CompTIA Security+ and Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate are entry-level cyber security certifications. Still, you must become aware of some key differences before pursuing either in your quest to break into cyber security.
Both certifications aim to demonstrate to employers your understanding of cyber security fundamentals and competence in cyber security implementations. Despite targeting aspiring cyber security professionals, these certifications aren’t identical in the material covered, price, complexity, passing score, and other features.
Before investing your time and money, it's essential to understand the key differences between the CompTIA Security+ vs Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate—what each offers, how they compare, and which is the better fit for your current stage in the cybersecurity field.
Let’s find out together. What Are CompTIA Security+ and Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate Certifications?
Despite being entry-level cyber security certifications with no formal prerequisites, CompTIA Security+ and Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate differ significantly.
The most important distinction between them is that Security+ is a vendor-neutral certification covering a broad range of topics in depth.
In contrast, the Google Cybersecurity course leading to the certificate misses out on the Windows operating system, which is most popular in enterprise IT environments. Plus, its quizzes are open-book, reducing their effectiveness in testing how well you internalize the course content.
CompTIA Security+
CompTIA Security+ is a globally recognized entry-level cyber security certification focusing primarily on up-to-date best practices for risk management and risk mitigation. It emphasizes the practical aspects of identifying and addressing security threats, attacks, and vulnerabilities.
According to CompTIA, the target audience of the Security+ certification is IT professionals with at least two years of experience in a security or systems administrator role. They should have experience in IT administration with a focus on security, hands-on experience with technical information security, and a broad knowledge of security concepts.
In other words, despite its popular designation as an entry-level cyber security certification, Security+ has a steep learning curve. Those with prior networking or cyber security expertise will have a clear advantage over complete beginners.
That said, dedicated study using strong materials can compensate for a lack of hands-on experience. This is an entry-level cyber security certification, after all, and it is well within reach of those without security administration experience who have a passion for learning.
Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate
The Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate is a Google career certification in cyber security. Its target audience is anyone who wants to become job-ready for high-growth, high-demand careers within three to six months with no prior degree or experience required.
It’s more beginner-friendly than Security+:
Is any background knowledge necessary?
None! Whether you’re completely new to the field or have had some exposure, this is the right program for you. If you’re already familiar with the subject matter, you can skip directly to the graded assessments.
You obtain this certificate once you’ve passed their self-paced Coursera cyber security online course of the same name. It indicates that you’ve completed every video module, achieved at least a score of 80% in each quiz, and completed the hands-on lab assignments, which constitute a portfolio showcasing your cyber security experience.
Exam Details
This section gives you an overview of CompTIA Security+ vs Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate certifications. Both entry-level cyber security certifications fall within Stage 3 of our certification roadmap, but the major similarities end here.
CompTIA Security+
A huge reason for Security+’s popularity, especially in the United States, is its full compliance with ISO 17024 standards and approval by the US Department of Defense to meet directive 8140/8570.01-M requirements. This approval makes Security+ holders eligible for US government positions.
The latest CompTIA Security+ exam code is SY0-701, and the exam domains are:
- General Security Concepts (12%)
- Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations (22%)
- Security Architecture (18%)
- Security Operations (28%)
- Security Program Management and Oversight (20%)
The Security+ exam is an industry-leading certification for aspiring cyber security professionals, IT administrators, and related roles because it validates the practical skills needed for baseline security readiness and incident response. It equips candidates to handle current threats, understand advanced security responsibilities, and proactively prevent future attacks.
Topics in these core knowledge domains include the latest trends in threats, attacks, vulnerabilities, automation, zero trust, risk, the Internet of Things (IoT), operational technology (OT), and the latest techniques for cyber security professionals working in hybrid environments in the cloud and on-premises. Pay attention to cloud environments, communication, reporting, and teamwork.
The CompTIA Security+ exam includes two types of questions:
- Multiple-choice questions, which may admit single or multiple answers
- Performance-based questions (PBQs), which test your ability to solve problems in a simulated environment. These make CompTIA Security+ a valuable certification, demonstrating the holder’s excellence in practical cyber security skills. Anywhere from two to six PBQs appear at the start of the Security+ exam.
You’ll answer up to 90 questions in this 90-minute examination and complete a survey afterward. The passing score is 750 on a scale of 100–900. For more information, refer to our guide to Security+.
Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate
The Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate isn’t an exam but a series of video lectures, graded assessments, and ungraded practical coursework associated with video lectures on Coursera. It comprises eight courses that teach the tools, platforms, and technical skills required to fulfill an entry-level role.
Unlike CompTIA Security+, it has no DoD designation. The tools used in this course include Python, Linux, SQL, Chronicle, Splunk, Suricata, Wireshark, and Google Cloud.
The eight courses are:
- Foundation of Cybersecurity: This course teaches the core skills and knowledge required to become a cyber security analyst, such as cloud and network security, security hardening, security ethics, and how security attacks impact a business.
- Play It Safe: Manage Security Risks: This course demonstrates how to identify threats, risks, and vulnerabilities that impact an organization and how to implement security frameworks and controls to manage them.
- Connect and Protect: Networks and Network Security: This course describes how networks work, how they are attacked, and how to secure them.
- Tools of the Trade: Linux and SQL: This course explains the relationship between operating systems, applications, and hardware and showcases how to use Linux commands, the Bash shell, and SQL to perform security-related tasks.
- Assets, Threats, and Vulnerabilities: This course teaches you how to classify assets, analyze your attack surface to identify risks and vulnerabilities, and perform threat modeling.
- Sound the Alarm: Detection and Response: This course details the incident response process, how Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) work, and how to use Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools to investigate an incident.
- Automate Cybersecurity Tasks with Python: This course explores using Python programming to automate common cyber security tasks.
- Put It to Work: Prepare for Cybersecurity Jobs: This course details how to land a cyber security role and prepare for job interviews.
Once you complete each course, you must complete a quiz or assignment related to the course content.
While you must score 80% or above on the quizzes to pass a course—each of which counts towards successful certification—the assignments are projects you can showcase to prospective employers on your resume. To obtain the certificate, you must complete all lessons, quizzes, and assignments.
The quizzes are all multiple-choice questions based on content covered in the course material. Don’t worry if you fail a quiz; you can retake it every eight hours until you pass.
There are 170 hours of course lectures, quizzes, and practical assessments. You’ll finish the course in around six months if you spend seven hours a week studying for the certification.
The Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate is for those looking to enter the cyber security industry but who lack the time or resources to complete a University degree. The course’s flexible scheduling allows you to learn online asynchronously at your own pace and costs far less than online degree programs.
This flexible scheduling and spaced-out assessments could make it a suitable choice for anyone looking to make a career change or accelerate their entry into cyber security.
The downside is its abundance of theoretical material and omission of the basic principles an entry-level starter may not know. You’ll have to fill in knowledge gaps with supplementary training yourself.
Most Comprehensive: Comp TIA Security+
Security+ delves deep into cyber security's technical and theoretical aspects, especially in its PBQs. Although preparation may take more or less time depending on your prior IT knowledge, this closed-book exam will give you a clear pass or fail. If you’re aiming for a career in cyber security and want to expand your options, Security+ is the way to go.
Most Flexible: Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate
If you’re worried about how much time you’ll spend on the certification and the risk of failure, the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate will help you systematically master the concepts needed and gain hands-on experience building cyber security solutions.
Eligibility Requirements
Neither certification has any formal prerequisites.
CompTIA Security+
According to the CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) exam objectives, you should have at least two years of experience in IT administration with a focus on security, hands-on experience with technical information security, and broad knowledge of security concepts. Passing the Network+ can help you master Security+ concepts.
Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate
The Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate doesn’t require any prior experience in IT or cyber security. Thus, it’s beginner-friendly and has a lower entry barrier (knowledge-wise) than Security+.
Most Beginner-Friendly: Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate
If you know nothing about cybersecurity, Google can give you a module-by-module head start on cybersecurity basics.
Exam Difficulty
CompTIA Security+
As a proctored exam with a strict policy against cheating, the CompTIA Security+ exam tests your understanding of foundational cyber security concepts, especially in its PBQs.
Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate
In comparison, the final grade for the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate is based solely on your performance in quizzes and hands-on labs. However, since there's no way to verify whether you completed them independently or with external help, the course falls short on accurately measuring your true skills.
Easiest: Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate
You can pass the assessments and do the labs open-book. They involve basic skills in cyber security.
Most Rewarding: CompTIA Security+
Security+ evaluates you on the cyber security knowledge you’ve internalized and prepares you for more advanced security responsibilities.
