The main generative AI certifications in 2026 come from the companies whose AI platforms you would actually use: Google Cloud Generative AI Leader ($99), AWS Certified AI Practitioner ($100), NVIDIA NCA-GENL ($125), Microsoft AI-103 ($165), Databricks Generative AI Engineer Associate ($200), Salesforce Agentforce Specialist ($200) and AWS Certified Generative AI Developer Professional ($300). Anthropic’s four Claude certifications ($99 to $175) are gen AI exams too, but only Claude Partner Network members can take them.
The short version: if you don’t write code, start with Google’s Generative AI Leader or AWS AI Practitioner. If you build gen AI apps, take the exam for the platform you build on. Below is every option side by side, our pick for each role, and the facts on each exam.
Gen AI certifications at a glance
| Cheapest open to everyone | Google Cloud Generative AI Leader: $99, 90 minutes, no prerequisites |
|---|---|
| Best for non-technical roles | Google Cloud Generative AI Leader (built for any job role, with or without technical experience) |
| Best for AWS builders | AWS Certified Generative AI Developer Professional (AIP-C01): $300, 180 minutes |
| Best for Azure builders | Microsoft AI-103 (Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate): $165, 120 minutes |
| Best for LLM fundamentals | NVIDIA NCA-GENL: $125, 1 hour, entry level |
| Longest validity | 3 years (Google Cloud and AWS) |
| Shortest validity | 1 year: Microsoft (free online renewal), Anthropic (12 months, free on-time renewal) and Salesforce (one maintenance badge a year) |
| Restricted access | Claude certifications: Claude Partner Network members only |
Checked against each vendor’s own certification pages (Google Cloud, AWS, NVIDIA, Microsoft Learn, Databricks, Salesforce and Anthropic) on October 6, 2026.
Generative AI certifications compared
| Certification | Vendor | Level | Price | Time | Questions | Valid for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Generative AI Leader | Google Cloud | Any role, no prerequisites | $99 | 90 min | 50–60 | 3 years |
| AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) | AWS | Foundational | $100 | 90 min | 65 | 3 years |
| Generative AI LLMs Associate (NCA-GENL) | NVIDIA | Associate (entry level) | $125 | 60 min | 50–60 | 2 years |
| AI-103: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer | Microsoft | Associate | $165 | 120 min | Not published | 1 year, free renewal |
| Generative AI Engineer Associate | Databricks | Associate | $200 | 90 min | 45 scored | 2 years |
| Agentforce Specialist | Salesforce | Specialist | $200 | 105 min | 60, plus up to 5 unscored | One maintenance badge a year |
| Generative AI Developer Professional (AIP-C01) | AWS | Professional | $300 | 180 min | 75 | 3 years |
| Claude certifications (CCAO-F, CCDV-F, CCAR-F, CCAR-P) | Anthropic | Foundations to Professional, partners only | $99–$175 | 120 min | 53–63 | 12 months, free renewal |
Prices are list prices in US dollars before tax. Published passing scores: AWS 700 (AIF-C01) and 750 (AIP-C01) out of 1,000, Microsoft 700 out of 1,000, Salesforce 72%, and Anthropic 720 on a 100 to 1,000 scale. Google, NVIDIA and Databricks don’t publish a passing score on their certification pages. To compare total costs across vendors, see what an AI certification actually costs.
The best generative AI certification for your role
| If you are… | Take this |
|---|---|
| A manager, executive or other non-technical professional | Google Cloud Generative AI Leader. If your company runs on Microsoft 365, Microsoft’s AB-730 (AI Business Professional) is the Copilot-focused alternative |
| An IT or cloud generalist in an AWS shop | AWS AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) |
| A developer building gen AI apps and agents on Azure | Microsoft AI-103 |
| A developer building gen AI apps on AWS | AWS Generative AI Developer Professional (AIP-C01), with AIF-C01 as a warm-up |
| A data or ML engineer working in Databricks | Databricks Generative AI Engineer Associate |
| An engineer who wants LLM fundamentals more than a cloud platform | NVIDIA NCA-GENL |
| A Salesforce admin or developer | Salesforce Agentforce Specialist |
| A consultant at an Anthropic partner | A Claude certification: Associate for productivity users, Developer or Architect for builders |
Still deciding between vendors? Our ranking of the best AI certifications covers non-gen-AI options too, and AI certifications for beginners narrows it to exams you can pass with no experience.
