Alibaba Cloud Academy vs AWS Academy

Alibaba Cloud Academy is Alibaba Cloud’s training and certification division for clients, partners, and developers. Programs include Clouder, Specialty, and short video courses, with certification routes across Associate, Certified, Expert, Professional, Capability and Competency, Clouder, and developer credentials. The listed Academy Membership costs $19.90 a year and includes unlimited access to 130+ online training courses, free Apsara Clouder certifications, and up to four attempts for each Apsara Clouder and Specialty certification. Other courses, specialties, credentials, vouchers, and subscriptions may require payment. Academy activities require a main Alibaba Cloud account; RAM accounts are unsupported. Pearson VUE exams can be taken at test centers or online, except online-proctored exams are unavailable in the Chinese mainland. Professional certifications last two years, and status can be verified through a one-step process. Badges can be shared on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, but not through Credly.

AWS Academy is a free cloud computing curriculum program for eligible higher education institutions. Its courses cover foundational cloud concepts, architecture, development, operations, data analytics and AI/ML, alongside cloud security topics. Most courses align with AWS Certifications and help prepare students for exams. In Learner Lab, educators can create classes, invite students, assign projects, view workspaces and analytics, and access over 100 AWS services. Educators choose what course content to deliver and how long to spend on it; recommended time allocations are optional. Educators can request a 100% discount voucher for certification exams and receive complimentary AWS Skill Builder access for 12 months. Students can also receive 12 months of Skill Builder access, and eligible learners can access the Emerging Talent Community after course completion. Membership begins at the institution level and is open to institutions offering accredited degrees, diplomas, certificates or continuing education. After acceptance, a Program Administrator nominates educators and proposes a class delivery plan.