CEH vs CWES
| CEH EC-Council | CWES Hack The Box | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Offensive · Intermediate | Offensive · Intermediate |
| Price | $1,199 Exam voucher. Without official training you need 2 years of experience and an application fee. | $210 Voucher with 2 attempts. You must first finish 100% of the HTB Academy Web Penetration Tester path (20 modules, subscription extra); the Silver Annual plan (USD 550/year) includes it along with the CJCA one. |
| Study hours | 80–150 h | 150–300 h |
| Real difficulty | ●●○○○ | ●●●○○ |
| Exam | Multiple choice Length: 4 h | Hands-on Length: 168 h |
| Validity | 3 years (credits + annual fee) | Does not expire |
| Job ads in United States | 4,033 | 28 |
| Avg. salary | $135,143 | $115,873 |
| Index | 67 | 41 |
| Summary | Very common in job ads and with HR, but the main exam is multiple choice and the technical community rates it poorly. Expensive for what it proves. | Web application pentesting and bug bounty: injections, XSS, authentication, access control and APIs. A 7-day hands-on exam with a professional report. |
Highlighted: the best in that row.