AI Certifications: Which Ones Exist and Which Ones Are Worth Your Money

The right AI certification depends on what you want to do with it. If you’re new, start with Google AI Essentials or the AWS Certified AI Practitioner. If you build machine learning systems, look at AWS or Google Cloud’s engineer exams. If you work in policy or risk, look at IAPP’s AIGP. Several popular exams were retired in 2026, so check status first.

Which AI Certification Fits Which Goal

Here’s the short version. Each line links to a page with the exam details.

• Beginner or business role: Google AI Essentials, Google Cloud Generative AI Leader, AWS Certified AI Practitioner or Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-901).
• Cloud machine learning engineer: AWS Machine Learning Engineer Associate or Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer.
• Generative AI developer: AWS Generative AI Developer Professional or NVIDIA Generative AI LLM Associate.
• Data and machine learning platform: Databricks Machine Learning Associate or the IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate.
• Governance and policy: IAPP AIGP.
• Security: CompTIA SecAI+.

None of these is the best one for everybody. A certification that fits a cloud engineer will do little for a compliance manager, and the reverse is also true. Pick the goal first, then the credential.

AI Certification Comparison

This table uses the figures each issuer publishes. Exams change often, so confirm fees on the issuer’s site before you pay.

Certifications for Beginners and Business Roles

If you searched “ai certification for beginners,” you probably want proof that you understand AI well enough to work with it, not to build it. Four options fit that.

Google AI Essentials is a beginner course, not a proctored exam. Google says you can learn the skills in 10 hours or less, and you earn a certificate from Google when you finish.

The Google Cloud Generative AI Leader exam costs $99 plus tax and runs 90 minutes. Google says it’s for anyone in any job role, with or without hands-on technical experience, and there are no prerequisites. It’s valid for 3 years.

The AWS Certified AI Practitioner is a proctored exam for $100. It has 65 questions (50 scored) and 90 minutes, and the passing score is 700 on a 100 to 1,000 scale. AWS lists no prerequisite but recommends some familiarity with core AWS services. About a quarter of the scored content covers applications of foundation models, and 14 percent covers responsible AI.

Azure AI Fundamentals now uses exam AI-901, which replaced AI-900 on June 30, 2026. Microsoft says you should know some Python syntax and be familiar with Azure resources, so it’s a little more technical than the Google options.

Which one should you pick? If your company uses Microsoft, take the Microsoft one. If it uses AWS, take the AWS one. If you don’t use any of them yet, Google AI Essentials is the lowest-commitment way to find out whether you like the subject.

Certifications for Cloud Machine Learning Engineers

“Machine learning certification” usually means one of two exams. Both assume you’ve already done some of this work.

The AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer Associate is aimed at people with at least 1 year in machine learning engineering and 1 year of hands-on AWS experience. The current exam, MLA-C01, costs $150. It has 65 questions, 130 minutes, and a passing score of 720. Its domains cover data preparation (28 percent), model development (26 percent), deployment and orchestration (22 percent), and monitoring and security (24 percent).

There’s a catch. AWS says the last day to take MLA-C01 in English was September 28, 2026. An updated exam, MLA-C02, is in beta for $75, with 85 questions and 170 minutes, and it adds generative AI and agentic AI. Check which version is open when you book.

The Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer costs $200 plus tax. It runs two hours with 50 to 60 multiple choice and multiple select questions, and you can take it online or at a testing center. Google has no prerequisites but recommends 3 or more years of industry experience, including at least 1 year designing and managing solutions on Google Cloud.

Both are honest tests of cloud workflow skills, such as moving a model from a notebook into something that runs and gets monitored. Neither teaches you the math behind the models. If you need that, it comes from coursework, which is where a degree or graduate certificate does its job.

Certifications for Generative AI Developers

“Generative AI certification” covers a wide range, from a one-hour associate exam to a three-hour professional one.

The NVIDIA-Certified Associate: Generative AI LLM (NCA-GENL) costs $125. It’s one hour with 50 to 60 multiple-choice questions, in English, taken through a Certiverse account. NVIDIA asks for a basic understanding of generative AI and large language models. It’s valid for two years, and you recertify by retaking the exam.

The AWS Certified Generative AI Developer Professional is a bigger step. It costs $300 and has 75 questions over 180 minutes. AWS recommends 2 or more years building production-grade applications on AWS or with open-source tools, plus general AI/ML or data engineering experience and at least a year working hands-on with generative AI solutions.

If you’re a developer who wants to build with large language models, the AWS Professional tells an employer more. If you’re earlier in your career and want a vendor-neutral way to show you understand the basics, the NVIDIA associate is the cheaper test.

Certifications for Data and Machine Learning Platforms

Two options here suit people who work with data and models every day rather than around them.

The Databricks Certified Machine Learning Associate costs $200. It has 48 scored multiple-choice questions over 90 minutes, online or at a test center, and the machine learning code is in Python. Databricks lists no prerequisites but recommends 6 or more months of hands-on experience with the tasks in the exam guide. It’s valid for 2 years.

The IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate isn’t an exam at all. It’s a 13-course series on Coursera with hands-on labs and projects, about 4 months at 10 hours a week, ending in a shareable certificate. IBM lists it as intermediate and suited to data scientists, machine learning engineers and software engineers.

That difference matters. A proctored exam shows you passed a test. A course series shows you completed a body of work. Employers weigh them differently, and neither is the same as a university credential.

Certifications for AI Governance

If you’re searching for an “ai governance certification,” the one with a dedicated page here is the IAPP Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional (AIGP). It’s built for people who manage AI risk, policy and compliance rather than people who write code.

The exam has 100 questions over 2.75 hours, with a 15-minute break. You can take it remotely or at a Pearson VUE test center. The passing score is 300 on a 100 to 500 scale. The fee is $799 for non-members and $649 for IAPP members, which makes it the most expensive exam in this overview.

IAPP lists no prerequisite and says no single paid resource is required to pass. The credential has a two-year term, with 20 continuing education credits and a maintenance fee. ISACA also offers an Advanced in AI Audit credential, but it requires you to already hold a qualifying audit designation such as CISA, so it’s for working auditors.

Governance credentials make the most sense if you already work in privacy, legal, audit or risk. They add a specific AI vocabulary to a background you already have.

Certifications for AI Security

CompTIA SecAI+ (exam CY0-001) launched on February 17, 2026. The exam allows up to 60 multiple-choice and performance-based questions in 60 minutes, with a passing score of 600 on a 100 to 900 scale. It’s offered in English and Japanese.

CompTIA recommends 3 to 4 years in IT and at least 2 years of hands-on cybersecurity experience, and it suggests Security+, CySA+, PenTest+ or an equivalent first. In other words, this is a second credential for people already in security, not an entry point into AI.

Retired Certifications and What Replaced Them

Retired exams are the most common way people lose money on this topic, because old study guides and videos still rank well. All of the following have closed to new candidates.

• AWS Certified Machine Learning Specialty: The last day to take it was March 31, 2026. AWS points candidates to the Machine Learning Engineer Associate. People who already earned it stay active for 3 years from the date earned.
• Azure AI Engineer Associate (AI-102): Retired June 30, 2026, along with its renewal assessment.
• Azure Data Scientist Associate (DP-100): Retired June 1, 2026, along with its renewal assessment.
• Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-900): Retired June 30, 2026. AI-901 replaced it.

If you already hold one of these, it isn’t worthless. It’s just no longer something you can earn or renew. List it on a resume with the year you earned it, and put whichever current credential you add next beside it. Before buying any course, check the issuer’s page for the exam code and status.

Certifications vs. an Online AI Degree vs. a University Certificate

A vendor certification doesn’t replace a degree. It proves you know one company’s tools or one topic well enough to pass a test. It says nothing about math, statistics or research training, and it carries no college credit. If a job posting asks for a bachelor’s or master’s, a certification won’t satisfy that line.

A university graduate certificate is a different product. These are short sequences of graduate courses that give you transcript credit, and many can count toward a master’s later. In our existing data they run from about $5,000 at The University of Texas at Austin to $25,452 at Carnegie Mellon. Compare options on our online AI certificate programs rankings, and read our graduate certificate guide to see how credit transfer works.

A degree is the deepest option. Browse the best online AI degrees or the online master’s in artificial intelligence rankings. BLS says computer and information research scientists typically need a master’s degree and data scientists a bachelor’s. Our guide on whether an AI degree is worth it walks through that decision.

Here’s a practical way to choose:

• You already work in tech and want a specific skill: a vendor certification is probably enough.
• You want to change careers: a degree or graduate certificate carries more weight, and a certification can sit on top.
• You want college credit or a path to a master’s: choose a university certificate.
• You work in policy, audit or security: pick the governance or security credential and keep your existing background front and center.

Many people end up with both a credential and a degree, in either order. They aren’t competitors, but they do answer different questions.

Do AI Certifications Help You Get a Job

They can help you get interviews, mostly when they match the stack an employer already uses. A hiring manager running everything on AWS will notice an AWS credential. They’re weaker as a lone credential for someone with no related experience or degree.

Treat a certification as evidence that you’ve practiced something recently. Pair it with a project you can show, such as a deployed model or a written risk assessment. Then read through real postings on our AI jobs page to see which skills and credentials employers actually list for the roles you’re considering.

How to Choose and Prepare

Before you pay for anything, run through four checks.

1. Name the job. Write down the role you want in your next position, and pick the credential that appears in postings for it.
2. Check the platform. Cloud exams test one vendor. Choose the vendor your current or target employer uses.
3. Check the status. Confirm the exam is still offered and which version is current.
4. Check the renewal. Most proctored credentials last 2 to 3 years and need renewal, so count that cost too.

Then read the exam guide on the issuer’s site, which lists what each domain covers and how it’s weighted. Take the weights seriously. They tell you where the points are, and they’re free.