Which of these is hardest?

Nobody can answer that with evidence, and this page will not pretend to. No certification vendor publishes a candidate pass rate, so there is no measured difficulty to compare. What can be compared is what each vendor says it expects, and on that measure all three are close: roughly one to two years of relevant hands-on work. Which one is hardest for you depends on which of them overlaps with what you already do.

I have A+ and about a year on a help desk. What does CompTIA itself suggest?

CompTIA states that Network+ expects A+ plus 9–12 months in a junior network role, and that Security+ expects Network+ plus about two years of security or systems-administration experience. Read literally, that puts Network+ next and Security+ one step beyond it. That is CompTIA describing its own product ladder, not a rule about you, and plenty of people sit Security+ first.

Does one of these get me hired faster?

We cannot tell you that and neither can anyone else honestly. There is no public dataset linking a specific certification to a hiring outcome for a specific person, and any site claiming otherwise is guessing. What is checkable is where each credential is formally accepted — the DoD 8140 counts on this page are one such fact, and they favour Security+ heavily if federal or defense work is anywhere in your plans.

Is CCNA worth it if my employer does not use Cisco?

The networking concepts transfer; the configuration syntax is Cisco’s. If you never touch Cisco equipment, you are paying for depth in one vendor’s implementation to learn ideas Network+ covers vendor-neutrally. If your workplace runs Cisco, or the roles you are targeting list it, that same specificity is the point.

Three-way decision

Network+, Security+, or CCNA?

The useful finding first: all three expect roughly the same experience— one to two years of relevant hands-on work, by each vendor’s own description. So “which is hardest” is the wrong question, and answering it would need a number no vendor publishes. The real question is which work you want to be doing, and there is one cited fact that separates them sharply.

What each one is about

The actual difference

CompTIA Network+

How networks are put together and why they break — addressing, routing and switching concepts, wireless, and troubleshooting, without tying you to one vendor’s equipment.

CompTIA Security+

The vocabulary and controls of security work — threats, architecture, operations, risk, governance, identity and cryptography — again vendor-neutral.

Cisco CCNA

The same networking ground as Network+, taught against Cisco equipment — configuration, routing and switching on Cisco gear, plus automation basics. Vendor-specific where Network+ is vendor-neutral.

Network+ and CCNA cover heavily overlapping ground. The difference is vendor-neutral breadth versus Cisco-specific depth, not beginner versus advanced.

What the vendors state

The experience each one assumes

Certification	What the vendor states it expects	Source · checked
CompTIA Network+	A+ plus 9–12 months of hands-on experience in a junior network role (a recommendation, not a requirement)	CompTIA · 2026-06-14
CompTIA Security+	Network+ plus about 2 years of security or systems-administration experience (a recommendation, not a requirement)	CompTIA · 2026-06-14
Cisco CCNA	Roughly one or more years of experience implementing and administering Cisco solutions (advisory, not required)	Cisco · 2026-06-14

Read that table literally and CompTIA has described a ladder: A+, then Network+, then Security+ once you have a couple of years behind you. That is CompTIA positioning its own products, not a rule about you — people sit Security+ first regularly. But if you have A+ and about a year of help-desk work, you are exactly where CompTIA says Network+ belongs, and one step short of where it says Security+ does.

The exams

What you are actually sitting

Certification	Exam	Length	Questions	Format	Fee
CompTIA Network+	N10-009	90 minutes	Up to 90	Multiple choice and performance-based	$399 · 2026-06-13
CompTIA Security+	SY0-701	90 minutes	Up to 90	Multiple choice and performance-based	$439 · 2026-06-13
Cisco CCNA	200-301	120 minutes	Not published	Not published	$300 · 2026-06-25

Two of those cells say “Not published”. Cisco does not publish a question count or item format for the 200-301 exam, so this page does not give you one. Anywhere you see a specific number for those, someone has either counted their own attempt or made it up.

The one that separates them

Where each is formally accepted

The US Department of Defense publishes which credentials qualify a person for which cyber work roles under DoD 8140. It is a public table, so it can be counted rather thanguessed. Across the 327 qualification options in matrix V2.1 (effective 2025-09-19):

Certification	Cyber work roles it can qualify you for
CompTIA Security+	20
CompTIA Network+	5
Cisco CCNA	1

If federal, defense, or contractor work is anywhere in your plans, that gap is the single most decision-relevant fact on this page. If it is not, the number is close to irrelevant — it says nothing about private-sector demand, which is not published anywhere comparable. How the DoD 8140 matrix works →

The honest limits

What this page cannot tell you

Which is hardest. None of the three vendors published a pass rate on their exam pages when we read them (2026-06-13), so there is nothing to compare. Difficulty depends on the overlap with work you already do.
Which pays more. Pay data exists at the occupation level, not the certification level. Anyone attaching a salary to a specific credential is inferring it.
Which gets you hired. There is no public dataset linking one certification to one person’s hiring outcome, and the DoD counts above are about formal eligibility, not employer preference.

Where to go from here

Each credential page carries the same vendor statement with its check date, the full exam facts, the real cost including renewal, and the free official study route.

CompTIA Network+→CompTIA Security+→Cisco CCNA→

Common questions

Which of these is hardest?: Nobody can answer that with evidence, and this page will not pretend to. No certification vendor publishes a candidate pass rate, so there is no measured difficulty to compare. What can be compared is what each vendor says it expects, and on that measure all three are close: roughly one to two years of relevant hands-on work. Which one is hardest for you depends on which of them overlaps with what you already do.
I have A+ and about a year on a help desk. What does CompTIA itself suggest?: CompTIA states that Network+ expects A+ plus 9–12 months in a junior network role, and that Security+ expects Network+ plus about two years of security or systems-administration experience. Read literally, that puts Network+ next and Security+ one step beyond it. That is CompTIA describing its own product ladder, not a rule about you, and plenty of people sit Security+ first.
Does one of these get me hired faster?: We cannot tell you that and neither can anyone else honestly. There is no public dataset linking a specific certification to a hiring outcome for a specific person, and any site claiming otherwise is guessing. What is checkable is where each credential is formally accepted — the DoD 8140 counts on this page are one such fact, and they favour Security+ heavily if federal or defense work is anywhere in your plans.
Is CCNA worth it if my employer does not use Cisco?: The networking concepts transfer; the configuration syntax is Cisco’s. If you never touch Cisco equipment, you are paying for depth in one vendor’s implementation to learn ideas Network+ covers vendor-neutrally. If your workplace runs Cisco, or the roles you are targeting list it, that same specificity is the point.