← CERTBUENO TOP 100 INDEX
New this quarter

CEH – Certified Ethical Hacker

EC-Council
RANK #40 / 100 DIVERSIFY DEMAND 76 ► 2026-Q3 DATA
$172,587
Top of band · USD
Register for CEH – Certified Ethical Hacker →

Official registration on EC-Council's site.

Now see where you stand

Your benchmark against real contributors — the median beside top-of-band, plus stacking uplift and vintage decay.

What the verdict means

DIVERSIFYPlateauing — pair it with a complementary skill
DEMAND 76 ►Relative hiring demand for CEH – Certified Ethical Hacker this quarter.

The analyst note

The read

The best-known name in offensive security. What sustains it is less practitioner esteem than HR filters and the US DoD 8570/8140 compliance lists — the technical community consistently rates OSCP above it.

Who holds it

Security analysts, penetration testers and SOC staff, often in government-adjacent and compliance-driven settings where CEH is written into the requirements.

The case for the verdict

The compliance moat is real, but it doesn't grow, and the practitioner premium goes to harder credentials. Anyone serious about offensive security should stack OSCP on top; anyone in GRC should stack CISSP.

The risk

It leans heavily on the compliance lists. A revision to DoD 8140, or to a major employer's screening lists, that dropped CEH would take out its main demand engine overnight.

The benchmark check

Are you being paid what you deserve?

Show me what I'm worth

Where it sits

Top half of the CertBueno Top 100.

This certification pays in line with the rest of the Top 100.

Vendor

The only EC-Council certification in the CertBueno Top 100.

Appears in