Best AWS Courses on Pluralsight 2026: Top 12 for Certification

Amazon Web Services (AWS) dominates cloud computing with 31% market share, making AWS skills among the most in-demand in tech. If you are looking to master AWS through Pluralsight, you are in the right place---especially now that Pluralsight has integrated A Cloud Guru’s renowned AWS content into their platform.

But with hundreds of AWS courses available on Pluralsight, which ones actually prepare you for certifications and real-world cloud architecture work? We analyzed the entire AWS catalog, evaluated course quality, instructor expertise, hands-on labs, and certification alignment to identify the top 12 courses worth your time.

Quick Picks: Best AWS Courses by Certification

If you are preparing for a specific AWS certification, start here:

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C03):

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C03) by Mark Wilkins (23 hours) - The definitive certification prep course with comprehensive coverage and hands-on labs

AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02):

• AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02) by Faye Ellis (18 hours) - Deep dive into AWS development services with practical coding examples

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate (SOA-C02):

• AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate (SOA-C02) by Tom Maddox (16 hours) - Operations-focused with monitoring, deployment, and troubleshooting scenarios

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02):

• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) by Ryan Kroonenburg (8 hours) - Perfect entry point for AWS beginners before tackling Associate-level certifications

The Top 12 AWS Courses on Pluralsight (Ranked)

After evaluating course quality, instructor expertise, hands-on labs, and student outcomes, here are the best AWS courses on Pluralsight:

1. AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C03)

Instructor: Mark Wilkins Duration: 23 hours Level: Intermediate Best For: Solutions Architect certification prep

This is the gold standard for AWS certification preparation on Pluralsight. Mark Wilkins covers every exam objective for the SAA-C03 exam with clear explanations, real-world architecture scenarios, and hands-on labs. The course includes deep dives into VPC networking, IAM security, S3 storage, EC2 compute, and high availability patterns.

What makes it great: The course goes beyond memorization by teaching you to think like an architect. Each service is taught in the context of solving actual business problems, not just passing exams.

2. AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02)

Instructor: Faye Ellis Duration: 18 hours Level: Intermediate Best For: Developers building on AWS

Faye Ellis delivers exceptional developer-focused content covering Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, S3, and AWS SDKs. This course emphasizes hands-on coding with real deployment scenarios. You will build serverless applications, integrate with AWS services, and learn CI/CD pipelines using CodePipeline and CodeBuild.

What makes it great: The labs let you write actual code that deploys to AWS, not just watch videos. The serverless architecture section is particularly strong.

3. AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate (SOA-C02)

Instructor: Tom Maddox Duration: 16 hours Level: Intermediate Best For: Operations and infrastructure teams

Tom Maddox focuses on the operational side of AWS: CloudWatch monitoring, Systems Manager automation, backup strategies, disaster recovery, and cost optimization. This course prepares you for the SysOps certification while teaching practical skills for managing production AWS environments.

What makes it great: Real troubleshooting scenarios and operational best practices that apply immediately to production work.

4. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)

Instructor: Ryan Kroonenburg (A Cloud Guru) Duration: 8 hours Level: Beginner Best For: AWS beginners and non-technical stakeholders

Ryan Kroonenburg’s beginner-friendly course introduces AWS fundamentals without overwhelming you with technical depth. Perfect for managers, salespeople, or anyone transitioning into cloud roles. Covers AWS global infrastructure, core services, pricing models, and the shared responsibility model.

What makes it great: Ryan’s teaching style makes complex cloud concepts accessible to complete beginners.

5. AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional (SAP-C02)

Instructor: Scott Pletcher Duration: 32 hours Level: Advanced Best For: Senior architects pursuing advanced certification

This advanced course tackles complex scenarios: hybrid cloud architectures, multi-account strategies, advanced networking, security at scale, and migration strategies. Expect to spend significant time on hands-on labs building complex architectures.

What makes it great: The depth is unmatched. This course prepares you for the hardest AWS certification and real enterprise architecture challenges.

6. Deep Dive into Amazon VPC

Instructor: David Tucker Duration: 5 hours Level: Intermediate Best For: Mastering AWS networking

David Tucker’s VPC course is essential for anyone serious about AWS. You will master subnets, route tables, internet gateways, NAT gateways, VPC peering, Transit Gateway, and VPN connections. The hands-on labs have you build complex network topologies from scratch.

