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Compare Google Cloud certification levels, purpose, audience, indicative difficulty, focus and exam cost.
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Independent Certification Reference LearningQuiz Quick Reference: Google Cloud Certification Levels & Costs
Compare Google Cloud certification levels, purpose, audience, indicative difficulty, focus and exam cost. Prices were last checked in October 2026; always confirm on the official Google Cloud page before booking.
All Foundational Associate Professional
Level | Certification | Exam | Primary purpose | Typical audience | Difficulty | Main focus | Exam cost
Foundational | Cloud Digital Leader | — | Cloud/business fundamentals | Business & technical professionals | Beginner | Cloud concepts, transformation, data, AI, security | $99*
Foundational | Generative AI Leader | — | Generative AI business leadership | Business leaders / professionals | Beginner | GenAI concepts, Google Cloud AI, responsible adoption | $99*
Associate | Associate Cloud Engineer | — | Deploy and operate cloud solutions | Cloud engineers | Intermediate | Compute, networking, storage, IAM, operations | $125*
Associate | Associate Google Workspace Administrator | — | Administer Google Workspace | Workspace administrators | Intermediate | Users, services, security, administration | $125*
Associate | Associate Data Practitioner | — | Core data skills on Google Cloud | Data practitioners | Intermediate | Data processing, analytics, governance | $125*
Professional | Professional Cloud Architect | — | Design enterprise cloud architectures | Cloud / solution architects | Advanced | Architecture, reliability, security, cost, migration | $200*
Professional | Professional Cloud Database Engineer | — | Design and manage cloud databases | Database engineers | Advanced | Database design, migration, operations, performance | $200*
Professional | Professional Cloud Developer | — | Build cloud-native applications | Developers | Advanced | Application development, deployment, APIs, observability | $200*
Professional | Professional Data Engineer | — | Design data processing systems | Data engineers | Advanced | Data pipelines, analytics, governance, ML integration | $200*
Professional | Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer | — | Implement DevOps practices | DevOps / SRE engineers | Advanced | CI/CD, reliability, monitoring, incident response | $200*
Professional | Professional Cloud Security Engineer | — | Secure Google Cloud environments | Cloud security engineers | Advanced | IAM, data protection, network security, compliance | $200*
Professional | Professional Cloud Network Engineer | — | Design and operate cloud networks | Network engineers | Advanced | VPC, hybrid connectivity, routing, load balancing | $200*
Professional | Professional Machine Learning Engineer | — | Build and operate ML systems | ML engineers | Advanced | ML pipelines, Vertex AI, deployment, monitoring | $200*
Professional | Professional Security Operations Engineer | — | Operate cloud security defenses | Security operations professionals | Advanced | Threat detection, investigation, response, SIEM | $200*
Professional | Professional Agentic Architect (Beta) | — | Design agentic AI architectures | AI / cloud architects | Beta | Agent platforms, architecture, security, orchestration | $200*
GA opens 2 Nov
Suggested technical career path
Cloud Digital Leader → Associate Cloud Engineer → Professional Cloud Architect / role certification → Specialized Professional
Cost notes
Google Cloud exam fees shown here are standard USD registration fees and may have applicable taxes. Cloud Digital Leader is $99, Associate exams are commonly $125, and Professional exams are $200. Registration for the Professional Agentic Architect beta is closed, and general availability registration opens on 2 November (the beta was $120, a 40% discount on the $200 standard price). Check the official page for the final price and availability. Google Cloud exams do not use exam codes. Google Cloud also offers separate career certificates; those are not the exam-based certifications listed in this table.
Original reference material, not affiliated with or endorsed by Google LLC. Content last updated in 2026; exams, retirements and prices change, so the actual details may differ. Always check the official Google Cloud certification pages before booking. Google, Google Cloud and Google Cloud certification names are trademarks of Google LLC and are used only to identify the subject.