CompTIA Linux+
Linux+ covers system management, security, scripting, containers and troubleshooting on Linux, without tying itself to a distribution.
Ninety minutes, 720 to pass, and available in English only.
Exam facts
- Exam code
- XK0-006
- Level
- Associate
- Field
- Linux & open source
- Duration
- 90 minutes
- Questions
- maximum of 90 (multiple choice and performance-based items)
- Passing score
- 720 on a scale of 100 to 900
- Languages
- English
- Price
- 399 USD (read 8 September 2026)
- Validity
- 3 years, renewable
- Exam delivery
- Pearson VUE (test centre or online proctored)
Prerequisites: No formal prerequisites. CompTIA recommends twelve months of hands-on experience with Linux servers and A+, Network+ or Server+ or comparable knowledge.
Renewal: Continuing Education: 50 CEUs within three years, or pass the current Linux+ exam
Source: exam page at CompTIA · Price: CompTIA list price since the June 2026 price round (partner price list, read 2026-09-08); CompTIA shows your local price in its purchase widget
How to prepare
1. A practice test in the exam format
MeasureUp sells a practice test for XK0-006 with questions in the exam format, an explanation for every answer and a timed mode; the price shows in your currency on the shop page. Affiliate link.
Practice test for XK0-006 at MeasureUp (opens in a new tab)Book the exam
Delivered by Pearson VUE (test centre or online proctored). Schedule with CompTIA (opens in a new tab)
Affiliate disclosure: the practice-test link above is affiliate links — buying through them may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. The vendor's learning path and booking links carry no commission.
Three Linux certificates, three different claims
- This one is knowledge-tested with performance-based items, distribution-neutral, and part of CompTIA's renewal chain.
- LPIC-1 is two exams, vendor-neutral, and runs five years rather than three, with a development-points route instead of a retake.
- RHCSA is performed on a live system against real tasks, tied to Red Hat, and alone among the three in resisting anybody who merely recognises the right option.
- The chain matters more than the content for anyone already holding CompTIA certificates, because this renews them and the others do not.
- Distribution matters more than the certificate for anyone with a target employer, which usually points at Red Hat's family or away from it.
The syllabus has moved with the work: containers and automation now sit alongside the traditional filesystem, permissions and service management material, and the security domain carries real weight. That makes it a better reflection of contemporary Linux administration than its reputation suggests, and it also means candidates who learned Linux a decade ago meet unfamiliar ground in the middle of familiar territory.
The language constraint is a real one
Unlike A+, Network+ and Security+, this exam is offered in English only. For candidates who would sit a technical paper more comfortably in another language, that is a practical argument for LPIC-1, which is more widely translated. It is the kind of detail that does not appear in any course description and decides the choice for a substantial number of people.
| Domain | Share | What a decade-old Linux education is missing here |
|---|---|---|
| System management | 23 % | Little; this is the ground everybody knows |
| Troubleshooting | 22 % | The method, under a clock, with a performance-based item in front of you |
| Services and user management | 20 % | The unit-based service manager and identity beyond a local password file |
| Security | 18 % | Mandatory access control, key-based access, and hardening as routine |
| Automation, orchestration and scripting | 17 % | Configuration management, containers, and the idea that a server is disposable |
Read the right-hand column as a study plan for the experienced candidate. System management is where they will feel at home and score well; the automation domain is where a career spent hand-configuring servers has taught habits the exam treats as outdated. Troubleshooting is the second-largest domain and the one that carries the performance-based items, which behave here as they do across CompTIA's range: a simulated environment, a task, and marks for the outcome rather than the reasoning. Up to ninety questions in ninety minutes, 720 to pass out of a possible 900.
What holding it does for the rest of your CompTIA certificates
Linux+ runs three years and is kept current with 50 continuing-education credits, failing which you sit it again. Sitting inside CompTIA's programme means it also refreshes A+, Network+ and Server+ beneath it, so for an administrator already carrying those, this exam can be the single sitting that keeps four certificates alive. That arithmetic is often the deciding argument, and it has nothing to do with Linux.