What makes it great: Networking is where many AWS learners struggle. This course makes VPC concepts crystal clear with excellent visualizations.

7. AWS Lambda in Depth

Instructor: Fernando Medina Corey Duration: 4 hours Level: Intermediate Best For: Serverless developers

Fernando Medina Corey delivers the definitive guide to AWS Lambda. You will learn function creation, event triggers, IAM permissions, performance optimization, error handling, and integration with API Gateway, DynamoDB, and S3. The course includes real-world serverless architecture patterns.

What makes it great: Lambda is the foundation of serverless AWS development. This course teaches you to build production-ready serverless applications.

8. Implementing and Managing Amazon S3

Instructor: Kesha Williams Duration: 3 hours Level: Beginner to Intermediate Best For: Mastering S3 storage

Kesha Williams covers everything S3: bucket creation, versioning, lifecycle policies, encryption, access control, static website hosting, and S3 event notifications. You will learn cost optimization strategies and security best practices for S3.

What makes it great: S3 appears in every AWS project. This course ensures you use it efficiently and securely.

9. AWS Security Fundamentals

Instructor: Chad Smith Duration: 6 hours Level: Intermediate Best For: Security-conscious architects

Chad Smith teaches AWS security from first principles: IAM best practices, encryption at rest and in transit, GuardDuty threat detection, Security Hub compliance, and incident response. This course is essential for anyone handling sensitive data on AWS.

What makes it great: Security breaches cost companies millions. This course teaches you to build secure AWS architectures from the start.

10. Building Scalable Applications with Amazon DynamoDB

Instructor: Rick Houlihan Duration: 7 hours Level: Advanced Best For: NoSQL database design

Rick Houlihan (former AWS principal engineer) teaches advanced DynamoDB patterns: single-table design, partition key strategies, global secondary indexes, DynamoDB Streams, and handling millions of requests per second. This course is legendary in the AWS community.

What makes it great: Rick’s single-table design patterns are game-changing for building scalable applications. This is graduate-level DynamoDB knowledge.

11. AWS Networking Deep Dive: Route 53 and CloudFront

Instructor: David Tucker Duration: 4 hours Level: Intermediate Best For: Content delivery and DNS mastery

David Tucker returns with deep coverage of Route 53 DNS and CloudFront CDN. You will learn DNS record types, routing policies (latency, geolocation, weighted), health checks, CloudFront distributions, edge locations, and origin configurations.

What makes it great: Route 53 and CloudFront are critical for production applications. This course teaches you to deliver content globally with low latency.

12. AWS Cost Management and Optimization

Instructor: Jennifer Fisher Duration: 5 hours Level: Intermediate Best For: Reducing AWS bills

Jennifer Fisher teaches practical cost optimization: right-sizing EC2 instances, Reserved Instances vs. Savings Plans, S3 storage classes, data transfer costs, and using AWS Cost Explorer and Budgets. This course pays for itself by reducing your AWS bill.

What makes it great: AWS costs spiral quickly without proper management. This course teaches you to control expenses without sacrificing performance.

AWS Certification Paths: Associate vs. Professional

Pluralsight offers complete learning paths for each AWS certification tier:

Associate-Level Certifications (6-12 months for beginners)

Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C03):

• Focus: Designing distributed systems on AWS
• Prerequisites: 1 year AWS experience recommended
• Pass rate: ~60% (challenging but achievable)
• Career impact: Opens cloud architect roles ($120K-150K)

Developer - Associate (DVA-C02):

• Focus: Building and deploying applications on AWS
• Prerequisites: Programming experience in Python, Java, or Node.js
• Pass rate: ~65% (easier than Solutions Architect)
• Career impact: Cloud developer roles ($100K-140K)

SysOps Administrator - Associate (SOA-C02):

• Focus: Operations, deployment, and troubleshooting
• Prerequisites: Systems administration experience
• Pass rate: ~58% (most challenging Associate exam)
• Career impact: Cloud operations roles ($90K-130K)

Professional-Level Certifications (1-2 years AWS experience)

Solutions Architect - Professional (SAP-C02):

• Focus: Complex enterprise architectures
• Prerequisites: Solutions Architect Associate recommended
• Pass rate: ~40% (very difficult)
• Career impact: Senior architect roles ($140K-200K)

DevOps Engineer - Professional (DOP-C02):

• Focus: CI/CD, infrastructure as code, automation
• Prerequisites: Developer or SysOps Associate recommended
• Pass rate: ~45%
• Career impact: DevOps engineer roles ($130K-180K)

Hands-On Labs: The Pluralsight Advantage

Pluralsight’s hands-on labs are the secret weapon for AWS learning. Unlike video-only courses, labs put you in real AWS environments where you configure services, troubleshoot issues, and build architectures.

