RoleMath

comparison

EC-Council CSA vs CompTIA CySA+

CSA is the EC-Council SOC analyst route; CySA+ is the broader vendor-neutral analyst credential for detection, analysis, and response.

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Certification details change. Always confirm final pricing, availability, and credential terms on the official provider page linked in the sources below before you pay for anything.

Decision comparison

Side-by-side comparison

Side-by-side certification tradeoff grid with fit-dependent caveats.

Cited detail

EvidenceCertified SOC Analyst (CSA)CompTIA CySA+
Exam codeCSACS0-003
Credential levelIntermediateIntermediate
Exam lengthWe have not recorded this165 minutes
Published exam priceWe have not recorded this$439 (exam fee as of 2026-07-14)
Official certification sourceBLS occupation contextO*NET role evidenceRoleMath scoring evidence

Choose by fit

Choose Certified SOC Analyst (CSA) when
  • You want EC-Council's SOC-specific training path.
  • You are comparing CSA as a bridge from CCT or CEH.
  • You prefer a SOC-branded credential for security operations learning.
Choose CompTIA CySA+ when
  • You want a vendor-neutral cyber analyst credential.
  • You already have Security+ or similar foundations.
  • You are building toward detection, response, and analyst workflows.
Not claimed here
  • Exam pass rates
  • Job placement rates
  • Any job guarantee
  • A salary figure attributed to this certification
  • A salary prediction for you personally
  • Return on investment or a payback period

Related Roles

These are role mappings for career-planning context. Salary and outlook data must stay tied to BLS occupations, not to certification outcomes.

The Relationship column compares a credential's published exam objectives with the work the occupation involves, and names which credential it is describing. A role RoleMath maps to only one of the two credentials shows that one; where both map to it, both are named, and Both means they read the same way for that role. Covers the core means the objectives reach that occupation's main work, Covers groundwork that they reach what it builds on rather than the work itself, and Partial overlap that they meet it only in places; a qualifier such as after a foundation records where RoleMath reads the objectives as assuming earlier study or experience, and Overlap not classified marks a pairing we hold but have not placed on this scale. This is RoleMath's reading of published objectives, not a measurement of hiring: we have not surveyed employers, and nothing here measures how much a credential is asked for or what it does for an application.

Every wage below is the occupation's national annual median wage - the midpoint of that occupation's wage distribution - as published by the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025. It is not the OEWS mean, not an average, and not a starting wage. The outlook column is the BLS Employment Projections change for the same occupation over 2024-2034. Both describe the occupation, not an outcome of holding the credential.

RoleRelationshipSOCAnnual median wage (BLS OEWS, May 2025)BLS outlook (2024-2034)
Cybersecurity AnalystCertified SOC Analyst (CSA) - Covers the core; CompTIA CySA+ - Covers the core, after a foundation15-1212$129,180 annual median28.5%
Penetration TesterCompTIA CySA+ - Covers the core15-1299$116,580 annual median8.2%

These pages draw on the same sourced data, and are the closest to what you just read.

Roles & paths this connects to

cert comparisonCybersecurity Analystcert comparisonIT Security Operations Specialistcert comparisonSOC Analyst

Zoom out

cert comparisonEC-Council CSAcert comparisonCompTIA CySA+

Core source records

This table lists the page’s core content records and when they were checked. Claim-specific citations appear beside the relevant text and may not be repeated here.

Show all 26 sources
IDSupportsSourceChecked
CIT-01Public official credential page for Certified SOC Analyst (CSA).CSA Certification | Certified SOC Analyst Training | EC-Council2026-06-12T17:53:02+00:00
CIT-02Supports official facts for Certified SOC Analyst (CSA).NICE Framework Mapping2026-06-08T23:30:50+00:00
CIT-03Supports official facts for Certified SOC Analyst (CSA).CSA Certification | Certified SOC Analyst Training | EC-Council2026-06-08T23:30:50+00:00
CIT-04Supports occupation-level labor context for Cybersecurity Analyst.Cybersecurity Analyst BLS OEWS wage source2026-06-25T08:28:38+00:00
CIT-05Supports occupation-level labor context for Cybersecurity Analyst.Cybersecurity Analyst BLS Employment Projections source2026-06-25T08:27:06+00:00
CIT-06Supports occupation-level labor context for Cybersecurity Analyst.Cybersecurity Analyst O*NET source2026-07-14T04:32:12+00:00
CIT-07Supports occupation-level labor context for SOC Analyst.SOC Analyst BLS OEWS wage source2026-06-25T08:28:38+00:00
CIT-08Supports occupation-level labor context for SOC Analyst.SOC Analyst BLS Employment Projections source2026-06-25T08:27:06+00:00
CIT-09Supports occupation-level labor context for SOC Analyst.SOC Analyst O*NET source2026-07-14T04:32:12+00:00
CIT-10Supports occupation-level labor context for IT Security Operations Specialist.IT Security Operations Specialist BLS OEWS wage source2026-06-25T08:28:38+00:00
CIT-11Supports occupation-level labor context for IT Security Operations Specialist.IT Security Operations Specialist BLS Employment Projections source2026-06-25T08:27:06+00:00
CIT-12Supports occupation-level labor context for IT Security Operations Specialist.IT Security Operations Specialist O*NET source2026-07-14T04:32:12+00:00
CIT-13Public official credential page for CompTIA CySA+.Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) Certification | CompTIA2026-06-19T04:57:46+00:00
CIT-14Supports occupation-level labor context for Threat Intelligence Analyst.Threat Intelligence Analyst BLS OEWS wage source2026-06-25T08:28:38+00:00
CIT-15Supports occupation-level labor context for Threat Intelligence Analyst.Threat Intelligence Analyst BLS Employment Projections source2026-06-25T08:27:06+00:00
CIT-16Supports occupation-level labor context for Threat Intelligence Analyst.Threat Intelligence Analyst O*NET source2026-07-14T04:32:12+00:00
CIT-17Supports occupation-level labor context for Incident Response Analyst.Incident Response Analyst BLS OEWS wage source2026-06-25T08:28:38+00:00
CIT-18Supports occupation-level labor context for Incident Response Analyst.Incident Response Analyst BLS Employment Projections source2026-06-25T08:27:06+00:00
CIT-19Supports occupation-level labor context for Incident Response Analyst.Incident Response Analyst O*NET source2026-07-14T04:32:12+00:00
CIT-20Supports occupation-level labor context for Penetration Tester.Penetration Tester BLS OEWS wage source2026-06-25T08:28:38+00:00
CIT-21Supports occupation-level labor context for Penetration Tester.Penetration Tester BLS Employment Projections source2026-06-25T08:27:06+00:00
CIT-22Supports occupation-level labor context for Penetration Tester.Penetration Tester O*NET source2026-07-14T04:32:12+00:00
CIT-23Supports occupation-level labor context for Security Engineer.Security Engineer BLS OEWS wage source2026-06-25T08:28:38+00:00
CIT-24Supports occupation-level labor context for Security Engineer.Security Engineer BLS Employment Projections source2026-06-25T08:27:06+00:00
CIT-25Supports occupation-level labor context for Security Engineer.Security Engineer O*NET source2026-07-14T04:32:12+00:00
CIT-26The exam fee shown for CompTIA CySA+, and the date beside it, were both read from this published price source on 2026-07-14.CompTIA CySA+ exam fee - published price source, read 2026-07-142026-07-14

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