CompTIA Security+ CE – Renewal Guide
CompTIA Security+ CE (Continuing Education) Renewal program requires Security+ certified professionals to earn 50 CEUs every three years. Besides, there is an annual CE fee of $50 per year. There are further CompTIA CEU requirements for each activity and some activities require documentation for CompTIA to approve CEU credits. We have listed all the details about CompTIA Security+ Continuing Education (CE) and how to earn CEUs to renew your CompTIA Security+ certification in this article.
In this article
📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE CompTIA CEU credit resources throughout the article.
If you have other CompTIA certifications, you can consider reading our CompTIA Certification Renewal article.
The first step is to learn the details of CompTIA Security+ CE requirements.
CompTIA Security+ CE Requirements – Continuing Education Requirements
CompTIA has a comprehensive CompTIA Continuing Education (CE) program that defines the requirements, activities, and rules for retaining earned CompTIA certifications. Once you earn a CompTIA certification you must make sure that you comply with the CompTIA CEU requirements to keep your certification in good standing. CEU requirements are different for each CompTIA certification track. You can see all the details for other CompTIA certifications in our CompTIA CEU article. In this article, we will focus particularly on CompTIA Security+ CE.
CompTIA CE program requires certification holders to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) every three years to retain their certifications. Typically, one CEU is earned through performing a one-hour activity. For instance, if you attend a three-hour CompTIA CEU course, you will earn 3 CompTIA CEU credits for this activity.
The following table summarizes the CompTIA Security+ CE requirements.
| CompTIA Certification | Required CEU Credits | Renewal Period | Annual CE Fee | Total Fee for 3 Years |
| Security+ | 50 | 3 years | $50 | $150 |
If you have a CompTIA Security+ certification, you must earn 50 CEUs every three years to retain your Security+ certification. Besides, there is an annual Security+ CE fee of $50 per year. For a three-year period, you will pay $150 in total to renew your CompTIA Security+ certification.
There are several ways to earn CompTIA Security+ CE credits and there are certain conditions for each activity. We have listed all of them below.
CompTIA Security+ CE Renewal Course Program – Renew Your CompTIA Certification
San Francisco Business School offers an online, self-paced comprehensive CompTIA CEU Online training program.
Enroll in the CompTIA CEU Online Program. Complete three self-paced online CEU courses. Earn 60 CEU credits. Renew your CompTIA certification. CompTIA approved renewal process for Security+, A+, CASP+, and other CompTIA certifications.
The program offers three self-paced business training programs: Executive Leadership, Strategy Creation & Execution, and Marketing Strategy. For each course in the program, SFBS awards a certificate of graduation. While earning CEUs, you will earn reputable business merits to highlight in your resume and LinkedIn.
CompTIA Security+ Certification Renewal Cycle
The CompTIA Security+ certification renewal cycle is three years from your certification date. You must earn the required CompTIA Continuing Education credits for your certification and keep your CompTIA Security+ certification current by renewing within those three years.
Your Continuing Education (CE) renewal cycle is three years from the date you earned your CompTIA Security+ certification. CompTIA recommends a three-year plan to earn CEUs and renew your CompTIA Security+ certification. In the first year, you get familiar with the CompTIA CEU program, activity types and you pay the annual CE fee. In the second year, you create your plan to earn CEUs to renew your CompTIA certification, submit you earned CEUs and pay the annual fee. And, in the third and last year, you make sure that your CEU activities are scheduled, track your progress, earn any missing CEUs in your cycle, pay the fees and renew your CompTIA Security+ certification.
When you have met all renewal requirements, your certification renewed and will be valid for three more years.
Even though you have three years to renew your CompTIA Security+ certification, we encourage you to learn about the CE Program early on. Leaving renewal to the last moment can cause issues if your CEUs are rejected or if you cannot find relevant CEU activities.
