Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) Guide

Complete reference for the Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam — format, five domains, 2026 pricing, passing score, registration and renewal rules.

Kenji Nakamura18 August 2026 · 11 min read

Ask AIChatGPT Claude Gemini Copilot Perplexity Grok

Illustration of a command-line terminal framed as a certificate, representing the hands-on Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam.

The Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) is a performance-based certification from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), administered through the Linux Foundation. It is a two-hour, online-proctored exam in which you solve real administration tasks in live Kubernetes clusters from a command line — no multiple choice. As of 2026 the exam-only price is $445 USD, the passing score is 66%, and the certification is valid for two years.

That is the short version. This guide covers everything else you need before you hand over a registration fee: exactly what the exam tests, how the five domains are weighted, what the 2025 curriculum revision changed, what your purchase includes, how proctoring works, and how renewal is handled. It deliberately stops short of two things owned by companion articles: an honest difficulty assessment lives in How Hard Is the CKA Exam?, and a week-by-week study plan lives in How to Prepare for the CKA Exam.

What is the CKA certification?

The CKA certifies that you can operate Kubernetes clusters as an administrator: install and configure them, keep workloads scheduled and running, manage networking and storage, and — above all — troubleshoot problems under time pressure. The CNCF created the programme to give employers a reliable signal that a candidate can actually run Kubernetes, not merely describe it, which is why the exam is entirely hands-on.

The relationship between the organisations involved sometimes confuses first-time candidates. Kubernetes is an open-source project governed by the CNCF. The CNCF defines the certification, and the Linux Foundation (the CNCF's parent foundation) operates training, registration and exam delivery. You register and sit the exam through the Linux Foundation's training portal, and the resulting credential is a CNCF certification. In practice you will see both names on official pages, and both are correct.

Within the CNCF's certification family, the CKA is the cluster-operations credential. It sits alongside the developer-focused Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) and below the Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS), for which a current CKA is the mandatory prerequisite. If you want the wider map of how KCNA, KCSA, CKA, CKAD and CKS relate to each other, see Kubernetes Certifications Explained.

Who is the CKA for?

The CKA is aimed at people who run clusters rather than people who only deploy applications onto them: systems administrators moving into container platforms, DevOps and platform engineers, site reliability engineers, and infrastructure consultants who need a portable proof of Kubernetes operations skill.

There are no formal prerequisites — anyone can register. But "no prerequisites" describes the registration rules, not the realistic entry bar. Because every task is solved in a live terminal, you need working Linux command-line fluency (editing files in a terminal editor, managing services, reading logs) and genuine hands-on time with kubectl before the exam is a sensible purchase. Candidates who are new to Kubernetes entirely often start with the multiple-choice, entry-level Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA) instead; the CKA is an intermediate credential despite its open registration.

A realistic profile: a Linux sysadmin with three years of experience who has been handed a managed Kubernetes cluster at work is squarely in the CKA's target audience. A developer who mostly writes application manifests and rarely touches cluster internals is usually better served by the CKAD — that decision has its own dedicated comparison in CKA vs CKAD.

What format does the CKA exam use?

The CKA is an online, remotely proctored, performance-based exam lasting two hours. You work inside a secure-browser environment that gives you a Linux terminal connected to one or more live Kubernetes clusters, and each question asks you to make something true in the environment: repair a broken node, create and expose a workload, configure storage, fix a networking fault. Your work is scored on the resulting state of the cluster, not on how you got there.

A few format details matter more than they first appear:

There is no published question count. The Linux Foundation does not state how many tasks the real exam contains. The killer.sh simulator included with your purchase presents 17 questions per session, but that is the simulator's count, not an official figure for the live exam.
Tasks carry different weights. Questions are not worth equal marks, and you can attempt them in any order.
You solve tasks by any valid means. Imperative kubectl commands, YAML manifests, or a mix — the graders only inspect the outcome.
Documentation access is restricted but not zero. Performance-based CNCF exams permit access to specified official documentation from inside the exam environment. The precise list of allowed resources is defined in the Linux Foundation's candidate documentation, and you should read the current version of that policy before exam day rather than relying on second-hand summaries.

