Do I need an associate certificate before the professional?

No. SAP-C02 has no certification prerequisite. AWS advises at least two years spent designing and running architectures on the platform; most candidates hold the associate first, but nothing requires it. A professional pass also renews the associate architecture certificate, which is one reason the vertical route costs less over time.

Does AWS still examine in German?

Only at foundational level, and the window is closing. Cloud Practitioner's German edition is withdrawn after 31 December 2026 and AI Practitioner's after 15 October 2026. No German edition exists for the associate exams or the professional; those run in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, with Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian on some.

Does one lapsed certificate affect the others?

No. Each certificate carries its own three-year date, and letting one lapse leaves the rest untouched. Recovering the lapsed one means sitting that exam again in full at the then-current fee, with no discount for having held it before. The digital badge stops being valid on the expiry date, so the re-sit belongs before it, not after.

All certifications

AWS certifications

Amazon Web Services certifies on four tiers: Foundational, Associate, Professional and Specialty. An AWS certificate holds for three years, is priced in US dollars, and is kept by sitting the then-current exam again or a higher one. The sections below cover six of the exams, Cloud Practitioner and AI Practitioner at the foundational tier, Solutions Architect, Developer and Data Engineer at associate level and Solutions Architect Professional, together with the three free training badges AWS issues through Skill Builder.

Exam delivery: Pearson VUE (test centre or online proctored)

The six exams side by side

Exam	Format and pass mark	AWS assumes	Certifies
CLF-C02 Cloud Practitioner, foundational	90 minutes, 65 questions, 700 of 1,000	About six months near AWS, in any role	The vocabulary of the platform: what the services do, roughly what they cost, where the security responsibility sits
AIF-C01 AI Practitioner, foundational	90 minutes, 65 questions, 700 of 1,000	About six months near AI or machine-learning work on AWS	Machine learning and generative AI as a business subject, the AWS services behind them and responsible use
SAA-C03 Solutions Architect Associate	130 minutes, 65 questions, 720 of 1,000	About a year of designing on AWS	Designing for security, resilience, performance and cost across the catalogue
DVA-C02 Developer Associate	130 minutes, 65 questions, 720 of 1,000	A year of building on AWS and one programming language	Writing, deploying and debugging applications the way the platform expects
DEA-C01 Data Engineer Associate	130 minutes, 65 questions, 720 of 1,000	Two to three years in data engineering, one or two on AWS data services	Ingestion, transformation, storage and governance of data pipelines
SAP-C02 Solutions Architect Professional	180 minutes, 75 questions, 750 of 1,000	Two or more years designing and operating on AWS	Architecture across accounts, migrations, regulatory constraints and budgets

Cloud Practitioner and AI Practitioner are written for people who work around a cloud or an AI project without building it: procurement, sales, project management, analysis. Nothing in the programme requires a foundational pass before an associate exam, and an engineer who already builds on AWS gains little from either, because the associate exams cover the same ground in depth. Solutions Architect Associate is the broadest of the three associate exams and the usual first exam for anyone who designs or operates on the platform. Developer Associate and Data Engineer Associate are narrower by design and read best as a second credential, or as the first where the job title already says developer or data engineer. Solutions Architect Professional is the exam for architects responsible for whole estates, and a pass there renews the associate architecture certificate as well.

Renewal: another exam every three years

Every certificate above lapses three years after the pass. AWS runs no continuing-education route and charges no maintenance fee; renewal is a further exam, either the current version of the same exam, with a 50 per cent voucher placed in the holder's certification account, or a higher exam, which renews the certificates beneath it on the same path. Cloud Practitioner is the one exception: it can also be renewed through Cloud Quest: Recertify Cloud Practitioner, AWS's free game-based route. A ladder climbed in one line therefore costs one sitting per cycle, while three associate certificates held side by side run on three separate clocks, each ending in a full proctored exam. Whether a second or third badge is worth re-sitting three years on is the question to settle before booking the first.

Languages, versions and vouchers

English is the working language of the programme. The two foundational exams have the widest set of editions, ten languages each, but AWS is withdrawing the German and Italian editions: AI Practitioner after 15 October 2026 and Cloud Practitioner after 31 December 2026. The associate and professional exams are offered in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, with Spanish and Portuguese on most of them and French and Italian on Solutions Architect Associate; Data Engineer Associate has the four base languages only. AWS retires exam versions, not certificate names: SAP-C02 can be sat until 17 November 2026, and registration for its successor SAP-C03 opens on 27 October 2026, so a candidate who is ready should book, and one who is months away should prepare against the new exam guide once it appears. Since September 2026 Udemy sells vouchers for all six exams below the list price, redeemable for nine months or longer and tied to the buyer's country; each exam page states the conditions and links to the voucher, an affiliate link. The voucher price is shown in the buyer's currency on Udemy.