Each gen AI exam, in brief
Google Cloud Generative AI Leader
Google built this one for anyone in any job role, with or without hands-on technical experience, and it has no prerequisites. It is 50 to 60 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes for $99, online or at a test center, in English, Japanese, Spanish or Portuguese. The exam guide covers four areas: fundamentals of gen AI (about 30%), Google Cloud’s gen AI offerings (about 35%), techniques to improve gen AI model output (about 20%), and business strategies for a successful gen AI solution (about 15%). It is valid for three years, and you renew by taking the exam again during a window that opens 180 days before expiry.
Prepare with our Generative AI Leader study guide and free Generative AI Leader practice questions.
AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01)
AWS’s foundational AI exam is broader than gen AI, but more than half of it is generative AI: Fundamentals of GenAI (24%) plus Applications of Foundation Models (28%) make up 52% of the scored content. It costs $100 for 65 questions in 90 minutes, needs 700 out of 1,000 to pass, and is valid for three years. AWS aims it at anyone exploring AI and ML on AWS, technical or not.
Start with the AIF-C01 study guide and free AIF-C01 practice questions, then check whether it is worth it and the full exam cost.
NVIDIA-Certified Associate: Generative AI LLMs (NCA-GENL)
NVIDIA’s entry-level credential covers the foundational concepts of developing, integrating and maintaining applications built on generative AI and large language models with NVIDIA solutions. It is 50 to 60 multiple-choice questions in one hour for $125, delivered online, in English. The weights are Core Machine Learning and AI Knowledge (30%), Software Development (24%), Experimentation (22%), Data Analysis (14%) and Trustworthy AI (10%). It is valid for two years, and you recertify by retaking the exam.
See our NCA-GENL study guide, free NCA-GENL practice questions, NCA-GENL exam cost, is NCA-GENL worth it and NCA-AIIO vs NCA-GENL.
Microsoft AI-103: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate
Microsoft’s gen AI developer certification replaced AI-102 in 2026. The largest part of the outline is implementing generative AI and agentic solutions (30–35%), alongside planning and managing an Azure AI solution (25–30%) and smaller sections on vision, text analysis and information extraction. It costs $165 in the US, runs 120 minutes, needs 700 to pass, and expects Python app development experience. It is valid for one year and renews free online.
Prepare with the AI-103 study guide, free AI-103 practice questions and the 3-week AI-103 plan. See is AI-103 worth it and the full Microsoft AI certification path.
Databricks Certified Generative AI Engineer Associate
For people building LLM applications on the Databricks platform. It is 45 scored multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes for $200, online or at a test center, with no test aids. There is no prerequisite, but Databricks recommends six or more months of hands-on work with generative AI solutions. The outline: Design Applications (14%), Data Preparation (14%), Application Development (30%), Assembling and Deploying Apps (22%), Governance (8%), and Evaluation and Monitoring (12%). It is valid for two years, and you recertify by passing the current version. Languages are English, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Korean.
Salesforce Certified Agentforce Specialist
Salesforce’s exam for people who design and implement prompt templates and agents on its platform. It is 60 multiple-choice questions plus up to five unscored ones, in 105 minutes, with a 72% passing score. Registration is $200 and a retake is $100. There is no prerequisite. The outline weights AI Agents (35%), Prompt Engineering (20%), Data 360 Fundamentals (20%), Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance (10%), Governance and Observability (10%), and Multi-Agent Orchestration (5%). To keep it, you complete one maintenance badge on Trailhead each year.
AWS Certified Generative AI Developer Professional (AIP-C01)
The most demanding exam on this page by format: 75 questions in 180 minutes, 750 out of 1,000 to pass, $300. AWS’s target candidate has two or more years building production-grade applications on AWS or with open-source technologies, plus a year of hands-on gen AI work. The outline is led by Foundation Model Integration, Data Management, and Compliance (31%) and Implementation and Integration (26%), followed by AI Safety, Security, and Governance (20%). No earlier certification is required, though AWS suggests AI Practitioner or ML Engineer Associate as useful background. It is valid for three years.
Coming from AWS’s ML track instead? The MLA-C02 exam guide explains how the updated ML Engineer Associate now covers Amazon Bedrock, RAG and agents.
