They both certify data engineering, but they test different worlds. The AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01) spans a whole cloud's worth of data services and how they fit together. The Databricks Data Engineer track goes deep on one unified platform. The right choice follows the stack you actually work in.
Last updated July 2026.
| AWS DEA-C01 | Databricks DE (Associate) | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Many AWS services across a cloud | One unified lakehouse platform |
| Questions | 65 (50 scored, 15 unscored) | 45 multiple choice |
| Time limit | 130 minutes | 90 minutes |
| Cost | $150 USD | $200 USD |
| Passing score | 720 on a 100 to 1,000 scale | Not publicly stated as a fixed number |
| Domains | 4 content domains | 7 sections |
| Validity | 3 years | 2 years |
Sources: the AWS DEA-C01 and Databricks Data Engineer Associate pages. Databricks also offers a harder Professional exam (59 questions, 120 minutes, 10 domains).
The DEA-C01 is a breadth exam. Its largest domain, Data Ingestion and Transformation at 34%, alone touches Kinesis Data Streams, Amazon MSK, Amazon Data Firehose, AWS Glue, EMR, Lambda, Step Functions, and more. You are tested on picking the right service for a scenario and wiring services together across storage, operations, and security. The knowledge is a mile wide because AWS is.
The Databricks track is a depth exam. Everything happens inside one platform: Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Lakeflow Declarative Pipelines, and Spark. There is no service-selection question because there is essentially one service. Instead the exam goes deep on how that platform behaves, and the Professional exam goes deeper still into production coding, optimization, and governance.
The DEA-C01 costs less up front ($150 versus $200) and stays valid longer (3 years versus 2). Databricks certifications expire after 2 years, and renewal means retaking the current version of the exam, there is no separate renewal path. AWS lets you recertify before the 3-year mark, including by passing a higher-level exam. Over a multi-year career, the Databricks track asks for a retake sooner and more often.
Your team runs on AWS, your pipelines stitch together S3, Glue, Redshift, Kinesis, and Lambda, and you want a credential that proves you can choose and connect the right services across a cloud.
You work in a lakehouse day to day, your job is Spark, Delta, and Unity Catalog, and you want a credential that proves depth on the platform your team has standardized on.
They are not mutually exclusive. Plenty of engineers run Databricks on AWS, and holding both signals that you understand the platform and the cloud it sits on. If you are deciding which to do first, let the work you do most decide.
They are hard in different ways. The DEA-C01 is broad: you must know many AWS services and when to use each. The Databricks Associate is narrower but deep on one platform, and the Databricks Professional is a notably harder exam focused on production coding and optimization.
Many engineers do, because Databricks frequently runs on AWS. Holding both shows you understand the lakehouse platform and the cloud services around it. If you are choosing one first, pick the one that matches your day-to-day stack.
The DEA-C01 costs $150 and is valid for 3 years. The Databricks Data Engineer Associate and Professional both cost $200 and are valid for 2 years, after which you retake the current exam to renew.
The Databricks exams focus on the lakehouse platform itself, not on any one cloud's service catalog. The DEA-C01 focuses on AWS services and how they connect. Experience with the matching stack is the biggest advantage for either.
Already Certified has full courses for the Databricks Associate and Professional exams, plus a growing AWS Data Engineer Associate course. Pick the track that matches your stack and start with Chapter 1.
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