Security+ or Network+ First? The Order That Actually Matters

Most people asking whether to take Security+ or Network+ first have already decided they want both. The question is sequencing, and the usual answer is that it depends on your goals, which is true and useless.

There is a better answer, because two of the inputs are not matters of opinion. CompTIA publishes a recommended order. CompTIA also publishes renewal rules that make one order cheaper than the other, in a way that almost no comparison mentions. Everything else is genuinely situational, and this post gives you a framework for that part rather than a verdict.

All exam facts below were checked against CompTIA’s own certification and continuing education pages on August 31, 2026. Vendor details change; confirm before you buy.

Side by side

	Network+ (N10-009)	Security+ (SY0-701)
Exam version	V9	V7
Launch date	June 20, 2024	November 7, 2023
Questions	Maximum of 90	Maximum of 90
Question types	Multiple-choice and performance-based	Multiple-choice and performance-based
Time limit	90 minutes	90 minutes
Passing score	720 on a 100 to 900 scale	750 on a 100 to 900 scale
Voucher	$399	$439
Voucher with retake	$519	$579
Recommended experience	A+ certification, plus 9 to 12 months in a junior network role	Network+, plus two years in a security or systems administrator role
Renewal cycle	Three years	Three years
CE fee per cycle	$150	$150
Retirement	Usually three years after launch, estimated 2027	Usually three years after launch, estimated 2026

The formats are nearly identical. Same maximum question count, same duration, same mix of multiple-choice and performance-based items, same three-year renewal cycle, and a passing score thirty points apart on the same scale. This is the same exam machine pointed at two subjects, which is why the decision comes down to content, sequence, and money rather than test-taking logistics.

CompTIA’s recommended sequence

CompTIA answers the ordering question on its own Security+ page, in the recommended experience line: CompTIA Network+, plus two years of experience in a security or systems administrator role. Network+ is named as the expected prior credential.

The Network+ page points one step further back, recommending A+ certification plus 9 to 12 months of hands-on experience in a junior network administrator or network support technician role.

So the vendor’s own ladder reads A+, then Network+, then Security+.

Two things about that. First, none of it is a requirement. CompTIA recommends; it does not gate. There is no prerequisite check at booking, nobody verifies experience, and you can buy a Security+ voucher this afternoon having never certified in anything. Plenty of people do, and pass.

Second, “recommended experience” describes the candidate the exam was written for, and that has a practical consequence. Security+ was designed assuming its reader already understands networks. It does not stop to teach you what a VLAN is before asking how to segment one, or explain TCP before asking about a protocol attack. The assumption is baked into the questions. Arriving without that background does not make the exam impossible; it makes it a harder exam than it was designed to be, because you are learning networking and security simultaneously under one clock.

Coverage

Network+ N10-009:

Domain	Weight
Networking concepts	23%
Network implementation	20%
Network operations	19%
Network security	14%
Network troubleshooting	24%

Security+ SY0-701:

Domain	Weight
General security concepts	12%
Threats, vulnerabilities, and mitigations	22%
Security architecture	18%
Security operations	28%
Security program management and oversight	20%

Network+ is a hands-on exam about making networks work and diagnosing them when they do not. Nearly a quarter of it is troubleshooting, and it expects you to read a topology, do subnet math under time pressure, and identify a failure from symptoms.

Security+ is broader and more conceptual. Only part of it is technical in the Network+ sense. Roughly a fifth is governance, risk, compliance, policy, and vendor management, which is a category of material Network+ never touches, and which surprises hands-on candidates more than the technical content does.

Overlap

The two exams share more than the domain names suggest, and the shared material sits almost entirely inside Network+.

Network+ devotes 14% to network security outright, and topics from its other domains reappear throughout Security+. Wireless security is the clearest case: the progression from WEP to WPA3 and the weakness of MAC filtering is Network+ material that Security+ assumes, then extends into how WPA3 and SAE defeat offline dictionary attacks and 802.1X port-based access control. Detection is the same story: Network+ covers IDS and IPS deployment modes and tuning false positives, and Security+ builds on that toward choosing between IDS and IPS and the operational cost of false positives and false negatives. Rogue access points, VPN tunnel design, and network segmentation all appear on both.

Subnetting is the asymmetry that decides the argument for a lot of people. Network+ tests it directly and heavily, and it is the single most common reason candidates fail. Security+ does not test subnet arithmetic, but it constantly assumes you can read an address and understand what a segment is. Learning how subnets actually work and how to find network and broadcast addresses for Network+ pays off twice. Learning it for Security+ alone is effort you spend anyway, without the credential that tests it.

The overlap runs one way. A large slice of Network+ knowledge is directly reusable on Security+. Very little of what is unique to Security+, the governance, risk, and compliance material especially, helps at all on Network+.

Renewal

This is the part that gets left out, and it is the one place where the order changes what you pay.

