Security+ SY0-801 Is Coming: Should You Take SY0-701 Now or Wait?

Here's what CompTIA's own Security+ pages say, as of September 29, 2026:

• Security+ V8 is expected to launch on or around November 17, 2026. The industry is using SY0-801 as its exam code, following CompTIA's usual numbering.
• CompTIA says V8 “offers expanded coverage of areas such as AI-related risks, security operations, and modern environments.”
• For people ready now, CompTIA's page says V7 (SY0-701) “remains a strong option.”
• SY0-701 retires June 11, 2027 in English, and August 13, 2027 in Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai.

That's the whole official picture. Anything more specific you've seen, like detailed domain lists, new weights or question counts, didn't come from CompTIA's pages we checked. Treat it as unconfirmed until CompTIA publishes the final V8 exam objectives.

Launch dates are CompTIA's expectation (“on or around”), so check the official page again before you book anything around November 17. Retirement dates matter even more: after June 11, 2027, you can't sit SY0-701 in English at all.

• Anyone mid-prep for SY0-701. Your exam isn't going away before June 11, 2027 in English. You have time, but not unlimited time.
• Candidates testing in Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish or Thai. Your SY0-701 window runs two months longer, through August 13, 2027.
• Current Security+ holders coming up on renewal. Passing the latest exam version is one of CompTIA's renewal paths, and after launch the latest version will be V8. Most people renew another way: a CertMaster CE course, a qualifying higher-level CompTIA cert, or submitting CEUs and paying the CE fee (CompTIA lists $150 for the three-year period). The switch doesn't force you to retest.
• Employers, bootcamps and training programs. Cohorts that start this fall and test next spring will straddle both versions. Pick one blueprint per cohort and stick to it.

If V8 launches on schedule, both versions will be available in English from mid-November 2026 until June 11, 2027. That's roughly seven months when you get to choose.

The important part is that passing either version gets you CompTIA Security+. Your record shows which exam you passed, but employers and DoD 8140 work-role requirements ask for Security+, not a specific exam code. And each pass starts a fresh three-year renewal cycle, whichever version you take.

So the real question isn't which cert is better. It's which exam you can pass with the least risk and the least wasted study time.

New exam versions have a predictable downside: at launch, study guides, practice-question banks and community know-how all lag behind. You'd be preparing for an exam fewer people have taken, with fewer resources built for it. None of that makes V8 a bad choice. It just means that, in the first months after launch, V8 costs more effort to prep for than a mature exam.

701 is the opposite. The blueprint is known, and there's a deep bench of books and practice material. If you're choosing purely on how easy it is to prepare, 701 wins until its window closes.

Everything on the market today is built for SY0-701, and that's exactly what you want if you're taking 701. Check the exam code on anything you buy. Used SY0-601 material is for a retired exam and isn't worth even a low price. If you're going with V8, hold off on paid material until publishers release editions labeled for V8/SY0-801. Until then, the best free prep for either path is solid fundamentals: networking, identity, logging and incident response concepts carry over to any version.

1. Get a baseline. Take our free timed Security+ practice test: 45 questions at real pace, built on SY0-701's domain weights. Your score by domain tells you how far you are from ready.
2. Pick your version from the table above and commit. Flip-flopping between blueprints is the most expensive option.
3. If 701: set a test date, ideally by spring 2027, download the SY0-701 objectives, and study the heavy domains first: Security Operations (28%) and Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations (22%).
4. If V8: watch CompTIA's Security+ page for the final objectives, and don't buy study material until it's labeled for V8/SY0-801.
5. Read the full Security+ guide for format, scoring, PBQs, renewal and DoD 8140 details.