Is the CCNP worth it?

Is CCNP worth it in 2026? What network-engineer ads show

We count how often employers name a certificate in ads for one role in each country, using the job title people search for locally. For the CCNP, that role is network engineer. We search for the phrase ccnp, so the count includes every CCNP track: Enterprise, Security, Data Center and the rest. It cannot say which track an ad wants. If you are reading answers written in 2025 about whether the CCNP is still a good buy, check their exam details: the Enterprise track changed in March 2026, as the track section explains.

In the October 2026 US count, the CCNP was named in 1,892 of the 9,475 network-engineer ads. In the same ads, the CCNA appeared in 1,557 and CompTIA Network+ in 139. Our reading: in US network-engineer ads, Cisco's own certificates are the ones employers write down, at both the associate and the professional level. We search Network+ by the phrase comptia network, so ads that write only "Network+" are missed and its count is a minimum.

What the count cannot show is whether an ad asks for the CCNP as a requirement or lists it as a plus: we count the phrase either way. It also cannot show whether employers who leave the CCNP out of the ad would still prefer a candidate who holds it.

CCNP jobs in the UK, India and other countries

The UK sample is smaller: 658 network-engineer ads in October 2026. In those ads, the CCNP appeared in 14% and the CCNA in 11%. We count UK ads for the whole country, so we cannot give a separate figure for London. Nor can we say how many CCNP jobs are remote, because our count does not record where the work happens.

Of the 775 Indian network-engineer ads, 126 named the CCNP and 121 named the CCNA. The Indian cost and pay questions have their own section below, CCNP cost and jobs in India.

In the other countries we count, the search title changes with the language. Brazilian ads for analista de redes named it in 7% of 260, French ads for ingénieur réseau in 3% and German ads for Netzwerkadministrator in 4%. The German search title is closer to network administrator than engineer, so that figure is not directly comparable with the US one. The samples for Italy, Mexico, Spain and Poland are too small to read; Mexico had 38 ads and Spain 14.

What network-engineer ads name besides certificates

Ads name the vendor in plain words too. In US network-engineer ads, the word cisco appeared in 34% and firewall in 31%. In UK ads, cisco appeared in 47%; in India, in 31%. Our reading: the CCNP is a way to prove the Cisco skills that many ads ask for by name, and firewall work is common enough that the track you choose matters. Our network-engineer page lists every skill we track for the role by country.

CCNP certification path: core and concentration exams

The certification requirements are the same in every CCNP track, CCNP Enterprise included. You pass one core exam for the technology area and one concentration exam you choose. Cisco awards a Specialist certification for each exam you pass, so you can show progress after the first exam. Cisco lists no prerequisites for either exam.

CCNP Enterprise exams: ENCOR and six concentrations

CCNP Enterprise is Cisco's track for large company networks. These are its exams as Cisco lists them in October 2026:

Source: Cisco CCNP Enterprise page and the seven exam pages, read October 4, 2026. Analysis: CertWorthIt.

ENCOR alone is not the CCNP: it earns you the Cisco Certified Specialist - Enterprise Core. Comparing "CCNP Enterprise vs ENCOR" therefore compares the full certification with half of it. ENCOR doubles as the qualifying exam for the CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure lab, so the same exam serves both levels.

ENARSI fits engineers who mostly work on routing, since it covers advanced routing, VPN services and infrastructure security. The other five suit people whose job is already SD-WAN, design, automation, cloud connectivity or network assurance. Cisco does not rank them, and our ad count cannot either.

Other CCNP tracks: Security, Data Center, Automation and more

Cisco lists eight CCNP tracks. Each pairs one core exam with a choice of concentration exams:

Source: Cisco professional certifications page and the eight track pages, read October 4, 2026. Core exams for Security, Cybersecurity, Data Center, Service Provider, Collaboration and Automation list $400 and 120 minutes. Analysis: CertWorthIt.