Both certifications carry a $150 continuing education fee per three-year cycle. But CompTIA also lets you renew a certification by earning a qualifying higher-level one, and it publishes exactly which certifications renew which:

• Security+ fully renews Network+ and A+.
• Network+ fully renews A+ only.

When a higher-level certification fully renews a lower one, the CE fee on the lower certification is waived, and its expiration date realigns to three years from the date you earned the higher one.

The consequence is asymmetric. Pass Network+ and then Security+ within that three-year window, and the Security+ pass renews your Network+ automatically, waives its $150 fee, and puts both certifications on one expiration date. Do it in the other order and passing Network+ does nothing for your Security+ renewal, because Network+ sits below it.

The vouchers cost the same in either direction, $838 for both. The difference is that one order absorbs a renewal cycle and the other does not, and it also means one renewal date to track instead of two.

Job postings

Both certifications appear in the Department of Defense workforce framework, which matters if government or contractor work is your target. CompTIA lists Security+ against DoD 8140 work roles including cyber defense analyst, incident responder, vulnerability analyst, security control assessor, system administrator, and network specialist, among others. It lists Network+ against NICE and DoD 8140 roles including technical support specialist, network operations specialist, and system administrator.

If a specific contract or posting is what you are chasing, do not take a general article’s word for which certification satisfies it, including this one. Requirements are set per work role and per contract, and they change. Read the posting, and ask the employer.

For everything outside that world, the reality check is a search you should run yourself rather than trust anyone’s summary of. Open the job board you would actually apply through, search the titles you would actually apply for, in the city or remote market you are actually in, and count which certification appears. That result is specific to your situation and beats any national statistic. What you will generally find is that Security+ shows up more often as a named requirement, particularly in anything security-adjacent or government-adjacent, and Network+ shows up more often as a preference in support, NOC, and infrastructure roles. If your search shows something different, believe your search.

Three situations

You are new to IT, or close to it. Take Network+ first. This is the case where the vendor’s recommended order and the renewal math and the study economics all agree. You get a credential sooner on a cheaper voucher, you build the foundation Security+ assumes rather than trying to acquire it while studying security, and the Security+ pass later renews the Network+ for free. If A+ is also on your list, it goes before both.

You have a couple of years in IT and you want a security job. Go straight to Security+. Working experience with networks substitutes for the Network+ material, the certification your target postings name is the one to hold, and the months spent on Network+ are months not spent applying. Add Network+ afterward only if postings in your market ask for it. Be honest with yourself about the substitution, though: if your experience is help desk with little network exposure, you are in the first situation regardless of years served.

You need something specific for a contract or a clearance-adjacent role. The requirement decides, not the ladder. Read the work role, take that exam, and sequence the rest afterward. This is the one situation where a general framework should be ignored entirely.

The case for the ordinary Network+ first answer is stronger than its reputation, and the case against it is almost always time-to-hire. If someone is waiting to hire you and the posting says Security+, take Security+.

Version changes

Both exams are approaching a version change, which changes less than it appears to.

CompTIA lists SY0-701 as launching November 7, 2023 and says retirement is usually about three years after launch, estimated 2026. N10-009 launched June 20, 2024, with retirement estimated 2027. Draft objectives for Security+ V8 and Network+ V10 are both published on CompTIA’s exam objectives under development page. CompTIA has not published a launch date for either successor, nor a firm retirement date for either current version, and any specific date you see quoted elsewhere is not coming from CompTIA.

What this does not do is justify waiting. A certification earned on the current version is valid for its full three-year cycle after the version retires; retirement stops new candidates from sitting that exam, it does not expire the credential of anyone holding it. Waiting for a version whose date is unpublished trades a credential you could hold this quarter for one you might be able to sit next year. The practical effect on the ordering question is nil, since it applies to both exams roughly equally.

Verdict

If you are early in your career and nobody is waiting on you, take Network+ first. CompTIA recommends that order, the exam is $40 cheaper, its material is directly reusable on Security+, and passing Security+ afterward renews the Network+ at no cost and consolidates both onto one expiration date. It is the sequence with fewer wasted hours and fewer wasted dollars.

If you have real IT experience and a security role in view, take Security+ first and treat Network+ as optional. The credential your market names is the one worth holding first, and experience covers what Network+ would have taught you.

What decides the first attempt in either direction is how many exam-shaped questions you have worked through and understood beforehand. Our free Study Library covers both in depth: start with the Network+ N10-009 study guide and the full Network+ library, or the Security+ SY0-701 study guide and the full Security+ library.

When you are ready to drill, our Network+ N10-009 bank carries 1,384 original questions with performance-based practice and a 500-card spaced-repetition deck for $59, and the Security+ SY0-701 bank carries 1,300 for $69. One payment each, lifetime access for the life of that exam version, every answer explained in plain English. Taking both in sequence is the common path, and the banks are built to be used that way.

Not sure where you stand yet? Start with the free 15-question test on either Network+ or Security+ and let the result tell you which exam you are closer to, before you spend anything.