The exam fee is the number everyone quotes and the smallest part of what you actually pay. The real bill is the fee, plus the retake you might need, plus renewal for as long as you want to keep the certificate valid.
Here is what each AI certification costs in 2026, and where the money hides.
What the exams cost
List prices in US dollars, before local tax:
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure AI Foundations — free. No catch: Oracle does not charge for this one.
- Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-900) — $99. And it never expires, which makes it the cheapest certificate to own over time.
- Google Cloud Generative AI Leader — $99.
- AWS AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) — $100.
- NVIDIA NCA Generative AI LLMs and NCA AI Infrastructure — $125 each.
- AWS Machine Learning Engineer Associate (MLA-C01) — $150.
- Microsoft Azure AI Engineer (AI-103) — $165.
- Salesforce Agentforce Specialist — $200.
- Broadcom VCP-VCF Administrator — $250.
- CertNexus Certified Artificial Intelligence Practitioner (AIP-210) — $367.50, which includes one free retake.
Vendors change prices and they vary by country, so treat these as the shape of the market rather than a quote, and check the official page before you book.
The retake rule is the hidden cost
Nearly every vendor charges full price for a second attempt. AWS makes you wait 14 days and pay $100 again. Microsoft lets you retake after 24 hours, at full price. NVIDIA makes you wait 30 days. Broadcom, seven.
Two exceptions are worth knowing. CertNexus bundles a free retake into the $367.50, which is a large part of why that price looks high. Salesforce charges $100 for a retake rather than the full $200.
So the honest budget for a first-time candidate is the fee plus one retake. For AIF-C01 that is $200, not $100. If you pass first time you are up a hundred dollars, which is a much better feeling than the reverse.
Renewal: the part nobody budgets for
Most of these expire, and how you renew changes the five-year number completely.
- Retake to renew — AWS, NVIDIA, Google Cloud, Oracle and Broadcom. You pay the exam fee again every two or three years. An AWS AI Practitioner kept valid for six years is $200 in renewals on top of the original $100.
- Continuing education plus a fee — CertNexus asks for 90 continuing education credits and a $150 program fee per three-year cycle. CompTIA SecAI+ asks for 15 credits and $75 per cycle.
- Free renewal — Microsoft’s role-based certifications renew with a free online assessment each year, and Anthropic’s renewals are free and non-proctored. Microsoft’s fundamentals certifications, including AI-900, do not expire at all.
Over five years, a $99 Microsoft fundamentals certificate still costs $99. A $100 AWS certificate costs $200. A $367.50 CertNexus certificate costs $517.50. The cheapest exam on the day is not always the cheapest certificate to hold.
The free cost calculator does this arithmetic for any exam we cover: pick the certification, say how many attempts you want to budget for and how long you plan to keep it, and it adds the retakes and the renewal cycles.
What you should not be paying for
Study material is where the money leaks, and it is the one line you control. A $300 video course for a foundational exam is almost never worth it: the vendor’s own exam guide is free, the documentation is free, and our practice questions and study guides are free.
Two things are worth paying for. A practice bank that explains why each answer is wrong, because that is where the learning happens. And the exam fee itself, booked for a date close enough that you actually revise.
Ask your employer, properly
Most training budgets go unspent because nobody asks in a form that is easy to approve. Send one line with a number in it: the exam, the fee, the retake allowance, the date you would sit it, and what your team gets out of it. A $200 request with a date attached is approved far more often than “can I do some AI training”.
If you have not settled on an exam yet, start with the ranked guide to AI certifications, then run your shortlist through the cost calculator and compare the five-year numbers rather than the sticker prices.
Related guides
- AI Certification Cost Calculator (Free)
- The Best AI Certifications in 2026, Ranked — Which Should You Get?
- AWS AI Practitioner Exam Cost (AIF-C01): Price, Passing Score, Retakes
- AI Exam Prep
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest AI certification?
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure AI Foundations is free. After that, Microsoft AI-900 and the Google Cloud Generative AI Leader exam are $99 each, and AWS AI Practitioner is $100.
Do I have to pay again if I fail?
Almost always, yes, at full price. AWS makes you wait 14 days, Microsoft 24 hours, NVIDIA 30 days. CertNexus includes one free retake in its $367.50 fee, and Salesforce charges $100 rather than the full $200.
What does renewal cost?
It depends on the vendor. AWS, NVIDIA, Google, Oracle and Broadcom want the exam fee again every two or three years. CertNexus charges $150 per cycle plus continuing education credits, CompTIA SecAI+ $75. Microsoft role-based renewals are free, and Microsoft fundamentals certifications never expire.
Will my employer pay for it?
Often, if you ask with a number and a date attached. A request for a specific exam, its fee, a retake allowance and the week you would sit it is much easier to approve than a general ask for training budget.