The free badges below the exams

AWS Skill Builder carries more than a thousand free resources, and a few of them end in a training badge on Credly. Cloud Essentials is a knowledge badge: a learning plan with five labs, then an unproctored online assessment passed at 80 per cent. Cloud Quest: Cloud Practitioner is earned by finishing all twelve assignments of the free role in AWS's learning game, each built in a live AWS environment, with no closing test. Serverless is a knowledge badge on Lambda, API Gateway and event-driven design whose learning plan AWS labels advanced and aims at solutions architects. None of the three is an AWS Certification and none states an expiry. Their use is preparation and orientation before a paid exam, and in Cloud Quest's case the hands-on building the exams themselves never require.

Foundational

Associate

Professional

SAP-C02AWS Certified Solutions Architect – ProfessionalEnglish, Spanish, Portuguese and more · 180 min · valid 3 years

Choosing within AWS

Each verdict is written from the first exam's page; the reverse view, where one exists, is written from the other's.

AIF-C01 against CLF-C02: The same tier for cloud rather than AI. For anyone unsure which gap they have, cloud usually comes first, because the AI services sit on top of it.
AIF-C01 against DEA-C01: A genuine step up, and a better destination for anyone who will touch the data these systems learn from. It certifies work rather than vocabulary.
AWS Cloud Quest: Cloud Practitioner against CLF-C02: The paid, proctored certification employers name, valid for three years. Cloud Quest gives you the hands-on memory the exam never asks for; the exam gives you the recognised credential. Do the game first and book the exam after.
AWS Cloud Quest: Cloud Practitioner against AWS Knowledge: Cloud Essentials: A second no-cost starting badge, earned through courses and an 80 per cent assessment rather than builds. It covers billing and acquisition, which Cloud Quest does not. Doing both is the most thorough free preparation AWS offers.
AWS Knowledge: Cloud Essentials against CLF-C02: The paid, proctored certification this badge prepares for, valid for three years and recognised in job postings. Take the badge first if you are unsure; take the exam when you want a credential employers ask for.
AWS Knowledge: Cloud Essentials against AWS Cloud Quest: Cloud Practitioner: The other free entry badge, built as a game with twelve hands-on building assignments instead of an assessment. Choose Cloud Quest if you learn by doing, this one if you prefer courses and a test.
CLF-C02 against SAA-C03: For anyone technical this is the exam to book instead. It costs more and proves something an employer can act on, and nothing requires you to pass this one first.
CLF-C02 against AIF-C01: The same tier aimed at AI vocabulary rather than cloud vocabulary. If your reason for certifying is a conversation you keep failing to follow, choose whichever conversation that is.
AWS Knowledge: Serverless against DVA-C02: The paid, proctored associate certification with a much broader syllabus about developing on AWS, valid for three years. This badge is a free way to test your serverless footing first; the certification is what hiring filters recognise.
AWS Knowledge: Serverless against CLF-C02: A foundational exam about what AWS is, not how to build on it. Different purpose entirely: do Cloud Practitioner or its free equivalent first if you are new, then come to this badge.
DEA-C01 against SAA-C03: Broader, better known to recruiters, and less specific about what you can do. If a filter is your obstacle take that one; if the work is your obstacle take this.
DEA-C01 against AIF-C01: A tier below and a different subject. Sitting that one first is optional and, for anyone doing this work, largely decorative.
DVA-C02 against SAA-C03: Recognised more widely by recruiters, so if you sit only one associate exam that is usually the better investment even for developers. This one says more about your day job and less to a screening filter.
SAA-C03 against CLF-C02: Cloud Practitioner is not a prerequisite and most technical candidates should skip it. Take it first only if somebody else is paying and wants the intermediate step on record.
SAA-C03 against SAP-C02: The professional tier above this one, and a genuine step up rather than more of the same. Passing it also renews this certificate, which changes the arithmetic if you intend to climb.
SAP-C02 against SAA-C03: A genuine prerequisite in substance if not in rules. Passing this renews that one, so holders climbing the ladder get the lower certificate extended without a separate sitting.

Frequently asked

Do I need an associate certificate before the professional?: No. SAP-C02 has no certification prerequisite. AWS advises at least two years spent designing and running architectures on the platform; most candidates hold the associate first, but nothing requires it. A professional pass also renews the associate architecture certificate, which is one reason the vertical route costs less over time.
Does AWS still examine in German?: Only at foundational level, and the window is closing. Cloud Practitioner's German edition is withdrawn after 31 December 2026 and AI Practitioner's after 15 October 2026. No German edition exists for the associate exams or the professional; those run in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, with Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian on some.
Does one lapsed certificate affect the others?: No. Each certificate carries its own three-year date, and letting one lapse leaves the rest untouched. Recovering the lapsed one means sitting that exam again in full at the then-current fee, with no discount for having held it before. The digital badge stops being valid on the expiry date, so the re-sit belongs before it, not after.

Official certification portal: aws.amazon.com/certification

Last reviewed 26 September 2026 · Getting Digital