Most security work eventually runs into a network problem, and people who cannot read a subnet, a routing table or a packet capture struggle to defend anything. CompTIA Network+ is the vendor-neutral certification that tests that foundation. This guide sets out what CompTIA publishes about the current exam (N10-009): format, the five domains and their weights, recommended experience, renewal and how it relates to other CompTIA certifications. It adds a preparation plan built around hands-on lab work and a view of where Network+ fits for people heading into security. It is written for help desk and support staff, junior network administrators, career changers and the managers who fund their training. Facts are as checked on comptia.org on 26 Oct 2026; CompTIA changes exams, prices and policies, so confirm on the linked pages before booking.
Key takeaways
- N10-009 is the current exam. Network+ V9 (N10-009) launched on 20 June 2024, and CompTIA estimates retirement in 2027, about three years after launch.
- The format is short and practical. A maximum of 90 multiple-choice and performance-based questions in 90 minutes, with a passing score of 720 on a scale of 100 to 900.
- Troubleshooting carries the most weight. Network troubleshooting is 24% of the exam and networking concepts 23%; network security is the smallest domain at 14%.
- Experience is recommended, not required. CompTIA suggests A+ and 9 to 12 months of hands-on work as a junior network administrator or network support technician.
- Renewal is 30 CEUs every three years. The CE fee is $150 for the cycle, and earning or renewing Security+ (or a higher certification in the same line) also renews Network+.
Who the certification is for
CompTIA says Network+ prepares candidates for jobs in technical support, network operations and system administration. In NHI Mgmt Group's view it is most useful as the second rung for people who already know end-user IT and now need to understand how traffic actually moves.
- Good fit: service desk and desktop support staff moving towards infrastructure; junior network and systems administrators; NOC operators; graduates and career changers who need a recognised baseline before Security+.
- Good fit for security beginners: SOC analysts, vulnerability analysts and cloud engineers who read firewall logs, flow data or security group rules daily but never learned subnetting, VLANs or routing properly.
- Good fit for employers: a common, vendor-neutral benchmark across mixed estates, independent of whether the team runs Cisco, Juniper, Aruba or cloud-native networking.
- Weaker fit: experienced network engineers who already hold a vendor associate or professional certification, and people who want to specialise in security straight away and already have the networking basics (go to the CompTIA Security+ Guide).
- Public sector and defence: CompTIA's page lists NICE and DoD 8140 work roles of technical support specialist, network operations specialist and system administrator. Confirm the mapping for your specific role and proficiency level with the hiring organisation.
For the full landscape of certifications by level and specialism, see the Cybersecurity Certifications Guide. This page covers Network+ only.
Exam format and domains
Format at a glance
| Item | Network+ V9 (N10-009) |
|---|---|
| Launch date | 20 June 2024 |
| Retirement | Usually three years after launch; CompTIA estimates 2027 |
| Questions | Maximum of 90 |
| Question types | Multiple-choice and performance-based |
| Duration | 90 minutes |
| Passing score | 720 on a scale of 100 to 900 |
| Languages | English, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish |
| Recommended experience | CompTIA A+ and 9 to 12 months hands-on as a junior network administrator or network support technician |
At one minute per question, time is tight. Performance-based questions (simulations where you configure or diagnose something) take far longer than a multiple-choice item, so a common approach is to flag them, clear the quick questions first and return with the time left. No successor exam had been announced on the CompTIA page at the time of checking. If you are studying late in a version's life, check the page for a new exam code before buying materials.
