Certification Recertification Requirements Explained

How recertification works across CompTIA, AWS, Microsoft, PMI, Cisco and ISC2 — the three maintenance models, what each provider demands, and how to choose.

Aisha Rahman13 May 2026 · 10 min read

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Signpost showing three recertification routes — retaking an exam, earning continuing-education credits, and completing an annual assessment

Most certified professionals assume their credential works the way their first one did. An AWS engineer who moves into project management expects to sit another exam in three years; a PMP holder picking up an Azure certification expects to log education hours. Both are in for a surprise, because there is no industry standard for recertification — each provider chose one of three fundamentally different maintenance models, and the model determines how much time, money and exam pressure staying certified will cost you for the rest of your career.

Short answer: certification providers use one of three recertification models. AWS (and often Cisco) make you re-test: pass the current version of the exam, or a higher one, before your three-year expiry. CompTIA, PMI, ISC2 and ISACA let you earn continuing-education credits instead, usually alongside a fee, so you may never sit that exam again. Microsoft uses a third model of its own: role-based certifications expire every 12 months but renew through a free, open-book online assessment. Which model applies is a property of the provider, not the certification level — and it should factor into which credentials you pursue.

This article compares the models and maps the major providers onto them. The precise deadline structures live in the guide to certification renewal deadlines, and the fee side is covered in certification renewal costs; here the focus is strategic — what each system actually requires of you and how to plan around it.

The three recertification models at a glance

Every mainstream IT and project-management certification programme fits one of these patterns:

Model	How it works	Providers using it	Typical cycle
Recertify by exam	Pass the current exam version (or a higher-level exam) before expiry	AWS; Cisco (as one of two options)	3 years
Continuing education + fee	Earn a set number of credits (CEUs, CPEs, PDUs) and pay a maintenance or renewal fee	CompTIA, PMI, ISC2, ISACA; Cisco (as the other option)	3 years
Free renewal assessment	Pass a free, unproctored, open-book online assessment in the months before expiry	Microsoft (role-based certifications)	12 months

The terminology follows the model. Strictly, "recertification" means proving yourself again by exam, while "renewal" means maintaining the credential through ongoing activity — a distinction unpacked properly in renewal vs recertification. In practice, providers and job adverts use the words loosely, so always check the mechanism rather than the label.

Model 1: recertify by exam (AWS, and Cisco by choice)

How AWS recertification works

AWS is the purest example of the re-test model. Every AWS certification is valid for three years from the date it was earned, and there is no continuing-education alternative: to stay certified, you pass an exam again before expiry.

You have some flexibility in which exam:

Same exam, current version. Recertify Cloud Practitioner by passing the current Cloud Practitioner exam, Solutions Architect Associate by passing the current SAA exam, and so on. If the exam version has changed since you certified — AWS revises exams regularly — you take the new version.
A higher-level exam. Passing a Professional exam renews the certifications beneath it: Solutions Architect Professional renews Solutions Architect Associate and Cloud Practitioner, and DevOps Engineer Professional renews Developer Associate and CloudOps Associate. For an engineer progressing anyway, this is the efficient route — one exam, multiple renewals.
Specialty exams renew only themselves. A Specialty certification can only be recertified by retaking the current Specialty exam.

Two softeners take the sting out. First, holding any active AWS certification puts a 50% discount voucher in your account, usable for recertification or any future exam. Second, AWS has added lighter options at the edges: as of August 2026 its recertification page lists a free game-based path (AWS Cloud Quest: Recertify Cloud Practitioner) for the foundational cert, and a one-year maintenance extension via an active AWS Skill Builder subscription for Associate and Professional levels — check aws.amazon.com/certification/recertification/ for current availability, as the details have shifted.

The strategic implication: an AWS-heavy credential portfolio commits you to periodic exam performance under proctored conditions, indefinitely. Some professionals find that keeps their skills honest; others find it a recurring source of stress and calendar pressure. If you hold, say, the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional, plan a study block into every third year the way you would plan the original attempt.

Cisco: exam or credits — your choice

Cisco certifications are also valid for three years, but Cisco gives you both routes. You can recertify by passing a qualifying exam, or you can accumulate Cisco Continuing Education (CE) credits from approved activities before expiry — 30 CE credits for CCNA, 80 for CCNP-level (combinations of exam and credits are also allowed at the professional tier).

This hybrid makes Cisco the most flexible of the exam-first providers. A network engineer whose employer funds Cisco training can often renew on credits alone; a consultant who prefers a weekend of revision to months of coursework can simply re-sit. If your work already includes Cisco-approved learning activities, the credit route effectively converts study you were doing anyway into renewal currency.

Model 2: continuing education plus fees (CompTIA, PMI, ISC2, ISACA)

The credit-based providers share a philosophy — a professional who keeps learning should not need to re-prove baseline knowledge — but their currencies and bookkeeping differ.

CompTIA: CEUs on a three-year cycle

CompTIA certifications expire three years from your pass date and renew through the Continuing Education (CE) programme. The credit targets scale with the certification: 20 CEUs for A+, 30 for Network+, 50 for Security+, 60 for CySA+ per three-year cycle (figures from CompTIA's renewal pages; counts for other certs vary — check comptia.org).

CompTIA offers four renewal paths: upload CEUs earned from training, work experience and community activity; complete a CertMaster CE course; pass the latest version of the exam; or earn a higher-level CompTIA certification. The last one matters most strategically, because CompTIA renewal is stackable: renewing a higher certification automatically renews the ones beneath it, and you pay CE fees only for your highest cert. A professional holding A+, Network+ and Security+ maintains all three by maintaining Security+ alone. CE fees are charged per three-year cycle when renewing via CEU upload — CompTIA's fee table lists a $75 tier (A+, Data+) and a $150 tier (Security+, Network+ and most others) — due by your expiration date.

