Yes, A+ expires — and the cheapest way to stop it

Yes. CompTIA's renewal page states it without qualification: your certification "expires three years from the date you earn it and must be renewed before that expiration date". Read 24 September 2026.

That is the whole of the bad news. The rest of this page is the several ways of dealing with it, one of which is free and one of which happens automatically if you keep studying.

The clock starts when you pass, not when the version retires

Three years from your certification date. It is not tied to the version of the exam you sat, and it does not reset because CompTIA launched a new one. CompTIA's advice for anyone unsure is to log in to a certification account and look, because the renewal cycle dates are personal rather than calendar-based — the fees page is explicit that due dates "are based on your CE renewal cycle, not the calendar year".

Four ways to renew with a single activity

CompTIA lists four single activities that renew a certification outright:

1. Complete CompTIA CertMaster CE. CompTIA's own renewal course, sold by CompTIA, which renews the certification on completion and triggers automatic renewal without a separate submission.
2. Earn a higher-level CompTIA certification. Passing Network+ renews A+. This is the route most people end up taking without planning to.
3. Earn an approved non-CompTIA industry certification. CompTIA maintains a list by certification body — its A+ page for this is headed "20 CEUs Required for Certification Renewal" and lists qualifying certifications from Amazon, Apple, Cisco, Microsoft, Red Hat, ISACA, (ISC)2 and others.
4. Pass the latest release of your own exam. Sit the current version again. This is also the only renewal route CompTIA offers for Tech+.

The other route: collect CEUs

If no single activity fits, you accumulate continuing-education units from a combination of activities. CompTIA's list includes earning another CompTIA certification, earning non-CompTIA industry certifications, completing training and higher education, participating in industry activities, publishing a relevant article, white paper, blog post or book, and gaining related work experience.

The number needed for A+ is on CompTIA's own page for it: the heading reads "CompTIA A+ V14 - 20 CEUs Required for Certification Renewal". Note the version in that heading — it is CompTIA's own labelling, reproduced here as found on 24 September 2026, and it is a reminder to check the page for your own version rather than trusting a number copied from a site like this one.

Most CEU submissions are manual: you log into a certification account and submit what you completed. Three activities renew automatically without submission — CertMaster CE, passing the latest release of your exam, and earning a higher-level CompTIA certification.

What the CEU route costs

This is where the $75 comes in. CompTIA's continuing-education fee table puts A+ at $75 for the whole three-year period. Network+, Security+, Linux+, Cloud+, Server+, Project+, PenTest+, CySA+ and the rest of that tier are $150. Tech+ is $0, with the condition that renewal requires passing the latest version of the exam.

Two details about the fee that catch people out. It is not annual — CompTIA's page opens by saying so, and adds that fees should only be paid if you are renewing by uploading CEUs and must be paid by the certification's expiration date. And it can be paid with CE tokens bought from CompTIA, which come in $25 and $50 denominations, do not expire, and are non-refundable once uploaded.

Planning the three years, rather than reacting to them

The renewal design rewards a decision made early and punishes one made late. Decide in your first year which of the four routes you intend to take, and most of the cost disappears.

If you expect to continue with CompTIA, the answer is simply to sit the next exam before the three years are up and let it renew A+ as a side effect — no fee, no submission, nothing to remember. If you expect to move toward a different vendor's certifications, check CompTIA's approved list early, because an Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco or Red Hat certification you were going to take anyway may renew A+ for you. And if you expect to stay where you are, budget $75 per cycle and keep a record of training and work activities as you go, rather than reconstructing three years of them in the week before expiry.

The rule that makes this stop mattering

The most useful sentence on CompTIA's renewal page is about holding more than one certification: you only need to meet the renewal requirements for your highest-level certification, and renewing it renews the lower ones automatically.

So the maintenance burden does not accumulate. An A+ holder who later passes Network+ has renewed A+ in the process. Somebody who goes further again renews both. The three-year clock is a real cost for people who stop at A+ and stay stopped, and close to a non-issue for anyone still moving. Network+ after A+ is the usual next rung.

What renewal is actually for

It is worth understanding why the clock exists, because it makes the rules easier to accept. A certification is a statement that you knew something at a moment in time. In a field where the current A+ version launched in March 2025 and the one before it is already historical, a certificate with no expiry would be making a claim it could not support after a few years.

That also explains why the renewal routes are what they are. Every one of them — a higher certification, an approved industry certification, training, published writing, relevant work experience, or simply sitting the current exam again — is evidence that you have carried on. The fee is administrative; the activity is the point. Reading the requirement as a subscription charge misses what CompTIA is actually asking for.

If you let it lapse

CompTIA's renewal page is about renewing before expiration and does not, on the pages read here, set out a grace period or a reinstatement process. Rather than guess at one, this site says plainly that it does not know — check with CompTIA directly if a certification has already expired, because the answer will be specific to your record and this page cannot see it.

What is clear is the direction of travel: renewal is designed around acting before the expiration date, and the automated reminders CompTIA describes sending are tied to that date. Everything about the design assumes you renew in time. The A+ page has the rest of the certification's rules.