AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
275 practice questions
Last reviewed: April 2026
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The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) is AWS's foundational credential and is intentionally accessible to non-technical roles. It validates a working understanding of the AWS Cloud value proposition, the major service families, basic security and compliance models, and AWS pricing and support. The exam targets a broad audience — sales, marketing, project managers, finance, junior developers, and anyone supporting AWS-using teams — as well as career changers entering cloud for the first time. Expect mostly conceptual questions: definitions, "which service does X", and shared-responsibility boundaries. CLF-C02 launched in September 2023, refreshing CLF-C01 with broader service coverage (machine learning, container, and migration services) and updated billing concepts.
AWS value proposition, the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF), Well-Architected Framework pillars, and basic economics (CapEx vs. OpEx, elasticity). Mostly definitional.
The largest domain at 30% (tied). The shared-responsibility model is the single most-tested concept on the exam. IAM basics, MFA, root-account hygiene, AWS Artifact, and broad compliance program awareness.
Largest domain at 34%. Recognition-level familiarity with EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, VPC, CloudFront, Route 53, IAM, plus newer additions like SageMaker, Bedrock awareness, and migration services. Memorize service categories and one-line use cases.
AWS pricing models (On-Demand, Reserved, Savings Plans, Spot), Free Tier, Cost Explorer, Budgets, and AWS Support tiers. Smallest domain (12%) but consistently appears on the exam.
Services you'll encounter on the exam and why each one matters.
Resizable virtual machines spanning general-purpose, compute-optimized, memory-optimized, GPU, and Graviton instance families, with on-demand, reserved, savings-plan, and spot purchasing options.
Why it's on the exam: EC2 is the headline compute service in Domain 3 (Cloud Technology and Services) — expect questions on instance families, purchasing options, and shared-responsibility boundaries.
Object storage with eleven 9s of durability, lifecycle-managed storage classes (Standard, IA, One Zone-IA, Glacier Instant/Flexible/Deep Archive), and account-wide versioning, replication, and encryption.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 3 tests storage-class selection, Domain 2 (Security and Compliance) tests bucket-policy and Block Public Access defaults — S3 sits on both.
Logically isolated virtual network within an AWS account: subnets, route tables, internet/NAT gateways, security groups, and network ACLs.
Why it's on the exam: The default networking primitive — Domain 3 questions on public vs. private subnets and Domain 2 questions on segmentation both reference VPC.
Serverless compute that runs code in response to events with sub-second metering, no server management, and built-in integrations to S3, API Gateway, EventBridge, and Step Functions.
Why it's on the exam: CLF-C02 frames Lambda as the canonical "pay-per-execution" answer when distinguishing serverless from EC2 in Domain 3.
Managed relational database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server, and Aurora — with managed backups, patching, Multi-AZ, and read replicas.
Why it's on the exam: The reference answer for "managed SQL on AWS" in Domain 3; Multi-AZ vs. read replicas is a recurring distractor pair.
Fully managed serverless NoSQL key-value and document database with single-digit-millisecond latency, on-demand or provisioned capacity, and global tables.
Why it's on the exam: CLF-C02 tests "pick SQL vs. NoSQL" service-selection questions where DynamoDB is the AWS-native NoSQL answer under Domain 3.
Policy-driven horizontal scaling for EC2, ECS, DynamoDB, and Aurora replicas — adjusts capacity to maintain target metrics or scheduled load.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 1 (Cloud Concepts) tests elasticity as a core cloud value proposition — Auto Scaling is the AWS-native mechanism behind that concept.
Managed load balancing across Application (L7), Network (L4), and Gateway variants, with cross-AZ distribution, health checks, and TLS termination.
Why it's on the exam: Paired with Auto Scaling as the canonical high-availability answer in Domain 3; the ALB vs. NLB vs. GLB distinction shows up in service-selection questions.
Global CDN that caches content at 600+ edge locations, with origin shield, signed URLs, and AWS WAF / Lambda@Edge integration.
Why it's on the exam: The expected answer for "reduce latency for global users" scenarios in Domain 3 — also surfaces in Domain 2 (DDoS protection via Shield).
Managed DNS with health checks, latency / geolocation / weighted / failover routing policies, plus domain registration and private hosted zones.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 3 tests Route 53 routing policies as the AWS-native answer for traffic distribution across regions or origins.
Infrastructure-as-code service that provisions and updates stacks of AWS resources from JSON/YAML templates, with drift detection and change sets.
Why it's on the exam: CLF-C02 names CloudFormation as the AWS-native IaC answer when contrasting with manual console provisioning under Domain 3.
Multi-account management with consolidated billing, organizational units, service control policies (SCPs), and centralized policy enforcement.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 4 (Billing, Pricing, and Support) tests consolidated billing volume discounts; Domain 2 tests SCPs as guardrails across accounts.
Account inspector across five pillars — cost optimization, performance, security, fault tolerance, and service limits — with severity-rated recommendations.
Why it's on the exam: Trusted Advisor is the named CLF-C02 answer for "what tool surfaces cost and security findings?" under Domains 2 and 4.
Cost Explorer visualizes and forecasts spend across accounts and tags; AWS Budgets sets thresholds with alert and automated-action triggers.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 4 (Billing, Pricing, and Support) directly tests these as the two named tools for spend visibility and proactive cost control.
Tiered support offering — Basic, Developer, Business, Enterprise On-Ramp, Enterprise — differing on response SLAs, Trusted Advisor coverage, TAM access, and Concierge support.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 4 questions ask which Support plan tier unlocks which feature (e.g., TAM, 24/7 phone, full Trusted Advisor) — memorizing tiers is unavoidable.
