CompTIA Security+ SY0-801 Release Date and What We Know

CompTIA Security+ SY0-801 launches November 17, 2026. CompTIA’s Security+ V8 page lists that date and describes the exam as expected to launch on or around it. The final exam objectives are published, the format is confirmed at a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes with a passing score of 750, and the exam opens in English only. SY0-701 has been live since November 2023 and retires on June 11, 2027 for the English exam, with the Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai versions following on August 13, 2027. If you hold a current Security+ certification, it stays valid for three years from your test date regardless of which version you took.

That is the short answer. If you came here looking for a release date, you have it. What follows covers what actually changed in the final objectives, what CompTIA still has not announced, and what to do about it depending on where you sit in your study plan.

The headline change is artificial intelligence. SY0-801 adds a new objective, 2.6, covering threats and vulnerabilities tied to AI usage. It lists large language models as an attack surface under 2.4 and brings AI into security automation under 4.6. None of that appears in the SY0-701 objectives.

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When Is CompTIA Security+ SY0-801 Coming Out?

CompTIA’s Security+ V8 page lists a launch date of November 17, 2026 and names the exam code as SY0-801. The page header still reads “Coming November 2026,” and the body text says the exam is expected to launch on or around that date. Earlier timing shared inside the CompTIA Instructors Network, where CompTIA gives the training community an early look, pointed to a preview around October 20, so the public date landed about four weeks later than the first signal.

One caveat. CompTIA has kept the “on or around” wording into November, and version transitions have moved before. Treat November 17 as the plan until you can actually book an SY0-801 seat through Pearson VUE.

The other thing to know is the overlap window. When a new Security+ version launches, the previous version stays available for a while, and the 701 dates are published on CompTIA’s V7 page. The English exam retires June 11, 2027, about seven months after the 801 launch date. Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai versions run until August 13, 2027. That cushion exists specifically so people mid-study do not get caught out. Anyone testing on 701 before that window closes still earns a valid Security+ credential.

The SY0-801 Domains and Weighting

CompTIA circulated draft objectives through late 2025 and into 2026, moving from Version 1.0 up through Version 1.5 with a DRAFT watermark on every page. The document linked from the V8 page is now Version 2.0, and the watermark is gone. Structure stays at five domains, matching the 701 format, and the weights held steady from the first draft to the final. Against 701 itself, though, they moved further than “slight” would suggest. Domain 5 alone drops six points, and the total objective count goes from 28 to 27.

The test details that were marked TBD in the drafts are filled in. SY0-801 runs a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes, mixing multiple-choice and performance-based items, with a passing score of 750 on a scale of 100 to 900. That is the same format as 701. The recommended experience line changed slightly, from Network+ plus two years in a security or systems administrator role to two years of hands-on experience as a security administrator.

What Is New in SY0-801 That Was Not in SY0-701

Three areas stand out in the final objectives.

AI Threats and Vulnerabilities (Objective 2.6)

This is the one entirely new objective on the exam. Its title is “Summarize threats and vulnerabilities associated with artificial intelligence (AI) usage,” and the list under it reads like a tour of the last two years of AI security news. Model manipulation, poisoning, prompt injection, data loss, bias, explainability, hallucinations, jailbreaking, evasion, privacy, ethical considerations, session hijacking and code execution all appear. The verb matters. “Summarize” sits at the lower end of CompTIA’s difficulty scale, so expect questions that test whether you can recognize and describe these risks rather than questions that ask you to engineer defenses against them. Candidates do not need to build models, but they do need to understand what goes wrong when their organization deploys one.

AI Elsewhere in the Exam

The AI content does not stop at 2.6. Objective 2.4, which covers vulnerabilities and attack surfaces, adds large language models to the list alongside familiar entries like unsupported products and unpatched systems. Deepfakes and quishing (QR code phishing) join the social engineering indicators you need to recognize under 2.5. Over in Security Operations, 4.6 on automation and orchestration lists AI capabilities including agentic AI, chatbots, predictive analysis and AI-augmented baselines as tools for securing operations. That last one is the defender’s side of the story. The exam expects you to know AI as both a risk to manage and a capability to put to work.

What Moved and What Got Cut

Several 701 topics do not appear anywhere in the 801 objectives or acronym list. SD-WAN, SASE, containerization, blockchain and key stretching are gone. Security Service Edge (SSE) takes the place of SASE under 3.2. Zero Trust principles move up into Objective 1.1 as a foundational concept, though Zero Trust architecture still appears under 3.2. Incident response in 4.7 picks up negotiation as a standalone item, a nod to how ransomware cases actually play out. And Objective 5.5 names MITRE ATT&CK, the Cyber Kill Chain and the Diamond Model of Intrusion Analysis directly as reference sources for audit and assessment work. If you studied from a third-party 801 guide written against the early drafts, check it against the Version 2.0 document, because some of those guides described cloud content that did not survive to the final.

When Does SY0-701 Retire?

CompTIA has published the retirement dates for SY0-701 on its Security+ V7 page. The English exam retires June 11, 2027, and the Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai versions retire August 13, 2027. That is roughly seven months after the November 17, 2026 launch date for SY0-801, a little longer than the usual overlap.

