AWS SAP-C02 to SAP-C03: What's Changing and Which Exam to Take

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional is getting a new version, with SAP-C02 being replaced by SAP-C03. The current exam has until November 16 to be taken, after which only SAP-C03 will be available. The new exam, SAP-C03, will be delivered starting November 17, 2026. There's currently no information about a beta exam.

The new version, SAP-C03, consists of five domains, as opposed to the four in the previous version. The new domains are: Cloud-native architecture design and implementation, Security, compliance, and governance, Cost-optimized architecture design, Resilience, migration, and business continuity, and Operational excellence and automation.

AWS has highlighted significant additions to the exam, including AI-related skills such as GenAI and agentic AI, Bedrock integrations, and RAG architectures. Other additions include resilience engineering, fault injection services, and cloud-native patterns like serverless data pipelines and VPC Lattice.

The exam fee remains at $300 USD, and the duration is 180 minutes, with 75 questions. The passing score for SAP-C03 has not been published yet, so it is unclear if the previous score of 750 out of 1,000 will carry over. The domains and their published weights are still pending, although AWS has listed the domains without percentages.

AWS advises that those who are ready should take the current exam, SAP-C02, by November 16, 2026, to avoid missing out on the opportunity. For those still in the process of preparation or working with Bedrock and agents, they are advised to switch to SAP-C03 and wait for the detailed guide expected on October 27, 2026. It is recommended to focus on studying the domains and skill themes specific to the chosen version to avoid confusion.