By Quick answer: Which AI certifications help cloud engineers?
- AWS — ML Engineer, AI Practitioner.
- Azure — AI-102.
- Google Cloud — PMLE.
- GPUs — NVIDIA DLI.
Key takeaways
- Cloud engineers increasingly run AI workloads.
- GPU cost and capacity are new skills.
- MLOps sits between cloud and data science.
AI workloads are some of the fastest-growing on every cloud. Cloud engineers who can deploy, scale and secure them are in demand. These seven certifications cover that.
Seven AI certifications for cloud engineers
Ranked for this reader. Costs and formats come from each issuer's own page, checked on 3 November 2026; prices change, so confirm before you book.
| # | Certification | Cost | Time | Prove it free |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – AssociateAmazon Web Services | $1501 | Check issuer | Free test |
| 2 | AWS Certified AI PractitionerAmazon Web Services | $1002 | 90 minutes, 65 questions | Free test |
| 3 | Microsoft Azure AI Engineer Associate (AI-102)Microsoft | Exam priced by country3 | 100 minutes | Free test |
| 4 | Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning EngineerGoogle Cloud | $2004 | 2 hours, multiple choice | Free test |
| 5 | Databricks Certified Generative AI Engineer AssociateDatabricks | $2005 | 90 minutes | Free test |
| 6 | NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute CertificatesNVIDIA | Mix of free and paid courses6 | Self-paced | Free test |
| 7 | Generative AI with Large Language ModelsDeepLearning.AI & AWS / Coursera | Coursera plan7 | 2 weeks at 10 hours a week | Free test |
Prove it free before you pay for an exam
Take the free test first. Pay for an exam only when you pass.
Every pick above has a matching free practice test on Science of Apps, one of the world's largest libraries of free certification tests (1,200+). Check your level before you pay for an exam, or add a verifiable credential to LinkedIn while you study. (Disclosure: we publish these tests; the certifications above earn us nothing.)
- AWS ML Engineer Associate Practice ExamPractise for AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate before you pay.Start free test →
- AWS AI Practitioner Practice ExamPractise for AWS Certified AI Practitioner before you pay.Start free test →
- AI-102 Practice TestPractise for Microsoft Azure AI Engineer Associate (AI-102) before you pay.Start free test →
- Google Professional ML Engineer Practice ExamPractise for Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer before you pay.Start free test →
Each certification, and the AI workload it covers
- AWSAWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – AssociateML on AWS$150
- AWSAWS Certified AI PractitionerAI basics on AWS$100
- MicrosoftMicrosoft Azure AI Engineer Associate (AI-102)AI apps on AzureExam priced by country
AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate
- Cost
- $1501
$150 associate exam on ML on AWS. AWS's associate exam proves you can prepare data, train, deploy and monitor machine learning models on AWS. It costs $150 and expects hands-on ML and AWS experience, making it a strong credential for ML engineers.
Best forML on AWS
AWS Certified AI Practitioner
- Cost
- $1002
- Format
- 90 minutes, 65 questions
$100 foundational AI exam. AWS's foundational exam covers AI, machine learning and generative AI concepts and how AWS services support them. It's 90 minutes with 65 questions and costs $100, so it suits cloud, tech and business staff who need AI literacy.
Best forAI basics on AWS
Microsoft Azure AI Engineer Associate (AI-102)
- Cost
- Exam priced by country3
- Format
- 100 minutes
Building AI solutions on Azure. Microsoft's associate exam proves you can build AI solutions on Azure, including generative AI, language and vision apps. It's a 100-minute exam priced by country, needs coding skills and renews free online each year.
Best forAI apps on Azure
Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer
- Cost
- $2004
- Format
- 2 hours, multiple choice
$200 professional ML exam. Google Cloud's professional exam tests production machine learning: framing problems, building pipelines and serving and monitoring models. It's two hours, costs $200 and is aimed at experienced ML engineers.
Best forML on Google Cloud
Databricks Certified Generative AI Engineer Associate
- Cost
- $2005
- Format
- 90 minutes
$200 GenAI engineer exam. Databricks' associate exam proves you can design and build LLM applications on the Databricks platform, from data preparation to evaluation. It's 90 minutes and costs $200, so it suits data and AI engineers whose teams use Databricks.
Best forGenAI on Databricks
NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute Certificates
- Cost
- Mix of free and paid courses6
NVIDIA's courses on GPU computing. NVIDIA's Deep Learning Institute offers hands-on courses in deep learning, accelerated computing and generative AI, with GPU-backed labs. Some courses are free and others are paid, and each gives a course certificate.
Best forGPU workloads
Generative AI with Large Language Models
- Cost
- Coursera plan7
- Time
- 2 weeks at 10 hours a week
How LLMs are fine-tuned and deployed. DeepLearning.AI and AWS's course explains how large language models work, how to fine-tune and evaluate them and how to deploy them. It takes about two weeks at ten hours a week and suits developers and data scientists with Python.
Best forLLM operations
AI workload skills
- Serving — endpoints and autoscaling.
- Cost — GPU usage and limits.
- Monitoring — latency, errors and drift.
- Security — data and model access.
How we ranked these picks
We chose AI certifications that fit cloud engineering. Fees come from official pages, checked 3 November 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What AI certification should cloud engineers take?
The ML exam on your cloud: AWS MLE, AI-102 or GC PMLE.
What is MLOps?
Running ML models reliably in production.
Do cloud engineers need ML theory?
Basics help; operations skills matter most.
Is NVIDIA DLI useful?
For GPU-heavy workloads, yes.
Is there a free AI test?
Yes. Science of Apps offers free cloud and AI tests.
Sources
- Amazon Web Services — AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate, official page (checked 3 Nov 2026)
- Amazon Web Services — AWS Certified AI Practitioner, official page (checked 3 Nov 2026)
- Microsoft — Microsoft Azure AI Engineer Associate (AI-102), official page (checked 3 Nov 2026)
- Google Cloud — Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer, official page (checked 3 Nov 2026)
- Databricks — Databricks Certified Generative AI Engineer Associate, official page (checked 3 Nov 2026)
- NVIDIA — NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute Certificates, official page (checked 3 Nov 2026)
- DeepLearning.AI & AWS — Generative AI with Large Language Models, official page (checked 3 Nov 2026)
- Checked November 4, 2026. Figures that change — fees, salaries, prices — are reviewed every six months; if something is out of date, tell us.
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