The Linux Foundation / CNCF
The hardest of the three and the only one with a gate in front of it: you must already hold a current CKA to sit it.
Online proctored, performance-based, solved entirely at a command line. Based on Kubernetes v1.35.
A current CKA certification is required before you can sit this exam.
Straight from the published curriculum. The weights are how much of the exam each area is worth, so they are the honest guide to where your study time should go.
2 hours, $445. Online proctored, performance-based, solved entirely at a command line. The certification stays valid for 2 years.
6 domains. The heaviest is Minimize Microservice Vulnerabilities at 20% of the exam, so it is the one worth over-preparing.
Everything CKA covers, at working speed. Linux security primitives: users, capabilities, seccomp, AppArmor. How an image gets from a registry into a running pod.
Yes. It is performance-based: you are given a live environment and a command line, and marked on what you actually do rather than what you can recognise. Reading alone does not prepare you for it.
Exam details from The Linux Foundation / CNCF, checked August 2026. Always confirm on their page before booking.