Best AI certifications in 2026: exams, course certificates and what job ads name

Which AI certification is best?

For most beginners, the best AI certification is the AWS Certified AI Practitioner exam, or Microsoft's AI-901 if you already know some Python; Google AI Essentials suits people who want lessons. Which certification is best for AI work depends on two questions: do you want an exam or lessons, and do you already write code? The table gives our pick for each reader, based on the vendors' own entry rules (a prerequisite is what a vendor says you should have or know first).

Terms in the table: associate means a level above the entry exams at AWS and Microsoft; at NVIDIA, a company that makes computer chips used for AI, it is the lower of two levels. Python is a programming language that AI-901, AI-103, IBM's program and NVIDIA's NCP-GENL exam expect you to know. Generative AI is AI that writes text or makes images, and machine learning (ML) is software that learns patterns from data. A Scrum master coaches a team that works in Scrum, a method of running work in short cycles; a product owner decides what that team builds. UX designers plan how apps and websites work for the people who use them. PMI is the Project Management Institute, and Scrum.org is a training body for Scrum.

Source: vendor pages listed under Sources, checked October 3 and 6, 2026.

What are the best AI certifications in 2026?

The best AI certifications in 2026 fall into two kinds: proctored vendor exams from Microsoft, AWS, NVIDIA and PMI, and course certificates from Google, IBM and DeepLearning.AI on Coursera. Each row below quotes the vendor's level word and its own prerequisite wording.

The levels, from lowest to highest: entry (AI-901, AWS AI Practitioner), associate (AI-103, MLA-C01, NCA-GENL) and professional (NCP-GENL, NCP-AAI), NVIDIA's top level. Prices for AI-103 and PMI-CPMAI were not shown on the vendor pages.

Terms in this table: a large language model (LLM) is the kind of model behind AI chatbots; agentic AI means AI systems that carry out multi-step tasks on their own; an agent is such a system. Codes such as AI-901, MLA-C01, NCA-GENL (GENL stands for generative AI LLMs) or NCP-AAI (AAI stands for agentic AI) are exam names. Jupyter Notebooks is a tool for writing and running Python code in a browser. Professional Certificate and Specialization are Coursera's names for a series of related courses; Coursera is an online course site. Foundational and Fundamentals are the vendors' words for entry level.

Source: Microsoft Learn (Microsoft's training site), AWS, NVIDIA, PMI and Coursera pages listed under Sources, checked October 3 and 6, 2026. Coursera prices are US and Canada list prices.

Microsoft: AI-901 and AI-103

AI-901 is Microsoft's entry exam for the Azure AI Fundamentals certification. It costs $99 in the US (Microsoft prices exams by the country where you take them), counts a score of 700 as a pass and is offered in 13 languages. Its outline gives 40% to 45% of the exam's weight (its share of the questions) to identifying AI concepts and 55% to 60% to building AI solutions with Microsoft Foundry, a Microsoft tool for building AI apps. Microsoft says Fundamentals certifications do not expire, so there is nothing to renew. Microsoft's exam page does not give the number of questions or the time limit.

AI-103 leads to the Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate certification. It is a 120-minute proctored exam taken through Pearson VUE, a testing company, at a test center or online; a score of 700 is a pass. Microsoft says associate certifications expire every year, and it lets you renew by passing a free online assessment on Microsoft Learn. The Azure AI Engineer Associate exam, AI-102, is retired, and so is AI-900, as of June 30, 2026.

AWS: AI Practitioner and Machine Learning Engineer

The AWS Certified AI Practitioner is AWS's Foundational (entry-level) AI exam: 65 questions in 90 minutes, a score of 700 to pass, $100. It is valid for three years. To keep it, you pass the latest version again ($100 at today's fee) or earn the Machine Learning Engineer Associate (a level above entry, $150), which renews it automatically. The second route depends on whether you can book that exam (see below). If you fail, AWS makes you wait 14 days and pay the full fee again.

