CCNA vs CCNP: when is the CCNP worth taking?

CCNP vs CCNA certification: what is the difference?

The difference is depth and the number of exams: one broad associate exam against a core exam plus a specialist concentration.

Source: Cisco CCNA, CCNP Enterprise, ENCOR and ENARSI pages and Cisco's continuing education pages, read October 3 to 5, 2026.

Passing ENCOR alone earns the Cisco Certified Specialist - Enterprise Core certification, so a half-finished CCNP still leaves a credential on your resume. The Enterprise concentrations are ENARSI, ENSDWI, ENSLD, ENAUTO, ENCC and ENNA. Cisco's Learning Network announced that the wireless topics in ENCOR are moving to a separate CCNP Wireless core exam, 350-101 WLCOR, so check the current ENCOR topics before you study. The full list of tracks is on our CCNP certification page.

What experience does Cisco recommend before the CCNP?

Cisco names no minimum. Its CCNP Enterprise page, read on October 5, 2026, lists "Prerequisites: None" for the core and every concentration exam and gives no number of years. The CCNA page is the only one that describes a starting level: Cisco says the CCNA "assumes you have little to no networking knowledge."

What ENCOR expects shows in its topics. The core exam's largest area is infrastructure (30%), followed by security (20%), architecture (15%), and automation and artificial intelligence (15%). The CCNA's largest area is IP connectivity (25%), and its security and automation areas are introductions at 15% and 10%. Our reading: ENCOR assumes that you can already configure the routing and switching the CCNA teaches, then asks how those pieces fit into a company-wide design.

Source: Cisco's 200-301 v1.1 exam topics and the ENCOR exam topics on the Cisco Learning Network, read October 4, 2026. Cisco's ENCOR exam page still names version 1.1; the ENCOR weights we list are from the version 1.2 topics, so check which version applies on your exam date.

One r/ccnp poster asked in July 2026 whether they needed "to work 5-10 years" before taking the CCNP (r/ccnp). Cisco's pages give no such rule. The only year figure in the sources we accept comes from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It lists "5 years or more" of related work experience as typical for computer network architects, which describes a job, not a Cisco exam rule.

Is the CCNP easier than the CCNA?

No. CCNP Enterprise takes two exams and 210 minutes of exam time, against one 120-minute CCNA exam, and its core exam's topics assume CCNA-level knowledge and go deeper. Cisco publishes no pass rate for either, so there is no official measure of difficulty.

CCNP Enterprise vs CCNA: how much do the exams cost?

In the US, the CCNA costs $300 and CCNP Enterprise $700 at Cisco's list prices, plus tax. If you take all three exams in order, the path comes to $1,000 in exam fees on first attempts.

Source: Cisco CCNA, ENCOR and ENARSI exam pages, read October 3, 2026. The total is our sum.

A failed attempt costs the full price again, and after a failed exam Cisco makes you wait five calendar days before the next one. The cost adds up fastest on ENCOR, the most expensive step: each attempt costs $400. One poster who failed ENCOR for the second time in October 2026 wrote that they had spent too much time on practice questions "and not enough time really understanding some of the topics" (r/ccnp).

Outside the US, Pearson VUE sells the CCNA voucher for £240 in the UK and €285 in Spain, France, Germany and Italy, before VAT; its list shows $300 for India, Brazil, Mexico and Poland. We checked local prices only for the CCNA, so for the CCNP exams we give Cisco's US prices. Training, books and lab equipment are extra for both.

Does the CCNP renew the CCNA?

Yes. Cisco's rule is that when you recertify your highest certification, every certification at that level and below is recertified with it. An active CCNP therefore keeps the CCNA active without a separate exam.

The two renewal paths differ in size:

Source: Cisco continuing education qualifying options and recertification pages, read October 4, 2026. Prices: Cisco exam pages. Analysis: CertWorthIt.

For someone who holds both, one passed core exam every three years ($400) renews the CCNP and, under that rule, the CCNA. For a CCNA holder who has not started the CCNP, the CCNA page lists "any higher-level Cisco certification exam" as a renewal option, so passing ENCOR renews the CCNA and starts the CCNP at once. Cisco gives no extensions: a lapsed certification means passing its exams again.

CCNP vs CCNA in job ads: which do network-engineer ads name?

Employers name both levels. Of the 9,475 US network-engineer ads we counted in October 2026 (Adzuna), 1,557 named the CCNA and 1,892 named the CCNP. In every country, we counted ads with the local job title for network engineer and checked each one for the phrases ccna and ccnp anywhere in the text.

Source: Adzuna API, network-engineer ads by local job title, collected in October 2026, searched for the phrases ccna and ccnp. Analysis: CertWorthIt.

