AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

SAA-C03 · ● Active · Associate · Amazon Web Services

Exam facts

Vendor source — AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate ↗

Official exam guide — SAA-C03 Exam Guide ↗

Exam objectives — Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) Blueprint ↗

About

The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) is the industry-standard entry-level credential for AWS cloud architects. Launched August 30, 2022, SAA-C03 replaces the deprecated SAA-C02 and validates the ability to design secure, resilient, high-performing, and cost-optimized AWS solutions. It is the most popular AWS certification globally and often the second cert earned (after AWS Solutions Architect Associate or Cloud Practitioner). The credential is valid for 3 years and demonstrates hands-on AWS architecture experience across compute, networking, storage, databases, security, and application integration services.

Domain context — Cloud

Hyperscale public cloud: AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, Alibaba Cloud. SAA-C03 focuses exclusively on AWS architecture patterns and best practices.

Read full deep dive — AWS Ecosystem →

Topics covered

The SAA-C03 exam validates knowledge across four domains with official weights from AWS:

• Design Secure Architectures (30%) — IAM policies, security groups, NACLs, encryption at-rest and in-transit, AWS Secrets Manager, KMS, WAF, Shield, GuardDuty, compliance frameworks
• Design Resilient Architectures (26%) — Multi-AZ deployments, RDS with read replicas, auto-scaling, ELB/ALB/NLB, Route 53 failover, backup/recovery, disaster recovery strategies
• Design High-Performing Architectures (24%) — EC2 instance types and sizing, storage classes (S3 tiers, EBS volume types), caching (ElastiCache, CloudFront), database selection (RDS, DynamoDB, Redshift), Lambda concurrency, VPC design, networking optimization
• Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20%) — Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, Spot Instances, on-demand vs. serverless, storage optimization, resource tagging, AWS Cost Explorer, Trusted Advisor, right-sizing

Source: Official AWS SAA-C03 Exam Guide ↗

Common skills at Cloud · Associate

Shared content for the Cloud domain at Associate level — not specific to this cert.

• VPC design (subnets, routing, NAT gateways, VPN, Direct Connect concepts)
• IAM identity policies, resource-based policies, role assumption
• S3 storage classes and lifecycle policies
• EC2 fundamentals (instance types, security groups, elastic IPs)
• RDS high availability (Multi-AZ, read replicas)
• Elastic Load Balancing (ALB, NLB selection criteria)
• Auto Scaling groups (launch templates, target tracking)
• Route 53 DNS and health checks
• CloudFront CDN basics
• SQS / SNS for async messaging
• Lambda function invocation patterns
• CloudWatch monitoring, basic alarms
• AWS Well-Architected Framework (5 pillars)
• Hybrid connectivity (VPN, Direct Connect overview)
• Backup and disaster recovery (RTO/RPO, AWS Backup)
• Infrastructure-as-Code fundamentals (CloudFormation, Terraform)
• AWS security best practices (least privilege, encryption, compliance)

Recommended courses at Cloud · Associate

Course-selection rule: Each course must be specifically for SAA-C03 (not "AWS Cloud Practitioner" or generic "AWS Foundations"). If no dedicated course exists on a platform, omit that platform — don't pad with generic content.

Practice exams

Best-rated combination: Tutorials Dojo practice tests + Adrian Cantrill or Stephane Maarek course is the most commonly recommended path to passing SAA-C03 on first attempt.

Books

Note: The Wiley/Sybex SAA-C03 study guide (Piper & Clinton, 2024) is the only comprehensive print guide specifically written for SAA-C03. Older guides covering SAA-C02 are deprecated; avoid.

Typical job titles at Cloud · Associate

Cloud Engineer · Cloud Solutions Architect · AWS Solutions Architect (Associate) · Cloud Consultant · Cloud Operations Engineer · Cloud Infrastructure Engineer · Pre-Sales Solutions Architect · Cloud DevOps Engineer (Associate) · Cloud Security Engineer (Associate)

(Job titles drawn from current job-board postings that list SAA-C03 as required or preferred.)

Salary

Salary rule: SAA-C03 correlates with +15–20% salary premium vs. non-certified Cloud Engineers. Experienced practitioners with SAA-C03 at FAANG or top-tier consulting often earn $190K–$250K+ base + bonus in the US (top metro areas: SF, NYC, Seattle).

Skills validated

Cert-specific — what this exam actually tests, distinct from the shared "Common skills" above.

