What is it?

What exactly is the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)?

Move from defense to threat analysis

CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) certifies the behavioral analytics and incident-response skills used in defensive security operations, including vulnerability management and threat hunting.

Before you book

Who is eligible to sit the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)?

Who it is for: SOC analysts and threat hunters

The test itself

What is the format of the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)?

The CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) is administered by Pearson VUE and runs 165 minutes, contains 85 questions and requires 750 of 900 to pass.

Money & time

How much does the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) cost?

For the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+), the exam fee is $404; the all-in cost is typically $404+; most candidates spend 3–4 months preparing.

The fine print

What are the retake and renewal rules for the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)?

Proctoring & delivery

Delivered by Pearson VUE with two options: an in-person proctored test center, or online proctoring via OnVUE with a live remote proctor (requires webcam, stable internet, and a private room).

Retake policy

If you do not pass, you may retake XK0-006 after a 14-day waiting period. Each attempt requires a new exam voucher; there is no limit on the number of retakes. CompTIA's standard candidate agreement governs retake rules.

Score reporting

A pass/fail result is shown on screen immediately after the exam. A detailed score report by domain is available in your Pearson VUE account and mirrored in your CompTIA CertCentral record.

Recertification

Linux+ is valid for 3 years from the certification date. Renew by earning 50 Continuing Education (CE) credits and paying the CE fee through CompTIA CertCentral, by earning a higher-level CompTIA certification, or by passing the current XK0-006 exam again.

Refunds & rescheduling

Exam vouchers are generally non-refundable but may be transferable or have a defined expiry; optional CertMaster training may be refundable within a limited window per CompTIA's terms. Review voucher terms at purchase.

What it pays

How much does this credential pay?

$124,910 median for information security analysts (BLS, May 2024)

There is no Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation called "Cybersecurity Analyst" exactly, but Information Security Analysts (SOC 15-1212) is the official category that maps most directly to the CySA+ role, and we have chosen it deliberately because CompTIA positions CySA+ as the mid-level, analyst-side certification — the one you sit after the entry-level Security+ and before the expert-level CASP+. A CySA+ holder works in a security operations centre or on a defensive security team: monitoring, detecting, analysing and responding to threats, which is precisely the day-to-day described under the information security analyst occupation. That occupation had a May 2024 median wage of $124,910, with the lowest 10 percent earning under $69,660 and the highest 10 percent earning more than $186,420. The distribution is worth reading carefully because the CySA+ is the credential that typically moves someone from a general IT or junior SOC role into the higher band of this occupation — the 29 percent projected growth is the strongest of any occupation covered on this site, and it reflects sustained demand for defensive analysts rather than for any single certificate. BLS projects 29 percent employment growth for information security analysts from 2024 to 2034, far faster than the average for all occupations, with roughly 16,000 openings a year arising from both growth and replacement. The most important caveat for a CySA+ candidate is that the certificate is a validation of analyst capability, not a job title in itself — the wage figure above measures the whole information-security-analyst occupation, not CySA+ holders narrowly, and should be read as the destination role’s compensation rather than a guaranteed CySA+ outcome. It is also the role most exposed to the AI-in-security shift that V4 now tests explicitly.

Job growth.29% projected change 2024-34 (much faster than average), ~16,000 openings a year; CySA+ is the mid-level analyst credential for this occupation, and V4 now tests AI-in-security explicitly

Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Information Security Analysts

Your schedule

How long should I study for it?

100-130 hours of focused study

The first thing to establish is which exam you are actually studying for, and for CySA+ this is now the most important sentence on the page. CS0-004 — CySA+ version 4 — launched on 23 June 2026 and is the current exam. CS0-003 (version 3) remains available for English testing until 22 December 2026, after which English candidates must sit CS0-004; translated-language versions of CS0-003 retire on 23 March 2027. CS0-004 is not a light refresh: it added explicit coverage of artificial intelligence in security operations — AI used in defensive tooling, AI governance, and AI-specific risks such as model hallucination and data exposure — alongside the traditional analyst domains. If you buy a 2024 or earlier CySA+ book you are studying version 3 and will have real gaps. The current domain weights are Security Operations 34 percent, Vulnerability Management 26 percent, Incident Response and Management 24 percent, and Reporting and Communication 16 percent. Notice that Security Operations plus Vulnerability Management are 60 percent of the paper — together they are the core of the analyst job — while Reporting and Communication, though only 16 percent, is where version 4 candidates most often lose cheap points because it is easy to under-prepare the communication side. CompTIA recommends about four years of hands-on security or SOC-analyst experience before sitting, so the plan below assumes you have that baseline or its equivalent in lab work. A realistic window is ten to twelve weeks at 10-12 hours a week, and it must include log, packet and vulnerability-data analysis practice, because the performance-based questions hand you real-looking telemetry and ask you to interpret it.

