AWS Certification Guide
Compare all 13 AWS certifications side by side. Find the right exam for your experience level and practice with free exam simulators.
Certification Comparison
| Certification | Code | Level | Difficulty | Questions | Duration | Pass Score | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLF-C02 | Foundational | Beginner | 65 | 90 minutes | 700/1000 (~70%) | $100 USD | |
| AIF-C01 | Foundational | Beginner | 65 | 90 minutes | 700/1000 (~70%) | $100 USD | |
| SAA-C03 | Associate | Intermediate | 65 | 130 minutes | 720/1000 (~72%) | $150 USD | |
| SAP-C02 | Professional | Expert | 75 | 180 minutes | 750/1000 (~75%) | $300 USD | |
| DOP-C02 | Professional | Expert | 75 | 180 minutes | 750/1000 (~75%) | $300 USD | |
| DVA-C02 | Associate | Intermediate | 65 | 130 minutes | 720/1000 (~72%) | $150 USD | |
| SOA-C03 | Associate | Intermediate | 65 | 130 minutes | 720/1000 (~72%) | $150 USD | |
| MLA-C02 | Associate | Advanced | 85 | 170 minutes | 720/1000 (~72%) | $75 USD (beta pricing) | |
| SCS-C03 | Specialty | Expert | 65 | 170 minutes | 750/1000 (~75%) | $300 USD | |
| DEA-C01 | Associate | Intermediate | 65 | 130 minutes | 720/1000 (~72%) | $150 USD | |
| AIP-C01 | Professional | Expert | 75 | 180 minutes | 750/1000 (~75%) | $300 USD | |
| ANS-C01 | Specialty | Expert | 65 | 170 minutes | 750/1000 (~75%) | $300 USD | |
| AIB-C01 | Business | Beginner | 85 | 170 minutes (beta) | 700/1000 (~70%) | $50 USD (beta); $100 USD standard |
Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)
AI Practitioner (AIF-C01)
Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03)
Solutions Architect Professional (SAP-C02)
DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C02)
Developer Associate (DVA-C02)
CloudOps Engineer Associate (SOA-C03)
Machine Learning Engineer Associate (MLA-C02)
Security Specialty (SCS-C03)
Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01)
Generative AI Developer Professional (AIP-C01)
Advanced Networking Specialty (ANS-C01)
AI Business Strategist (AIB-C01)
Foundational Certifications
No prior AWS experience required
Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)
The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) is Amazon Web Services' entry-level certification, designed to validate foundational cloud knowledge. Updated in September 2023, the CLF-C02 covers core ...
AI Practitioner (AIF-C01)
The AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) is AWS's foundational certification for artificial intelligence and machine learning. Launched in 2024, it fills a gap in the certification landscape by pro...
Associate Certifications
1+ year of AWS experience recommended
Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03)
The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) is the single most popular and most requested AWS certification by employers. It validates your ability to design distributed systems on AWS t...
Developer Associate (DVA-C02)
The AWS Certified Developer Associate (DVA-C02) validates your ability to build, test, deploy, and debug applications on AWS. It's the developer-focused counterpart to the Solutions Architect Associat...
CloudOps Engineer Associate (SOA-C03)
The AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer Associate (SOA-C03), formerly known as the SysOps Administrator Associate, is the most operations-focused of the three associate-level certifications. AWS renamed i...
Machine Learning Engineer Associate (MLA-C02)
The AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer Associate (MLA-C02) validates your ability to build, operationalize, deploy, and maintain ML and AI solutions and pipelines on AWS. It replaced MLA-C01, whi...
Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01)
The AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01) validates your skills in designing, building, securing, and maintaining data pipelines on AWS. Launched in 2024, this certification fills a critical...
Professional Certifications
2+ years of hands-on AWS experience
Solutions Architect Professional (SAP-C02)
The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional (SAP-C02) is widely regarded as one of the most challenging and prestigious cloud certifications available. It validates your ability to design compl...
DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C02)
The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C02) validates your expertise in the practices that keep production systems reliable, secure, and continuously deployable. It covers CI/CD pipelines...
Generative AI Developer Professional (AIP-C01)
The AWS Certified Generative AI Developer Professional (AIP-C01) is the newest and most advanced AI certification from AWS. It validates your ability to design, implement, and deploy generative AI sol...
Specialty Certifications
Deep expertise in a specific domain
Security Specialty (SCS-C03)
The AWS Certified Security Specialty (SCS-C03) is the premier security certification for AWS. It validates deep expertise in securing cloud workloads across identity management, infrastructure protect...
Advanced Networking Specialty (ANS-C01)
The AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty (ANS-C01) is one of the most technically demanding AWS certifications. It validates deep expertise in designing, implementing, and troubleshooting compl...
Business Certifications
AI strategy and adoption for business roles, no coding required
AI Business Strategist (AIB-C01)
The AWS Certified AI Business Strategist (AIB-C01) is the first exam in AWS's new Business certification category, which sits alongside Foundational, Associate, Professional and Specialty. In AWS's wo...
Which AWS Certification Should You Get First?
New to Cloud
Start with the Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) — it requires no prior AWS experience and provides a solid foundation for understanding cloud services, pricing, and security concepts. For AI-curious beginners, the AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) is another great entry point.
1+ Year Experience
Skip to an associate-level cert. The Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) is the most versatile and widely recognized. Developers should consider the Developer Associate (DVA-C02), and ops engineers the CloudOps Engineer Associate (SOA-C03). Data professionals can pursue the Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01).
Advanced Practitioners
After gaining significant experience and ideally an associate-level cert, pursue Solutions Architect Professional (SAP-C02) or DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C02). The Generative AI Developer Professional (AIP-C01) validates building production generative AI applications with Bedrock and SageMaker.
Domain Experts
The Security Specialty (SCS-C03) and Advanced Networking Specialty (ANS-C01) require deep domain expertise. Pursue these when you have hands-on experience in security or network architecture and want to validate that specialization.