ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (CSA)
The Certified System Administrator covers running a ServiceNow instance: users and roles, data and tables, the automation and workflow layer, and the configuration that keeps an implementation maintainable.
Ninety minutes, around sixty questions, and an eligibility route that is free.
Exam facts
- Exam code
- CSA
- Level
- Associate
- Field
- IT service management
- Duration
- 90 minutes
- Questions
- about 60 multiple-choice and multiple-response questions (ServiceNow publishes no fixed count)
- Passing score
- about 70 % per training providers — ServiceNow does not publish the cut score
- Languages
- English, Japanese
- Price
- 300 USD (read 12 September 2026)
- Validity
- never expires
- Exam delivery
- Pearson VUE (since 2026; test centre or online proctored) once the exam entitlement is unlocked in ServiceNow University
Prerequisites: Eligibility is unlocked by completing the free on-demand ServiceNow Administration Fundamentals course (or the instructor-led version, which includes the exam).
Renewal: No expiry date, but a free delta exam per ServiceNow release within the maintenance window, plus — since 2026 — an annual maintenance fee for mainline certifications; skip the delta and the certificate lapses
Source: exam page at ServiceNow · Price: Exam fee plus taxes per ServiceNow's 2026 programme announcement (no vouchers since 2026; bought in ServiceNow University after eligibility is unlocked); included in instructor-led courses; retake 150 USD. One third-party guide quotes 150 USD per attempt (read 2026-09-12) — ServiceNow's own figure is used here.
How to prepare
1. The vendor's free learning path
ServiceNow publishes the exam objectives and a learning path free of charge — the authoritative source for scope and weighting. Open the learning path (opens in a new tab)
2. Online courses
Courses and practice questions from the directory that target exactly this exam — details, price and the provider link (affiliate) are on the course page.
3. A practice test in the exam format
MeasureUp sells a practice test for CSA 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 CSA at MeasureUp (opens in a new tab)Book the exam
Delivered by Pearson VUE (since 2026; test centre or online proctored) once the exam entitlement is unlocked in ServiceNow University. Schedule with ServiceNow (opens in a new tab)
Affiliate disclosure: the course and practice-test links above are 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.
The interesting thing about this certificate is not the exam but everything attached to it. Eligibility is unlocked by completing a free on-demand course, which is unusually generous. What follows is not: a delta exam after each platform release to keep the credential current, and since 2026 an annual maintenance fee on top for mainline certifications. The sitting is a one-off and the credential is a subscription.
| Ongoing obligation | How often | What it asks |
|---|---|---|
| Delta exam | Each platform release | A short exam on what changed |
| Annual maintenance fee | Yearly since 2026 | Payment, regardless of activity |
| Eligibility course | Once, before the first sitting | Free on-demand training |
| Retake | As needed | A lower fee, with waiting periods |
A discrepancy we are not going to resolve
Two different exam prices are in circulation
The vendor's own community announcement of the 2026 changes gives one figure for this exam, and third-party sources visible in search give a substantially lower per-attempt figure. The original announcement had also moved to a new address when we last checked. We record both rather than choosing, and the practical advice is to confirm the price inside the booking flow before budgeting, particularly if an employer is reimbursing you against a figure somebody found online.
The 2026 rulebook, in the order you will meet it
- Finish the free Administration Fundamentals course on ServiceNow University. Until you have, the exam cannot be bought; the instructor-led version of the same course includes the sitting.
- Register, and the clock starts. A registration is valid for 90 days and covers up to four attempts, so a first failure does not mean paying the full fee again immediately.
- Wait between attempts. Three days after the first failure, thirty after the second, six months after the third: the gaps lengthen on purpose.
- Sit it at Pearson VUE. Delivery moved there from the previous proctoring provider as part of the same change, and vouchers were abolished at the same time.
- Keep it current or lose it. A free delta exam per release inside the maintenance window, plus the annual fee: skip either and the certificate lapses despite the label saying it never expires.
The exam itself is the least dramatic part of that list. Training providers agree on the shape: around sixty multiple-choice and multiple-response questions in ninety minutes with a pass mark somewhere near seventy percent, in English or Japanese. ServiceNow publishes neither the count nor the cut score, so those figures come from the people who teach it rather than from the vendor, and the record says so. The questions themselves are about running an instance: who may see what, how a table relates to the one beside it, and what a workflow does when the approver is on holiday.
