Certification comparison
AWS SAA-C03 (Solutions Architect Associate) and DVA-C02 (Developer Associate) are both AWS Associate-level certifications. SAA focuses on designing resilient architecture; DVA focuses on building and deploying applications.
| Factor | SAA-C03 | DVA-C02 |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Architecture design | Application development & deployment |
| Target role | Solutions Architect, Cloud Engineer | Cloud Developer, DevOps Engineer |
| Difficulty | Moderate | Moderate |
| Cost | ~$150 USD | ~$150 USD |
| Validity | 3 years | 3 years |
| Key services | EC2, S3, RDS, VPC, IAM, high availability | Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway, CodePipeline |
| Study time | 80–150 hrs | 80–150 hrs |
Our verdict
For most people going into cloud roles, SAA-C03 is the more broadly useful cert. DVA-C02 is ideal for software developers who primarily build on AWS and want to deepen that expertise.
Try a sample practice test for each cert. The one that feels more relevant to your work is usually the right call.