Your existing 701 certification does not retire when the exam does. CompTIA Security+ stays valid for three years from your test date regardless of which version you sat. A Security+ earned on SY0-701 in 2025 stays valid through 2028, well past the exam’s retirement.

Should You Wait for 801 or Take 701 Now?

For most candidates, take 701 now. Three reasons drive that recommendation, and the longer version of the argument is in Take Security+ 701 Now Before the 801 Update Hits.

Study materials are mature. Books, practice exams, instructor experience, and our own Security+ training program have had three years to refine their coverage of 701. The 801 side of that market is still catching up. Major publisher study guides for 801 are on preorder, with e-book editions slated for December 2026 and print copies in 2027. CompTIA’s own V8 page now lists the full CertMaster lineup for 801, but a lot of third-party practice material was written against the drafts, and some of those drafts described content that did not survive to Version 2.0. New exam versions always go through a stretch where study resources catch up unevenly. In past transitions that stretch has run six to nine months. Test on 701 and you skip it entirely.

Nobody on the hiring side is going to ask which version you sat. A Security+ certification appears on a resume as Security+. Recruiters, hiring managers, and government employers care that the credential is current, not which exam generated it. CompTIA does the work of treating both versions equally.

And the hiring market does not pause for exam updates. If you need Security+ for a job application, security clearance, or contract requirement, delaying while you wait for 801 materials to mature likely means missing the opportunity. Hiring cycles move faster than CompTIA release schedules.

What About DoD 8140 and Federal Requirements?

Security+ holds DoD 8140 approval for multiple work roles including cyber defense analyst, incident responder, vulnerability analyst, and security control assessor. That approval applies to the credential, not a specific exam version. When 801 launches, DoD 8140 mapping will extend to it through the normal CompTIA accreditation process.

Federal contractors with current Security+ on 701 do not need to retake the exam. The certification carries the same federal recognition through its full three-year validity period. Renewal happens through continuing education or by retaking the current exam version when your existing credential expires.

Cost and Format Details

CompTIA has not published SY0-801 pricing. Nothing on the V8 page or in the final objectives document addresses cost. A SY0-701 voucher currently retails for $439 in the United States following CompTIA’s June 2026 price increase, up from $425, and the historical pattern is for a new version to launch at the same price as the one it replaces. Bundled packages with retake assurance and CertMaster products run higher.

Format is settled. The final objectives list a maximum of 90 questions across 90 minutes, mixing multiple-choice and performance-based items, with a passing score of 750 on a scale of 100 to 900. Performance-based questions tend to appear early in CompTIA exams, typically within the first three to five items, and nothing in the 801 documentation suggests that changes.

Language availability is the piece most people skip past. SY0-801 launches in English only. CompTIA’s V8 page lists no other languages, and no dates have been published for translated versions. SY0-701 remains available in Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai through August 13, 2027. International candidates should check the official CompTIA page for language availability before scheduling.

How SY0-801 Compares to SecAI+

A natural question comes up when people see the new AI content in 801. Does Security+ now overlap with CompTIA SecAI+, which launched on February 17, 2026 as a dedicated AI security certification?

There is overlap in vocabulary, but the depth is very different. Security+ 801 covers AI security at a general security professional level, and its single AI objective is one of 27 on the exam. You learn to recognize the risks and apply existing security principles to AI systems. SecAI+ goes much deeper, with its largest domain devoted to securing AI systems and another to running AI-assisted security operations, and CompTIA recommends three to four years of IT experience including two in hands-on cybersecurity before you sit it. The two certifications target different career stages.

Most security professionals will hold Security+ regardless and add SecAI+ if their role requires deep AI security work. Our team covered this exact comparison in our review of whether SecAI+ is worth the investment.

What Is Still Unknown

The list of open items is shorter than it was a few months ago, but it has not reached zero. Pricing has not been announced. Languages beyond English have no published dates. CompTIA’s V8 page describes the CertMaster Perform, Learn, Practice and Labs products for 801 with estimated study hours, but check the store for actual availability before you buy. The retirement date for 801 itself is listed only as an estimate of three years after launch, which would put it in late 2029. And the launch date carries “on or around” language until the day seats open.

What is no longer unknown deserves stating plainly. Version 2.0 is the final objectives document, the question count, exam length and passing score are published alongside it, and the domain weights are locked. Anyone who has been holding off on 801 prep until the blueprint settled can stop waiting.

For the most current information directly from CompTIA, check the official Security+ certification page. Federal candidates can also check the DoD Cyber Workforce Framework for Security+ work role mappings as they update for the new version.

What to Do Right Now

The action items depend on your current situation. Anyone mid-study on 701 should stay the course and aim to test well before the English exam retires on June 11, 2027. If you bought a 701 voucher months ago, check the expiration date printed on it and confirm with whoever sold it which exam version it covers. Newly starting candidates with a job deadline should still target 701 because study materials are mature and the credential is identical from an employer perspective.

Self-paced candidates with no deadline who realistically need until summer 2027 or later should plan around 801. Download the Version 2.0 objectives from CompTIA’s V8 page and study from that document rather than from any summary written against the drafts. Watch for the price announcement and for CertMaster availability. For those tracking the full CompTIA roadmap, our guide to CompTIA stackable certifications shows where Security+ sits in the broader certification path.

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