ITIL vs A+: which should you take first for help-desk work?
The ITIL vs A+ choice is about order: take CompTIA A+ (hands-on IT-support skills) first if you have no IT job, and ITIL Foundation (how IT services are run) once you work in IT support. Of the 2,745 US IT-support ads on Adzuna (a job-ad site) in October 2026, 551 contained comptia a and 206 contained itil.
CompTIA A+ is CompTIA's entry-level certification for IT support: two exams, Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202), on hardware, networking, operating systems, security and troubleshooting. CompTIA describes itself as a provider of vendor-neutral certifications, meaning its exams are not tied to one maker's products.
ITIL Foundation is the first exam in ITIL, a framework (a published set of recommended practices) for IT service management, or ITSM: how an IT team delivers and supports the services that staff use. PeopleCert, which completed its purchase of ITIL's former owner AXELOS in 2021, sets and sells the exam.
This page compares only these two entry credentials for a help-desk job. If you are weighing Network+ or Security+ (CompTIA's networking and security exams), or CompTIA as a whole, against ITIL, our CompTIA vs ITIL comparison covers that choice.
| CompTIA A+ | ITIL Foundation | |
|---|---|---|
| Sold by | CompTIA | PeopleCert |
| Where the weight sits (our reading) | Mostly the technical fix: device, operating system, network, security settings; plus procedures in Core 2 | How tickets (the records a help desk opens for users' problems), requests, changes and service levels are managed |
| Exams | Two, up to 90 questions and 90 minutes each | One, 40 questions in 60 minutes |
| Before you book | No prerequisite; 12 months of IT-support work recommended | No prerequisite is listed |
| US price | $548 (two exams at $274 each) | $690 (exam bundle with study material, tax included) |
| Valid for | Three years | Three years |
Source: CompTIA A+ (V15) page; PeopleCert ITIL Foundation (Version 5) page. Dates and links in Sources.
Show the numbers
| Country | CompTIA A+ | ITIL |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 20% | 7.5% |
| India | 13% | 12% |
| United Kingdom | 6.5% | 7.4% |
| Germany | 10 of 1,973 | 5.4% |
| France | 5 of 1,382 | 4.3% |
| Brazil | 5 of 1,764 | 4.0% |
| Mexico | 1 of 355 | 3 of 355 |
| Spain | 0 of 208 | 1 of 208 |
CompTIA A+ or ITIL: which do employers name more?
Instant answer from October 2026 job ads. No email needed.
CompTIA A+ is named in more job ads in the United States.
Source: Adzuna job ads, October 2026.
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On this page
- Which should you take first, ITIL or A+?
- What part of a support ticket does each one cover?
- How do the A+ and ITIL Foundation exams compare?
- How much do A+ and ITIL Foundation cost?
- Which ITIL Foundation should you book: ITIL 4 or ITIL 5?
- How many IT-support ads mention A+ and ITIL?
- What do people on Reddit say about A+ and ITIL?
- What we did not check
- Sources
Which should you take first, ITIL or A+?
Take A+ first if you have no IT job yet, because it tests the hands-on fixes a first support job involves. Take ITIL Foundation first only if you already work on a help desk and want to move toward running it, or if the ads you are targeting name ITIL.
A help desk is the first-line team that takes users' IT problems and requests. ITIL calls the matching practice the service desk: the single point of contact between an IT team and the people it supports.
| Where you are now | First certification | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| No IT job yet | CompTIA A+ | ITIL Foundation, once you work on a service desk |
| On a help desk with no certification, staying technical | CompTIA A+ | ITIL Foundation, if you move toward running the desk |
| On a service desk, moving toward service management or team lead | ITIL Foundation | ITIL Practice Manager, listed on PeopleCert's Version 5 ladder; check which modules are on sale |
| Already holding A+ | ITIL Foundation, if the ads you target name it | Or Network+, CompTIA's networking exam |
| Target ads name ITIL but not A+ | ITIL Foundation | A+ only if later ads ask for it |
- No IT job yet. Take A+. CompTIA recommends "12 months of hands-on experience in an IT support specialist job role," but that is a recommendation, so you can book both exams before your first job. A+ on its own does not show that you meet a given employer's requirements; our A+ page covers what it can and cannot do for a first job search. Before you pay, search a job site for help desk technician in your city, open ten ads and write down the certifications they name.