Two changes in 2026 matter if you are planning now. CCNP Wireless became its own track on March 19, 2026: the wireless topics left ENCOR for a new core exam, 350-101 WLCOR, and the two Enterprise wireless exams were renamed WLSD and WLSI. And the Automation track uses ENAUTO and DCNAUTO as its concentrations, the same exams that count for Enterprise and Data Center. Because ENAUTO counts for both tracks, passing ENCOR, AUTOCOR and ENAUTO gives you CCNP Enterprise and CCNP Automation with three exams instead of four.

Which CCNP track should you pick?

Pick the track that matches the network you work on, because the exams test product knowledge. Our reading of the facts above:

• Enterprise fits network-engineer jobs in company networks, with routing, switching and network services. It is the safe default if you are unsure.
• Security fits engineers who secure the network itself: Cisco says SCOR covers network, cloud and content security, endpoint protection and secure network access. Cybersecurity is a different track: Cisco says its core exam, CBRCOR, covers core cybersecurity operations. The choice between CCNP Enterprise and Security comes down to whether your days are spent on routing or on security products.
• Data Center and Service Provider fit people who already work in those environments. Whether you choose Enterprise or data center (also spelled datacenter), or Enterprise or service provider, depends on your employer's network, not on the exam.
• Automation fits engineers who write code against network devices: Cisco describes AUTOCOR as covering infrastructure as code, operations and AI in automation. Posters ask whether it is a good career path for network engineers; we cannot say from ads, because our count does not separate tracks.
• Collaboration fits engineers who run Cisco collaboration products. It is worth it mainly if your employer uses them, since the exams test them directly.

CCNP cost: exams, retakes and renewal

The exam fees are fixed by Cisco and quoted in US dollars. Cisco Learning Credits are accepted as well.

Source: Cisco ENCOR and ENARSI exam pages, recertification page and Continuing Education qualifying options, read October 4, 2026. Analysis: CertWorthIt.

Show the numbers

Exam fees: CCNA, CCNP Enterprise and one renewal. Sources: Cisco CCNA, ENCOR and ENARSI exam pages (US prices); Cisco Continuing Education qualifying options (credits per exam). Prices read October 3 and 4, 2026.

Item
CCNA (200-301)	$300
CCNP Enterprise: ENCOR + one concentration exam	$700
CCNA, then CCNP Enterprise	$1,000
Renewal by passing one core exam (80 CE credits)	$400

The minimum to earn CCNP Enterprise is $700: $400 for ENCOR and $300 for one concentration exam. A failed attempt adds the full exam price again, so a candidate who needs two tries at ENCOR pays $1,100 in exam fees. Over six years, earning it and renewing once by passing a core exam comes to $1,100. If you take the CCNA first, add $300.

CCNP cost and jobs in India

Cisco quotes the CCNP exam prices in US dollars on its exam pages: $400 for ENCOR and $300 for a concentration exam. We do not convert them to Indian rupees here, because the amount you pay depends on the exchange rate and any local taxes on the day you buy the exam. For the CCNA, the Pearson VUE voucher list for India also shows US dollars, at $300 (checked October 3, 2026).

For demand, the India figures in the jobs section come from a small sample, so a few ads can move them by several percentage points from one month to the next. The exam fees are the same $700 wherever you take them; what varies between cities and institutes is the price of training, which Cisco does not set.

How hard is CCNP, and how long does it take?

We found no pass rate on Cisco's exam pages. What Cisco does publish: ENCOR is 120 minutes with performance-based, multiple-choice and drag-and-drop questions; the Enterprise concentration exams are 90 minutes; grading is pass/fail, with results online within 48 hours. If you fail, you wait five calendar days before you can try the same exam again, and you pay the full price.