1. Week 110-12 hrs

   Confirm version and build the analysis lab

   • Confirm you are registered for CS0-004 (V4), not CS0-003 — check the exam code on your voucher
   • Stand up a lab: a SIEM or log-source you can query, a packet capture tool, and a vulnerability scanner trial
   • Read the official CS0-004 objectives end to end and map every task to a domain weight
   • If you own V3 material, set it aside except where the domain content is unchanged
2. Weeks 2-411-13 hrs/week

   Domain 1 — Security Operations (34%)

   • Process and analyse security telemetry: logs, alerts, network flow and endpoint data
   • Tune and interpret detection logic; understand false positives and the analyst’s triage workflow
   • Cover the V4 AI-in-security operations material: how defensive tooling uses AI and where it helps or misleads
   • Practise reading a packet capture and a SIEM query result until interpreting them is routine
3. Weeks 5-610-12 hrs/week

   Domain 2 — Vulnerability Management (26%)

   • Run a vulnerability scan in your lab and prioritise findings by exploitability and asset value
   • Map findings to frameworks (e.g., CVE/CVSS) and to remediation, not just detection
   • Understand assessment methodology: authenticated vs unauthenticated scans, scope and false negatives
   • Practise writing a prioritised remediation recommendation from a raw scan export
4. Weeks 7-811-13 hrs/week

   Domain 3 — Incident Response and Management (24%)

   • Learn the incident-response lifecycle: preparation, detection, analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, lessons learned
   • Practise analysing an incident from indicators to a containment decision using provided data
   • Cover the V4 AI risk material: model hallucination, data exposure and governance of AI use in security
   • Drill the communication handoffs between detection, response and reporting stages
5. Week 910-12 hrs

   Domain 4 — Reporting and Communication (16%)

   • Practise writing an incident report and a vulnerability summary for both technical and executive audiences
   • Learn stakeholder communication, severity rating and the structure of a clear post-incident review
   • Do not skip this domain — it is small but where V4 candidates lose avoidable points
   • Rehearse explaining a technical finding to a non-technical reader in plain language
6. Weeks 10-1210-12 hrs/week

   Performance-based question rehearsal and timed exams

   • Sit three full 165-minute practice exams weighted to the four current domains
   • Rehearse performance-based items: interpret a log or capture and state the attack and the next step
   • Re-lab every miss against the V4 objectives rather than re-reading it
   • One quiet day before the exam; confirm your V4 registration and ID details

What to buy

Which study resources are worth paying for?

The buying decision for CySA+ is, as with every CompTIA exam, first and foremost about version: CS0-004 material is new as of its June 2026 launch, and CS0-003 books and courses are still widely sold and ranked. Buy anything labelled CS0-004 or "V4", and verify the AI-in-security content is actually present rather than promised. The other decision is whether to pay for CompTIA’s own bundles, which add labs and a retake to the voucher at a premium. The exam voucher itself carries a list price around $439, and the certification is renewed over three years with 60 continuing-education units and a $150 CE fee.

Prices checked 2026-08 in USD before tax. CompTIA voucher list is ~$439 and varies by region and promotion; Udemy sale prices are far below list. Confirm any course is the CS0-004 (V4) edition, since CS0-003 material remains on sale. We do not rank by commission.

What you'll face

What question types will I see?

A maximum of 85 questions in 165 minutes (two hours and forty-five minutes), scored on a 100-900 scale with a 750 cut. The paper mixes multiple choice — single-answer and multiple-response — with performance-based questions that present a realistic analyst artefact: a log extract, a packet capture, a vulnerability scan, or an incident timeline, and ask you to interpret it and state the attack, the root cause, or the next response step. PBQs carry more weight than a single multiple-choice item, but you may skip them and return, so the presented order is not the order to work in. The four current domains are Security Operations (34%), Vulnerability Management (26%), Incident Response and Management (24%), and Reporting and Communication (16%). Because CompTIA equates forms, your scaled score is not a percentage of items correct and cannot be converted into one. Version 4 added explicit AI-in-security items — both knowledge questions about AI use in defensive operations and governance, and scenario items about AI-introduced risks such as hallucinated conclusions and data exposure. The practical pacing implication is that multiple-choice items should average well under a minute so the PBQs, which can consume several minutes each, have somewhere to come from within the 165-minute window.

Samples are editor-written illustrations of the published CS0-004 blueprint, not live exam items.

Reference

What are the key facts about the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)?

CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) is a certification credential; awarded by CompTIA; the exam fee is $404; typical preparation is 3–4 months; holders typically earn $75,000 – $115,000.

In short

Is the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) worth it?

• CySA+ focuses on defensive analytics and response.
• It builds on Security+ with hands-on scenarios.
• It renews every three years.

Worth comparing

How does the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) compare with similar credentials?

• CompTIA Security+ CompTIA

Trust

Where does this information come from?

Everything above is taken from the awarding body's own published material. Fees, question counts and domain weights are revised regularly — check the official page before you pay.

• CompTIA Awarding body
• Official CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) exam page Exam page
• CompTIA certification programme Programme rules

Research confidence: high · Last reviewed 2026-08