CWES vs COAE

Pick 2 to 4 certifications.

CWES Hack The Box COAE Hack The Box
Focus Offensive · Intermediate Offensive · Intermediate
Price $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. $210 Voucher with 2 attempts. You must first finish 100% of the HTB Academy AI Red Teamer path (12 modules, subscription extra); the Silver Annual plan (USD 550/year) includes it along with the CJCA one.
Study hours 150–300 h 120–250 h
Real difficulty ●●●○○ ●●●○○
Exam Hands-on Length: 168 h Hands-on Length: 168 h
Validity Does not expire Does not expire
Job ads in United States 28 7
Avg. salary $115,873 $69,622
Index 41 28
Summary Web application pentesting and bug bounty: injections, XSS, authentication, access control and APIs. A 7-day hands-on exam with a professional report. Offensive AI security: attacks on machine learning models and LLM applications (prompt injection, data leakage, AI red teaming). A 7-day hands-on exam with a report.

Highlighted: the best in that row.