Version XK0-006 launched on 15 July 2025, and CompTIA tends to retire a version around its third birthday, so nothing needs to be rushed and nothing has been announced. CompTIA recommends twelve months with Linux servers and one of A+, Network+ or Server+ or comparable knowledge, and enforces none of it. For a candidate choosing between the three Linux certificates, the decision usually resolves to two questions: does a target employer run Red Hat, and are you already inside CompTIA's chain. Yes to the first points at RHCSA; yes to the second points here; neither points at LPIC-1 and its five years.
What a question looks like
Written by us in the exam's style. It is not a real question from any question bank, and we do not publish those.
A service fails to start after a configuration change. The service file is valid, the binary runs correctly when invoked directly by an administrator, and the log shows a permission error on a directory the service writes to. The directory permissions look correct. What should you investigate?
Everything the candidate would normally check has already been eliminated in the stem, which is deliberate. The remaining explanation involves a security mechanism most people disable rather than learn, and the exam expects you to know it exists and produces exactly this symptom. It is a good question because it separates people who have administered a hardened system from people who have only used one.
What it costs to get and to keep
| Item | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Exam fee | 399 USD | partner price list after CompTIA's June 2026 price round; the vendor publishes prices only in its own purchase widget (read 8 September 2026) |
| Renewal every three years | not published | 50 continuing-education credits, or passing the current Linux+ exam again (read 12 September 2026) |
How much preparation, from where you are
- You run Linux servers at work
- The recommended background is about a year of exactly that. Expect the containers, automation and security domains to be where the preparation goes, since those are the parts many shops have standardised away from the administrator.
- You use Linux as a desktop or hobby
- More ground than it feels like. Service management, permissions at depth and the security mechanisms are the difference between using a system and administering one.
- You administer Windows and are broadening
- The concepts map more cleanly than the syntax does. Build something small and keep it running for a few weeks rather than reading, because the troubleshooting questions assume you have watched a service misbehave.
What passing this does not prove
- Whether you can work at a shell quickly, which is what the job actually rewards.
- Any one distribution's packaging and conventions in depth.
- Whether you would write the automation rather than repeating the task.
- Anything about running Linux at a scale where the interesting problems appear.
Against the alternatives
- 101-500 + 102-500 — LPIC-1 — Linux Administrator
- Two exams against one, five years of validity against three, and far wider language availability. Better if you want longevity or need to sit in a language other than English.
- EX200 — Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)
- Performed on a live system rather than answered, which makes it the strongest signal of the three. Choose it if your target employers run Red Hat, and accept that it is a harder day.
- SY0-701 — CompTIA Security+
- Sits above this in the same renewal chain, so holding it keeps this current. Worth knowing before deciding which order to climb in.
XK0-006 — quick answers
Which Linux certificate should I choose?
Follow the employer. Red Hat shops value RHCSA and its practical format above anything knowledge-tested. Mixed environments care less, and then the question becomes whether you are already inside CompTIA's renewal chain, which is a genuine reason to pick this one.
Is English-only a problem?
It is for some candidates, and it is not advertised. If sitting a technical exam in English would cost you accuracy, LPIC-1 is more widely translated and is the sensible alternative.
Does it cover containers?
Yes, and more than its reputation suggests. The syllabus has kept pace with how Linux is actually administered, which also means experienced candidates meet genuinely new material rather than a revision exercise.
Which distribution should I practise on?
Any mainstream one, and ideally two from different families, because the exam is distribution-neutral and asks about differences in package management and service tooling. A candidate raised on a single family will meet questions phrased in the other's vocabulary.
How do the performance-based items work on a Linux exam?
A simulated environment opens, a task is set, and the outcome is marked. They cannot be answered by elimination and they absorb minutes, so clear the multiple-choice items before opening a simulation, and give the simulations whatever remains. Practising at a real terminal is the only preparation that transfers to them.
What comes next
Concepts this exam draws on
Glossary entries with the reason each one matters for XK0-006.
- Web Server
Services and user management: configuring and securing the web server stack.
- Containers
XK0-006 added container operations and orchestration basics to the automation domain.
- VPS
The exam certifies exactly the skills running an unmanaged VPS demands.
- TCP/IP
Networking configuration and troubleshooting on Linux assume the transport vocabulary.
- Firewall
Host firewall configuration is a security-domain objective.
- Git
The automation domain expects version control for scripts and configuration.
Last reviewed 12 September 2026 · Getting Digital