AWS has two Foundational certifications that many people weigh up as a first step: AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) and AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01). They share a format, but they test very different things. Here is how they compare, taken from AWS’s official exam pages and exam guides, followed by our suggestions on which to take first.
The two exams side by side
| Detail | Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) | AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) |
|---|---|---|
| Level | Foundational | Foundational |
| Questions | 65: 50 scored and 15 unscored | 65: 50 scored and 15 unscored |
| Time | 90 minutes | 90 minutes |
| Question types | Multiple choice and multiple response | Multiple choice, multiple response, ordering and matching |
| Passing score | 700 on a scaled score of 100–1,000 | 700 on a scaled score of 100–1,000 |
| Cost | 100 USD | 100 USD |
| Delivery | Pearson VUE test centre or online proctored | Pearson VUE test centre or online proctored |
| Valid for | 3 years | 3 years |
| Main focus | The AWS Cloud: concepts, security, core services and billing | AI, machine learning and generative AI, and the AWS services for them |
The logistics are the same. The difference is in the content and the question types.
Who each exam is for
Cloud Practitioner. AWS says this exam is designed for people new to the cloud who may not have an IT background. It names line-of-business roles such as sales, marketing, and product or project management. The exam page calls it a good starting point for people with no prior IT or cloud experience who are switching to a cloud career. The exam guide describes a target candidate with up to 6 months of exposure to the AWS Cloud. The exam page adds that this exposure is not required.
AI Practitioner. AWS describes this exam as a good starting point for people exploring AI/ML on AWS, whether they are adding AI skills to a cloud career or starting to work with AI/ML. The exam guide describes a target candidate with up to 6 months of exposure to AI/ML technologies on AWS, who uses but does not necessarily build AI/ML solutions.
One difference matters for beginners. The AI Practitioner guide recommends familiarity with core AWS services (such as Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, AWS Lambda, Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker AI), the AWS shared responsibility model, IAM, and AWS pricing models. The Cloud Practitioner guide’s recommended knowledge is the same ground its own domains cover: cloud concepts, security and compliance, core services and cloud economics.
What is out of scope
Neither exam expects you to write code or build systems. The CLF-C02 guide lists coding, designing cloud architecture, troubleshooting and implementation as out of scope. The AIF-C01 guide lists coding AI/ML models, data or feature engineering, hyperparameter tuning and building AI/ML pipelines.
Question types and scoring
Both exams use multiple choice (one correct answer and three incorrect ones) and multiple response (two or more correct answers out of five or more options). The AIF-C01 guide says its exam contains one or more of four types, adding two more:
- Ordering: a list of 3–5 responses that you select and put in the right order.
- Matching: responses that you match to 3–7 prompts. Every pair must be right to get credit.
Scoring works the same way on both. Fifty questions count, and 15 unscored questions are not identified on the exam. Unanswered questions are marked wrong and there is no penalty for guessing. Both use a compensatory scoring model, so you need to pass the exam as a whole, not each section.
The domains and weights
| CLF-C02 domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Cloud Concepts | 24% |
| Security and Compliance | 30% |
| Cloud Technology and Services | 34% |
| Billing, Pricing, and Support | 12% |
| AIF-C01 domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Fundamentals of AI and ML | 20% |
| Fundamentals of GenAI | 24% |
| Applications of Foundation Models | 28% |
| Guidelines for Responsible AI | 14% |
| Security, Compliance, and Governance for AI Solutions | 14% |
The overlap is small. The FAQ on AWS’s AI Practitioner page notes that the Cloud Practitioner content outline has only one task statement related to AI. That is task 3.7, “Identify AWS artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) services and analytics services”. The whole AI Practitioner outline is about AI, ML and generative AI.
Both exam guides have changed in 2026. AWS published version 1.1 of the AIF-C01 guide on 30 April 2026, adding objectives on topics such as agentic AI, the Model Context Protocol, context engineering and token-based pricing. Both guides also list a newer revision dated 29 October 2026, so check each guide’s revisions page before you start studying.
Languages
Both exam pages list the same 12 languages. Each has a language change to note:
- CLF-C02: AWS says the Italian and German versions will be retired after 31 December 2026.
- AIF-C01: AWS said the Italian and German versions would be retired after 15 October 2026. Check the exam page for the current language list.
Keeping the certification
Both are valid for 3 years. You can renew Cloud Practitioner by passing the latest version of the exam, or by passing an Associate-level or Professional-level exam. You can renew AI Practitioner by passing the latest version of the exam, or by earning AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate.
What AWS says about choosing
The AI Practitioner FAQ says you should take the exam that best fits your interests and needs, and that you can earn both. It also says that if you are new to IT and the AWS Cloud, you should start with the AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials or AWS Technical Essentials course. People who already hold Cloud Practitioner or an Associate-level certification can skip those foundational cloud courses and go straight to the AI training in the Exam Prep Plans.
Our suggestion: which to take first
This is our advice, not AWS’s. It is based on the official content above.
- You are new to IT and the cloud: start with Cloud Practitioner. The AI Practitioner guide expects familiarity with core AWS services, IAM, the shared responsibility model and pricing, and all of these are covered in the Cloud Practitioner exam guide.
- You work in AI, data or product, and AWS basics are already familiar: going straight to AI Practitioner makes sense, because AWS says its whole content outline focuses on AI, ML and generative AI. Use the CLF-C02 guide to check for gaps in the AWS basics first.
- You want both: take Cloud Practitioner first, then AI Practitioner. The cloud basics carry over, and AWS says Cloud Practitioner holders can skip the foundational cloud courses.
- You plan to move on to an Associate exam: after AI Practitioner, AWS suggests Solutions Architect – Associate for cloud careers, and Data Engineer or Machine Learning Engineer – Associate for data and AI careers.
- Before an AIF-C01 attempt: practise the ordering and matching formats, because they do not appear on CLF-C02.
Confirm the latest details on AWS’s Cloud Practitioner page and AI Practitioner page before you book.
I run ExamCrest, where this post first appeared. Try free practice questions for CLF-C02 and AIF-C01.