- On a service desk, moving up. ITIL Foundation teaches the vocabulary the desk runs on: incidents, service requests, changes and service levels, explained in the next section. It is one exam instead of two, though it costs more than both A+ exams together (its price is a bundle with study material). Later steps are listed on PeopleCert's Version 5 ladder, such as the ITIL Practice Manager level, but you do not need them to start; check which modules are on sale before you plan around one.
- Already on a desk without A+. If you plan to stay technical, take A+; check first that the jobs you want name it. If you plan to move toward running the desk, take ITIL Foundation instead.
- Already holding A+. If networks interest you more than running the desk, our A+ vs Network+ comparison covers that step, and our A+ vs Security+ comparison covers the security route.
- Other routes. For a course-based start instead of an exam, see our Google IT Support Professional Certificate page. For a networking job, our CCNA vs ITIL comparison sets ITIL next to Cisco's networking exam.
What part of a support ticket does each one cover?
In our reading, A+ is mostly about finding and fixing the problem, with some ticket-handling procedure in its Core 2 operational procedures domain (21%); ITIL Foundation is about how the whole ticket flow is run. A ticket is the record a help desk opens for one user's problem or request.
The example below is our illustration of one ticket: a user's laptop cannot connect to the office Wi-Fi.
| Step in the ticket | Credential | Where it sits (A+ exam topic, or ITIL practice from the older ITIL 4 edition) |
|---|---|---|
| The user contacts the desk and a ticket is logged | ITIL | Service desk: the single point of contact for users, capturing incidents and requests |
| The desk decides whether a service is broken (an incident) or the user wants something routine and predefined (a service request) | ITIL | Incident management (restore normal service as quickly as possible); service request management |
| A technician finds the cause: adapter, driver or settings | A+ | Core 1: networking (23%), hardware and network troubleshooting (28%); Core 2: operating systems (28%) |
| The fix needs a change to a shared system, such as a network setting for the whole office | ITIL | Change enablement: assess the risk, authorize the change, manage the schedule |
| The ticket closes within the agreed target time | ITIL | Service level management: business-based targets, such as those in a service level agreement (SLA), and checks against them |
Source: CompTIA A+ (V15) page for the exam domains and weights; ITIL 4 practice purposes as quoted by ITSM.tools, a third-party site about IT service management. Links are listed under Sources. A domain is one topic area of the exam.
CompTIA's exam outline weights the Core 1 (220-1201) domains as mobile devices (13%), networking (23%), hardware (25%), virtualization and cloud computing (11%) and hardware and network troubleshooting (28%). Virtualization means running several virtual computers on one machine. In Core 2 (220-1202), the domain weights are operating systems (28%), security (28%), software troubleshooting (23%) and operational procedures (21%).
The ITIL Foundation outline covers the basic ideas of service management, then practices such as incident, change and service level work. Those three are listed as ITIL 4 management practices.
Show the numbers
| Item | CompTIA A+ | ITIL |
|---|---|---|
| Questions | 90 questions | 40 questions |
| Exam time | 90 minutes (1 h 30 min) | 60 minutes (1 h) |
| Passing score | Core 1: 675; Core 2: 700 (scale of 100-900) | 65% |
| Format | Multiple choice, drag-and-drop, performance-based tasks | Multiple choice |
| Languages | English | 12 languages |
How do the A+ and ITIL Foundation exams compare?