Six-pillar architectural-best-practices framework (operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimization, sustainability) plus the Well-Architected Tool for self-assessing workloads.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 1 (Cloud Concepts) references the Framework pillars directly — knowing the six pillars by name is a recurring CLF-C02 fact-recall question.
Account-wide access control: users, groups, roles, policies, federation, MFA, and least-privilege permissions for every API call.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 2 (Security and Compliance) tests least-privilege, root-account protection, MFA, and the shared-responsibility model — IAM is the named mechanism behind all of them.
Managed creation and control of cryptographic keys used to encrypt data at rest across S3, EBS, RDS, DynamoDB, and customer applications.
Why it's on the exam: Encryption-at-rest with AWS-managed or customer-managed keys is the standard Domain 2 answer for protecting sensitive data.
Account-wide audit log of every API call — who did what, when, and from where — with optional S3 delivery, CloudWatch integration, and Lake for SQL queries.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 2 tests CloudTrail as the immutable audit-trail service that answers "who changed this resource" — distinct from CloudWatch (metrics/logs).
Metrics, logs, alarms, dashboards, and synthetic canaries across every AWS service, with EventBridge-style scheduled rules and anomaly detection.
Why it's on the exam: Domain 3 tests CloudWatch for operational monitoring; the CloudWatch-vs-CloudTrail distractor pair is one of the most frequent CLF-C02 questions.
$55k–$85k–$130k USD annual
Range covers US-based entry-level and adjacent business roles where AWS literacy is preferred. Sales and FinOps roles with commission can exceed the high end significantly. CLF-C02 by itself rarely moves a technical-role salary; it functions as a literacy signal for cross-functional roles and a stepping stone for technical certs.
Source: levels.fyi 2025–2026 entry/junior cloud roles, U.S. BLS OEWS May 2024 (15-1232 computer user support specialists, 13-1111 management analysts). Figures are approximate; actual compensation depends on role, region, and experience.
CLF-C02 has the broadest audience of any AWS certification because it is intentionally non-technical. Recruiters and hiring managers use it as a signal that a non-engineer can hold credible conversations about AWS — useful for sales, customer success, project management, procurement, and FinOps roles. For aspiring engineers it functions as a low-cost confidence-builder before the associate-level certs. The cert pairs well with the AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) for non-technical AI roles and is a recommended on-ramp to SAA-C03 for career changers. It does NOT qualify candidates for engineering positions on its own, and most senior technical roles will not list it as preferred.
There are no formal prerequisites. AWS suggests up to six months of exposure to the AWS Cloud in any role (technical or non-technical), but in practice the exam is achievable with no AWS background given focused study.
The official AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials course plus a reputable practice-exam set is sufficient for most candidates. There is no recommended prior cert. CLF-C02 is the most common starting point for the AWS certification path and is the standard recommended on-ramp before SAA-C03 for candidates without prior AWS exposure. Candidates already comfortable with AWS may choose to skip directly to associate-level exams.
CLF-C02 is rated Foundational and is the easiest AWS certification. Plan 20–40 hours over 2–4 weeks for candidates with no prior AWS exposure; 10–15 hours over 1–2 weeks for those with some hands-on experience. The exam is 65 scored questions in 90 minutes — multiple-choice and multiple-response, no labs.
The most common stumbling block is the breadth of named AWS services — there are over 50 services worth recognizing at a one-line level. Candidates also routinely lose points on shared-responsibility nuances (e.g., who patches the OS on EC2 vs. RDS vs. Lambda) and on pricing-model edge cases (e.g., when Spot is appropriate vs. Reserved vs. Savings Plans). Reading questions carefully matters — distractors are often correct facts that simply do not answer the asked question.
Current version. Expanded service coverage to include modern ML, container, and migration services; refreshed pricing and billing concepts. Sunset of CLF-C01 by mid-2023.
Original Cloud Practitioner exam. Long retired; service inventory was significantly narrower.
CLF-C02 (AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner) is a considered an entry-level exam testing breadth of conceptual understanding rather than hands-on depth Foundational-level exam. Most candidates need 30–80 hours of study spread over 3–6 weeks for foundational-level exams. Most candidates who score consistently above the passing threshold on practice exams pass on their first attempt.
Most candidates need 30–80 hours of study spread over 3–6 weeks for foundational-level exams. Time-to-pass varies widely by prior experience. Engineers with hands-on production experience in the underlying technology typically need less; candidates new to the platform should plan toward the upper end of that range.
CLF-C02 is a recognized credential in the AWS ecosystem and signals validated knowledge to employers, recruiters, and clients. Whether it is worth the time and fee for you depends on your role and goals — it tends to pay off most for cloud engineers, architects, and consultants who work with AWS day-to-day or want to move into roles that do.
The passing score for CLF-C02 is 700 / 1000. The exam contains 65 questions and lasts 1 hr 30 min.
The CLF-C02 exam fee is $100 USD. Fees are set by AWS and may vary by region; always confirm the current price on the official AWS certification page before booking.
AWS certifications are valid for 3 years. Recertify by passing the current version of the same exam, or by passing a higher-level exam in the same path before expiration.
Yes. You can take the exam online (proctored via the provider's secure browser, available 24/7 in most regions) or at an in-person Pearson VUE test center during business hours. Both formats use the same questions, time limit, and passing score.
CertLabPro provides 15 study modes across the practice question bank for CLF-C02. The exam-simulation mode mirrors the real exam: 65 questions in 1 hr 30 min, with the same passing threshold of 700 / 1000. Browse mode lets you read every Q&A statically.