The five domains and their weightings
| Domain | Weight | Main topics on CompTIA's page | Read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Networking concepts | 23% | OSI model; appliances (routers, switches, firewalls, IDS/IPS, load balancers, proxies); cloud concepts (NFV, VPC, network security groups); ports and protocols; traffic types; media and connectors; topologies including spine and leaf; IPv4 addressing, RFC 1918, VLSM and CIDR | OSI and TCP/IP Models Guide |
| 2. Network implementation | 20% | Static and dynamic routing (BGP, EIGRP, OSPF), NAT and PAT, FHRP; VLANs, spanning tree, MTU and jumbo frames; wireless channels, SSIDs, encryption and authentication; physical installation | Wi-Fi Security Guide |
| 3. Network operations | 19% | Documentation and IPAM; life-cycle (EOL, EOS); change and configuration management; monitoring with SNMP, flow data, packet capture and port mirroring; RPO, RTO, MTTR, MTBF; DHCP, SLAAC, DNS, NTP, PTP, NTS; VPN, SSH, API and console access | DNS Security Guide |
| 4. Network security | 14% | Encryption, PKI, IAM, MFA, SSO, RADIUS, TACACS+, LDAP, SAML; segmentation for IoT, OT and guest networks; attacks such as VLAN hopping, ARP and DNS poisoning, rogue devices and evil twins; NAC, ACLs, screened subnets | Network Security Guide |
| 5. Network troubleshooting | 24% | A structured method from identifying the problem through testing a theory, implementing and verifying a fix, to documenting; cabling and interface counters, PoE and transceiver mismatches; STP, VLAN, ACL and routing faults; congestion, latency, packet loss and interference; protocol analysers, command-line tools, cable testers, Wi-Fi analysers | Firewall Management Guide |
Domain names, weights and topics are from CompTIA's Network+ page; the last column is NHI Mgmt Group's reading suggestion. Use CompTIA's official exam objectives document for N10-009 as your revision checklist, since the page is a summary.
What the domains mean for a security career
- Ports and protocols: knowing that SSH is TCP 22, DNS is 53, LDAP 389, RDP 3389 and SNMP 161 is the difference between reading a firewall log and guessing at it. Expect to recognise services by port and purpose.
- Segmentation: VLANs, ACLs and screened subnets are the building blocks of every segmentation programme. See the Network Segmentation Guide for how they are used defensively.
- Monitoring: flow data, SNMP and packet capture are what a SOC relies on when endpoint telemetry is missing.
- Troubleshooting method: the same structured approach (theory, test, plan, verify, document) transfers directly to incident triage.
Where identity fits: the security domain includes RADIUS, TACACS+, LDAP, SAML, MFA and least privilege. In real networks, shared device admin accounts, SNMP community strings and API keys for network management platforms are some of the most neglected credentials in the estate. The Network Security Guide covers how they are governed in practice.
Prerequisites and experience
There is no mandatory prerequisite: anyone can book the exam. CompTIA recommends A+ plus 9 to 12 months of hands-on experience in a junior network administrator or network support technician role.
| Your starting point | Suggested route | Realistic gap to close |
|---|---|---|
| No IT experience | Build end-user and hardware basics first (A+ or equivalent self-study), then Network+ | Operating systems, hardware, basic troubleshooting before networking |
| Service desk, 6 to 12 months | Go straight to Network+ with a home lab | Subnetting, routing and switching concepts, wireless |
| Junior network or systems administrator | Network+ as a short consolidation, or skip to Security+ if your basics are solid | Theory gaps: DR metrics, documentation, protocols you do not run |
| Holder of a vendor associate networking certification | Usually skip; Security+ or a vendor security track adds more | Vendor-neutral terminology only |
| Security analyst without networking background | Network+ alongside daily work, focused on domains 1, 4 and 5 | Subnetting, packet analysis, routing |
Decision guidance: choose Network+ when you need a recognised, vendor-neutral baseline or an employer or contract asks for it. Choose a vendor associate certification when you already work on one vendor's kit and want depth in its configuration. Small organisations with one or two IT generalists usually get more from Network+ than from a vendor track; large network teams standardised on one vendor often prefer the vendor route.
Preparation plan
A candidate working full time with some support experience typically needs several weeks to a few months. Plan around practical skill, not memorised lists.
- Baseline: download the N10-009 exam objectives, score yourself against each sub-objective (confident, shaky, unknown), and take one practice test cold to calibrate.
- Build a lab: a free network simulator or a few virtual machines and a consumer router is enough. Configure VLANs, a DHCP scope, static and dynamic routes, and an ACL; break them on purpose and fix them.
- Drill subnetting daily: ten minutes a day on CIDR, VLSM and RFC 1918 ranges until you can work without a calculator. It underpins questions across several domains.
- Learn by capture: use a protocol analyser to watch DHCP, DNS, ARP, a TCP handshake and a TLS session. Seeing the packets makes ports, protocols and attack descriptions (ARP poisoning, rogue DHCP) stick.