The Machine Learning Engineer Associate (exam MLA-C01) costs $150 for 65 multiple-choice and multiple-response questions (some have more than one right answer) in 130 minutes. AWS may have replaced the English exam: its page, read October 3, 2026, listed the English version as available through September 28, 2026. The same page showed an updated exam in beta (a trial version) in English only: $75, 85 questions, 170 minutes. Check AWS before booking. The older Machine Learning Specialty exam (MLS-C01) is retired; its last test day was March 31, 2026.

NVIDIA and PMI

We read three NVIDIA exam pages. The Associate generative AI exam (NCA-GENL) costs $125, lasts one hour and needs an account on Certiverse, an online testing platform; the two Professional exams (NCP-GENL and NCP-AAI) cost $200 each and are proctored remotely. All three stay valid for two years. For the two LLM exams, NVIDIA says you renew by taking the exam again, so holding NCA-GENL for four years costs two exams at $125, or $250 at today's fee. The 2-year validity is what NVIDIA's pages state; renewal for NCP-AAI is not covered here. NVIDIA's hub page lists other exams that we did not check, including the Generative AI Multimodal associate exam (NCA-GENM).

PMI, the Project Management Institute, sells PMI-CPMAI as a bundle of a 21-hour prep course and the exam. You must be 18 or older and complete the course; no experience is required. Holders keep it by earning 30 professional development units (PDUs, credits for continuing study) every three years. PMI's page shows no price.

Google, IBM and DeepLearning.AI on Coursera

These are course certificates, earned by finishing online lessons. Coursera charges by subscription, so the cost depends on how long you take. At Coursera's own time estimates, the Google AI Professional Certificate (8 hours) fits in one $49 month, and the Machine Learning Specialization (two months at 10 hours a week) comes to two months at $49, for a total of $98. The IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate takes four months at 10 hours a week; we did not verify its price. DeepLearning.AI offers other courses on Coursera; the Machine Learning Specialization is the only one we checked.

What are the best AI certifications for beginners?

The best AI certifications for beginners are the ones with no entry requirement: Google AI Essentials (Beginner, "Zero experience required") if you want lessons, and the AWS Certified AI Practitioner ($100, no prerequisite) if you want an exam. Microsoft's AI-901 is the other entry exam, but it expects some Python, so it suits beginners who already code a little; if you do not code, pick AWS first.

In our view, a sensible order for someone starting from zero is this. If you do not code, start with Google AI Essentials to learn the vocabulary. If you do, you can go straight to the entry exam for the cloud your target employers use. The Google AI Professional Certificate is the longer Google option. That is our judgment from the vendors' prerequisites, not a vendor recommendation. Hold off on the NVIDIA Professional exams (above associate level) and IBM's Intermediate program until you have the experience they ask for. NVIDIA recommends two to three years with large language models for NCP-GENL; IBM asks for working Python and also recommends its Data Science or Applied AI certificate first.

Do job ads ask for AI certifications?

We counted three AI exam phrases in cloud-engineer ads on Adzuna in October 2026: two Microsoft exam codes and one AWS exam name. The code ai-901 appeared in none of the 7,726 of 7,726 US cloud-engineer ads, and the full name aws certified ai practitioner in none of the 7,726 of those ads. This count says nothing for or against the exams.

We asked Adzuna for ads with cloud engineer in the job title and counted those that contain each phrase anywhere in the text. An exact phrase misses ads that describe the same credential in other words, so each count is a minimum.

Source: Adzuna API, job ads with cloud engineer in the title, collected in October 2026, matched by exact phrase; each cell is the number of ads that contain the phrase. Analysis: CertWorthIt. How we count.

A zero in a cell means the exact phrase was found in none of the ads counted, not that employers ignore AI skills. Each cell records whether an ad names the phrase, not whether the employer requires it.

What we did not count: Google, IBM, DeepLearning.AI, NVIDIA, PMI and Scrum.org credentials, Microsoft's AI-103 and AWS's Machine Learning Engineer Associate. We have no AI-engineer or data-scientist ads in our data either. Our cloud-engineer page shows what cloud-engineer ads name beyond these AI phrases.