• AWS service selection and design: EC2 vs. Lambda vs. ECS vs. Fargate trade-offs
• VPC architecture (public/private subnets, NAT, security groups, NACLs, VPC Flow Logs)
• IAM policy syntax, permission boundaries, role trust relationships
• S3 storage classes (Standard, Infrequent Access, Glacier, Intelligent-Tiering), lifecycle policies, versioning, bucket policies
• RDS architecture (Multi-AZ, read replicas, backup windows, encryption, parameter groups)
• Aurora (MySQL/PostgreSQL compatible, auto-scaling, global databases)
• DynamoDB (on-demand vs. provisioned capacity, LSI/GSI, TTL, DAX caching)
• ElastiCache (Redis vs. Memcached, cluster mode, failover)
• ELB variants (ALB for HTTP/HTTPS + path/host-based routing, NLB for extreme throughput, CLB legacy)
• Auto Scaling (launch templates, lifecycle hooks, scaling policies)
• Route 53 (simple/weighted/latency/geolocation/failover routing, health checks, alias records)
• CloudFront distribution (origin types, behaviors, geo-blocking, signed URLs/cookies)
• SQS (standard vs. FIFO, visibility timeout, message retention, dead-letter queues)
• SNS (topics, subscriptions, message filtering, FIFO)
• EventBridge (event bus, rules, cross-service integration)
• Step Functions (state machines, error handling, parallel execution)
• Lambda (concurrency, cold starts, environment variables, layers, VPC integration)
• API Gateway (REST vs. HTTP vs. WebSocket, authentication/authorization, caching, throttling)
• CloudFormation (templates, stacks, change sets, drift detection, deletion policies)
• AWS Well-Architected Framework (Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Cost Optimization)
• AWS Trusted Advisor recommendations (cost, security, performance, fault tolerance)
• AWS Config (compliance rules, config rules, config recorder)
• CloudWatch (metrics, custom metrics, alarms, logs, log groups, metric filters)
• X-Ray (service map, tracing, latency analysis)
• KMS (key policies, encryption context, CMK vs. AWS-managed keys)
• AWS Secrets Manager (rotation, version tracking, cross-account access)
• Cognito (user pools, identity pools, MFA, federation)
• Organizations (consolidated billing, SCPs, tag policies)
• Cost Explorer (cost analysis, forecasting, anomaly detection)
• Backup strategies (RTO/RPO, backup frequency, restore testing)
• Disaster recovery patterns (pilot light, warm standby, hot standby, multi-region active-active)

Related certifications

• Stacks with: AWS Certified Developer Associate (DVA-C02) ↗ · AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate (SOA-C03) ↗ — same Associate level, complementary focus
• Prerequisite for: AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional (SAP-C02) ↗ — next level; often pursued 1–2 years after SAA-C03
• Replaces: SAA-C02 (retired August 30, 2022); SAA-C01 (retired July 2020)
• Equivalents at this level: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) ↗ · GCP Associate Cloud Engineer ↗ · OCI Architect Associate (1Z0-1072) ↗
• Vendor overview: AWS Vendor Overview ↗

Sources

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (Official): https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-solutions-architect-associate/
• AWS SAA-C03 Exam Guide: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/examguides/solutions-architect-associate-03.html
• AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) Blueprint: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/solutions-architect-associate-03/solutions-architect-associate-03.html
• Tutorials Dojo Practice Exams: https://portal.tutorialsdojo.com/courses/aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate-practice-exams/
• Udemy — Stephane Maarek Ultimate AWS SAA-C03: https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate-saa-c03/
• Udemy — Adrian Cantrill AWS SAA-C03: https://learn.cantrill.io/p/aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate-saa-c03
• freeCodeCamp YouTube (Andrew Brown): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia-UEYYR44s
• AWS Skill Builder: https://aws.amazon.com/training/digital/
• Wiley/Sybex AWS Solutions Architect Study Guide SAA-C03: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/AWS+Certified+Solutions+Architect+Study+Guide%3A+SAA-C03+Exam-p-9781394222599
• Glassdoor AWS Solutions Architect Salary: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/aws-solutions-architect-salary-SRCH_KO0,23.htm
• Levels.fyi AWS Solutions Architect Compensation: https://www.levels.fyi/companies/amazon/salaries/solution-architect
• AWS Well-Architected Framework: https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/well-architected/
• AWS Architecture Center: https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/

Last verified: 2026-05-01 Parent ecosystem: AWS Ecosystem Parent domain: Cloud Domain Vendor overview: AWS Vendor Overview