A+ is two exams of up to 90 questions and 90 minutes each, and ITIL Foundation is one exam of 40 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes. A+ also includes simulated hands-on tasks.
| CompTIA A+ (V15) | ITIL Foundation | |
|---|---|---|
| Exams | Two: Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202), in either order | One |
| Questions and time | Up to 90 questions and 90 minutes per exam | 40 questions, 60 minutes |
| Question types | Multiple-choice, drag-and-drop and performance-based (a task done in a simulated system) | Multiple-choice, closed book (no notes allowed) |
| Passing score | Core 1: 675; Core 2: 700 (on a scale of 900) | 65% (26 of 40) |
| How you take it | At a Pearson VUE (a company that runs exam centers and online exams) test center or online proctored (a remote supervisor watches you) | Online proctored, through PeopleCert's web-based exam software |
| Languages | English | ITIL 4: 12 languages; Version 5: 9 languages |
| What the vendor says before you book | Recommended: "12 months of hands-on experience in an IT support specialist job role" | No prerequisite is listed; PeopleCert calls it "Your entry point into ITIL" |
| Current version | V15, launched March 25, 2025; CompTIA estimates retirement in 2028 | Version 5 is on sale; ITIL 4 modules are planned to retire on December 31, 2027 |
Source: CompTIA A+ (V15) page and CompTIA's online-testing page; PeopleCert ITIL Foundation (Version 5) and ITIL 4 Foundation pages and ITIL FAQ, all listed under Sources.
How long do people study for ITIL Foundation?
In the Reddit posts we collected, 15 people who said how long they studied for ITIL Foundation reported a median of one week (the median is the middle value). The middle half reported one to two weeks, and the longest was five weeks. Not every post names the ITIL version, and these are self-reported times from people who chose to post.
We have no comparable figure for A+: the Reddit posts we collected held too few first-person study times. For books, mock exams and how the online exam works, see our ITIL page.
How much do A+ and ITIL Foundation cost?
In the US, A+ costs $548 in exam fees and ITIL Foundation $690 as an exam bundle. Over three years, with the renewal routes in the table, the totals come to $623 and $1,089.
| Item | CompTIA A+ | ITIL Foundation (Version 5) |
|---|---|---|
| Exam | $274 x 2 vouchers = $548 | $690 x 1 exam bundle |
| Renewal over three years | $75 fee, paid once per three-year cycle, plus 20 CEUs (learning credits, explained below the table) | $133 x 3 years of PeopleCert Plus membership (its paid renewal plan, explained below) = $399 |
| Three-year total | $623 | $1,089 |
Source: CompTIA US store on the A+ (V15) page and CompTIA's renewal-fee page, read October 12, 2026; PeopleCert US store, archived copies of the ITIL Foundation (Version 5) page (October 4, 2026) and the PeopleCert Plus page (September 29, 2026).
A voucher is a prepaid code that books one exam. Each A+ voucher covers either Core 1 or Core 2, so you need two. CompTIA's $274 is a list price before any local sales tax. PeopleCert marks $690 and $133 as including VAT (value-added tax, a sales tax built into the price). PeopleCert's live page showed a buyer in Europe the same bundle at €649 including VAT.
Both certifications renew with learning credits. CompTIA uses CEUs (continuing education units, credits for approved learning); PeopleCert uses CPD (continuing professional development) points, 60 over three years, logged at 20 a year through PeopleCert Plus, its paid membership. Neither total includes the cost of the learning behind those credits.
Each also has an exam route. CompTIA charges no separate renewal fee when you pass the latest A+ release, earn a higher-level CompTIA certification such as Network+ or complete CertMaster CE, its renewal course. PeopleCert renews ITIL if you pass another ITIL exam or retake the same one.
Show the numbers
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Fees to get certified: Exam | $274 |
| Fees to get certified: Renewal, every 3 years | $75 |
Why is ITIL Foundation so expensive?
The lowest of PeopleCert's three US options is a bundle, not a bare exam: $690 including tax buys the exam voucher, the official eBook and a learning resource kit. The version with eLearning costs $1,029, and eLearning+ costs $1,338 with a free exam retake and an official mock exam. The A+ total of $548 buys two exam vouchers only.
One reply in an r/ITIL thread said to take ITIL Foundation if your employer pays, because of the price. The poster who started that thread had asked about paying $650 to $670 out of pocket (r/ITIL, August 2026). That is one opinion, not data.
Which ITIL Foundation should you book: ITIL 4 or ITIL 5?
Book ITIL Foundation (Version 5), the newest edition, known as ITIL 5. Version 5 Foundation is $690 as an exam bundle in PeopleCert's US store (archived October 4, 2026); the ITIL 4 Foundation page showed the same figure, but we did not capture a dated copy. PeopleCert's ITIL FAQ, in the version we read in October 2026, says its current plan is to retire all ITIL 4 modules on December 31, 2027.