What are the best AI certifications to get a job?

The best AI certifications to get a job are the ones named in ads for that job. Our count cannot say whether employers want these exams, so the picks below are our view, not a result of the data. For cloud roles, our pick is a vendor exam. Take the AWS Certified AI Practitioner for employers on AWS or AI-901 for employers on Azure, then the associate exam of the same vendor once you work with that vendor's cloud.

For other roles, we rely on the vendors' entry rules. A developer with Python app experience meets Microsoft's stated expectation for AI-103. A project manager can take PMI-CPMAI with no experience. A course certificate from Google, IBM or DeepLearning.AI shows that you completed the lessons; we have no data on how employers weigh it.

Is AI certification worth it?

In our view, an AI certification pays off when it costs little next to the time you would spend learning the skills anyway, and when the job you want uses that vendor's tools. The $99 and $100 entry exams meet the first test; the second depends on the ads in your market.

AI certifications worth getting: which ones first?

The AI certifications worth getting first are the low-cost ones that match your path: AI-901 ($99) or the AWS Certified AI Practitioner ($100, valid for three years). Leave the $200 NVIDIA Professional exams for when you have the experience NVIDIA recommends: 2 to 3 years for NCP-GENL, 1 to 2 for NCP-AAI. The entry exams cost little, and Microsoft says AI-901 does not expire.

Is AI certification worth it for jobs?

In our view, it is worth it when the ads for your target job name the credential. Our job-ads section shows what we could count, and we have no salary data by certificate.

Is the Google AI certification worth it?

Yes, as a low-cost first step, but not as proof of skill. Google's AI Essentials and AI Professional Certificate are short courses. They are course certificates with no proctored exam, so they show you finished the course rather than passed a supervised test. AI Essentials takes about 4 hours and the AI Professional Certificate about 8 hours by Coursera's estimate, at $49 a month in the US and Canada.

Is the Deep Learning AI certificate worth it?

It is worth it as a low-cost Beginner course series, not as an exam. The DeepLearning.AI Machine Learning Specialization is a course certificate from Stanford Online and DeepLearning.AI (an AI teaching company) on Coursera. It is the one DeepLearning.AI program we checked: three Beginner courses, about two months at 10 hours a week, so about $98 at $49 a month. We did not check DeepLearning.AI's other courses or its own membership prices.

Is an NVIDIA AI certification worth it?

An NVIDIA AI certification is worth considering if you already work with large language models (the AI behind chatbots), because NVIDIA recommends 2 to 3 years of AI work for NCP-GENL and 1 to 2 years for NCP-AAI. NVIDIA's page prices the Associate generative AI exam (NCA-GENL) at $125 and asks only for "a basic understanding of generative AI and large language models"; it expires after two years.

Which AI certification fits your job?

Only some jobs have an AI certification aimed at them. Project managers have one from PMI, and Scrum masters have a Scrum.org assessment, though we could confirm only that its page exists. For analysts and designers, we found none on an official page.

Best AI certification for project managers

PMI-CPMAI (PMI Certified Professional in Managing AI) is the AI credential from PMI, the body behind the PMP, a well-known project-management certification. It needs no experience: you must be 18 or older and finish PMI's 21-hour prep course, which comes in the bundle. The exam has 120 questions in 160 minutes, in 10 languages, and you keep the credential by earning 30 PDUs (credits for continuing study) every three years. PMI's page shows no price. Our PMP page covers PMI's main project-management credential.

Best AI certification for product managers

We found no AI certification for product managers on an official page. A Professional Scrum Product Owner AI Essentials assessment appeared only in search results, and we could not read its page, so check Scrum.org if you work with product owners. Google AI Essentials is a low-cost way to learn the terms in the meantime.

