Anthropic · Claude Certification Program
Anthropic runs four Claude certifications: Claude Certified Associate - Foundations (CCAO-F), Developer - Foundations (CCDV-F), Architect - Foundations (CCAR-F) and Architect - Professional (CCAR-P). CCAO-F is for people who use Claude in everyday professional work, CCDV-F for engineers building on the Claude API, CCAR-F for solution architects designing agent systems, and CCAR-P for senior practitioners designing enterprise-scale deployments. Every exam is a proctored Pearson VUE test of 120 minutes with a pass mark of 720 on a scaled range of 100 to 1,000. Registration requires a work email on a Claude Partner Network organisation's recognised company domain, so a personal address is rejected.
Side by side
Every exam runs 120 minutes and needs 720 of 1,000. The fee, the item count and the domain map differ.
| Certification | Fee | Items | Minutes | Pass mark | Validity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCAO-F: Claude Certified Associate - Foundations | $99 USD | 60 | 120 | 720 of 1,000 | 12 months |
| CCDV-F: Claude Certified Developer - Foundations | $125 USD | 53 | 120 | 720 of 1,000 | 12 months |
| CCAR-F: Claude Certified Architect - Foundations | $125 USD | 60 | 120 | 720 of 1,000 | 12 months |
| CCAR-P: Claude Certified Architect - Professional | $175 USD | 63 | 120 | 720 of 1,000 | 12 months |
Fees are Anthropic's published list prices in USD before partner-tier discounts, and a retake costs the same as a first attempt; confirm the price at registration before booking. Checked against the official certification FAQ and Exam Guides v1.0 on 17 September 2026.
Official sources: Anthropic's certification FAQ, its partner certifications page and the page for each exam (CCAO-F, CCDV-F, CCAR-F, CCAR-P), where its exam guide is published; Pearson VUE's Anthropic exam page; and the Anthropic badges on Credly. Terms are defined in the Claude certification glossary.
Choose a path
These are role-based, not a ladder: "Foundations" does not mean beginner. Choose the one whose day-to-day work looks most like yours.
Associate
$99 USD official exam fee at list price. Confirm before booking.
The entry-level Claude credential. Focuses on practical, everyday use of Claude: prompting, evaluating output, choosing the right product surface, and applying it safely inside real workflows.
Developer
$125 USD official exam fee at list price. Confirm before booking.
The developer credential. Covers building on the Claude API: context engineering, tool use, agents, Claude Code and MCP integration, plus the production concerns of shipping an LLM application.
Architect
$125 USD official exam fee at list price. Confirm before booking.
The architect foundations credential. Covers designing agentic systems end to end: orchestration, tool design and MCP integration, Claude Code configuration, structured output, and context management.
Architect (Professional)
$175 USD official exam fee at list price. Confirm before booking.
The most advanced Claude credential. Covers enterprise solution design, production integration, governance and risk, stakeholder and lifecycle management, and enabling developer teams at scale.
Claude certification is currently limited to people at Claude Partner Network organisations, and registration requires a work email on a recognised company domain. Partner Network membership has no fee, but new applicants enter at a tier that commits the organisation to certifying practitioners. Check your eligibility first
Practical answers
The practical questions people hit before booking, and the Claude certification blog for everything upstream of that.
Questions
Straight answers to the questions people actually search for.
Four: Claude Certified Associate - Foundations (CCAO-F), Claude Certified Developer - Foundations (CCDV-F), Claude Certified Architect - Foundations (CCAR-F), and Claude Certified Architect - Professional (CCAR-P). They are role-based rather than sequential, and there are no formal prerequisites between them.
At list price, $99 USD for CCAO-F, $125 for CCDV-F, $125 for CCAR-F and $175 for CCAR-P, per attempt. Select, Preferred and Global Premier partners receive 50 percent off, and Global Premier partners pay nothing through 31 December 2026. A retake costs the same as a first attempt. Confirm the price shown at checkout before booking.
Through the Anthropic Partner Academy, which hands scheduling to Pearson VUE. You need to be at a Claude Partner Network organisation and register with a work email on a recognised company domain; personal addresses such as Gmail are rejected. Choose online proctoring or a Pearson VUE test centre. Joining the Partner Network has no fee.
Match it to your work. If you use Claude day to day without writing code against the API, take CCAO-F. If you build applications on the Claude API, take CCDV-F. If you design agent systems for others to build, take CCAR-F. CCAR-P is aimed at senior practitioners designing enterprise-scale deployments, and nothing requires you to hold a Foundations credential first.
Not an official one. Anthropic retired its practice exam when delivery moved to Pearson VUE, so the sample questions in each exam guide are the only official practice material. Cred Farmer publishes a no-account mock exam for each of the four codes, written for the 2026 blueprints, with a reason given for every option.
Yes. A pass is issued as a digital badge on Credly, usually within minutes of an online-proctored exam and a little later after a test-centre sitting. Accept the badge email, and you can share the live badge page or download a PDF certificate from Credly. Pearson VUE separately provides the score report.
Twelve months from the date it is awarded. On-time renewal is a free, non-proctored assessment on the Anthropic Partner Academy; if the credential lapses you must retake the full proctored exam at the applicable fee. Confirm current terms on the official certification page.
Study guides mapped to every domain, spaced-repetition flashcards, and five timed forms per exam built to its published blueprint are available across all four tracks, and every timed form contributes blueprint-based practice evidence. Individual preparation is free while in open beta.
Start preparing freeNot affiliated with, or endorsed by, Anthropic or Pearson VUE. Program details are summarised from publicly published information and can change; always confirm against the official exam guide before booking.
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