You do not need both. An ITIL 4 Foundation you already hold stays a valid prerequisite for the higher Version 5 levels (the later, more advanced ITIL exams), and passing any Version 5 exam renews it. For ITIL 4 holders, PeopleCert's US store sells a Foundation Bridge (Version 5) exam of 20 questions in 30 minutes for $263 (price recorded October 5, 2026). Our ITIL page explains whether ITIL 4 is still worth it now that ITIL 5 is out.
How many IT-support ads mention A+ and ITIL?
Both phrases appear in IT-support ads in the US, the UK and India. We count job ads with the title it support (or the local equivalent) on Adzuna and check each for the phrases comptia a (for A+) and itil; an ad can contain both.
| Country | IT-support ads counted | Containing comptia a (A+) |
Containing itil |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 2,745 | 551 | 206 |
| United Kingdom | 1,286 | 84 | 95 |
| India | 259 | 33 | 32 |
Source: Adzuna API (a job-search site that collects ads from many employers), IT-support ads collected in October 2026, searched for the phrases comptia a and itil. Analysis: CertWorthIt.
The two phrases do not catch the same kind of mention. The phrase comptia a misses ads that write only "A+" and can also catch other CompTIA names that start with an A, so that count is approximate. The phrase itil takes any ad that names ITIL in any version or level, or asks for ITIL knowledge. A mention can mean required, preferred or one of several options; the count does not say which. Our methodology page explains the search.
The UK and India counts rest on 1,286 and 259 IT-support ads in October 2026. Our IT-support role page lists the other certifications and skills those ads name. Check which of the two phrases the ads for jobs near you use.
Show the numbers
| Item | Ads | Share of ads |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | 1,188 | 43% |
| Active Directory | 558 | 20% |
| CompTIA A+ | 551 | 20% |
| CompTIA | 546 | 20% |
| ITIL | 206 | 7.5% |
| CompTIA Network+ | 163 | 5.9% |
| CompTIA Security+ | 34 | 1.2% |
| Google IT Support | 3 | 3 of 2,745 |
Where do we count ITIL but not A+?
We count itil in two more jobs, system administration and project management. We did not count comptia a in these ads, so the rows below have their own bases and do not compare the two.
| Job and country | Ads counted | Containing itil |
|---|---|---|
| System administrator, US | 6,233 | 489 |
| System administrator, India | 270 | 43 |
| Project manager, US | 59,273 | 702 |
Source: Adzuna API, ads collected in October 2026, searched for the phrase itil. Analysis: CertWorthIt. We did not count comptia a in system-administrator or project-manager ads.
Our system-administrator and project-manager role pages show what else those ads list. If you lead projects, our ITIL vs PMP comparison covers that choice.
What do people on Reddit say about A+ and ITIL?
Two posters on r/ITIL described where ITIL fits. One wrote: "Entry level to IT? Comptia A+ beats ITIL every time." (r/ITIL, June 2025).
Another, answering a question about ITIL as a career path, described a later step: "My path out of service desk was managing service desk and ITIL was certainly part of that." (r/ITIL, August 2025). These are opinions from people who chose to post, not data.
What we did not check
- Salaries. We found no dated official source that compares pay for A+ and ITIL holders.
- Pass rates. Neither CompTIA nor PeopleCert publishes one on the pages we read.
- A+ study time. The Reddit posts we collected held too few first-person figures.
- ITIL practice detail. The practice descriptions in the ticket table are ITIL 4's, read on a secondary site, because the official practice guides are paid documents; we did not confirm how deeply the Version 5 Foundation exam tests each one.
- ITIL Practice Manager availability. PeopleCert's Version 5 ladder lists it, but we did not check which modules are on sale today.
- Prices outside the US stores, apart from PeopleCert's euro bundle price, and the cost of retakes and renewal learning.
- Other countries. The job-ad tables show the US, the UK and India only.
Sources
Pages without a date below were read on October 12, 2026; archived copies keep their capture dates.
