C)PSH Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown

What You Are Actually Paying For

Before comparing numbers, it helps to be precise about the product. The C)PSH credential, short for Certified Powershell Hacker (Mile2's course materials style it "Certified PowerShell Hacker"), is awarded by Mile2. The exam consists of 100 multiple-choice questions, runs approximately two hours, and requires a minimum passing grade of 70%, per the current course outline. It is delivered online through Mile2's learning management system and your Mile2.com account.

That framing matters for cost. You are not paying for a seat at a physical testing center, and you are not required to buy a classroom course to sit the exam. The money goes toward three possible things: the exam itself, preparation materials, and (optionally) instructor-led or self-paced training. If you are new to the credential, the overview in What Is C)PSH Certification? explains where it sits in the offensive-security landscape.

The Price Question: What Is and Is Not Verified

Here is the honest answer to "how much does the C)PSH cost?": the current bundle price and a separate exam-only fee were not verified in the retrieved Mile2 listing. Earlier promotional amounts have circulated in various places, but promotional pricing is not the same as a current fee, and this article does not treat it as one.

Rather than quote a number that may be stale, here is how to get a reliable figure in a few minutes:

1. Open the official C)PSH Exam Combo product page on Mile2.com and read the price displayed at checkout, not in a banner or third-party reseller listing.
2. Check whether the listed price is the standard U.S.-region price or a regional variant; Mile2's FAQ references U.S.-region pricing for some fees, which implies regional differences exist.
3. Look for any bundled training in the listing. If the page lists only exam access, a preparation guide, and quiz/simulator preparation, that is what you are buying.
4. Screenshot the page at the time of purchase, since promotions come and go.

If you need to compare the credential's expense against its earning potential, pair this article with C)PSH Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis and the broader Is the C)PSH Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026.

Inside the C)PSH Exam Combo

Mile2 sells a C)PSH Exam Combo that includes exam access, a preparation guide, and quiz/simulator preparation. For a self-directed candidate who already works with Windows environments, this is the most direct route to a first attempt, because it covers the three things you strictly need: the ability to sit the exam, a structured reference for the curriculum, and practice questions in the exam's multiple-choice style.

One subtlety: the four-day course, the 32 course CEUs, and the seven training labs describe the preparation offering. They are not an examination length, a separate practical assessment, or a verified renewal-hour requirement. Do not budget for a hands-on practical component, because the published exam format is the 100-question multiple-choice test.

Two Attempts, Online Delivery, and What That Means for Your Budget

The two-attempt structure

Mile2's Frequently Asked Questions states that exam purchases include two attempts. For cost planning, that is a meaningful safety net. A candidate who narrowly misses the 70% mark on attempt one has a second try already paid for, which changes the risk calculation compared with certifications that charge a full fee per sitting. It also means you should treat the first attempt as a serious effort rather than a throwaway, because the second attempt is finite. If you want to understand how the cut score translates into questions, see C)PSH Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.

Online delivery and no testing-center fees

Standard Mile2 exams are available online on demand without a live-proctor appointment, according to the FAQ, and the C)PSH exam runs through your Mile2.com account and learning management system. Practically, this removes travel, lodging, and time-off-work costs that come with testing-center certifications. You sit the exam from wherever you can meet the technical requirements.

If you are weighing when and how to schedule, C)PSH Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling covers the logistics side in more detail.

Training Costs: Optional but Worth Understanding

Purchasing or completing a Mile2 course is not required to purchase the C)PSH exam. That single fact reshapes the budget conversation. The training path is a choice, not a gate.

The official course is described as four days, carrying 32 course CEUs, with seven training labs. Those labs are the part most candidates underestimate. The curriculum is hands-on in spirit even though the exam is multiple choice: you are expected to understand how PowerShell is used offensively across Active Directory environments, and reading about it is a poor substitute for running it in an isolated, authorized practice network.

Who should consider the course

• Candidates without an Active Directory background. Domain 2 (Introduction to Active Directory and Kerberos) assumes you can reason about authentication flows. If that is new to you, structured instruction may save weeks.
• Candidates who need CEUs. The course carries 32 CEUs, which can be relevant to continuing-education planning, though you should confirm how they apply to any specific renewal route.
• Candidates who learn better from labs than from guides. The seven training labs give you a guided environment.

