Exam version changes, new courses, pricing and policy updates from AWS Training and Certification — summarised, dated, and linked to the source.
See the exam changes timeline →AWS opened beta registration for MLA-C02, which widens the exam beyond classic ML engineering into generative AI: foundation models, agentic workflows and Amazon Bedrock now sit alongside SageMaker. The beta runs 170 minutes over 85 questions at $75 USD, English only. MLA-C01 is available in English until September 28, 2026, and MLA-C02 reaches general availability on January 14, 2027.
SAP-C03 restructures all five domains and leads with cloud-native architecture design. It adds more than eleven new skills spanning generative and agentic AI design, resilience engineering, DevSecOps and post-quantum cryptography. Registration opens October 27, 2026, SAP-C02 is available until November 16, 2026, and SAP-C03 goes live the next day at $300 USD across all languages.
DVA-C03 introduces AI security as a new task area and threads AI-assisted development through every domain, while adding container management and Amazon Bedrock. Roughly forty existing skills are consolidated for clarity. Registration opens October 27, 2026, DVA-C02 is available until November 30, 2026, and DVA-C03 goes live December 1, 2026 at $150 USD with 65 questions in 130 minutes.
AWS introduced AWS Certified AI Business Strategist, a new proctored certification aimed at non-technical professionals such as line-of-business leaders, sales, consultants and program managers who evaluate and scale AI initiatives rather than build them. The scenario-based exam covers AI literacy, business-case and ROI evaluation, governance and risk, and organizational AI transformation, and requires no coding or AWS implementation background. Beta registration opened 1 September 2026 with delivery starting 29 September, in English and Japanese; candidates who pass by 15 February 2027 earn an early-adopter badge.
AWS added Contests and Tournaments to Card Clash, its free mobile architecture-design game, turning the solo card-matching format into shared competitive events. Contests are time-boxed leaderboard challenges where a group works through the same architecture pool; Tournaments are direct player-versus-player brackets. Both run on an existing Skill Builder account and are aimed at training leaders and communities who want a shared practice event rather than a change to any certification exam.
AWS launched three free, hands-on microcredentials focused on data analytics: AWS Data Streaming Demonstrated, AWS Data Lakehouse Demonstrated, and AWS Data Visualization Demonstrated. Each is a timed lab assessment with no multiple-choice questions, covering services such as Kinesis, MSK, Glue, Apache Iceberg, Lake Formation, Redshift Serverless and QuickSight. They join AWS’s existing microcredential lineup and are available immediately on Skill Builder with no subscription required.
AWS added learning-plan badges to SimuLearn, its AI-simulated-customer training experience, so learners who finish every assignment in one of twelve role- or industry-based learning plans earn a shareable badge. Two plans, Cloud Practitioner and AI Practitioner, are free; the other ten require a Skill Builder subscription. Each badge represents the full SimuLearn journey: a simulated customer conversation, guided build, and an automated, validated hands-on assessment.
AWS opened a beta alternative to exam-based recertification: candidates within 90 days of a certification’s expiration can now extend it a year by completing curated Skill Builder training and hands-on labs instead of retaking the exam. Associate certifications need 500 points with at least one practical activity; Professional certifications need 700 points with at least two. At launch this covers Solutions Architect Associate and Professional, Developer Associate, CloudOps Engineer Associate, and DevOps Engineer Professional, with Data Engineer Associate, Security Specialty and ML Engineer Associate promised later in 2026, and maintaining a higher-level certification cascades the extension to a related, still-active lower-level one.
AWS made its microcredentials — hands-on, timed lab assessments with no multiple-choice questions — free for every builder, dropping the previous Skill Builder subscription requirement. The four credentials available at launch are AWS Serverless Demonstrated, AWS Agentic AI Demonstrated, AWS Application Networking Demonstrated, and AWS Incident Response Demonstrated. AWS frames the move as an accessibility change rather than a pricing promotion, with more microcredentials planned through 2026.
AWS opened registration for the standard version of AWS Certified Generative AI Developer – Professional (AIP-C01), moving the exam out of its beta period. The refreshed exam guide adds coverage of Amazon Bedrock AgentCore alongside the existing foundation-model, RAG-architecture and responsible-AI-deployment content. The beta exam remained bookable only through 31 March 2026, after which candidates sit the standard version.
AWS opened its 2026 AI & ML Scholars program, a free scholarship run with training partner Udacity aiming to reach 100,000 learners worldwide with generative-AI skills and hands-on AWS practice. Applications for the Challenge phase were open 24 March through 24 June 2026; finishers get a certificate and a three-month Skill Builder subscription, and the program is explicitly positioned to help participants work toward the AWS Certified AI Practitioner certification. The top 4,500 performers advance to a fully funded Udacity Nanodegree in an AI-focused career track.
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