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CISA CPE Requirements: How to Maintain Your CISA Certification in 2026
To maintain your CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) certification, ISACA requires that you earn at least 20 CISA CPE hours per year and 120 CPE hours over each three-year reporting cycle. You must also pay an annual maintenance fee — $45 for ISACA members or $85 for non-members — by January 1 of each renewal year. Your maintenance fee is not the only cost you must consider; you’ll also need to budget for the CPE courses themselves.
If you do not meet your CPE reporting requirements, your CISA designation may be invalided. And if this happens, you must retake and pass the CISA exam to regain certification (I know no one wants to study for this exam twice)! Here we’ll detail exactly what qualifies, how to report your hours, which CISA CPE providers we recommend, and the important policy changes coming in 2027.
CISA CPE Requirements
Overall, the CISA certification is renewed every three years. Within this reporting period, CISAs must following the following rules:
- Annual requirement
- CISAs must clock and report a minimum of 20 CPE hours per year.
- The annual reporting period starts on January 1.
- Three-year reporting period requirement
- CISAs must earn a minimum of 120 CPE hours total.
- The three-year cycle varies. Please check your annual invoice and on the letter confirming annual compliance.
How are CISA CPE hours calculated?
Essentially, one CPE hour is equivalent to one hour attendance in a seminar, conference, or a webinar related to your profession.
The reporting is based on honors system, but there is a chance that your CPE credits could be audited. Therefore, you should hold on to any course documentation for 12 months following the end of each three-year reporting cycle.
How do I report my CISA CPE credits?
There is an online tracking system on the ISACA website. There, CISAs can input their CPE hours as they earn them.
Where can I find CISA CPE courses?
There are many ways to earn your CPE credits. Some of these are available at no charge through ISACA’s website.
Free CISA CPE
ISACA’s website offers up to 36 free CPE hours per year of webinars and online trainings. You can watch previously recorded sessions or plan on participating in upcoming webinars.
Alternatively, you can volunteer with ISACA. You are considered a volunteer if you take part on the ISACA board, committee, task force or as an officer of an ISACA chapter. You can also write a journal article, speak at a conference, or write exam questions. Similarly, you can join the ISACA Mentorship program and act as mentor by coaching or assisting an individual with CISA/CISM/CGEIT/CRISC exam preparation or related career guidance. The number of credits you’ll receive varies by your specific duties, but these can total up to 20 CPE hours per year.
Volunteering and mentorship used to count separately—that is, you could earn 20 hours from volunteering and an additional 10 from mentorship. However it is unclear whether this is still the case or whether you can earn a maximum of 20 hours total for both. Check with your local CISA branch for answers to questions as well as local volunteer opportunities.
Paid CISA CPE
If you want to pay to earn your CPE hours, you can either go through ISACA or a third-party company. One way to earn a large chunk of hours—32 in total—is to pay to attend ISACA’s annual conference. Since this conference is now virtual, you don’t even have to leave your home!
Additionally, for a fee, you can access session recordings after the event. These recordings are grouped in “collections” by topic. Each collection contains between three and 28 hours of CPE, and you get access to them for six months. Prices vary by topic and number of hours, anywhere from $160 to $700. ISACA members receive a discount on these collections
Aside from the worldwide ISACA conference, there are other, smaller training events throughout the year, some in-person and some virtual.
Becker CISA CPE
Of course ISACA’s CPE credits aren’t the best for everyone. You can save some money year over year with a subscription to Becker’s CPE service, which offers on-demand courses as well as webcasts with live Q&A sessions. Becker is a trusted name in CIA exam prep guides, and it offers continuing education products as well. Note that Becker, like most CPE providers, doesn’t separate courses by certification. That is, there is no specific CPA CPE or CIA CPE. Instead, they offer classes that are appropriate for multiple certifications.
The Becker CPE Prime package offers the best variety of courses, with more than 1,000 hours of webcasts and more than 700 hours of on-demand courses. You can pay for a year at a time, but a two-year subscription offers you a price break. Alternatively, the Select and Essentials subscriptions are more budget-friendly, but you’ll receive a smaller selection of courses. Moreover, you’ll have access to a weekly podcast that provides audio-only CPE hours.
If you’d prefer to go the a la carte route, Becker also offers individual on-demand courses as well as course bundles by topic. These contain anywhere between six and 17 credits and vary in price accordingly. Becker also offers certificate programs that give you both CPE and a title to put on your resume.
We recommend Becker as the best CISA CPE provider. To find out whether Becker’s CPE courses are right for you, sign up to receive a free course demo. You can select from one of five topics, and you’ll get a peek at how Becker’s courses are presented. If you like it, click below to use our coupon to save on a subscription.
I am not actively practicing. Can I get exempted?
Those who are retired or non-practicing do not need to obtain CPE hours. However, they cannot use “CISA” or even “CISA non-practicing” on business cards. If you are no longer practicing, you can qualify either for retired or non-practicing status.
Retired Status
This is applicable to those over 55 years of age and permanently retired from the CISA profession, or unable to perform the duties of an IS audit, control or security professional by reason of permanent disability.
Non-practicing Status
CISAs who are no longer working in the IS audit, control, or security profession are entitled to apply for non-practicing CISA status.
Conclusion
In summary, here are your options for meeting your CISA CPE requirements:
- Free ISACA webinars and sessions: up to 36 hours per year
- ISACA volunteering and mentoring: up to 20 hours per year
- Paid conferences and training events: up to 32 hours per event
- Paid ISACA CPE collections: 3-28 hours each
- Becker CPE subscription: 1-2 years of access to 1,700+ hours of CPE credits
Of course, Becker is not the only CPE course provider. Read our coverage of the best CPA CPE options to learn about Gleim and Lambert. Overall, however, we recommend Becker for the sheer variety of their courses and learning options.
About the Author Stephanie
I am the author of How to Pass The CPA Exam (published by Wiley) and the publisher of this and several accounting professional exam prep sites.