Who should be the one paying
Almost nobody should buy this privately. It is a platform certificate for a platform that large organisations license, and the sensible path is inside one of them: the employer holds the instance, pays the maintenance fee as a cost of running the platform, and books the instructor-led course that includes the exam. A candidate outside such an organisation gets a free course and a personal developer instance, which together teach more than the certificate proves, and can decide later whether the subscription is worth carrying. The free course is genuinely good, and that part of the arrangement costs nothing to test.
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 request should be routed for approval to the requester's manager, then to a group depending on the category chosen, and the requester should see progress throughout. Which platform capabilities deliver this, and where should the logic live so that it survives an upgrade?
The first half is ordinary configuration and the second half is the one that matters. Putting logic in the wrong place produces something that works today and breaks on the next release, which is the single most expensive habit in this ecosystem. The exam repeatedly asks not just what to configure but where, and upgrade safety is the reason.
What it costs to get and to keep
| Item | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Exam fee, vendor announcement | 300 USD | from the vendor's own 2026 changes announcement, which had moved address when we last looked. Included when purchased as part of instructor-led training (read 8 September 2026) |
| Exam fee, third-party sources | 150 USD | a lower per-attempt figure visible in search from providers rather than from the vendor. We record the discrepancy rather than picking one (read 12 September 2026) |
| Retake | 150 USD | with escalating waiting periods between attempts and a limited number per registration (read 8 September 2026) |
| Annual maintenance fee | not published | introduced during 2026 for mainline certifications. The vendor has not published a figure we could read, and it is payable whether or not you sit anything that year (read 12 September 2026) |
| Delta exam per release | not published | free, and required within the stated window to keep the credential current (read 12 September 2026) |
How much preparation, from where you are
- You administer an instance already
- The gaps are usually the areas your implementation partner owns rather than you, and upgrade-safe configuration, which teams learn the hard way rather than deliberately.
- You work in service management without the platform
- The process vocabulary will be familiar and the platform will not. The free eligibility course is genuinely good and does most of the work here.
- You are entering the ecosystem
- A well-supported route, and a personal developer instance is available for practice. Build something end to end rather than clicking through the course, because the scenarios assume you have.
What passing this does not prove
- Whether your implementation matches how the organisation actually works.
- The process design the platform is supposed to enforce.
- Anything about the cost of the licences underneath it.
- Whether the customisation you shipped will survive three upgrades.
Against the alternatives
- ITIL Foundation V5 — ITIL Foundation (Version 5)
- The framework this platform largely implements, and the safer purchase for anybody undecided. Process vocabulary travels between employers; platform administration does not.
- Platform Administrator — Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator
- The closest parallel here: another enterprise platform whose certificate is close to required inside its ecosystem. That one asks for a free module each year rather than a fee.
- MS-102 — Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert
- Administration of a different enterprise estate. Comparable in shape, and that exam is retiring, which this one is not.
CSA — quick answers
Why do I see two different prices?
Because the vendor's own announcement and several third parties disagree, and the announcement had moved address when we checked. We are not going to pick the flattering figure. Confirm it in the booking flow before committing, especially if somebody is reimbursing you against a number found online.
What changed in 2026?
Exam delivery moved to a different proctoring provider, vouchers went away, eligibility became tied to completing a free on-demand course, and an annual maintenance fee was introduced for mainline certifications. Taken together those change the long-run cost of holding the credential rather than the difficulty of getting it.
Is the free eligibility course enough?
For the exam, largely yes, and it is unusually good for free vendor training. For the job, no. Get a personal developer instance and build something that spans a form, a workflow and an approval, since the scenarios assume a reader who has built an instance rather than observed somebody else building one.
What happens if I skip a delta exam?
The certificate lapses. The label says it never expires, and that is true only for as long as you sit each release's delta inside the maintenance window and pay the annual fee. In practice it behaves like a certificate on a short renewal cycle, and the calendar entry matters more than the difficulty of the delta.
How many attempts does one registration cover?
Four, inside a registration that is valid for ninety days, with waiting periods that lengthen after each failure: three days, then thirty, then six months. A retake also carries a lower fee than the first sitting. The structure is designed so that a near miss can be repaired quickly and a pattern of failure cannot be brute-forced.
What comes next
Concepts this exam draws on
Glossary entries with the reason each one matters for CSA.
- Uptime & SLA
SLA definitions and service catalog in ServiceNow.
- Managed Hosting
The platform as a managed service: instances, releases, updates.
- Incident Management
The platform's core use is the incident, problem and change practices, and the exam configures them.
Last reviewed 12 September 2026 · Getting Digital