AWS Certifications Guide: Every Certification Explained and Ranked
AWS has the most recognised certification catalogue in cloud computing. Employers across every industry list AWS certifications in job descriptions, and the market for AWS-certified engineers remains strong. But with more than a dozen certifications available, it is easy to waste time and money pursuing the wrong ones in the wrong order.
This guide covers every AWS certification, ranks them by practical value, and tells you which ones to pursue based on where you are in your career.
The AWS certification structure#
AWS organises certifications into four levels:
- Foundational: One certification covering broad cloud concepts
- Associate: Three certifications testing hands-on AWS knowledge
- Professional: Two advanced certifications for experienced engineers
- Specialty: Six certifications covering specific technical domains
Most engineers start at foundational or associate level and work upward based on their role and goals.
Foundational: AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)#
The Cloud Practitioner is AWS’s entry-level certification. It covers what cloud computing is, what AWS services exist, how billing and pricing work, and the basics of the AWS shared responsibility model.
Exam details: 65 questions, 90 minutes, passing score approximately 700/1000, approximately $100.
Who it’s for: People new to cloud computing who want a structured introduction and a credential to show they have covered the fundamentals. It is often taken by non-technical stakeholders, but engineers taking their first steps into AWS also benefit.
Who can skip it: Engineers with hands-on AWS experience who want to move directly to the Solutions Architect Associate. The Cloud Practitioner does not require any technical depth — if you have been using AWS for several months, you may already know most of the material.
Honest assessment: The Cloud Practitioner is valuable as a first step but carries limited weight on its own for technical roles. Use it to build momentum and familiarity, not as a significant signal of capability.
Associate level: the three core AWS certifications#
AWS Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03)#
This is the most widely recognised AWS certification in the job market. It covers the full range of AWS services and tests your ability to design workloads that are reliable, secure, performant, and cost-effective.
Exam details: 65 questions, 130 minutes, passing score approximately 720/1000, approximately $150.
What it covers: EC2, S3, RDS, VPC networking, IAM, Lambda, CloudFront, Route 53, ECS, EKS, SQS, SNS, CloudWatch, and architectural patterns like multi-AZ design, disaster recovery, and cost optimisation.
Who it’s for: Anyone wanting to demonstrate foundational AWS technical competence. This is the certification hiring managers default to when they want to screen for AWS knowledge.
Preparation time: Most candidates with some hands-on AWS experience need 6–10 weeks of structured study. Starting from zero, budget 3–4 months.
Honest assessment: The most valuable AWS certification to have on your CV. Pair it with project work to make it meaningful.
AWS Developer – Associate (DVA-C02)#
The Developer Associate is aimed at engineers building and deploying applications on AWS. It goes deeper on Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway, CodeDeploy, CodePipeline, CodeBuild, X-Ray, and Elastic Beanstalk — the services most relevant to application development workflows.
Exam details: 65 questions, 130 minutes, passing score approximately 720/1000, approximately $150.
Who it’s for: Developers and backend engineers moving into cloud-native application development. If your work involves building services that run on AWS rather than managing infrastructure, this is more relevant than the Solutions Architect.
Honest assessment: Valuable for developers, but less broadly recognised than the Solutions Architect in job descriptions. If you can only take one associate cert, the Solutions Architect Associate still opens more doors.
AWS SysOps Administrator – Associate (SOA-C02)#
The SysOps Administrator covers operations: deploying, managing, and operating workloads on AWS. It is more hands-on than the other associate certs and includes a practical exam lab where you configure real AWS services.
Exam details: 65 multiple-choice questions plus an exam lab component, approximately 180 minutes total, passing score approximately 720/1000, approximately $150.
Who it’s for: Engineers focused on infrastructure operations, monitoring, and incident response. If your day-to-day involves keeping systems running rather than building new features, this cert fits your work more closely.
Honest assessment: The exam lab makes this genuinely harder than the other associate certs. It is respected but less frequently cited in job descriptions than the Solutions Architect.
