Microcredentials from AWS are now free—Here’s why that matters

Starting today, microcredentials are freely accessible to all builders. No AWS Skill Builder subscription required.

That’s the news. But the reason this change matters goes deeper than a pricing update. Skills validation is evolving.

Cloud and AI skills are in high demand. The pace of AI adoption is outrunning most organizations’ ability to skill their workforce. Builders are responding: they’re taking courses, completing labs, and earning certifications at record rates.

AWS Certifications and microcredentials are complementary ways to validate what you know and what you can do. Certifications are role-based assessments that validate broad knowledge across a domain. Microcredentials go a step further by placing builders in simulated business scenarios where they solve real challenges directly in a live AWS environment—configuring, troubleshooting, and optimizing solutions the same way they would on the job.

Together, they give the most complete picture of a builder’s cloud expertise.

What microcredentials actually test

AWS microcredentials are hands-on assessments that place builders in simulated business scenarios and ask them to solve real challenges directly in the provisioned AWS environment. There are no multiple-choice questions. Builders configure, troubleshoot, and optimize in a live environment, the same way they would on the job.

Four microcredentials are available today:

• AWS Serverless Demonstrated: Validates hands-on ability to implement and troubleshoot serverless AWS services, including AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, AWS Step Functions, and Amazon DynamoDB.
• AWS Agentic AI Demonstrated: Validates hands-on ability to troubleshoot, repair, integrate, and enhance AI agents built using Amazon Bedrock.
• AWS Application Networking Demonstrated: Validates hands-on ability to execute core tasks related to application delivery, performance optimization, and modern application architecture.
• AWS Incident Response Demonstrated: Validates hands-on ability to identify, contain, and remediate common AWS security incidents.

More microcredentials are planned for release in 2026.

This isn’t about price, it’s about accessibility. Microcredentials are available now in all countries where AWS Skill Builder is offered, explore microcredentials on AWS Skill Builder.