The samples for Italy, Mexico, Spain and Poland were too small to report a share in October 2026: 103 Italian, 38 Mexican, 14 Spanish and 22 Polish network-engineer ads (Adzuna). The German title is closer to network administrator than to engineer, so the German row describes a slightly different job.

Ads also name Cisco itself, not only its certifications. The word cisco appeared in 34% of the ads for US network engineers in October 2026, in 47% of the ads in the UK and in 31% of the ads in India (Adzuna). That count includes ads that spell out a Cisco certification name.

The Adzuna counts for the CCNA and CCNP have limits. The phrase ccnp matches every CCNP track, not only Enterprise, and ccna also matches CCNA Cybersecurity and CCNA Automation. An ad can name both, so the two counts overlap and cannot be added.

We also count the phrase whether the ad says required or preferred, and we do not record how senior the job is, so the count cannot tell a junior opening from a senior one. Which level a given employer wants is in that ad's own text.

Our network-engineer role page lists the other skills these ads name, and the methodology page explains the count.

Show the numbers

What network engineer job ads name in the United States: certifications and skills. Share of job ads that name each item. Source: Adzuna job ads, October 2026.

Item	Ads	Share of ads
Cisco	Ads3,178	Share of ads34%
Firewall	Ads2,977	Share of ads31%
CCNP	Ads1,892	Share of ads20%
CCNA	Ads1,557	Share of ads16%
CompTIA	Ads463	Share of ads4.9%
CompTIA Network+	Ads139	Share of ads1.5%

CCNA vs CCNP salary: what do the jobs pay?

We have no salary figure for CCNA or CCNP holders from a source we accept, so we give none. What official data does show is the pay of two network occupations. The BLS reports a US median annual wage of $99,130 for network and computer systems administrators and $134,050 for computer network architects, both for May 2025.

Those are occupation medians, not certificate premiums. The BLS lists "5 years or more" in a related occupation as typical for network architects, so the higher figure describes a more senior job. Neither figure tells you what holding the CCNP adds to a CCNA holder's pay. We did not check official UK or Indian pay data for this page, so we give no figure for those countries.

CCNA vs CCNP vs CCIE: where does each level sit?

Cisco groups its certifications into entry, associate, professional and expert levels, with Specialist certifications alongside. In networking, that means CCST Networking at entry level, the CCNA at associate level, the CCNP at professional level and the CCIE at expert level.

The CCNP is the bridge to the CCIE: Cisco says the core exams in each CCNP track also serve as qualifying exams for CCIE lab exams. For CCNP Enterprise, Cisco's ENCOR page lists the exam as counting toward CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure. The CCIE adds a hands-on lab, which Cisco counts as worth 120 CE credits when you pass it. For a CCNA holder, the CCNP is the next step, and the CCIE is a later choice. Our CCNP page covers the CCIE step in more detail.

Moving from CCNA to CCNP: what people ask on Reddit

The r/ccnp and r/ccna posts we collected in 2026 return to timing and payoff. Reddit posters are a self-selected group, so read these as questions people have, not as measurements.

• "Was getting the CCNP worth it?" A poster thinking about the CCNP asked holders how it changed their careers, adding they were not sure "the juice is worth the squeeze" in 2026 (r/ccnp, July 2026). A holder since 2007 replied that it helped them get interviews for better jobs, and that live networks tend to be more complicated than anything on a test (comment).
• "Should a beginner skip to the CCNP?" In the same thread, one commenter told a newcomer to "focus on the NA," meaning the CCNA, because that alone can bring a job and experience (comment). Another wrote that they had worked in IT and networking for over 15 years, the last three as a network architect, without the CCNP (comment).
• "What do I do after the CCNA?" A poster asked exactly this on r/ccna in July 2026 (r/ccna). Cisco's next level is the CCNP; the section on when to move up answers it by career stage.

Related comparisons and next steps

If you are deciding what comes before the CCNA, CCNA vs CompTIA A+ covers the help-desk start, CCNA vs Network+ the two networking basics and CCNA vs CompTIA CompTIA's range as a whole. For a move toward security leadership, see CCNA vs CISSP. Our page on becoming a network engineer without a degree covers the first job, and the one on system-administrator jobs without a degree covers the neighboring role. Every networking and support credential we track is on our hub for IT support and networking, and the CCNA alone has its own CCNA certification page.

Sources

• Cisco: CCNA certification, CCNA exam, CCNP Enterprise, professional certifications, ENCOR exam, ENARSI exam, certification levels, continuing education, read October 3 to 5, 2026.
• Cisco Learning Network: ENCOR exam topics and new wireless certifications, read October 4, 2026.
• Pearson VUE voucher price list for Cisco exams, read October 3, 2026.
• US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: network and computer systems administrators and computer network architects, read October 5, 2026.
• Job ads: Adzuna API, network-engineer ads collected in October 2026.