What AWS Labs Offer

• Pre-configured AWS accounts: No need to use your own credit card or worry about surprise bills
• Guided scenarios: Step-by-step challenges with specific objectives
• Validation: Labs verify you completed tasks correctly
• Safe experimentation: Make mistakes without breaking production systems

Top AWS Lab Categories

VPC and Networking Labs:

• Build multi-tier VPC architectures
• Configure VPN connections and Transit Gateway
• Implement VPC peering and PrivateLink

EC2 and Auto Scaling Labs:

• Launch and configure EC2 instances
• Create Auto Scaling groups and load balancers
• Implement blue-green deployments

Serverless Labs:

• Build Lambda functions triggered by S3 and DynamoDB
• Create API Gateway REST APIs
• Deploy serverless applications with SAM

Security Labs:

• Configure IAM roles and policies
• Enable CloudTrail logging and GuardDuty
• Implement encryption for S3 and RDS

Database Labs:

• Deploy RDS multi-AZ databases
• Configure DynamoDB with global tables
• Implement database backups and recovery

Sandboxes for AWS

Pluralsight also offers AWS sandboxes---open cloud environments where you freely explore without guided objectives. Sandboxes are perfect for:

• Testing AWS services before using them in production
• Practicing for certification labs (SysOps has a lab component)
• Experimenting with infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation)

Best Courses by AWS Service

If you need to master a specific AWS service, these specialized courses dive deep:

Compute

• AWS Lambda in Depth (Fernando Medina Corey) - Serverless functions
• Deep Dive into EC2 (David Tucker) - Virtual machines and instance types
• Amazon ECS and EKS Fundamentals (Jeremy Cook) - Container orchestration

Storage

• Implementing and Managing Amazon S3 (Kesha Williams) - Object storage
• Amazon EBS and EFS Deep Dive (David Tucker) - Block and file storage
• AWS Storage Gateway (Kesha Williams) - Hybrid cloud storage

Database

• Building Scalable Applications with Amazon DynamoDB (Rick Houlihan) - NoSQL database
• Amazon RDS Deep Dive (Fernando Medina Corey) - Relational databases
• Amazon Aurora Fundamentals (David Tucker) - High-performance MySQL/PostgreSQL

Networking

• Deep Dive into Amazon VPC (David Tucker) - Virtual private cloud
• AWS Networking Deep Dive: Route 53 and CloudFront (David Tucker) - DNS and CDN
• AWS Direct Connect and VPN (Tom Maddox) - Hybrid connectivity

Security

• AWS Security Fundamentals (Chad Smith) - IAM, encryption, compliance
• AWS Identity Services Deep Dive (Chad Smith) - IAM, Cognito, Directory Service
• AWS Security Specialty Certification Prep (Chad Smith) - Advanced security

Developer Tools

• AWS CI/CD with CodePipeline and CodeBuild (Faye Ellis) - Continuous deployment
• Infrastructure as Code with Terraform on AWS (Ned Bellavance) - Automation
• AWS CloudFormation Deep Dive (Tom Maddox) - Infrastructure templates

How to Use Skill IQ for AWS Learning

Pluralsight’s Skill IQ assessments help you identify exactly where you stand with AWS knowledge and which courses to take next.

Taking AWS Skill IQ Assessments

1. Choose an AWS skill: Search for “AWS” and select specific assessments (AWS, AWS Lambda, AWS VPC, etc.)
2. Take the adaptive test: Answer 15-20 questions that adjust difficulty based on your responses
3. Get your score: Receive a score from 0-300 placing you in one of five levels
4. Get course recommendations: Pluralsight suggests courses targeting your specific gaps

Available AWS Skill IQ Tests

• AWS (general cloud knowledge)
• AWS Lambda (serverless computing)
• AWS VPC (networking)
• AWS DynamoDB (NoSQL database)
• AWS IAM (identity and access management)
• AWS CloudFormation (infrastructure as code)

Using Role IQ for AWS Careers

Role IQ assessments evaluate your readiness for specific AWS job roles:

• AWS Solutions Architect
• AWS Developer
• AWS SysOps Administrator
• AWS Cloud Engineer

Role IQ tests multiple related skills (EC2, VPC, IAM, S3) and identifies your complete readiness for the role. This helps you understand which areas need work before applying for AWS positions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Pluralsight AWS courses worth it for certification prep?

