All certifications / Compare / CKA vs CKAD
CKA vs CKAD: which should you take?
Which first?
Either order works. Pick the one that matches your job. Their content overlaps, so the second one takes much less study.
Who each one is for
CKA (CKA (Kubernetes v1.35 curriculum)): Platform, operations and site reliability engineers who run Kubernetes clusters.
CKAD (CKAD (Kubernetes v1.35 curriculum)): Developers who package and deploy applications on Kubernetes.
Key differences
- CKA includes cluster installation, upgrades, backups, networking and troubleshooting nodes; CKAD doesn't.
- CKAD goes deeper into pods, deployments, configuration, probes and application observability.
- Both are performance-based exams at a command line, so speed with kubectl matters.
Side by side
| Item | CKA | CKAD |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | The Linux Foundation / CNCF | The Linux Foundation / CNCF |
| Exam | CKA (Kubernetes v1.35 curriculum) | CKAD (Kubernetes v1.35 curriculum) |
| Questions | About 15–20 performance-based tasks on live Kubernetes clusters | About 15–20 performance-based tasks in a live Kubernetes command line |
| Time | 120 minutes | 120 minutes |
| To pass | 66% | 66% |
| Free study plan here | – | – |
| Career tracks | System Administrator | Software Engineering |
Exam domains
CKA (CKA (Kubernetes v1.35 curriculum))
- Cluster Architecture, Installation and Configuration 25%
- Workloads and Scheduling 15%
- Services and Networking 20%
- Storage 10%
- Troubleshooting 30%
CKAD (CKAD (Kubernetes v1.35 curriculum))
- Application Design and Build 20%
- Application Deployment 20%
- Application Observability and Maintenance 15%
- Application Environment, Configuration and Security 25%
- Services and Networking 20%
Exam details come from each vendor's published objectives as recorded in the study plans; confirm them on the vendor's page before you book.