AWS Generative AI Developer Professional vs AWS Machine Learning Engineer Associate: which AWS AI exam fits your experience?

Both are AWS exams for people who build AI on AWS, at different levels. Facts below are as shown in the United States on 13 October 2026, from the two certification pages, the MLA-C02 exam guide and AWS's FAQ, policy and recertification pages.

Choose AWS Certified Generative AI Developer - Professional if you already build production applications, have a year of hands-on generative AI work and want a professional-level exam.

Choose AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate if you have about a year of ML engineering and AWS experience and want an associate-level exam on ML and AI pipelines.

At a glance

Who each exam is for

The Professional exam targets developers with 2 or more years of building production-grade applications on AWS or open-source technologies, general AI/ML or data engineering experience, and 1 year of hands-on generative AI implementation. AWS says it showcases expertise in building and deploying production-ready AI solutions with services like Amazon Bedrock.

The Associate exam targets ML engineers and MLOps engineers. The page names at least 1 year of experience in ML engineering or a related field and 1 year with AWS services, and the MLA-C02 guide adds experience with both traditional ML and generative AI. AWS states that no AWS Certification requires specific prerequisites; experience levels are recommendations.

Exam time, format and fee

The Professional exam runs 180 minutes for 75 multiple choice or multiple response questions and costs USD 300 per attempt, as shown in the United States on 13 October 2026. It is offered at a Pearson VUE test center or online proctored, in English, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese.

The Associate page showed two versions on 13 October 2026. MLA-C01, labelled current, runs 130 minutes for 65 questions at USD 150; its last English test day was September 28, 2026; Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese continue until MLA-C02 general availability. MLA-C02, an updated beta, runs 170 minutes for 85 questions at USD 75 beta pricing, in English only, and beta takers can sit it only once. The longer beta time covers unscored evaluation items.

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Credential and sharing

Both credentials are issued as AWS Certification digital badges through Credly's Acclaim platform, with one-click sharing on social media and verification of the issue date and issuer.

Validity, renewal and retakes

Both are valid for 3 years and renew only while active: the Professional by passing its latest exam version; the Associate by passing its latest version or the Professional exam, or by maintaining it 1 more year on AWS Skill Builder when within 90 days of expiration, with an active paid Skill Builder subscription.

Standard exams: after a fail, wait 14 calendar days and pay the full fee again, no attempt limit; after a pass, no retake for two years unless a new version is released. Beta exams: once only; a retake waits for general availability of the standard version.

Sources

1. aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-generative-ai-developer-professional/ · checked 2026-10-13
2. aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-machine-learning-engineer-associate/ · checked 2026-10-13
3. docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/machine-learning-engineer-associate-02/machine-learning-engineer-associate-02.html · checked 2026-10-13
4. aws.amazon.com/certification/recertification/ · checked 2026-10-13
5. aws.amazon.com/certification/faqs/ · checked 2026-10-13
6. aws.amazon.com/certification/policies/before-testing/ · checked 2026-10-13