As of August 2026 the exam is based on Kubernetes v1.35, and the exam environment is updated to each new minor Kubernetes version within four to eight weeks of release. Check the official exam page for the live version when you book, because the tested version moves several times a year.

What are the CKA exam domains?

The provider lists five domains as of 2026, weighted as follows:

Domain	Weight
Troubleshooting	30%
Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration	25%
Services & Networking	20%
Workloads & Scheduling	15%
Storage	10%

Two things stand out in that table. First, troubleshooting is the single largest domain at 30% — nearly a third of the available marks come from diagnosing and repairing things that are broken, which tells you a great deal about what the CNCF believes an administrator's job actually is. Second, the top two domains together account for 55% of the exam: if you can build clusters and fix them, you are more than halfway to the marks before touching networking, workloads or storage.

What changed in the February 2025 curriculum revision?

The CKA curriculum was revised effective 18 February 2025. The five domains and their weights stayed the same, but the competencies inside them were updated to reflect where Kubernetes itself had moved:

Gateway API was added alongside Ingress in the networking competencies.
Helm and Kustomize — the de facto standard packaging and configuration tools — entered the curriculum.
Configuring and troubleshooting CRI, CSI and CNI integration (the container runtime, storage and networking interfaces) was made explicit.
Dynamic volume provisioning joined the storage competencies.
Pod Security Standards replaced Pod Security Policies, mirroring PSP's removal from Kubernetes itself.

The practical consequence: study material published before early 2025 may drill you on removed topics (Pod Security Policies most obviously) and skip newer ones (Gateway API, Helm, Kustomize). Check the publication or last-updated date on any course or book against this revision before relying on it.

How much does the CKA cost?

As of 2026 the Linux Foundation lists three purchase options:

Option	Price (USD, 2026)
CKA exam only	$445
CKA + THRIVE-ONE annual subscription	$625
CKA + Kubernetes Fundamentals (LFS258) course	$645

Taxes and regional pricing vary, and the Linux Foundation runs frequent sitewide sales during the year, so the price you actually pay is often lower than list — but never assume a specific discount will be available when you want to book. Confirm the current fee on the official CKA page before purchasing.

Every exam purchase includes three things that materially change the economics compared with many other certifications:

A 12-month eligibility window — you have a year from purchase to schedule and sit the exam.
One free retake — if you fail the first attempt, the second sitting within your eligibility window costs nothing.
Two killer.sh exam simulator sessions — each granting 36 hours of access to a simulated exam environment.

The free retake in particular deserves weight in your decision. A $445 purchase effectively buys two attempts, which lowers the real cost of a narrow failure considerably compared with exams where a retake means paying full price again. If you are also eyeing CKAD and CKS eventually, the provider sells a three-exam bundle at $1,245 as of 2026 (against $1,335 bought separately), with the same retake and simulator inclusions per exam.

What score do you need to pass the CKA?

The passing score is 66%, per the Linux Foundation's candidate FAQ. Because tasks are weighted rather than equal, 66% means 66% of the available weighted marks, not two-thirds of the questions. Partial credit exists at the level of task outcomes: a multi-part task can earn marks for the parts you completed correctly.

There is no officially published pass rate for the CKA — any percentage you see circulating is community estimation, not CNCF data. How the 66% bar actually feels under a two-hour clock is exactly the question the difficulty article answers; this guide will only note that the bar is set to be clearable by well-practised candidates without being trivial.

Results are not instant. Performance-based exams are scored after the session, and your result is emailed — consult the candidate documentation for current turnaround expectations when you book.

How do you register and sit the exam?