Watch How Andrea Renewed Her CompTIA Security+ Certification
Andrea Zelaya is a CompTIA Security+ Certified Professional. Andrea enrolled in the CompTIA CEU Online Course from SFBS and renewed her CompTIA certification. Watch now her CompTIA renewal journey.
CompTIA Security+ CE – Certification Renewal Fee
CompTIA requires certified professionals to pay an annual CE fee. For the Security+ certification, annual CE fee is $50. The total renewal fee for a three-year period will be $150. If you pay the annual CE fees for your CompTIA Security+ certification, there will not be an additional renewal fee at the end of three years.
13 Ways to Earn CompTIA Security+ CE – Continuing Education Renewal Units
CompTIA lists 13 different ways to earn CEU credits in its CompTIA CEU list. You can earn CEUs for your CompTIA Security+ CE renewal cycle through any of thes ways. Let’s go through each of these activities one by one.
1- Attending CompTIA Security+ CE Renewal Training Courses
First and the most popular way to earn CompTIA Security+ CEU credits is by attending a training course. Typically, a one-hour length of course activity earns one CEU credit towards renewing your CompTIA Security+ certification. You can attend an in-person course, a virtual course, a self-paced course, or a hybrid delivery. However, the most convenient option for working professionals is attending a self-paced course. In a self-paced course, you can follow the lectures at any time your schedule allows. For virtual or in-person courses, you must set a time and activity must fit your schedule.
Why are the CompTIA Security+ CE Renewal Courses Popular?
While there are several benefits of renewing CompTIA Security+ certification through CompTIA CEU courses, here are the top five reasons.
- No Caps: There is no maximum limit for the education category, so, you can earn all CompTIA CEU credits in one program, and renew your CompTIA Security+ certification. You do not need to go elsewhere to find additional CEUs.
- Self-Paced: You do not need to attend an event, conference, or seminar. You can follow the courses at your place, at your pace.
- Affordable: Depending on the program content, you can enroll in a self-paced CompTIA CEU Online course bundle for ~$200-300. However, seminars or conferences start from $1,000, not only that, you cannot earn all CEU needs in one event.
- Requires less effort: When you enroll in CompTIA Continuing Education courses, all you have to do is follow the curriculum, earn CEUs, and renew your CompTIA certification. However, other CEU earning ways require significant effort from the CompTIA-certification holder such as creating content, sharing a presentation, volunteering, etc.
- Less prone to CompTIA audit: Since the CEU training programs are used by many CompTIA Security+ certified professionals, CompTIA already has a track and record of the activities. However, for other categories, CEU submissions are more unique and may be more likely to hit a CompTIA audit.
What are the best CompTIA Security+ CE Renewal Course Options?
If you’ve Googled about the CompTIA Security+ CE online courses, you will see several resources. Some of them offer irrelevant courses, that will not benefit to your career. Some of them offer just PDF papers to read, and that does not bring any skills.
The best CompTIA Security+ CE online courses should offer you business courses, earn new business skills, and contribute to your career growth.
For instance, San Francisco Business School offers a comprehensive CompTIA Continuing Education Course program. The program offers three self-paced business training programs: Executive Leadership, Strategy Creation & Execution, and Marketing Strategy. For each course in the program, SFBS awards a certificate of graduation. While earning CEUs, you will earn reputable business merits to highlight in your resume and LinkedIn.
CompTIA Security+ Continuing Education Courses Must Provide Documentation
You can earn 1 CEU for each hour of training. However, CompTIA requires documentation regarding the course or training you attended. You must complete the CompTIA CEU training course during your three-year renewal cycle, and the same course can only be submitted once. CompTIA requires the following documentation to approve your CEUs from training activity:
- Detailed description/outline of the training content
- Completion certificate containing the following:
- Your name
- Name of the course
- Name of the training provider
- Date the course was completed
- Number of hours
Once these details are provided, CompTIA approves your CEU submission.
San Francisco Business School offers a self-paced Free CompTIA CEU Course Online Program as well. If you attend this program, you can earn 3 Free CEU credits and submit them in the training category.
