Which Claude certification is for you?
Anthropic runs four Claude certifications. They aren't four difficulty levels of one exam — they test genuinely different work. Two questions get most people to the right one.
Pick from the map, or answer three questions for a recommendation.
Pick a cell on the map
Choose a cell on the map, or answer three quick questions to get a recommendation.
Two axes, not a ladder: across is what you do with Claude, down is how far your responsibility goes. No exam is a prerequisite for another — Developer and Architect — Foundations are parallel tracks.
If not, Associate is your exam. It's the only one that assumes no software development experience.
Developer and Architect — Foundations are both hands-on building exams; pick by what you build. Developer covers the API and application surface broadly. Architect — Foundations goes deep on agents, tools, and Claude Code. Architect — Professional is the one where you also carry stakeholders, compliance, and SLAs.
| Certification | Who it's for | Code? | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Certified Associate — FoundationsCCAO-FPractice available → | Knowledge workers using Claude day to day — ops, marketing, project management, educationGetting good results from Claude, and knowing when to trust them | No | 60 Q · 120 min · $99 |
| Claude Certified Developer — FoundationsCCDV-FPractice available → | Engineers building applications on ClaudeThe Claude API, agents, MCP, and the engineering judgement to ship production code | Yes | 53 Q · 120 min · $125 |
| Claude Certified Architect — FoundationsCCAR-FPractice available → | Engineers building agentic systems with Claude Code and the Agent SDKDeep, hands-on work: agent orchestration, tool and MCP design, Claude Code configuration | Yes | 60 Q · 120 min · $125 |
| Claude Certified Architect — ProfessionalCCAR-PPractice available → | Architects who design Claude systems and answer to the stakeholders funding themSolution design, RAG, evaluation, compliance — and defending the decisions | Yes | 63 Q · 120 min · $175 |
All four are proctored through Pearson VUE, run 120 minutes, and pass at 720 on a 100–1,000 scale. Certifications are valid for 12 months. Each fee above links to that exam's cost and registration page. Still deciding? Is a Claude certification worth it?
Architect — Foundations is the most technically demanding of the four. It expects exact CLI flags, config filenames, and tool-count thresholds — more implementation detail than Architect — Professional, which trades depth for breadth and judgement. Read “Foundations” as a tier in the program, not as a measure of difficulty. It sits alongside Developer, not below Architect — Professional.
Start with Anthropic's own material
We're an independent practice-question bank, not a substitute for the source. Before you pay for anything, read the official exam guide for your certification and work through the free courses.
- Anthropic Academy — free coursesFree, self-paced, and genuinely good. Requires a free signup.
- Pearson VUE — register and download exam guidesEach guide publishes the full domain blueprint and weights.
One thing worth knowing: only Architect — Foundations has prep courses on the public Academy. The other three route to prep paths inside Anthropic's Partner Network, so if you aren't at a partner organisation there is no free official course for them yet.