Registration is straightforward, but the delivery rules trip up unprepared candidates more often than the registration process does:

Purchase the exam on the Linux Foundation training portal (the official CKA page links directly to checkout). Your 12-month eligibility window starts from purchase.
Verify your ID and system. You will need government-issued identification matching your registration name, and a machine that passes the proctoring platform's compatibility check.
Schedule your session. Exams run around the clock via the remote proctoring platform; you pick a slot inside your eligibility window and can typically reschedule within the platform's rules.
Prepare your physical environment. The exam is delivered through the PSI Bridge secure-browser platform with a webcam and microphone required — and a single monitor only. Your desk must be clear, your room private, and the proctor will inspect your surroundings by camera before the exam starts.
Sit the exam. Two hours, live clusters, proctor watching throughout. When time expires, your work is scored as it stands.

The single-monitor rule is worth planning around early if you normally work on a multi-screen setup, and the environment check can consume meaningful time on exam day — build slack into your schedule rather than booking a slot you must start on the minute.

How long is the CKA valid, and how does renewal work?

CKA certifications earned on or after 1 April 2024 are valid for two years. Certifications earned before that date were grandfathered at the previous three-year validity — relevant if you hold an older CKA, and a common source of confusion because much older content online still says "three years" without qualification.

Renewal is a full retake: you register for and pass the current version of the exam again. There is no continuing-education or credit-based renewal path for CNCF Kubernetes certifications. Since the exam tracks Kubernetes releases closely, a renewal sitting two years later is genuinely a different exam in its details — the curriculum you renew against will reflect whatever Kubernetes looks like then, as the 2025 revision demonstrated.

Factor this into the cost picture: holding a CKA continuously for six years means passing the exam three times. For working administrators the retake doubles as a forcing function to stay current, but it is a real recurring cost in both money and preparation time.

Where does the CKA lead next?

The CKA unlocks one door mechanically and several practically. Mechanically, it is the sole prerequisite for the Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist — you must hold a current, non-expired CKA to attempt the CKS, and whether that security step is worth taking is examined in CKA vs CKS. Practically, the CKA anchors the operations track of the CNCF ladder and pairs naturally with adjacent Linux Foundation credentials — many administrators hold it alongside a Linux certification such as the Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator, since cluster troubleshooting is ultimately Linux troubleshooting with extra layers. How the full certification sequence maps to job roles and seniority is covered in the Kubernetes Certification Career Path, and pay questions belong to the Kubernetes Certification Salary Guide.

Frequently asked questions

How many questions are on the CKA exam?

The Linux Foundation does not publish an official task count for the live exam. The included killer.sh simulator presents 17 questions per session, and community write-ups often assume a similar number for the real exam, but treat any specific figure as unofficial.

Can I use the Kubernetes documentation during the exam?

Performance-based CNCF exams allow access to specified official documentation from within the exam environment. The exact allowed-resources list is defined in the Linux Foundation candidate documentation — read the current policy before your session rather than assuming a particular site is permitted.

Do I need a Linux certification before the CKA?

No. The CKA has no prerequisites of any kind. Solid Linux command-line skills are assumed by the format, but no credential is required to register.

Is the CKA a multiple-choice exam?

No. It is entirely performance-based: every question is a practical task solved in live Kubernetes clusters through a terminal. There are no multiple-choice items at all.

What happens if I fail?

Your purchase includes one free retake, which you can schedule within the same 12-month eligibility window. A second failure means purchasing the exam again.

Deciding whether to book

If your work — current or intended — involves operating Kubernetes clusters rather than only deploying to them, the CKA is the standard credential for proving it, and its hands-on format is precisely why employers weight it more heavily than multiple-choice certifications. The facts to carry into your decision: $445 as of 2026 with a free retake included, two hours, five domains led by troubleshooting at 30%, a 66% passing score, and a two-year validity ending in a full retake.

Your sensible next steps are to gauge honestly whether the exam's difficulty matches your current skill level, then build a preparation plan around hands-on practice — the two companion articles linked above cover both in depth. When you reach the stage of testing yourself against the clock, working through CKA practice questions is a useful way to check your coverage of the exam objectives domain by domain before you spend a simulator session.

Exam facts in this guide were checked against official certification-provider pages on 30 August 2026. Fees, exam codes and policies change — confirm on the provider’s own site before you book.