2- Attending Conferences
Several IT conferences, events, and activities are organized throughout the year. You can attend these events and earn CompTIA Security+ CE credits. Typically, a one-day activity earns 6 CEUs. So, if you attended a two-day event, you will earn around 12 CEUs.
Attending conferences has benefits like expanding your professional network and learning the changing trends in your domain. However, there are some pitfalls to these events.
- Typically organized in big cities. If you are living in a relatively smaller city, you might not see any events to earn CEUs.
- Requires in-person attendance. Many of the events take a few days, and you have to take days off from your work to attend these conferences.
- Expensive. Typically, these events are charged $1,000/day. So, for a two-day event, you need to pay around $2,000. Travel and accommodation, if needed, are not included in these fees.
- Does not earn required CEUs at once. Although it requires a significant amount of time and money, you cannot earn all required CEU credits through one event. Besides, there is a maximum limit for earning CEUs by attending conferences. You can see the limits of earning CEUs for each certification by attending conferences.
You can submit a maximum of 10 CEUs in every three-year CompTIA Security+ CE period by attending conferences. Considering you are a full-time working professional and looking to earn CompTIA CEU hours in one step, we do not recommend this way for earning CEUs.
3- CompTIA Security+ CE Credits by Attending Live Webinars
A webinar is an event held virtually, attended exclusively by an online audience. Typically, webinars are 1-2 hours of events discussing a particular topic with the experts in that area. While some of the webinars are paid and exclusive, there are free webinars as well.
You can attend a webinar and earn CompTIA Security+ Continuing Education credits. However, there is a limit to earning CEU credits through attending a webinar. You can submit a maximum of 10 CEUs in each three-year CompTIA Security+ CE cycle.
4- Work Experience
CompTIA allows you to submit your work experience and earn CEUs towards renewing your CompTIA Security+ certification. However, there is a maximum of 9 CEUs limit for the work experience category for the three-year CompTIA renewal period.
You can earn 3 CEUs per year during your CompTIA Security+ CE renewal cycle for work experience related to your certification. You can submit 3 CEUs at the end of each year of the CE 3-year cycle. At least 50 percent of the work you are performing must relate to one or more of the exam objectives for the certification you’re renewing. For the CompTIA Security+ certification, your work experience must be related to IT security activities.
To receive CEUs for your work experience, you will need to submit a letter from your employer on company letterhead containing the following information:
- Your name
- Current job title
- The Continuing Education (CE) year for which your work experience is being submitted
- Tasks you performed
- Signature of your supervisor
Please note, work orders, work performance reports and resumes are not valid documentation materials.
5- CompTIA Security+ CE Renewal by Publishing a Blog
Do you write blogs? Today’s digital world is full of new content and anything you create counts towards your re-certification. Typically, you can submit CEUs for the hours you worked on IT-related content creation. For instance, if you wrote a blog post for an hour, you can claim 1 CEU in your CompTIA profile.
Creating content is cumbersome. There are several aspects of curating quality content. If your profession involves creating content, it is fine, you can earn CompTIA Security+ CE hours while you are working. However, just to earn CEUs, creating content is a tough path.
You can earn 1 CEU for each blog post of at least 500 words. Your blog post must be written and published during your three-year renewal cycle. At least 50 percent of the course content must relate to one or more of the exam objectives for the certification you’re renewing. There is a maximum limit to earning CEU credits by publishing a blog. For the Security+ certification, you can submit a maximum of 16 CEUs in a three-year cycle through publishing a blog.
CompTIA requires the URL or copy of the blog post with your name and the date published. You need to submit a description of the content as well.
6- Publishing an Article or White Paper
CompTIA accepts CEUs if you wrote an article or white paper. You can count 4 CEUs for each article or white paper of at least four pages in length.