Compared with the CCNA, the CCNP asks for more: two exams instead of one, 210 minutes of exam time instead of 120, and $700 instead of $300. ENCOR's six domains include virtualization, network assurance, and automation and AI. The concentration exam then goes further into one area: ENARSI, for example, tests the implementation and troubleshooting of advanced routing and services. Posters on r/ccnp ask how to recover after failing ENCOR, and one wrote that they had failed it twice after months of study (r/ccnp). How hard the CCNP Security exams are, we cannot say: we found too few posts about SCOR to describe them.

How long it takes, we cannot measure either. The Reddit posts we collected about the CCNP do not contain enough first-person study-time reports to count, so we give no range. One poster planning ENCOR had studied 15 hours a week since January for a November exam date (r/ccnp). For comparison, posters who reported their CCNA study time gave a median of 3.5 months (n = 15), and the CCNP takes two exams.

ENCOR exam topics

Cisco publishes the ENCOR exam topics, also called the blueprint, with a weight for each domain. These are the objectives for the current version, v1.2:

Source: Cisco Learning Network, 350-401 ENCOR exam topics, read October 4, 2026.

Infrastructure, at 30%, is the largest block, so it deserves the most study and lab time. Since March 19, 2026, the wireless topics have moved to the CCNP Wireless core exam. One poster who passed ENCOR earlier wrote that they "got burned a bit by studying too much up on wireless" after the exam changed (r/ccnp). Check the date of any book or course against the current topics list before you buy it.

Study materials and labs

Cisco's own options for ENCOR are a Cisco U. learning path, instructor-led training from Cisco and its learning partners, and a practice exam in Cisco U. Among books, posters mention the Cisco Press Official Cert Guide as their study guide. They name video courses from several training companies, practice-test software and Cisco Modeling Labs for hands-on practice.

We have no sourced comparison of these courses, so we do not rank them or pick the best CCNP course. Two points from the posts are worth checking before you pay. One poster questioned a course that spent time on technology no longer in the exam topics (r/ccnp). And a poster preparing for the Service Provider exam found that the practice resources they could find were all for the Enterprise exam (r/ccnp). For the smaller tracks, Cisco's own material may be the main source.

Does CCNP expire? Renewal with CE credits or an exam

Yes. The CCNP certification validity is three years. To renew it, you need 80 Cisco Continuing Education (CE) credits before the expiration date. Cisco gives no extensions; if the date passes, you must pass the core and concentration exams again.

Credits come from exams, approved training, technical sessions at Cisco Live and helping write exams. For exams, Cisco's table is simple:

Source: Cisco Continuing Education qualifying options, read October 4, 2026.

So one core exam renews a CCNP on its own, two concentration exams do the same, and one concentration exam plus 40 credits of approved training is a third route. Approved training earns between 4 and 64 credits per course, Cisco says, and only courses in the CE catalog in Cisco U. count.

Renewing the CCNP also renews your lower Cisco certifications. Cisco's rule is that once you recertify your highest level, every certification at that level and below is recertified too. A CCNA holder who earns or renews a CCNP keeps the CCNA active without a separate exam. One poster planned exactly that, taking SCOR to renew both a CCNA and a CCNP Enterprise (r/ccnp).

Show the numbers

CCNP certification path: requirements, exam, renewal cycle. Source: cisco.com, checked October 4, 2026.

Item
1. Exam
2. Certified	valid for 3 years
3. Renewal	80 Cisco CE credits every 3 years

CCNA first, then CCNP: the honest path

Cisco does not require the CCNA before the CCNP. In practice, most candidates should take it first. Our reading of the ENCOR topics is that they build on CCNA-level routing, switching and IP addressing, and the CCNA costs $300 with no prerequisites. If you study for ENCOR without that base, you spend the first months on CCNA topics with nothing to show for them.

The bigger issue is jobs. The ads we count are for network engineers, and our count does not record how much experience they ask for. On r/ccnp, a graduate who had passed the CCNA and been rejected for months asked whether to take the CCNP with no work experience (r/ccnp). One commenter answered: "Is the CCNP going to help OP get a job? Not early in career." (r/ccnp). Others told the same poster to study while the CCNA material was fresh. Our reading: both points can hold. The knowledge helps, but a first job is more likely to come from the CCNA, lab work and any network role you can get.