Professional level: advanced certifications#
AWS Solutions Architect – Professional (SAP-C02)#
The professional-level equivalent of the Solutions Architect Associate — and significantly harder. It tests multi-account architectures, complex networking, migration strategies, security design, and the ability to reason about real-world architectural trade-offs under time pressure.
Exam details: 75 questions, 180 minutes, passing score approximately 750/1000, approximately $300.
Who it’s for: Engineers with at least two years of hands-on AWS experience who want to signal senior-level expertise. It is commonly held by solutions architects, senior engineers, and AWS consultants.
Preparation time: 3–6 months of dedicated study for most candidates, even with existing experience.
Honest assessment: A genuinely difficult and respected certification. Passing it is a meaningful signal of depth. Do not attempt it without real AWS experience — the questions are too scenario-complex to pass through memorisation alone.
AWS DevOps Engineer – Professional (DOP-C02)#
The DevOps Professional covers continuous delivery pipelines, infrastructure as code, monitoring and logging, incident and event response, and high availability design. It tests deep knowledge of CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, CloudFormation, Elastic Beanstalk, OpsWorks, and the operational side of AWS.
Exam details: 75 questions, 180 minutes, passing score approximately 750/1000, approximately $300.
Who it’s for: Engineers working in DevOps, platform engineering, or infrastructure automation roles. It complements the Solutions Architect Professional for engineers whose work spans both architecture and delivery.
Honest assessment: One of the most respected AWS certifications for practitioners in DevOps roles. Less common than the SA Professional, so it stands out more on a CV in the right context.
Specialty certifications: go deep in one area#
AWS offers specialty certifications in specific technical domains. These are advanced credentials designed for engineers with deep hands-on experience in the relevant area.
| Certification | Domain | Exam cost |
|---|---|---|
| Security – Specialty (SCS-C02) | Cloud security, IAM, encryption, compliance | ~$300 |
| Advanced Networking – Specialty (ANS-C01) | VPC design, hybrid networking, DNS | ~$300 |
| Machine Learning – Specialty (MLS-C01) | ML services, model deployment, SageMaker | ~$300 |
| Data Analytics – Specialty (DAS-C01) | Data pipelines, Kinesis, Redshift, Glue | ~$300 |
| Database – Specialty (DBS-C01) | RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, migration | ~$300 |
| SAP on AWS – Specialty (PAS-C01) | Running SAP workloads on AWS | ~$300 |
Specialty certifications are worth pursuing when they align with your actual work. The Security Specialty is the most broadly valuable of the group — security knowledge has cross-cutting relevance in every cloud role. The Machine Learning and Data Analytics specialties are valuable for engineers in those domains.
Avoid pursuing specialties for prestige alone. They require significant preparation and are most credible when supported by real-world experience in the domain.
The recommended AWS certification path#
For most engineers, a sensible path looks like this:
Phase 1 — Get your footing: AWS Cloud Practitioner (optional if you already know cloud basics) → AWS Solutions Architect – Associate
Phase 2 — Go deeper based on your role:
- Infrastructure/operations → SysOps Administrator Associate
- Development/application focus → Developer Associate
- DevOps/platform engineering → DevOps Engineer Professional
Phase 3 — Signal senior expertise: Solutions Architect Professional → relevant Specialty based on your domain
See the full cloud certification order guide for a detailed sequencing framework.
How much AWS certifications affect salary#
AWS certifications have the clearest salary data of any cloud credentials, because AWS has the largest market share and the most employers tracking cert requirements. The Solutions Architect Associate adds measurable value at junior and mid level. At senior level, experience matters more than certifications, but the professional-level certs support salary negotiations by confirming expertise independently.
See AWS certification salary impact for more detail.
Summary#
- The Solutions Architect – Associate is the single most valuable AWS certification for most engineers
- The three associate certifications cover complementary angles (architecture, development, operations)
- Professional certifications require real experience and are genuinely difficult — do not rush them
- Specialty certifications are valuable when they match your actual work domain
- Build practical projects alongside your certifications to make them credible in interviews