Who can likely skip it

Mile2 suggests preparation that includes C)PEH and C)PTE or equivalent knowledge, penetration-testing fundamentals, Active Directory, scripting, and programming. These are recommendations, not mandatory prior certifications. If you already have that foundation, the exam combo plus your own lab time may be sufficient. The eligibility side is covered in C)PSH Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.

The Costs Nobody Lists: Lab Time and Prerequisite Knowledge

The sticker price of an exam rarely captures what it costs you to pass. For C)PSH, the real variable is how much prerequisite knowledge you have to build.

The suggested preparation is not trivial: penetration-testing fundamentals, Active Directory, scripting, and programming, with C)PEH and C)PTE (or equivalent knowledge) as reference points. A candidate who comes from a sysadmin background may already know Active Directory but need to build offensive tradecraft. A candidate from a pentesting background may know methodology but need to deepen their Kerberos understanding. Either way, the gap you must close is the largest hidden cost.

For a domain-by-domain breakdown of what each area demands, read C)PSH Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 8 Content Areas. One caution: the eight domain headings above are the preparation curriculum headings from the course outline. They are unweighted preparation topics, not a verified weighted exam blueprint, so do not assume equal or proportional exam coverage.

Lab infrastructure is the other quiet expense. You will want an isolated environment, such as virtual machines on a machine you own or a cloud lab, running a small Active Directory domain. Keep all practice inside systems you own or are explicitly authorized to use. That setup can often be built at low cost using virtualization software and evaluation images, but it costs time even when it costs little money.

Renewal: The Three-Year Cost Tail

Certification is valid for three years. Anyone calculating a true cost of ownership needs to account for what happens at the end of that term, and this is where Mile2's published materials require careful reading.

What the dedicated renewal pages say

Mile2's Certification Renewal Program and Paths to Renewal pages describe two alternative routes:

• Continuing-education route: 60 documented CEUs over the term, a renewal purchase, and an ethics acknowledgment.
• Exam route: an alternative involving the latest existing certification exam or an eligible qualifying exam.

The FAQ lists a USD 200 U.S.-region renewal fee. That is the one concrete renewal figure available, and it is specifically U.S.-region.

Where the sources disagree

For budgeting, the safe approach is to treat renewal as a recurring expense of roughly the listed U.S.-region fee, plus either the time cost of documenting CEUs or the cost of a qualifying exam, whichever route you choose. Do not assume renewal is free or automatic.

Building a Budget Around the Eight Domains

If you want to spend deliberately rather than all at once, you can stage your costs around the curriculum. This is the one place a timeline is useful, because the order in which you tackle domains affects when you need lab resources versus when you only need reading.

Because the exam purchase includes two attempts, do not rush the first one to "get your money's worth." A prepared first attempt is cheaper in every sense than burning an attempt to learn the question style. For a fuller study plan that complements this staging, see C)PSH Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and keep the C)PSH Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts handy for final review.

To rehearse the question format without spending attempts, the practice questions on the main practice test site are designed for exactly that purpose.

Is the Spend Justified?

Cost only makes sense relative to what the credential does for you. C)PSH targets a specific audience: penetration testers, red teamers, and security professionals who need to demonstrate offensive PowerShell skill against Windows and Active Directory environments. Its eight curriculum areas, including a closing domain on defending against PowerShell attacks, also make it relevant to blue-team and detection roles that must understand what they are defending.

Roles that tend to value this skill set include penetration tester, red team operator, security consultant, and Windows-focused security analyst. For a look at how the credential maps to hiring, see C)PSH Jobs. Because specific salary figures are not established in the source material for this article, we will not quote any here; the salary guide discusses the earnings picture qualitatively.

Difficulty also feeds back into cost, since a harder exam for your background means more prep time or a likelier second attempt. How Hard Is the C)PSH Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 and C)PSH Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows help you calibrate that risk honestly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Planning your spend comes down to three decisions: whether you need training, how much lab time your background demands, and when you will renew. Verify live pricing on Mile2.com, use your two included attempts wisely, and practice at the C)PSH Exam Prep practice test site before you sit the real thing.