How much does an AWS certification cost?

Overview of AWS Certifications

In the current era of the IT industry, Cloud Computing plays a major role by providing cost-efficient real-time capacity provisioning, scalability, and flexibility to workloads with dynamic requirements. Many organizations are adopting or migrating to different cloud platforms, leading to a high demand for cloud-skilled IT professionals and an increasing demand for AWS certifications. AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a leading cloud platform that delivers on-demand IT services and resources to individuals and businesses of all sizes. One way to empower ourselves with AWS skills is to become certified in its cloud offerings.

AWS Certifications validate cloud skills and help organizations build teams for cloud initiatives using AWS.

AWS Certification types and their cost

AWS offers 13 certifications, categorized into four types based on the skill sets. It starts with the foundational level and grows towards the professional level. The specialty level digs deeper into specific domains in AWS.

The AWS Certification categories required knowledge, and the associated costs are discussed below.

Foundational Level

At a foundational level, no prior experience is required. The certification validates your knowledge of AWS foundational services.

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

An individual without prior IT or cloud experience can start a cloud journey with AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification, which validates the foundational knowledge of AWS Cloud and its services. This foundational level certification exam consists of 65 multiple-choice or multiple-response questions. The exam duration is 90 mins, and the cost is 100 USD.

Associate Level

At the associate level, it is recommended to have prior cloud and/or on-premises IT experience. This certification level validates your skills based on roles like Solution Architect and system Administrator and recognizes you as an AWS Cloud professional.

The certifications offered at this level are Solutions Architect, SysOps Administrator, Developer, and Data Engineer. These certification exams consist of 65 multiple-choice or multiple-response questions. The exam duration is 130 mins, and the cost is 150 USD.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect- Associate

AWS Certified Solutions Architect- Associate validates skills and knowledge in a wide range of AWS services and technology. This certification emphasizes the design of cost-optimized and performance-efficient solutions by following the AWS Well-Architected Framework.

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator- Associate

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator- Associate validates skills and knowledge in deploying, operating, and managing workloads on the AWS cloud. This certification builds good experience in monitoring and responding to the operational challenges on the AWS cloud.

AWS Certified Developer – Associate

AWS Certified Developer – Associate certification validates the credibility of developing, deploying, and debugging applications on the AWS Cloud by following AWS architectural best practices and understanding AWS services and their use.

AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate

AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate is a new certification exam that starts on March 12, 2024. This certification helps transform data to perform analysis and generate insights using AWS technology. It also validates knowledge in core data-related AWS services and implements, monitors, and troubleshoots issues related to the data pipeline by following best practices.

Professional Level

At the professional level, it is recommended to have two years of prior experience in AWS cloud. This certification level validates advanced skills based on roles like Solution Architect and DevOps Engineer and skills required to design secure, optimized, and modernized applications and automate AWS processes.

These certification exams consist of 75 multiple-choice or multiple-response questions. The exam duration is 180 mins, and the cost is 300 USD.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional

AWS Certified Solutions Architect- Professional validates advanced knowledge and skills to design solutions for complex problems, optimize costs, improve performance efficiency, and implement security and automation.

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional

The AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional validates the credibility in implementing, managing, and operating distributed applications on the AWS Cloud so that they can speed up the delivery of highly available, scalable, compliant, and secure systems.

Specialty Level

The specialty level certifications recommend the required expertise and deep dive mentioned in the exam guide of a specific domain in the AWS Cloud.

These certification exams consist of 65 multiple-choice or multiple-response questions. The cost associated with it is 300 USD

AWS Certified Advanced Networking

AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty validates skills and knowledge in designing, implementing, and maintaining advanced network architectures on the AWS Cloud.

AWS Certified Data Analytics

This certification will be retiring on April 9, 2024. AWS Certified Data Analytics certification validates skills and knowledge required in data analysis to get insights from data on AWS Cloud.

AWS Certified Database

AWS Certified Database – Specialty certification validates expertise in designing, implementing, and managing optimal AWS database solutions.

AWS Certified Machine Learning

AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty validates skills and knowledge in building, training, tuning, and deploying machine learning (ML) models on the AWS Cloud.

 AWS Certified Security

AWS Certified Security – Specialty validates credibility in designing and implementing security solutions like data and infrastructure protection, access control mechanisms, managing multi-account environments, and incident response in the AWS Cloud.

AWS Certified: SAP on AWS

AWS Certified: SAP on AWS certification validates the knowledge and skills required to design, implement, migrate, and operate SAP workloads on AWS.

The following table summarizes the cost associated with AWS Certification exams. In addition to it, taxes may apply. Prices are valid for one exam attempt.

Conclusion

This blog has given you in-depth information on the AWS certifications available at different levels, the skills and expertise required for the same, and the associated cost of the exam.

About CloudThat

Established in 2012, CloudThat is a leading Cloud Training and Cloud Consulting services provider in India, USA, Asia, Europe, and Africa. Being a pioneer in the Cloud domain, CloudThat has special expertise in catering to mid-market and enterprise clients in all the major Cloud service providers like AWS, Microsoft, GCP, VMware, Databricks, HP, and more. Uniquely positioned to be a single source for both training and consulting for cloud technologies like Cloud Migration, Data Platforms, DevOps, IoT, and the latest technologies like AI/ML, it is a top-tier partner with AWS and Microsoft, winning more than 8 awards combined in 11 years. Recently, it was recognized as the ‘Think Big’ partner from AWS and won the Microsoft Superstars FY 2023 award in Asia & India. Leveraging its position as a leader in the market, CloudThat has trained 650k+ professionals in 500+ cloud certifications and delivered 300+ consulting projects for 100+ corporates in 28+ countries