Anthropic Claude certifications
Anthropic offers four: Claude Certified Associate: Foundations (CCAO-F, $99) for productivity users, Claude Certified Developer: Foundations (CCDV-F, $125), Claude Certified Architect: Foundations (CCAR-F, $125) and Claude Certified Architect: Professional (CCAR-P, $175). Each is 120 minutes with 53 to 63 questions and a scaled passing score of 720, delivered by Pearson VUE in English. They are valid for 12 months, with a free renewal if you renew on time.
The catch: only employees of Claude Partner Network organizations can register, using a work email on a recognized company domain. Joining the network is free, but new partner organizations commit to at least 10 certified practitioners. Read who can actually take the Claude certification before you plan around one, then see the Claude certification overview, Claude certification cost and whether it is worth it.
Also on the radar: Oracle and Google’s agentic exam
Oracle runs an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Generative AI Professional certification for teams building on OCI, versioned by year (the 2024 edition was exam 1Z0-1127-24). We couldn’t confirm the current edition’s exam number, price and format on Oracle University when we checked, so look it up there before you book. Google Cloud has also run a beta of its Professional Agentic Architect certification, which combines a proctored exam with hands-on labs; Google says registration for the full version opens November 2, 2026.
Are generative AI certifications worth it?
A gen AI certification proves you learned one vendor’s published outline well enough to pass a proctored exam. That helps most when it matches the platform your employer already uses, or the one in the job posts you are targeting. It is not a substitute for building something real, and no vendor publishes data tying its gen AI exam to pay. For an honest look at that question, read do AI certifications increase your salary. On a budget? Start with what is actually free in AI certifications.
HOW TO // AI is not affiliated with or endorsed by any vendor named here. Certification names are trademarks of their owners and are used descriptively. Our practice questions are original and written from each vendor’s published exam guide. Check the vendor’s page before you book, since prices and exam versions change.
Keep exploring: AWS AI certifications · Claude Certified Architect · AI Certification Requirements Index · Agentforce Specialist study guide · GitHub Copilot (GH-300) study guide
Related guides
- The Best AI Certifications in 2026, Ranked: Which Should You Get?
- AWS AI Certifications in 2026: Every Exam, the Path and the Costs
- Microsoft AI Certifications in 2026: The New Path, Explained
- Free NVIDIA NCA-GENL Practice Questions
- Free Google Cloud Generative AI Leader Practice Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is the best generative AI certification?
It depends on your role and platform. For non-technical professionals, Google Cloud Generative AI Leader ($99) is the most accessible. For developers, pick the exam for the platform you build on: Microsoft AI-103 for Azure, AWS AIP-C01 for AWS, or Databricks Generative AI Engineer Associate for Databricks.
Which gen AI certification is best for beginners?
Google Cloud Generative AI Leader and AWS Certified AI Practitioner are the two most beginner-friendly. Google's has no prerequisites and is built for any job role; AWS's is a foundational exam where 52% of the scored content is generative AI. Both cost about $100.
How much does a generative AI certification cost?
List prices range from $99 to $300. Google Cloud Generative AI Leader is $99, AWS AI Practitioner $100, NVIDIA NCA-GENL $125, Microsoft AI-103 $165, Databricks and Salesforce Agentforce Specialist $200 each, and AWS Generative AI Developer Professional $300, before tax.
Is there a free generative AI certification?
None of the proctored exams compared here are free at list price. Anthropic waives Claude exam fees for its Global Premier partners through December 31, 2026. For genuinely free options, see our guide to free AI certifications.
Can anyone take the Claude certification?
No. Anthropic's four Claude certifications are open only to employees of Claude Partner Network organizations, who register with a work email on a recognized company domain. Joining the network is free, but new partners commit to at least 10 certified practitioners.
Do generative AI certifications expire?
Yes, nearly all of them. Google Cloud and AWS certifications last three years, NVIDIA and Databricks two years, and Microsoft associate certifications and Claude certifications one year with free renewal. Salesforce requires one maintenance badge a year.
Which generative AI certification is best for developers?
Choose by platform: Microsoft AI-103 for Azure, AWS Generative AI Developer Professional (AIP-C01) for AWS, Databricks Generative AI Engineer Associate for Databricks, or Salesforce Agentforce Specialist for Salesforce. NVIDIA NCA-GENL is a lighter option focused on LLM fundamentals.
Is the AWS AI Practitioner a generative AI certification?
Largely, yes. Two of its five domains, Fundamentals of GenAI (24%) and Applications of Foundation Models (28%), make up 52% of the scored content. The rest covers AI and ML basics, responsible AI, and security and governance.
