CEH vs. Security+: which comes next after your first cert?

Candidates often ask this as an either/or question, as if CEH and Security+ were competing for the same slot on a resume. They are not. Security+ is a defensive baseline covering threats, architecture, and operations. CEH asks you to recognize the attacker's own tools and techniques, across a longer and more specialized exam with a pricing model that does not even resemble Security+'s. “Which comes next” is a more useful question than “which is better,” and the answer depends on the role you are aiming at, not which name you have heard more often.

What Security+ actually tests

SY0-701, the current version, is a maximum of 90 questions, a mix of multiple-choice and performance-based, run in 90 minutes, with a passing score of 750 on a scale of 100 to 900. Five domains carry the weight: General Security Concepts (12%), Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations (22%), Security Architecture (18%), Security Operations (28%), and Security Program Management and Oversight (20%). It is a broad, conceptual exam built for SOC and IT-adjacent roles; the full breakdown, including cost and retake policy, is on our Security+ exam guide.

What CEH actually tests

CEH v13 is 125 multiple-choice questions, run in 4 hours, with a passing score between 60% and 85%, depending on the exam form. Nine domains cover the exam: Information Security and Ethical Hacking Overview (6%), Reconnaissance Techniques (21%), System Hacking Phases and Attack Techniques (17%), Network and Perimeter Hacking (14%), Web Application Hacking (16%), Wireless Network Hacking (6%), Mobile, IoT, and OT Hacking (8%), Cloud Computing (6%), and Cryptography (6%). Where Security+ tests whether you know a control exists, CEH tests whether you recognize the technique that control is supposed to catch. Full detail on our CEH exam guide.

The part everyone misses: CEH has no sticker price

Security+ has a clean, published number: US$439 for the standalone SY0-701 exam voucher. CEH does not work that way. Not published as a standalone voucher. EC-Council prices the knowledge exam inside training packages, listed from US$1,699 under a "Starting at" label. Candidates who already qualify can skip the training package instead: EC-Council charges a US$100 non-refundable eligibility application fee, for candidates applying to sit the exam by self-study rather than through official training. Budgeting for CEH means deciding which path you are on before you can even name a price, which is a structural difference from Security+, not just a dollar gap.

EC-Council also distinguishes this 125-question knowledge exam from the separately sold CEH (Practical), a six-hour hands-on exam taken for the CEH Master level. A price you find quoted for the Practical is not the price of the exam these two certs are actually being compared on.

Choose Security+ next if

• You want the credential the widest range of job postings recognizes by name, including DoD 8140 work roles that CompTIA confirms Security+ qualifies for.
• You are coming from a generalist IT or helpdesk background and need a broad defensive vocabulary before anything more specialized.
• You want a credential achievable on a clear, published price and a 3-to-6-month timeline.

Choose CEH next if

• You are targeting a penetration-testing, red-team, or adversary-emulation role where naming and recognizing attacker techniques is the job, not a side interest.
• You already have the defensive fundamentals Security+ covers, so the attacker-technique content has something to attach to.
• You have employer sponsorship for an official training package, or qualify to apply for the self-study path.

If you are deciding the order, not just the cert

Most candidates are better off with Security+ first regardless of the eventual direction. CEH's own domains, reconnaissance, system hacking, web and wireless attacks, assume you already understand the controls being attacked. Sitting CEH first means learning two things at once: what a control is, and how it gets defeated. Security+ first means CEH content lands on an existing foundation instead of competing with it. If management, not offense, is the longer-term direction, our Security+-to-CISSP roadmap and SSCP stepping-stone pieces cover that fork instead.

Start studying Security+ free: 25 free questions spread across every exam domain, one full-length mock exam, and 5 AI tutor explanations a day.

Start studying CEH free: the same free tier, 25 questions spread across all nine CEH domains and 5 AI tutor explanations a day. No credit card required for either.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by CompTIA or EC-Council. Security+ is a trademark of CompTIA; CEH is a trademark of EC-Council. Exam format, cost, and domain-weight details are read from each vendor's own published pages, dated on our Security+ and CEH exam guides; those pages are authoritative if a vendor detail changes.