Yes, especially with the A Cloud Guru integration. Pluralsight’s AWS certification courses are comprehensive, aligned with current exam objectives, and include hands-on labs that significantly improve retention. Most learners who complete the full course and practice labs report passing their certifications. However, you should supplement with AWS practice exams and the AWS documentation for best results.

Do I need the Premium plan for AWS courses?

For certification prep, yes. The Standard plan ($299/year) includes AWS video courses but not hands-on labs. Premium ($449/year) adds labs where you practice in real AWS environments---this hands-on experience is critical for certification exams and real-world work. The $150 difference is worth it for serious AWS learners.

How long does it take to get AWS certified using Pluralsight?

For complete beginners: 6-12 months to earn an Associate-level certification (Cloud Practitioner plus Solutions Architect, Developer, or SysOps). If you have cloud experience: 2-4 months for an Associate certification with dedicated study. Professional certifications require 1-2 years AWS experience plus 3-6 months of study. Consistency matters more than speed---study 10-15 hours per week for best results.

Which AWS certification should I get first?

Start with AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) if you are completely new to AWS. This foundational certification takes 4-8 weeks and gives you broad AWS knowledge. Then pursue AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C03), which is the most valued AWS certification by employers. Skip Cloud Practitioner if you already have cloud experience.

Are Pluralsight’s A Cloud Guru courses still available?

Yes. After Pluralsight acquired A Cloud Guru in 2023, all A Cloud Guru courses were integrated into the Pluralsight platform. You get access to both catalogs with a single subscription. Look for courses by Ryan Kroonenburg, Faye Ellis, and other A Cloud Guru instructors---they are now labeled as Pluralsight courses.

Can I use Pluralsight AWS labs without a credit card?

Yes. Pluralsight’s AWS hands-on labs use pre-configured AWS environments managed by Pluralsight. You do not need to create an AWS account, enter credit card information, or worry about surprise AWS bills. This makes labs safe for experimentation without financial risk.

How current are Pluralsight’s AWS certification courses?

Most AWS certification courses are updated within 3-6 months of exam changes. The major certifications (Cloud Practitioner, Solutions Architect, Developer, SysOps) are aligned with current exam versions (CLF-C02, SAA-C03, DVA-C02, SOA-C02). Always check course descriptions for exam version alignment before starting certification prep.

Do Pluralsight AWS courses include practice exams?

Yes, Premium plans include practice exams for all major AWS certifications. However, many learners supplement with dedicated practice exam platforms like Tutorials Dojo or Whizlabs for additional question banks. AWS certification exams are challenging and benefit from extensive practice testing beyond what Pluralsight offers.

Final Verdict: Best AWS Learning Platform

Pluralsight has become the strongest platform for AWS learning, especially after integrating A Cloud Guru’s exceptional cloud content. The combination of comprehensive certification courses, hands-on labs with real AWS environments, Skill IQ assessments, and expert instructors creates a learning experience that genuinely prepares you for AWS certifications and real-world cloud work.

The Premium plan ($449/year) is essential for serious AWS learners. The hands-on labs alone justify the cost---practicing in real AWS environments without credit card risk accelerates learning significantly. The ability to build VPCs, configure Lambda functions, and deploy applications in actual AWS consoles makes concepts stick far better than video-only learning.

Our recommendation: Start with the 10-day free trial to evaluate course quality. Take the AWS Skill IQ assessment to identify your starting point. If you are pursuing AWS certifications or building AWS skills for your career, invest in Premium for full access to labs and practice exams. For teams hiring cloud engineers, Pluralsight’s Professional plan ($579/user/year) adds team analytics and progress tracking.

The AWS job market is strong---cloud architects and engineers command salaries from $100K to $200K depending on experience and location. Pluralsight’s AWS courses provide a structured path from beginner to professional certification, making it one of the best investments you can make in your tech career.