How Much Does the CISA Exam Cost, and in Which Languages?

What the CISA exam costs, in plain numbers

The direct answer: the CISA exam fee is currently listed at $575 USD for ISACA members and $760 USD for non-members. That fee buys you exactly one exam attempt, paid to ISACA when you register, and the exam itself is delivered by PSI — either at a test centre or by remote proctoring from home. Fees do change from time to time and can be affected by local taxes and currency, so treat those figures as the published price at the time of writing and confirm the current number on ISACA's exam registration page before you budget.

That headline fee is only the start of the real cost, though. CISA has a pass-then-apply structure, separate study products, and ongoing maintenance costs, and candidates who only budget for the exam fee itself usually get surprised later. The sections below walk through the full picture.

The membership maths is worth thirty minutes of your time

The gap between the member and non-member exam price is $185. ISACA membership plus a local chapter fee frequently adds up to less than that $185 gap — which means joining ISACA before you register can be cheaper than paying the non-member exam price, even if you never use another member benefit. Do the arithmetic for your own region, because chapter dues vary.

The saving rarely stops at the exam. Members also get discounted pricing on ISACA's own preparation products — the CISA Review Manual and the CISA Questions, Answers and Explanations (QAE) database — and on ISACA conferences and training. If you plan to stay in IT audit or governance work, membership also becomes the natural home for the continuing education you will need after certification. The honest caveat: membership is an annual cost, so it is a clear win in year one if the combined dues come in under the exam-price gap, and a judgement call after that.

What the exam fee does not include

It is easy to assume the fee covers "becoming CISA." It does not. It covers one sitting of the exam — nothing else.

• Study materials are separate. The official Review Manual, the QAE practice database, and ISACA review courses are all sold separately. Third-party courses and practice tests are separate again. Budget for preparation on top of the exam fee.
• The application fee comes after you pass. Passing the exam does not make you certified. You then apply for certification, documenting the required work experience, and ISACA charges an application processing fee — currently $50 — for that step.
• Keeping CISA costs money every year. Certified members pay an annual maintenance fee and must earn and report continuing professional education (CPE) hours to keep the credential active. It is not a large sum next to the exam fee, but it is a permanent line item, and letting the credential lapse means losing it.
• A retake is a second full fee. There is no discounted second attempt. If you fail, registering again means paying the full exam price for your membership category again — which is the strongest financial argument for not sitting the exam before you are genuinely ready.

When you pay, and how long the fee lasts

Registration is open year-round — there is no single annual exam day. You pay ISACA first, then schedule your actual sitting with PSI within the eligibility window your registration gives you (currently a 12-month window; confirm the terms when you register, because they are part of what you are buying). That flexibility is genuinely useful: it lets you register while motivated and schedule the attempt for when your preparation is actually finished, rather than the other way round.

Two cautions come with it. First, rescheduling through PSI is possible, but late changes and no-shows can cost you some or all of the fee under the current terms — read them before you book a date you are not sure you can keep. Second, the eligibility window is a deadline, not a suggestion: if it expires unused, the fee is gone and you start again. The candidates who lose money on CISA are rarely the ones who fail; they are the ones who let a registration quietly expire.

Languages: a genuinely wide list

CISA is one of the more accessible major certifications for non-native English speakers. ISACA offers the exam in a wide range of languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, and Chinese in both Simplified and Traditional forms, among others. The exact list can change and availability can vary by delivery mode, so the language options shown during registration are the definitive source — check there rather than relying on any third-party list, including this one.

Whichever language you choose, the exam structure is identical: the same five audit domains, the same question count and time limit, and the same scaled scoring. Your result report breaks performance down by domain either way, which is what makes it useful if you need a second attempt — you can see exactly which area of audit practice to rebuild rather than guessing.

One practical consideration: choose the language you think in professionally, not automatically your first language. The official manuals, the QAE database, and most third-party materials are produced in English first, and audit terminology is often learned in English even by auditors who work in another language day to day. Many candidates find the translated exam most comfortable when they have also studied the terminology in that same language. If you are bilingual in audit vocabulary, English avoids any translation nuance; if technical English slows your reading, a translated exam can be worth a real number of questions over a four-hour paper.

A realistic total budget

Putting it together, a typical self-funded candidate should budget for: the exam fee ($575 or $760 at current published prices), preparation materials of their choosing, the $50 application fee after passing, and the first annual maintenance fee. Employer sponsorship is common for CISA — it is a recognised credential in audit functions, and many firms will fund the exam and materials outright — so ask before paying yourself. And whatever materials you choose, go in properly prepared: timed, domain-scored practice tests, including the free ones available on Study4Pass, are a cheap way to confirm your pacing and weak areas before you put a non-refundable exam fee down. You can also gauge how difficult the CISA exam is, then test yourself on a real-style item covering examples of logical access control.