A path that fits most people, based on these facts:

1. CCNA ($300), then a job in networking, a NOC or support with network duties.
2. ENCOR ($400) while you work, then one concentration ($300) that matches your job.
3. Renew within three years by passing another exam or with CE-eligible training.

The CCNA-first route costs $1,000 in exam fees in total. Our CCNA vs CCNP comparison sets the two side by side, and our page on becoming a network engineer without a degree covers the first job.

Show the numbers

CCNP vs CCNA: share of network engineer job ads naming each. Share of job ads that name each item. Source: Adzuna job ads, October 2026.

Country	CCNP	CCNA
Italy	CCNP33%	CCNA18%
United States	CCNP20%	CCNA16%
India	CCNP16%	CCNA16%
United Kingdom	CCNP14%	CCNA11%
Brazil	CCNP7%	CCNA12%
Germany	CCNP4%	CCNA5%
France	CCNP3%	CCNA2%

CCNP salary: what we can and cannot tell you

We have no CCNP salary figure we could verify, so we give none. People search for CCNP salary averages, ranges and monthly figures in the US, the UK, India, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Pakistan. The figures that salary sites publish describe job titles, not what the certificate adds. A CCNP holder often has more years in the job than a CCNA holder, so comparing their pay mixes the credential with the experience behind it. The same applies to CCNP vs CCIE salary: the CCIE is Cisco's expert level, and any pay gap carries the same mix.

What we can give is demand, from our own count: the share of network-engineer ads that name the CCNP in each country, in the sections above. For the role itself, see our network-engineer page.

Posters describe the effect on their careers in very different ways. One wrote that passing SCOR alone "was enough to get interest from a VAR." A VAR is a reseller of Cisco products. The same poster said a later vendor job almost doubled their salary, and called their path unusual (r/ccnp). Another, in the same thread, said the job market was hard and that a weak technical interview ends an application whatever the resume says. Read these as experiences, not as a measured salary effect.

Show the numbers

CCNP in network engineer job ads, by country. Share of job ads that name each item. Source: Adzuna job ads, October 2026.

Country	CCNP	Ads	Share of ads
Italy	CCNP34	Ads103	Share of ads33%
United States	CCNP1,892	Ads9,475	Share of ads20%
India	CCNP126	Ads775	Share of ads16%
United Kingdom	CCNP92	Ads658	Share of ads14%
Brazil	CCNP19	Ads260	Share of ads7%
Germany	CCNP19	Ads535	Share of ads4%
France	CCNP26	Ads788	Share of ads3%

CCNP vs CCIE, Network+ and other certificates

CCNP vs CCIE

The CCIE is the expert level. The CCNP core exam doubles as the CCIE's qualifying exam, so ENCOR is the first step of both CCNP Enterprise and CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure. The CCIE then needs a hands-on lab exam, with a 30-day wait after a failed attempt, and 120 CE credits to renew instead of 80. For most network engineers, the CCNP is the realistic goal and the CCIE a later choice.

CCNP vs Network+

These are not on the same level. CompTIA Network+ is a networking certificate from CompTIA, not Cisco, and searchers usually weigh it against the CCNA rather than the CCNP. Of the 9,475 US network-engineer ads in October 2026, 139 named Network+ and 1,892 named the CCNP. See our Network+ page and the CompTIA overview.

CCNP vs CISSP, Security+ or JNCIP

The CISSP (ISC2) and Security+ (CompTIA) are security certificates, not networking ones, so they answer a different question. If you want a security career on Cisco products, compare CCNP Security with them; if you want to stay in networking, they are not alternatives. We do not count them in network-engineer ads.