Your article or white paper must be written and published during your three-year renewal cycle. At least 50 percent of the course content must relate to one or more of the exam objectives for the certification you’re renewing. There is a maximum limit to earning CEU credits by writing an article or white paper. You can submit maximum of 16 CEUs in every three-year CompTIA Security+ CE cycle.
CompTIA requires the URL or copy of the article or whitepaper with your name and the date published. You need to submit a description of the content as well.
7- Publish a Book
Are you an author? Or a co-author? You can earn CompTIA Security+ CE credits by authoring an IT-related book. Your book must be written and published during your three-year renewal cycle. At least 50 percent of the course content must relate to one or more of the exam objectives for the certification you’re renewing. For the Security+ certification, you can earn a maximum of 40 CEUs in a three-year cycle.
You need to submit the link of your book to CompTIA.
8- Complete a College Course
You can earn 10 CEUs for each 3 to 4 credit-hour class. You must complete the college course during your three-year renewal cycle.
If you are pursuing a higher education program, a specialty program, or a particular expertise course from a college, you can consider earning CompTIA Security+ CE credits through these college courses.
9- Teach or Mentor
You can earn 1 CEU for each hour of teaching or mentoring. All teaching or mentoring must be completed during your three-year renewal cycle. Teaching on the same content can only be submitted once during that period. For instance, if you are delivering the same course for different groups in a three-year cycle, you can count only one of the sessions when submitting CompTIA Security+ CE credits.
You can earn a maximum of 20 CEUs through teaching or mentoring for the Security+ certification renewal. You do not need to be an instructor to earn CompTIA CEUs through teaching or mentoring. For instance, if you are giving a presentation or a small lecture to your colleagues at work, you can submit CEUs for this activity. Or, if you are mentoring a junior team member, you can submit CEUs for your activities.
10- Create Instructional Materials
If you are creating instructional materials for a course or training program, you can earn CompTIA Security+ CE credits. You can earn 2 CEUs for each hour of materials creation. You must create the instructional materials during your three-year renewal cycle. The same materials can only be submitted once and you can earn a maximum of 20 CEUs through creating materials.
You will need to submit supporting documentation to CompTIA.
11- Participate as a SME in a CompTIA CEU Exam Development Workshop
You can earn 1 CEU for each workshop hour that you participate as a CompTIA Subject Matter Expert. You must complete the workshop during your three-year renewal cycle. The workshop you are attending must correspond to the CompTIA Security+ certification. As a supporting document, you must submit a signed letter from the CompTIA workshop coordinator confirming your successful participation.
There is no maximum limit for earning CEUs through this activity.
12- Complete an American Council on Education (ACE) Course
You can earn 10 CEUs for each 3 to 4 credit-hour class. You must complete the ACE course during your three-year renewal cycle. At least 50 percent of the course content must relate to one or more of the exam objectives for the CompTIA Security+ certification. There is no maximum limit for earning CEUs in this way. CompTIA needs supporting documentation to approve your CEUs.
13- Earn a Non-CompTIA IT Industry Certification
If you earned a new IT-related certification or renewed your existing Non-CompTIA certification, you can earn CEUs. For the CompTIA Security+ CE, you can see the full list on the CompTIA website.
For instance, if you have a CompTIA Security+ certification and a CEH certification from the EC-Council, when you Renew your CEH certification, you will earn 50 CEUs to renew your CompTIA certification. Similarly, if you have CISSP certification from ISC2, renewing CISSP certification earns you 50 CEUs towards renewing CompTIA certification as well.
The non-CompTIA IT industry certification must be earned or renewed during your three-year renewal cycle. CompTIA needs supporting documentation regarding your Non-CompTIA certifications.
Summary
CompTIA Security+ CE requirements are earning 50 CEUs every three years, and paying a $50 annual CE fee. Once you earned the required CEUs and paid the annual fees, you can renew your CompTIA Security+ certification.
There are 13 different ways to renew CompTIA Security+ certification. The most popular way is earning CEUs through CompTIA CEU courses. CEU courses are affordable, easy to attend, and less prone to CompTIA audits.