Best AI certification for Scrum master or product owner

For a Scrum master, the best AI certification we found is the Professional Scrum Master AI Essentials assessment. Scrum.org, a training body for Scrum, lists it for Scrum masters. We confirmed only that the page exists; check its rules and price there. Our Scrum-master page covers the main Scrum credentials and what Scrum-master ads name.

Best AI certification for a data analyst or business analyst

To learn the skills, the two Beginner options in this guide are Google AI Essentials (about 4 hours) and the Machine Learning Specialization (about two months at 10 hours a week). We found no AI certification aimed at data analysts or business analysts on an official page. Our data-analyst page shows which tools and credentials data-analyst ads name.

Best AI certification for software engineers and developers

For software engineers and developers who already build apps in Python, Microsoft's AI-103 is the closest match: it expects "experience developing apps by using Python" and familiarity with generative AI and Azure services. The AWS Machine Learning Engineer Associate is the AWS option, if you can book the English version; we did not verify its prerequisites. NVIDIA's NCA-GENL ($125) is vendor-specific but asks only for basic knowledge of large language models.

Best AI certification for UX designers

We found no AI certification for UX designers on an official page. If you want a starting point, Google AI Essentials, with zero experience required and about 4 hours of lessons, is the shortest course certificate in this guide.

Best AI certifications on Reddit: what do posters ask?

Reddit posters ask practical questions: how much Python they need, how long an exam takes and whether a course is worth the time. Below are questions from public Reddit threads on r/AzureCertification, r/AWSCertifications, r/coursera and r/learnmachinelearning (subforums of Reddit, a discussion site), with answers from the vendors' pages. Posters are a self-selected group, so these show what people ask, not how many share a view.

• How much Python AI-901 needs (r/AzureCertification, June 2026): Microsoft says you need "knowledge of Python coding syntax and programming techniques" and familiarity with Azure resources. It does not publish the number of questions or the time limit on the exam page.
• A software developer who found AI-901 easy asked whether to take it (r/AzureCertification, September 2026): AI-103 is Microsoft's associate-level option for developers, with Python app experience as its stated expectation and a free yearly renewal.
• Whether to go for the AWS AI exam (r/AWSCertifications, August 2026): it costs $100, has no prerequisite and stays valid for three years.
• How long the AWS AI exam took (r/AWSCertifications, September 2026): AWS allows 90 minutes for 65 questions.
• Whether IBM's AI Engineering certificate on Coursera is worth the time (r/coursera, April 2026, r/coursera, July 2026): Coursera lists it as Intermediate. It has 13 courses over about four months at 10 hours a week and asks for working Python first.
• What order to take DeepLearning.AI courses in when changing careers (r/learnmachinelearning, September 2026): we checked only the Machine Learning Specialization, which Coursera lists as Beginner level.
• Why a Google AI Essentials certificate was locked after a free trial (r/coursera, May 2026): Coursera's page says it charges $49 a month after the 7-day free trial. We did not check Coursera's rules on certificate access after a trial ends.

Our Coursera review covers how Coursera certificates and subscriptions work.

Sources

• Adzuna job-ad counts, cloud-engineer ads in the US, the UK and India, October 2026; analysis: CertWorthIt. How we count.
• Microsoft Learn, AI-900, Azure AI Fundamentals, AI-901, Azure AI Engineer (AI-102), Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate, AI-103 study guide and renewal, checked October 3, 2026.
• AWS, AI Practitioner, Machine Learning Engineer Associate, Machine Learning Specialty and after-testing policies, checked October 3, 2026.
• NVIDIA, certification hub, NCA-GENL, NCP-GENL and NCP-AAI, checked October 6, 2026.
• PMI, PMI-CPMAI, checked October 6, 2026.
• Scrum.org, Professional Scrum Master AI Essentials, existence only, October 6, 2026.
• Coursera, Google AI Professional Certificate, Google AI Essentials, Machine Learning Specialization and IBM AI Engineering, checked October 3, 2026.
• Public Reddit threads linked in the text.

Edited by Elena Marsh · Vendor pages checked October 3 and 6, 2026