The Short Answer
AWS is retiring the Advanced Networking – Specialty exam (ANS-C01). The last day to take it is December 31, 2026. AWS has not announced a replacement exam, and it will not issue new Advanced Networking certifications after the retirement.
If you already hold the certification, nothing changes for now: it stays active for the standard three years from the day you earned it. If you are close to ready and networking is your job, book an exam slot now and sit it before the deadline. If you are just starting to study, eleven weeks is tight for a specialty exam, and your time is probably better spent on a certification that will still exist next year.
Key Facts
Everything below comes from AWS's own Advanced Networking – Specialty certification page.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Last day to take ANS-C01 | December 31, 2026 |
| Replacement exam | None announced |
| New certifications after retirement | Not issued |
| Certifications earned before retirement | Stay active for the standard three-year period |
| Exam format until then | 65 questions, 170 minutes, multiple choice and multiple response |
| Price | $300 USD |
What Happens to Your Existing Certification
If you passed ANS-C01, your certification remains valid until its normal expiry date, three years after you earned it. Your badge and transcript are unaffected, and you can keep listing it.
AWS's general rule is that you recertify by passing the latest version of an exam. With no newer version of Advanced Networking announced, there is no exam to recertify against after December 31, 2026, so expect the certification to lapse at the end of its three-year period unless AWS announces otherwise. If your current certification expires before the end of 2026 and you want to extend it, recertifying on ANS-C01 before the deadline is the only route AWS has published.
Should You Still Sit ANS-C01 Before December 31?
It depends on how close you are and what you do for a living.
- Sit it if you design or run AWS networks for a living, you are already most of the way through your preparation, and the certification matters for your role or your employer's partner tier. A pass in 2026 stays valid into 2029.
- Sit it if you are scoring consistently above the passing mark on full-length practice exams. The exam content does not change before retirement, so your preparation is not wasted.
- Skip it if you are starting from zero. Most candidates need 8 to 12 weeks for ANS-C01, and only about 11 weeks remain. A rushed fail costs $300 with no time left for a retake.
- Skip it if you want the certification mainly for your CV in the long run. A credential that can no longer be earned or renewed carries less weight with every passing year.
If You Go For It: A Deadline Plan
Book your exam early. Test-centre and online-proctoring slots fill up before any retirement deadline, and the last two weeks of December include holidays in many countries.
Aim to take your first attempt by about December 10. AWS requires a 14-day wait before a retake, so an early-December first attempt leaves room for one retake before December 31. Note that Pearson VUE's current 50%-off and free-retake offer excludes Advanced Networking, so a retake costs the full $300; if you already hold an AWS certification, the 50% voucher from your previous pass still applies.
For the final weeks, focus on the four exam domains in proportion to their weight: Network Design (30%), Network Implementation (26%), Network Security, Compliance, and Governance (24%), and Network Management and Operation (20%). Hybrid connectivity with Direct Connect and Site-to-Site VPN, Transit Gateway routing, and hybrid DNS with Route 53 Resolver come up again and again.
Where AWS Networking Skills Go Next
Networking does not disappear from AWS certifications; it moves into broader exams. VPC design, hybrid connectivity and network security are tested across these certifications:
- Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03): VPC design, subnets, routing, load balancing and hybrid connectivity basics. The natural first step if you have no AWS certification yet.
- Solutions Architect – Professional: multi-account and hybrid network architecture, Transit Gateway and Direct Connect at scale. The closest replacement for the design side of ANS-C01.
- Security – Specialty (SCS-C03): network security controls, segmentation, inspection and logging. The closest replacement for the security side.