The four Claude certifications
Anthropic runs four proctored exams through Pearson VUE. Every figure on this page and the pages below comes from the official exam guide for that exam, and each one links to the guide it came from — so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Claude Certified Associate – Foundations
Professionals who use Claude as a productivity tool and build Claude Projects day to day, across functions such as operations, marketing, project management, education, communications and general knowledge work — both internal staff who maintain AI-enabled workflows and external consultants who support implementation. They generally have limited to moderate technical expertise, sitting between casual AI prompt users and technical AI practitioners; the credential is not intended for developers who build against APIs or design agentic systems.
- Items
- 60
- Domains
- 7
- Fee
- $99
Claude Certified Developer – Foundations
Technical professionals who build, integrate and ship production-grade AI solutions using large language models, particularly Claude — primarily AI and machine learning engineers, technical leads and senior software engineers working at the intersection of business requirements and technical implementation. They typically have one to five years of software engineering experience plus at least six months hands-on with Claude or comparable LLM-based systems, and are proficient in Python and/or TypeScript and fluent with REST APIs and CLI tools.
- Items
- 53
- Domains
- 8
- Fee
- $125
Claude Certified Architect – Foundations
Practitioners who design and build agentic systems on Claude — configuring Claude Code, designing tools and MCP integrations, and managing context and reliability in production.
- Items
- 60
- Domains
- 5
- Fee
- $125
Claude Certified Architect – Professional
Mid- to senior-level solution architects, AI/ML engineers, technical leads and senior software engineers who design, build and deliver production-grade AI solutions, and who own architectural decisions including security, compliance and governance.
- Items
- 63
- Domains
- 7
- Fee
- $175
What they have in common
All four run 120 minutes, are scored on a scale of 100–1,000 with a passing score of 720, and stay valid for 12 months. All four state that there are no mandatory prerequisites — the credential is awarded on exam performance alone. Items are multiple-choice and multiple-response, and each item tells you how many responses to select.
Only the Architect – Foundations exam is scenario-based. Its guide publishes six production scenarios and draws four of them at random.
Fees shown are list prices. Partner-tier discounts are applied automatically at checkout, so your total may differ. Registration requires a company email on a domain in the Claude Partner Network.
Domain weights
What each exam actually tests, by share of scored items.
CCAO-F
- 14%Prompting and Task Execution
- 21%Output Evaluation and Validation
- 12%Product and Model Selection
- 16%Workflow Integration and Solution Design
- 12%Configuration and Knowledge Management
- 15%Governance, Risk, and Responsible Use
- 10%Troubleshooting and Optimization
CCDV-F
- 14.7%Agents and Workflows
- 33.1%Applications and Integration
- 3.1%Claude Code
- 2.6%Eval, Testing, and Debugging
- 16.8%Model Selection and Optimization
- 11.0%Prompt and Context Engineering
- 8.1%Security and Safety
- 10.6%Tools and MCPs
CCAR-F
- 27%Agentic Architecture & Orchestration
- 18%Tool Design & MCP Integration
- 20%Claude Code Configuration & Workflows
- 20%Prompt Engineering & Structured Output
- 15%Context Management & Reliability
CCAR-P
- 17%Solution Design & Architecture
- 13%Claude Models, Prompting & Context Engineering
- 19%Integration
- 16%Evaluation, Testing & Optimization
- 14%Governance, Safety & Risk Management
- 14%Stakeholder Communication & Lifecycle Management
- 7%Developer Productivity & Operational Enablement
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