PMI: PDUs under the CCR programme

PMI runs the Continuing Certification Requirements (CCR) programme. PMP holders earn 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) per three-year cycle, then pay a renewal fee of $60 for PMI members or $150 for non-members. PDUs come from education (courses, webinars, PMI events) and from "giving back" activities such as volunteering, with caps on the latter — the education portion must satisfy PMI's Talent Triangle categories. CAPM, once a re-exam-every-five-years credential, now follows the same CCR pattern at 15 PDUs per three years. Notably, PMI never makes a PMP holder re-sit the exam to stay certified: earn the PDUs, pay the fee, carry on.

ISC2 and ISACA: CPEs plus annual maintenance fees

ISC2 (CISSP, CCSP, SSCP) and ISACA (CISA and siblings) both use Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits over three-year cycles, but bill maintenance annually rather than at renewal. CISSP requires 120 CPE credits per cycle plus an Annual Maintenance Fee of US$135, due on your certification anniversary — one AMF covers all your ISC2 certifications. ISACA's CISA requires 120 CPE hours per cycle with a minimum of 20 per year, reported annually; secondary sources put its annual maintenance fee around $45 for members and $85 for non-members, but confirm current figures at isaca.org.

The annual-fee structure means an ISC2 or ISACA credential is never "paid up" — it is a subscription with homework. Budget for it as a recurring professional expense, the way you would a body membership.

What counts as a credit?

CEUs, CPEs and PDUs are the same idea wearing different badges: units of qualifying professional activity. Across providers, the recognised categories are broadly training courses and conferences, self-study and webinars, teaching, publishing and mentoring, and (in capped amounts) relevant work experience — each provider publishes its own eligible-activity list and per-category caps. Efficient tactics for accumulating credits without extra spend are covered in how to keep your certifications current.

Model 3: Microsoft's free annual assessment

Microsoft stands alone. Its role-based and specialty certifications (Azure Administrator, Power BI Data Analyst and the rest) expire after just 12 months — the shortest cycle of any major provider — but renewal costs nothing and involves no test centre. In the final six months before expiry, you take a free, unproctored, open-book online assessment on Microsoft Learn; passing extends the certification one year from its existing expiration date, and you can retake the assessment as often as needed before expiry. Fundamentals certifications (AZ-900, SC-900 and peers) never expire at all.

So Microsoft is neither an exam model nor a continuing-education model: no fee, no proctor, no credit logging — but an annual touchpoint you cannot skip. The real risk is administrative, not academic: the assessment window opens six months out and closes at expiry, and a missed window means the certification lapses. If you hold several Microsoft certs earned in different months, the renewal dates scatter across your calendar; set reminders when you certify, not when the reminder emails arrive.

Choosing credentials with maintenance in mind: a decision framework

Recertification requirements deserve a place in your certification decisions, not just your maintenance planning. Four questions expose the long-term shape of a credential:

Will I be willing to re-sit this exam in three years?" If the honest answer is no, an AWS Specialty — renewable only by retaking the exam — is a heavier commitment than the same exam fee suggests. A CompTIA or PMI credential can be maintained without ever facing the exam room again.
Does my normal work generate credits? A project manager attending PMI chapter events accumulates PDUs almost passively; a sysadmin with no training budget may find 50 Security+ CEUs a genuine chore. Credit models are cheap only when your professional life already produces qualifying activity.
How do my credentials stack? CompTIA's stackable renewal and AWS's higher-exam renewals both reward consolidating within one provider: maintaining the top credential maintains the pyramid. A scattered portfolio across four providers means four parallel maintenance regimes.
What does a lapse actually cost here? Under Microsoft's model a lapse means re-earning the certification; elsewhere grace and reinstatement rules vary by provider and are worth knowing in advance — the consequences are mapped in what happens when a certification expires.

A worked scenario

Consider a cloud engineer holding AZ-104, AWS Solutions Architect Associate and Security+. Her maintenance reality across any three-year span: one free open-book Microsoft assessment every year (three in total); one proctored AWS exam — ideally the Professional, taken with her 50% voucher, which upgrades her portfolio while renewing it; and 50 CompTIA CEUs plus the CE fee, most of which her AWS study and work training can double-count toward where the activities meet CompTIA's criteria. Written down like that, the load is manageable — but only because she mapped it. Professionals who discover the three regimes one expiry email at a time tend to lose a credential to the calendar rather than to any lack of competence.

Where the exam route is unavoidable — prepare like it is attempt one

If your provider or chosen path requires a recertification exam, treat it with the respect of a first attempt. Exams change between versions — objectives are reweighted, services renamed, whole domains added — so three-year-old knowledge plus muscle memory is not a plan. Download the current objectives, diff them mentally against what you passed, and benchmark honestly: a timed run through the current exam's practice-test simulation will show you quickly whether you are two weekends or two months from ready, and which domains moved on without you.

The bottom line for your maintenance plan

Recertification requirements are set by the provider's model, not by the individual certification: AWS means re-testing every three years (with a 50% voucher and higher-exam shortcuts), CompTIA, PMI, ISC2 and ISACA mean logging credits and paying fees on three-year cycles, Cisco lets you pick either, and Microsoft means a free open-book assessment every single year. None of these is objectively best — the exam model suits people who would rather concentrate the effort, the credit model suits people whose work already educates them, and Microsoft's model suits anyone who can manage a calendar. What matters is knowing which regime you signed up for before the expiry notice arrives, and building the credits, fees or study blocks into your professional routine from day one.

Exam facts in this guide were checked against official certification-provider pages on 30 August 2026. Fees, exam codes and policies change — confirm on the provider’s own site before you book.