One exam at a time
Exam guides
Every guide below starts from the same place: the certification page AWS publishes for that exam, read on 24 September 2026. Fee, minutes, question count, the experience AWS recommends, and what happens when the version changes. Where AWS is silent — on pass rates, on salaries — so are we.
AWS AI Practitioner: The $100 Way Into AWS’s AI Ladder
AIF-C01 costs $100 for 90 minutes and sits at the bottom of four AI-related AWS credentials. What it covers, who it is for, and what AWS wants you to do first.
What AWS Certification Costs, Line by Line
Three exam prices, one retake rule, and a training market that can multiply the bill by twenty. Every figure here comes from AWS’s own pages.
AWS Certification Renewal: Every Route, and What It Costs
Three years, then a decision. Retake at full price, pass something higher, use the free Cloud Practitioner route, or pay for maintenance — with the rules from AWS’s own pages.
AWS Data Engineer – Associate: The Newest Associate Exam
DEA-C01 costs $150, runs 130 minutes and asks the most specific experience of any associate exam. Who it fits, and who is being sold it by mistake.
AWS DevOps Engineer – Professional: $300 and Three Hours
DOP-C02 is one of three professional exams, all priced at $300 for 180 minutes and 75 questions. What AWS expects, and why this one is rarely a first certification.
AWS Security – Specialty: The Last Specialty Standing
SCS-C03 costs $300 for 170 minutes and asks for five years of security experience. With Advanced Networking closing in December, it is the specialty AWS is keeping.
AWS Skill Builder: What’s Free and What Costs $29
AWS gives away question sets, prep courses and Cloud Quest, and charges for practice exams and labs. Here is the paywall, product by product, from AWS’s own pages.
AWS Solutions Architect – Associate: The Default First Exam
SAA-C03 costs $150 for 130 minutes, and its exam page is the only one that tells you newcomers have passed it as a starting point. What that really means.
AWS vs Azure Certification: What the Two Pages Say
One of these clouds publishes its exam price and charges to renew. The other publishes no price and renews free, every year. That contrast is the whole comparison.
Is AWS Certification Worth It? An Honest Accounting
The usual answer comes with a salary figure. This one does not, because the bodies that issue these certifications publish no such number — and the people who do are selling courses.