Job Opportunities
We’ll discuss the employment prospects of Security+ holders and those with the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate. US job sites and job postings based in the US form the basis for our conclusions below.
CompTIA Security+
Job opportunities abound for holders of CompTIA Security+. Nearly all open cyber security positions in the US require or prefer candidates who have earned their Security+.
We’ve found 6,000+ Security+ job search results on Indeed:
Here’s Glassdoor with over 5,000 results on CompTIA Security+:
According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary for a Security+ certified individual is $55,353 USD:
Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate
Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t locate any explicit mention of “Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate” among the most relevant job listings. It’s a curious observation, considering that Google is a US-based multinational company.
A job candidate who has somehow gained the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate will have to persuade an employer to take it seriously or focus solely on the experience gained through the hands-on labs.
Here’s an entry among the 2,000+ Indeed job search results of “Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate” that specifies Security+:
Moreover, among the 55 Glassdoor search results on the same certification, the job listings mentioning Google point to Google Suite and Google Cloud Platform, not to any cyber security certification by Google:
We’ve explored the salaries associated with this certification on ZipRecruiter, and the results show a higher salary range. However, scrutinizing the related job postings reveals zero mention of “Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate” in part or in full. The figures below indicate a highly skewed spread.
In this first such job listing mentioning the salary, it turns out “Google” points to “Google Cloud”:
The second listing mentions Google in light of the company’s location:
With such low-quality data on how much people get paid if they only hold the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate, we couldn’t make any definite conclusions.
Most Attractive in the Job Market: CompTIA Security+
A cursory search of job postings reveals which gets the most mentions (in the US) and with clear and abundant salary data.
Cost and Recertification
CompTIA Security+
The latest exam cost is $425 USD. The certification is valid for three years, after which you can renew by retaking the exam (CompTIA updates the Security+ syllabus every three years) or earning 50 Continuing Education Units (CEUs). You can also automatically renew the certification by obtaining a more advanced certification such as the CySA+ or the PenTest+.
Note that as an authorized CompTIA partner, you can purchase a Security+ exam voucher at a tremendous discount through StationX! Click the banner below for details.
Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate
To gain the certification, you simply sign up for a Coursera subscription of $49 USD per month, enroll in the course, and complete the course with no additional costs. Once complete, you will receive a certificate from Google to share on LinkedIn and your CV/resume.
The certificate is valid for life. If you focus on finishing the course as soon as possible, you’ll save time and money—or so you think.
Google recommends getting both its own and CompTIA Security+ in their FAQ:
The Google Cybersecurity Certificate helps prepare graduates for the CompTIA Security+ exam. Graduates of the Google Cybersecurity Certificate can access the CompTIA Security+ exam and additional training at a discounted price. You’ll earn a dual credential when you complete the Google Cybersecurity Certificate and the CompTIA Security+ exam, which can be shared with potential employers.
While the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate is more affordable and grants you a permanent credential, it ultimately encourages you to pursue the CompTIA Security+ as well—offering a discount and promoting the combination as a “dual certification.”
It’s also important to consider that you may train for Security+ in any way you like. Google Cybersecurity Professional requires you to complete their training, which, on average, costs students $300 (depending on how long they keep their course subscription active).
Best Value for Money: CompTIA Security+
Despite the appeal of double certification, Google appears to undermine its course’s inherent value.
It’s far more time- and cost-effective to aim high and focus on only getting the CompTIA Security+.
CompTIA Security+ vs Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate: What’s Better?
Here’s a comparison table:
Winner: CompTIA Security+
Different certifications exist to cater to students with various needs.
If, like many others entering the field, you’re looking to break into cybersecurity and land a job as soon as possible, CompTIA Security+ stands out as the clear winner. Its broad industry recognition and comprehensive coverage of core cybersecurity topics make it a worthwhile investment to boost your chances of getting hired.
If you're not yet confident about taking the Security+ exam, prefer a more gradual entry into cybersecurity, have a limited budget, or want hands-on experience first, the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate can be a good starting point with its gentler learning curve. However, it comes with a curious catch-22.
Google’s notion of a “dual certification” sounds appealing but may hint at Google’s lack of confidence in the inherent industry value of its certification. If you’re not in a hurry, saving up for a CompTIA Security+ exam voucher appears more prudent and preparing well, skipping the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate altogether.
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