Cisco CCNA vs CCNP Certification

Ranveer
3 min readJun 5, 2019

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You might know that there are 5 different levels of Cisco certifications in which CCNA and CCNP are the associate and professional level certification.

Explaining the difference between both of them is our measure concern today so, if you want to know how CCNA and CCNP are different from each other then here is your answer.

So, let’s start with,

What is CCNA?

CCNA known as Cisco Certified Network Associate is the one who takes 30–45 days long CCNA course training and learns basic installation and supporting the process of small or medium-sized Cisco networks

What is CCNP?

Whereas, CCNP known as Cisco Certified Network Professionals are the one who gains advanced networking knowledge in 3 months long training period.

Now, Let’s talk about CCNA and CCNP tracks.

Cisco offers CCNA and CCNP certification in various tracks. These tracks define job role and job responsibility of a Network Engineer in his placed company. So, its recommended to every network seeker to choose their track according to their networking interest.

Different CCNA tracks

Cisco offers CCNA certification in 10 different tracks and they are here for you,

Different CCNP tracks

The 7 different CCNP certification track offered by Cisco are here for you,

Prerequisites for Cisco CCNA and CCNP Certification

Since CCNA is the foundation course training, Cisco allows network aspirants to attempt CCNA certification exam without any prerequisites except Security which take valid CCNA R&S certification as a prerequisite.

Now if we talk about, CCNP prerequisites then you require a valid Cisco CCNA certification in a respective track to attempt CCNP exam.

Let’s say, if you have CCNA R&S certification then you become eligible to take CCNP R&S certification exam. Similarly, if you are CCNA Security certified then you can not take the CCNP Data Center exam directly. You need CCNA Data Center certification to sit in CCNP Data Center examination.

CCNA and CCNP Exam Cost

Since CCNA R&S is the oldest and the most important Cisco certification track, its cost is a bit higher than its corresponding Cisco CCNA certification tracks.

The cost of CCNA R&S is 325 USD whereas other CCNA tracks certification exam will cost you 300 USD each module.

Now when it comes to CCNP then all the CCNP tracks and their corresponding modules will cost you 300 USD.

For example, if CCNP R&S exam has 3 modules in it i.e Route, Switch, and Tshoot then obtaining this certification will cost you 900(300*3) USD.

Job roles after CCNA and CCNP Certification

After CCNA course training and certification, you have job roles like

Similarly, after CCNP course training and certification, you have job roles like

Salary Package after CCNA Certification

Now when it comes to salary then, CCNA is the associate level training and it’s obvious that CCNP certified professionals have a bit higher salary package than CCNA certified associates.

If you are a CCNA R&S certified professional then your package will range up to 2.5–3 lacs per annum being a fresher.

Salary Package after CCNP Certification

Your salary package after CCNA and CCNP certification in R&S track will range up to 3.5–4 lacs annually.

So, these were some points which make CCNA differs from CCNP certification. To dig deeper about CCNA and CCNP certification visit here-

https://www.networkbulls.com/training-ccna-course-delhi

https://www.networkbulls.com/training-ccnp-course-delhi

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Ranveer

Working at Best Cisco Certification Institute in India