# Claude Certification: The Four Exams, Fees and Eligibility > Anthropic's four Claude certifications explained: Associate, Developer and Architect, the fees, the exam, who can sit them, and what a business should do. - Canonical: https://sentrysolutions.ai/claude-certification # Claude certification: what exists and who can sit it. Anthropic's four Claude certifications, what each costs, how the exam works, who is allowed to sit it, and what a New Zealand or Australian business should do instead. Every figure is Anthropic's own, read from its [certification FAQ](https://anthropic-partners.skilljar.com/page/faq-certifications) on 10 November 2026. [See the four exams](#exams) [For a business](#business) The short answer Anthropic runs four Claude certifications: Associate, Developer, Architect Foundations and Architect Professional. Each is a 120-minute proctored exam run through Pearson, costing US$99 to US$175 at full price and lasting 12 months. They are open only to people at firms in the Claude Partner Network, and each belongs to the person, not the company: there is no certification for a business using Claude. Anthropic's free courses give a certificate of completion, which is not a certification. As listed on 10 November 2026. ## The four certifications Role-based, launched through 2026 ([Anthropic](https://claude.com/resources/articles/four-role-based-claude-certifications)). Fees are full price in US dollars; partners at the Select tier and above get half off at checkout. Certification For Fee Counts towards a partner tier Claude Certified Associate: Foundations Anyone working on Claude projects, technical or not US$99 No Claude Certified Developer: Foundations Engineers building applications with Claude US$125 Yes Claude Certified Architect: Foundations Architects who design and build agent systems with Claude US$125 Yes Claude Certified Architect: Professional Architects working at the scale of large enterprises US$175 Yes The exam What Anthropic says Format Multiple-choice and scenario-based multiple-response questions Length 120 minutes; allow about 135 in the seat Where Online with Pearson OnVUE, or at a Pearson test centre, after an ID check Prerequisite None: you can sit Architect Professional without Foundations Proof A Credly badge in the person's own name Lasts 12 months; on-time renewal is free and not proctored Retakes Wait 14, then 30, then 90 days; at most four attempts in 12 months ## Who can sit it Only people at firms in the Claude Partner Network. Registration needs an email address on the partner's company domain, and personal addresses are refused. Joining the network is free for any organisation bringing Claude to market ([Anthropic](https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-partner-network)), which means consultancies, integrators and software firms. A business that uses Claude for its own work is not the audience, so its staff cannot sit the exams today. For the firms that can, certification is how the network is tiered ([Anthropic](https://www.anthropic.com/news/services-track-partner-hub)). A certified practitioner must hold a current certification and have used Claude in the past 90 days, and the Associate exam does not count. ### Registered Where a new partner starts ### Select At least 10 active certified people ### Preferred At least 100 active certified people ### Global Premier At least 1,000 active certified people, plus customers across three regions ## A certificate is not a certification Most of what ranks for "Claude certification" is a course. Anthropic's own [free self-paced courses](https://anthropic.skilljar.com/) give a certificate of completion; Coursera sells a career certificate for a course Anthropic sponsors; DeepLearning.AI runs free short courses on Claude Code, MCP and skills with no exam. All of them are worth doing. None is proctored, none expires, and none counts towards a partner tier. If a CV or a proposal says "Claude certified", ask which of the two it means. For a business ## What to do instead of a certificate Every Claude certification belongs to the person who passed it and leaves with them. A business has nothing to certify, so the question worth answering is whether your people use Claude well on their own work, and that is something you can measure: time a task before, build it into a skill, time it again. That is what our [Claude training day](https://sentrysolutions.ai/claude-training) does, in your office. It gives no certificate; each person leaves with one workflow built into a Claude skill and the timed number to show it worked. If you are choosing a firm to roll Claude out, ask for its people's current Credly badges and its partner tier, then ask what it measured at its last client. The second answer tells you more. Next step ยท Claude training ## Want proof your team can use Claude, not a badge? The Claude training day runs in your office on your team's real work. Each person leaves with a skill built for a job they do every week, timed before and after. The workshop formats cover shorter sessions and ChatGPT teams too. [See the Claude training day](https://sentrysolutions.ai/claude-training) [All workshop formats](https://sentrysolutions.ai/workshops) ## Frequently asked questions ### Is there an official Claude certification? Yes. Anthropic runs four role-based certifications: Associate, Developer, Architect Foundations and Architect Professional. Each is a proctored exam run through Pearson, and passing earns a Credly badge. As of 10 November 2026 they are open only to people at firms in the Claude Partner Network. ### Can anyone sit a Claude certification exam? Not yet. Anthropic says certification is currently available only to organisations in the Claude Partner Network, and registration needs an email address on the partner's company domain; personal email addresses are refused. Candidates must be 18 or over. Joining the network is free for any organisation bringing Claude to market, which in practice means consultancies, integrators and software firms, not the businesses using Claude. ### How much does a Claude certification cost? At full price, US$99 for Associate, US$125 for Developer, US$125 for Architect Foundations and US$175 for Architect Professional. Partners at the Select tier and above get 50% off at checkout. These are Anthropic's fees as listed on 10 November 2026; Architect Foundations rose from US$99 on 30 June 2026, so older articles quote the wrong figure. ### What is the Claude certification exam like? Multiple-choice and scenario-based multiple-response questions, 120 minutes long, taken online with OnVUE or at a Pearson test centre after an ID check. There is no prerequisite, so you can sit Architect Professional without holding Foundations. A failed attempt means waiting 14, then 30, then 90 days, with at most four attempts in any 12 months. ### How long does a Claude certification last? Twelve months from the day you earn it. Renewing on time is free and the renewal is not proctored; let it lapse and you pay full price to sit the whole exam again. ### Are the free Anthropic Academy courses a certification? No. Anthropic's free self-paced courses give a certificate of completion, which shows someone finished a course. A certification is a proctored exam with an expiry. Both are useful; they are not the same thing, and only the exams count towards a firm's standing in the Claude Partner Network. ### Can a business get certified on Claude? No. Every Claude certification belongs to the person who passed it and goes with them if they change jobs. The nearest thing a firm can hold is a tier in the Claude Partner Network, and each tier is defined by how many active certified people the firm has. A business using Claude has no certification to earn; what it can show is whether its people use Claude well on their own work. ### How do I check a Claude consultant is certified? Ask for each named person's Credly badge, and check it is current: badges expire after 12 months. Then ask which partner tier the firm holds. Select needs at least 10 active certified people, Preferred 100 and Global Premier 1,000, and a certified practitioner must also have used Claude in the past 90 days. The Associate certification does not count towards a tier. ## Rolling Claude out across a team? Start with the plan, then the people. Which plan to buy is on [Claude Team vs Enterprise](https://sentrysolutions.ai/claude-for-business/team-vs-enterprise); how we move a team onto it is on [Claude for business](https://sentrysolutions.ai/claude-for-business). 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