exam fees and certification requirements change, and the figures here are accurate only as of the listed verification date. Confirm the current fee and rules directly with the certifying body before you register or budget. We report the official-body exam fee for a single attempt; it excludes prep courses, materials and retakes, and is not the total cost of certifying.
This overview compares official single-attempt exam fees across 19 IT, cloud, and cybersecurity professional certifications. The fees reported here are accurate as of June 2026 and reflect only the cost of taking the examination itself, excluding study materials, prerequisite courses, exam preparation resources, and any renewal or maintenance fees. As of the verification date, exam fees range from $70 for the HashiCorp Terraform Associate (003) certification to $1,199 for the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)—a spread of $1,129 across the field. These fees are subject to change without notice.
A lower exam fee does not necessarily indicate lower total investment in certification. Candidates should confirm the current official exam fee on each issuing body's own website before budgeting for certification pursuit. The total cost of obtaining and maintaining a certification varies widely depending on individual prerequisites, required coursework, study materials, exam retake policies, and renewal requirements. Each certification body serves as the authoritative source for its current pricing and policies.
| Certification | Issuing body | Exam fee | Validity |
|---|---|---|---|
| HashiCorp Terraform Associate (003) | HashiCorp | $70 | 2 years |
| Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) | Microsoft | $99 | Does not expire |
| AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner | Amazon Web Services | $100 | 3 years |
| Google Associate Cloud Engineer | Google Cloud | $125 | 3 years |
| AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate | Amazon Web Services | $150 | 3 years |
| Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-104) | Microsoft | $165 | 1 year (renew free) |
| Salesforce Certified Administrator | Salesforce | $200 | Maintained via release exams |
| Google IT Support Professional Certificate | Google (Coursera) | $234 | Does not expire |
| ITIL 4 Foundation | PeopleCert / Axelos | $275 | Does not expire |
| AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional | Amazon Web Services | $300 | 3 years |
| Cisco CCNA | Cisco | $300 | 3 years |
| CompTIA Network+ | CompTIA | $390 | 3 years |
| CompTIA Security+ | CompTIA | $425 | 3 years |
| Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) | Linux Foundation / CNCF | $445 | 2 years |
| CompTIA A+ | CompTIA | $530 | 3 years |
| CISSP | ISC2 | $749 | 3 years (CPE) |
| CISA | ISACA | $760 | 3 years (CPE) |
| CISM | ISACA | $760 | 3 years (CPE) |
| Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) | EC-Council | $1,199 | 3 years (ECE) |
Exam fees compiled from each issuing body, verified June 2026. How we compile this. Confirm before you pay.
Estimate your certification cost →Compare every field side by side → · Estimate your total cost →