- Cover operations and security: these are the domains most candidates under-prepare. Learn RPO, RTO, MTTR and MTBF definitions, documentation types, and AAA protocols (RADIUS versus TACACS+).
- Practise performance-based questions: use simulations that make you configure or diagnose, not just choose. Time yourself.
- Final fortnight: full-length timed practice tests, review every wrong answer against the objectives, and book the exam only when you are consistently passing with margin.
If you fail: use the score report to identify weak domains, return to the lab for those areas, and check CompTIA's current retake policy before rebooking.
Cost, renewal and continuing education
Exam cost: CompTIA sells vouchers through its regional online stores and bundles them with CertMaster training products (Perform, Learn, Practice and Labs). The voucher price was not shown on the certification page when checked, varies by region and currency, and changes; check the CompTIA store for your country. Academic and employer discounts exist through partners.
| Renewal item | Network+ (as checked 26 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|
| Certification validity | Three years from the date earned or renewed |
| CEUs required per cycle | 30 |
| CE fee | $150 for the three-year cycle; it does not have to be paid annually, but all of it must be paid before expiry |
| Work experience credit | Up to 3 CEUs per year (9 per cycle), with at least 50% of the work related to the exam objectives and an employer letter on letterhead |
| Single-activity options | CertMaster CE, or earning a higher-level CompTIA certification |
| Higher certifications that renew it | Security+, CySA+, PenTest+ and SecurityX in CompTIA's hierarchy; Cloud+ also renews Network+ |
| Does not renew it | Linux+ (Linux+ renews only A+) |
Renewing Network+ also renews A+. CompTIA advises choosing your highest certification as the "intent level" when paying fees or submitting CEUs so the whole stack stays current. CE fees are not waived where a higher certification does not fully renew a lower one. Certifications earned after 31 December 2010 are not good for life and are enrolled in the CE programme automatically.
Practical tip: many Network+ holders take Security+ within the three-year cycle, which renews Network+ and A+ at the same time. Plan that sequence and you may never need to submit Network+ CEUs separately.
Where it fits on the career path
| Stage | Typical certification | Typical roles |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | A+ or equivalent knowledge | Service desk, desktop support |
| Foundation (this guide) | Network+ | Junior network administrator, NOC operator, technical support specialist |
| Security foundation | CompTIA Security+ or ISC2 CC | Junior security analyst, security administrator |
| Specialisation | CySA+, PenTest+, Linux+, Cloud+ | SOC analyst, penetration tester, Linux or cloud administrator |
Network+ rarely gets anyone hired on its own for a security role, but it removes a common reason for rejection: the inability to explain how traffic gets from a user to a server. Technical interviews for SOC and security engineering roles commonly probe the topics in domains 1 and 5. Pair the certificate with evidence: a documented home lab, packet captures you have analysed, or a small network you have run. For broader route planning, see the Cybersecurity Learning Roadmap Guide and the Cybersecurity Careers Guide.
How to measure progress: track practice test scores by domain (aim for a steady margin above the pass mark in each), time per performance-based question, subnetting accuracy under time, and the number of lab scenarios you can build and fix from memory.
Practitioner checklist
- Confirm the current exam code on CompTIA's Network+ page before buying any study material.
- Download the N10-009 objectives and rate yourself against every sub-objective.
- Build a lab with VLANs, DHCP, routing and an ACL, and practise breaking and fixing it.
- Reach fluent subnetting without a calculator.
- Capture and read DHCP, DNS, ARP and TCP traffic in a protocol analyser.
- Rehearse performance-based questions under time and plan to flag them during the exam.
- Check the voucher price for your region and any employer or academic discount.
- Plan renewal: 30 CEUs and $150 per three-year cycle, or a higher certification such as Security+.
- Keep an employer letter each year if you intend to claim work experience CEUs.
Standards and references
- CompTIA: Network+ Certification (V9, N10-009)
- CompTIA: Continuing Education Program FAQ
- CompTIA: Continuing Education Renewal Fees
- CompTIA: Renewing Multiple Certifications
- CompTIA: Renewing With Work Experience
- CompTIA: Linux+ Certification (V8, XK0-006)
Related NHI Mgmt Group resources: Cybersecurity Certifications Guide · CompTIA Security+ Guide · Network Security Guide · OSI and TCP/IP Models Guide · Cybersecurity Learning Roadmap Guide