RoleMath certification planner
Which certification should you get?
Three questions, no typing, no email. You will get one specific certification, what its exam costs, how hard it is, and what it actually proves — each figure shown with the vendor page it came from and the date we read it.
Pick a direction first.
There is no single honest answer to “which certification” until you have chosen a direction, because the cheapest exam and the right exam are rarely the same one. Here is the step we would recommend in the 4 directions we have a fully reviewed certification page for, at the level you described.
CompTIA’s published price, read 2026-06-13
CompTIA’s published price, read 2026-06-13
Cisco’s published price, read 2026-06-12
Microsoft’s published price, read 2026-06-19
Fees are the vendor’s published exam price, and where a certification takes more than one exam — CompTIA A+ is two — the figure is the total for all required exams. Fees exclude training, retakes, and renewal. Where no priced vendor source is recorded this says so instead of showing a number. Each recommendation links the vendor page its price was read from, and gives the date it was read.
This tells you which exam fits your situation. It does not predict whether you will pass, how long it will take you, or whether it will get you hired — nobody can honestly tell you that, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
Want this weighed against your experience, budget, and target salary instead? Run the full decision model. It asks more questions and takes a few minutes.