- CompTIA: About us, A+ V15 (Core 1 and Core 2) (format, domains, price), renewal fees and online testing; earning CEUs, read October 3, 2026; renewing with a higher-level certification, read October 5, 2026.
- PeopleCert: About us, ITIL Foundation (Version 5) (format, outline, euro price), ITIL 4 Foundation and ITIL FAQ; news of the AXELOS purchase. Archived copies for US prices and older FAQ items: ITIL Foundation (Version 5) (archive, October 4, 2026), ITIL FAQ (archive, May 16, 2026), PeopleCert Plus membership (archive, September 29, 2026).
- ITSM.tools: ITIL 4 management practices.
- Reddit: r/ITIL, June 2025; r/ITIL, August 2025; r/ITIL, August 2026. Study times from the Reddit posts we collected, 15 statements.
- Job ads: Adzuna API, October 2026, IT-support, system-administrator and project-manager ads; phrases
comptia aanditil. Analysis: CertWorthIt. Method.
Questions people ask
Should I take ITIL or A+ first?
Take CompTIA A+ first if you have no IT job yet. It is CompTIA's entry-level IT-support certification: two exams on hardware, networking, operating systems and security. Take ITIL Foundation, PeopleCert's first exam in ITIL (a framework, or published set of recommended practices, for running IT services), once you work on a help desk or service desk, the team that handles users' IT problems. In October 2026, of 2,745 US IT-support ads on Adzuna, a job-ad search site, 551 contained the phrase comptia a and 206 contained itil.
Can you get an IT job with A+ and no experience?
Yes, A+ is built for a first support job, but it is not a promise. The certificate alone does not show that you meet a particular employer's requirements, so read each ad before you apply. CompTIA recommends 12 months of hands-on IT-support work before A+ and does not require it, so you can take both A+ exams before your first job. In October 2026, the phrase comptia a appeared in 551 of the 2,745 US IT-support ads on Adzuna, a job-ad search site.
Why is ITIL Foundation so expensive?
PeopleCert, which sets and sells the ITIL exams, sells ITIL Foundation in its US store as a bundle, not a bare exam. On an archived store page of October 4, 2026, $690 including VAT (value-added tax, a sales tax) bought the exam voucher (a prepaid code that books the exam), the official eBook and a learning resource kit. The two options with eLearning cost $1,029 and $1,338. Renewing with professional development points adds PeopleCert Plus membership (its paid renewal plan) at $133 a year, or $399 over the three-year cycle. CompTIA A+ costs $548 in exam fees: two vouchers at $274 each in CompTIA's US store on October 12, 2026.
Should I take ITIL 4 or ITIL 5 Foundation?
Take ITIL Foundation (Version 5), the newest edition, known as ITIL 5. Version 5 Foundation is $690 as an exam bundle in PeopleCert's US store (archived October 4, 2026); the ITIL 4 Foundation page showed the same figure, but we did not capture a dated copy. PeopleCert's ITIL FAQ, read October 12, 2026, says its current plan is to retire all ITIL 4 modules on December 31, 2027. You do not need both: an ITIL 4 Foundation you already hold remains a valid prerequisite for the higher Version 5 levels (the later, more advanced ITIL exams), and passing any Version 5 exam renews it.
How long does it take to study for ITIL Foundation?
In the Reddit posts we collected, 15 people who said how long they studied for ITIL Foundation reported a median of one week (the median is the middle value), with the middle half at one to two weeks. These are self-reported times from people who chose to post, and not every post names the ITIL version. The exam has 40 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes, closed book (no notes), and you need 65% to pass. We have no comparable study-time figure for CompTIA A+, which is two exams of up to 90 questions and 90 minutes each.
Is CompTIA A+ worth it for help-desk jobs?
CompTIA A+ is worth it if the help-desk jobs you apply for name it. It is CompTIA's entry-level IT-support certification and costs $548 in exam fees in the US: two vouchers (prepaid exam codes) at $274 each, read October 12, 2026. In October 2026, of 2,745 US IT-support ads on Adzuna, a job-ad search site, 551 contained the phrase comptia a. The phrase misses ads that write only A+ and can catch other CompTIA names that start with an A, so the count is approximate.