Juniper's JNCIP is a professional-level certificate for employers that run Juniper networks. We do not count Juniper certificates and have no facts on them, so we cannot compare the two.

The IT support and networking field page groups every networking credential we track.

What posters ask about the CCNP on Reddit

We grouped the CCNP questions in the Reddit posts we collected (mainly r/ccnp, plus r/ccna, r/Cisco and r/networking) by theme. Reddit is a self-selected sample, so these show what people ask, not how many people hold an opinion.

• Worth it, and what it changed. One poster asked holders when they got the CCNP, how long it took and how it changed their career (r/ccnp). The answers are personal stories, which the salary section summarizes; our own evidence is the ad count.
• When to take it, and whether you need years of experience first (r/ccnp). Cisco requires no experience. Our answer is in the CCNA-first section.
• What to change after failing ENCOR, how much to lab and how to know you are ready (r/ccnp). From Cisco's side: a five-day wait, the full price again, and a practice exam in Cisco U.; check your material against the v1.2 topics.
• Which materials to use, for ENCOR and for the smaller exams such as SISE and ENSDWI (r/ccnp; r/ccnp). See study materials and labs; we do not rank courses.
• How the tracks work: whether there is one CCNP exam or only specialty exams, and which Security exam to take (r/ccnp). Every track is one core plus one concentration, as the track table shows.
• CCNP Automation as a career path, and what AUTOCOR is like (r/Cisco; r/ccnp). One poster found ENAUTO to be "pretty much only drag and drop API endpoints." Our ad count cannot separate the Automation track.
• How to study longer each day, and how long 1 to 2 hours a day would take (r/ccnp). We have no study-time count for the CCNP, as the difficulty section explains.

How to get the CCNP Enterprise, step by step

1. Check that you know the CCNA topics. If not, take the CCNA first or study its content.
2. Read the ENCOR exam topics on the Cisco Learning Network and choose study material dated after March 19, 2026.
3. Book 350-401 ENCOR ($400, 120 minutes) from Cisco's exam page.
4. Choose one concentration exam that matches your job, such as ENARSI for routing, and book it ($300, 90 minutes).
5. After both passes, you hold CCNP Enterprise plus two Specialist certifications.
6. Within three years, collect 80 CE credits: one core exam, two concentration exams, or one concentration exam plus 40 credits of approved training.

Show the numbers

Where CCNP sits among IT support & networking certifications. Source: vendor requirements in our fact files, checked October 3, 2026.

Level	Certification	Experience	Named first
Entry	CertificationCCNP	Experienceno work experience required	Named first–
Entry	CertificationCCNA	Experienceno work experience required	Named first–
Entry	CertificationGoogle IT Support	Experienceno work experience required	Named first–
Associate	CertificationCompTIA Network+	Experiencerecommended: 9 months of work experience	Named first–
Associate	CertificationCompTIA A+	Experiencerecommended: 1 year of work experience	Named first–
Associate	CertificationCompTIA Linux+	Experiencerecommended: 1 year of work experience	Named firstCompTIA A+
Associate	CertificationGoogle IT Automation with Python	Experiencenamed after Google IT Support by the vendor	Named firstGoogle IT Support

Sources

• Adzuna job-ad counts, network-engineer ads in the US, UK, India, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland, October 2026; analysis: CertWorthIt. How we count.
• Cisco, CCNP Enterprise and professional certifications, with the eight track pages, read October 4, 2026.
• Cisco, 350-401 ENCOR and 300-410 ENARSI exam pages, read October 4, 2026.
• Cisco Learning Network, ENCOR exam topics and new wireless certifications, read October 4, 2026.
• Cisco, recertification, Continuing Education and CE qualifying options, read October 4, 2026.
• Cisco, CCNA exam page, and Pearson VUE voucher price list, checked October 3, 2026.
• Reddit questions about the CCNP from the posts we collected, linked in the Reddit section, read October 4, 2026.

Edited by Elena Marsh · Data checked October 4, 2026