AWS is closing the book on its only dedicated networking credential. The last day to sit the AWS Advanced Networking Specialty exam, code ANS-C01, is December 31, 2026, and AWS has not named anything to take its place. From today that is about eight weeks.
That leaves a decision with a hard edge on it. Pass on the final day and the certification stays active for roughly three years. Miss the window and the only way to earn the AWS Advanced Networking Specialty disappears for good. Whether it is worth the scramble depends on your job, your readiness, and what you would do with the badge, so this guide works through each of those in turn.
What AWS Has Confirmed About the ANS-C01 Retirement
The Facts on AWS’s Own Page
AWS’s certification page for the AWS Advanced Networking Specialty now carries a retirement notice. Here is what it states, and what it leaves out:
- The last day to take the exam is December 31, 2026.
- No replacement exam is named. AWS points learners to networking digital training on AWS Skill Builder instead.
- Certifications earned before retirement stay active for the standard three-year period.
- After the exam retires, AWS will not issue new Advanced Networking Specialty certifications.
One warning about dates. Some study guides still circulating online give August 25, 2026 as the cutoff. The AWS page currently says December 31, so trust that, and confirm the date inside the scheduler before you book anything.
What Happens to a Certification You Already Hold
Nothing happens right away. Your credential keeps its normal three-year life from the day you passed. The harder question is what you do at the end of that life. AWS’s recertification page explains that renewing typically means passing the latest version of the exam, or a higher-level one, and renewing adds three years. With no newer version of this exam coming, expect a plain lapse unless AWS says otherwise.
There is a possible bridge. AWS also lists a Maintain option that adds one year for an active certification when you hold an AWS Skill Builder subscription, and you generally need to be within 90 days of expiry. The page says this covers Associate and Professional certifications and some Specialty ones, but it does not say whether ANS-C01 is among them. Look inside your own AWS Certification account rather than assuming.
What You Are Signing Up For if You Sit ANS-C01 Now
Format, Cost, and Retake Rules
This is not a casual exam to bolt onto a six-week sprint. The target candidate in the official exam guide has five or more years of networking experience, including at least two in cloud and hybrid networking. The practical details:
- 65 questions in total, of which 50 are scored and 15 are unscored research items you cannot identify.
- 170 minutes, multiple choice and multiple response, no penalty for guessing.
- A pass mark of 750 on a 100 to 1,000 scaled score, with compensatory scoring, so a weak domain can be covered by a strong one.
- A $300 exam fee for Specialty exams, delivered through Pearson VUE at a test center or by online proctoring.
- A 14-calendar-day wait after a failed attempt, no cap on attempts, and the full fee again each time, per AWS’s after-testing policy.
The Four Exam Domains
Version 2.0 of the exam guide splits the scored content like this:
- Network Design, 30 percent: edge services such as Amazon CloudFront and AWS Global Accelerator, plus public, private, and hybrid DNS with Route 53.
- Network Implementation, 26 percent: building and wiring up the designs.
- Network Management and Operation, 20 percent: monitoring, troubleshooting, and keeping hybrid networks healthy.
- Network Security, Compliance, and Governance, 24 percent: securing traffic with AWS-native constructs.
Design and security together make up more than half the exam. If your day job is mostly operating an existing network, those two domains are where preparation time will go.
Should You Sit ANS-C01 Before December 31, or Let It Go?
Book It If These Describe You
- You already design or run hybrid connectivity, for example Direct Connect, Transit Gateway, or Site-to-Site VPN, and the exam mostly formalizes what you do.
- Your employer, a consulting partner program, or a client contract names this certification specifically.
- You have already scored well on practice questions across all four domains and mostly need to close gaps.
Skip It If These Describe You
- You are starting from basic networking. Build that foundation first with something like Cisco’s entry-level track, and our CCNA v2.0 breakdown covers what is changing there.
- You have under ten weeks of real study time and no hands-on VPC or routing work behind you.
- You want a credential you can renew in 2029. That route will not exist, so the badge is a snapshot, not a long-term program.
If you land in the first group, a structured question bank helps you find gaps quickly. DirectCertify’s ANS-C01 practice question set holds 291 questions and was last updated on October 27, 2026. It is practice material, not the real exam, and it works best alongside AWS’s own training and time in a live account.
Working Back From the Calendar
Eight weeks sounds comfortable until you add the 14-day retake rule. A sensible schedule runs backward from the deadline:
- Book your first attempt for roughly December 10. A fail that day makes you eligible again on December 24.
- Reserve a second slot on or after December 24 and before the 31st, so a retake stays possible. Check slot availability now rather than in mid-December.
- Spend the weeks before that on whichever domain scored lowest in your first practice run, not on the one you enjoy most.
- Decide ahead of time that a first-attempt fail means one more try, not a postponement, since there is no later window.
The same sit-now-or-switch reasoning applies to other AWS exams on their way out. Our guide to the SAP-C02 and DVA-C02 retirements walks through it for the Professional and Developer paths.
Networking Certifications That Outlast ANS-C01
Inside AWS, nothing replaces this exam directly. Networking topics such as VPC design and hybrid connectivity still turn up in broader architecture exams, but no AWS exam is built around them anymore. If networking is your specialty, two cross-vendor options deserve a look.
Microsoft Azure Network Engineer Associate (AZ-700)
Microsoft’s Azure Network Engineer Associate certification is built on the AZ-700 exam: 100 minutes, assessing core networking infrastructure, connectivity services, application delivery, private access to Azure services, and network security. The notable difference from AWS is renewal. Microsoft certifications renew every 12 months through a free online assessment, so this credential has a maintenance path that ANS-C01 will not. If you want to practice, DirectCertify carries an AZ-700 practice set too.
Google Professional Cloud Network Engineer
Google’s Professional Cloud Network Engineer exam lasts two hours with 50 to 60 questions and a $200 registration fee. Google recommends three or more years of industry experience, including one year on Google Cloud, and lists no prerequisites. Its content covers VPC design, hybrid and multi-cloud interconnect, managed network services, and network security. The exam was restructured with a new version live from April 24, so use current study material.
What Network Architect Jobs Pay Without a Specialty Badge
It is worth keeping the stakes in proportion. A retiring exam does not erase the skills it measured. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $134,050 for computer network architects as of May 2025, across 181,800 jobs. It projects 8 percent growth from 2025 to 2035 and about 9,600 openings a year, and it lists a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry requirement.
BLS does not break out pay by certification, so none of these numbers show what a specific badge adds. They do show that the underlying career has steady demand whether or not AWS keeps a named exam for it. If your résumé says you designed a multi-region hybrid network, that sentence outlives any exam code.
A Note on Where DirectCertify Fits
DirectCertify is an independent certification prep provider and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon Web Services, the maker of the AWS Advanced Networking Specialty. AWS can change dates, fees, and renewal rules, so confirm the final exam date and your own renewal options on the official AWS certification pages before you book.
