By Mufy Pachorawala, founder of getAIwork · Last updated: September 2, 2026
Key facts
- AIF-C01 costs $100 as listed by AWS, runs 90 minutes, has 65 questions and is valid for three years
- MLA-C01 costs $150 as listed, runs 130 minutes, has 65 questions, and AWS recommends about a year of hands-on Amazon SageMaker experience
- MLA-C01 retires in English on September 28, 2026. MLA-C02 launched September 1, 2026 in English, Korean, Japanese and Simplified Chinese
- Passing the ML Engineer Associate exam also renews AI Practitioner, so the ladder recertifies itself if you climb it
- 68% of the 1,368 live listings on the getAIwork board are technical as of August 29, 2026, from 39,308 posts screened, and cloud credentials carry most weight where that cloud is already in use
Which AWS AI certifications exist in 2026?
Two matter for AI work, and they sit at different heights. AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) is foundational: it checks that you understand what the services do and when you would reach for them. AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer Associate is the one that assumes you have actually built and shipped something on SageMaker.
AWS positions AI Practitioner at people who work near AI without building it, which in their own framing includes analysts, product and project managers, marketing people, sales and IT support. That is unusually honest for a vendor. It is not a pretend-engineer credential and it does not claim to be.
| Exam | Code | Cost (as listed) | Length | Questions | Valid for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Certified AI Practitioner | AIF-C01 | $100 | 90 minutes | 65 | 3 years |
| AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer Associate | MLA-C01, moving to MLA-C02 | $150 | 130 minutes | 65 | 3 years |
Both are multiple choice and both can be taken at a Pearson VUE centre or online with a proctor. AIF-C01 is offered in twelve languages, which is more than most vendor AI exams manage.
What is changing with MLA-C01 and MLA-C02?
AWS refreshed the Machine Learning Engineer Associate exam. MLA-C02 launched on September 1, 2026. The outgoing MLA-C01 remains available in English until September 28, 2026, after which the English exam is MLA-C02 only. The new version is offered in English, Korean, Japanese and Simplified Chinese.
If you are mid-preparation right now, the calendar matters more than the content. You have until September 28 to sit the version you have been studying. If your booking would fall after that, switch to the MLA-C02 exam guide today rather than discovering the difference in the test centre. This is the same trap that caught people studying for retired Microsoft exams, which we wrote about in the Microsoft AI certification guide.
The general rule, and it is dull but it keeps saving people money: check the vendor’s own certification page for the live exam code before you buy any third-party course. Course sales pages describe the exam that existed when the course was recorded.
Which AWS AI certification should you take?
Start with a question that has nothing to do with AWS: what cloud do the employers you are targeting already run? Vendor credentials borrow their authority from the vendor being in the building. An AWS certification in a Microsoft shop is a pleasant fact about you rather than a reason to interview you.
Assuming AWS is the right vendor, the choice is about what you can currently do. If you cannot yet build and deploy a model, AI Practitioner is the honest starting point and the $100 is well spent. If you have roughly a year of real SageMaker work behind you, skip straight to the associate exam, because the foundational one will not tell an employer anything they did not already assume.
The one genuinely clever detail in the AWS ladder: passing the Machine Learning Engineer Associate exam also renews AI Practitioner. Climbing the ladder maintains the rungs below you, which is not true of every vendor.
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How do you prepare without wasting money?
AWS publishes a free exam guide, free digital training on AWS Skill Builder and official practice questions. Read the exam guide first, in full, before buying anything. It is a specification, and it tells you exactly what proportion of the exam covers what. Most people skip it and then pay someone to summarise it back to them.
Then build something small on the actual services. Both exams reward recognition of real behaviour over memorised definitions, and the difference between having used SageMaker and having read about it survives contact with the question wording. The free tier covers more than enough to get that exposure.
Buy a third-party course only if you have read the free guide and identified a specific gap. Buy practice exams if you want a readiness signal. Do not buy a “certification bundle” that promises a pass, because nobody can promise that and the ones who do are describing a refund policy rather than a teaching method.
Is an AWS AI certification worth it?
Worth is a ratio, so state both sides. The cost is $100 or $150 plus a few weeks. That is genuinely low, low enough that the question “is it worth it” is less interesting than “is it the thing standing between me and the job”.
What it does reliably: clears keyword filters, gives a hiring manager a verifiable third-party signal, and structures a few weeks of learning around something with a pass mark. What it does not do: substitute for evidence that you have built anything. On the listings we screen, 59% of the 1,368 currently open ask for advanced skills, and none of them are satisfied by a credential alone.
If money is the constraint rather than time, note that the learning materials are free and the exam is the only thing you pay for. You can do the entire AWS AI Practitioner study path without spending anything and decide about the exam fee at the end. That is a better deal than most of this industry offers, and we compare it with the alternatives in free AI certifications.
What should you do after passing?
Put the credential in the three places that get parsed: your LinkedIn certifications section, the top block of your résumé, and any application form with a free-text skills field. Include the exam code. Filters match on strings, and “AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01)” matches more of them than “AWS certified”.
Then go and use it on something visible within a month, because a credential decays into trivia if nothing sits behind it. One deployed project, described in two paragraphs, does more in an interview than the certificate that prompted it.
If you want to see what the credential actually unlocks before you book anything, read the requirements on live listings rather than the marketing. That is the cheapest research available and it takes an afternoon.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does the AWS AI Practitioner exam cost?
AWS lists AIF-C01 at $100. It runs 90 minutes, has 65 multiple-choice questions, and can be taken at a Pearson VUE centre or online with a proctor. The certification is valid for three years.
Is AWS Certified AI Practitioner worth it for beginners?
It suits people who work near AI rather than building it, which is exactly who AWS aims it at: analysts, product and project managers, marketing, sales and IT support. For a beginner wanting an engineering role, it is a starting point rather than a destination.
When does MLA-C01 retire?
The English MLA-C01 exam is available until September 28, 2026. MLA-C02 launched on September 1, 2026 and is offered in English, Korean, Japanese and Simplified Chinese. If your exam booking falls after September 28, prepare with the MLA-C02 exam guide.
Do I need AI Practitioner before Machine Learning Engineer Associate?
No. There is no prerequisite. If you already have around a year of hands-on Amazon SageMaker experience, go straight to the associate exam. Passing it also renews AI Practitioner, so the ladder maintains itself.
How long is an AWS AI certification valid?
Three years. You renew by passing the current version of the exam, or in the case of AI Practitioner by earning the AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer Associate certification.
Can I pass AWS AI certification exams with free materials only?
Many people do. AWS publishes a free exam guide, free digital training on Skill Builder and official practice questions, and the free tier covers enough hands-on use to matter. The exam fee is the only unavoidable cost.
Will an AWS AI certification get me a job?
On its own, rarely. It clears automated filters and gives a verifiable signal, which is a real but narrow job. Employers still screen for evidence that you have built and shipped something. Treat the credential as the key to the door rather than the room behind it.
Mufy Pachorawala · Founder, getAIwork
My AI scans thousands of AI-job posts (39,308 screened so far) and I personally approve every listing before it reaches the board. I write these articles by the same rules: pay quoted only as listed, and no income promises. Read our editorial rules.
Related: Best AI certifications in 2026 · Microsoft AI certification · Google AI certifications · AI certification cost
