OpenTelemetry Certified Associate (OTCA): exam, cost and domains
The OpenTelemetry Certified Associate (OTCA) is the Linux Foundation and CNCF certification for OpenTelemetry fundamentals. It is a 90-minute, online proctored, multiple-choice exam that costs $250 and includes one retake. There are no prerequisites, and the certification is valid for two years. Almost half the exam, 46%, is on the OpenTelemetry API and SDK.
- Certification
- OpenTelemetry Certified Associate (OTCA), Linux Foundation with CNCFLinux Foundation Education, checked 14 October 2026
- OTCA exam cost
- $250 exam only; $495 with a THRIVE-ONE annual subscriptionLinux Foundation OTCA page, checked 14 October 2026
- Format
- Online, proctored, multiple choiceLinux Foundation OTCA page, checked 14 October 2026
- Duration
- 90 minutesLinux Foundation OTCA page, checked 14 October 2026
- Questions
- Not stated on the OTCA page; LF’s general multiple-choice rules state 60Linux Foundation MC exam instructions, checked 14 October 2026
- Passing score
- Not stated on the OTCA page; LF’s multiple-choice FAQ states 75% or aboveLinux Foundation MC exam FAQ, checked 14 October 2026
- Attempts
- Two attempts (one retake), 12 months to schedule and take the examLinux Foundation OTCA page, checked 14 October 2026
- Prerequisites
- NoneLinux Foundation OTCA page, checked 14 October 2026
- Validity
- 2 yearsLinux Foundation OTCA page, checked 14 October 2026
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Why you can trust these OTCA questions
What is the OpenTelemetry Certified Associate?
The OpenTelemetry Certified Associate, OTCA for short, certifies that you can use OpenTelemetry — which the Linux Foundation calls the industry standard for tracing, metrics and logs — to work with telemetry data in cloud native systems. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation and Linux Foundation Education announced the certification on 15 November 2024, and the OTCA page lists it as available.
The Linux Foundation rates the experience level as beginner. The launch announcement names application engineers, DevOps engineers, site reliability engineers and platform engineers as the audience, along with other IT professionals who need to make sense of telemetry across distributed systems.
What the OTCA cert proves is conceptual and practical fluency: you understand observability, you know what the OpenTelemetry API, SDK and Collector each do, and you know the best practices for instrumenting a cloud native application.
Source: Linux Foundation Education — OTCA launch announcement. Checked 14 October 2026.
How much does the OTCA exam cost?
The OTCA exam costs $250 when bought on its own. The Linux Foundation also sells it as a $495 bundle with a THRIVE-ONE annual subscription.
The price includes two exam attempts — your first attempt and one retake — and you have 12 months from purchase to schedule and take the exam. That eligibility window is the practical deadline for your preparation.
Source: Linux Foundation Education — OTCA certification. Checked 14 October 2026.
OTCA exam format
The OTCA is an online, proctored, multiple-choice exam with a time limit of 90 minutes. There is no test center option on the certification page: you take it from your own computer.
The Linux Foundation runs its online multiple-choice exams on PSI’s proctoring platform Bridge, using the PSI Secure Browser. No other applications or browser windows may be open, you have to stay in the camera frame, and the room must be private and quiet.
On the number of questions, the OTCA page itself is silent. The Linux Foundation’s general instructions for its multiple-choice exams state 60 questions in 90 minutes, naming only the CNPA as an exception. Confirm the details in your exam portal before the day.
Source: Linux Foundation — Multiple Choice Exams: Important Instructions. Checked 14 October 2026.
OTCA passing score and results
The OTCA page does not print a passing score. The Linux Foundation’s FAQ for its multiple-choice exams states that a score of 75% or above must be earned to pass. Treat that as the bar unless your exam portal tells you otherwise.
Results arrive by email within 24 hours of finishing the exam. If you fail, the retake included in the price lets you try again within your 12-month window.
Source: Linux Foundation — Multiple Choice Exams: FAQ. Checked 14 October 2026.
OTCA exam domains and competencies
The Linux Foundation publishes four domains with fixed weights. The API and SDK domain alone is 46% — nearly half the OpenTelemetry Certified Associate exam — so knowing signals, SDK pipelines and context propagation in depth matters more than anything else.
The Collector is the second-largest domain at 26%. Together, the API/SDK and Collector domains make up 72% of the exam: OTCA is about how OpenTelemetry actually moves data, not only about observability theory.
- Fundamentals of Observability — 18%: telemetry data, semantic conventions, instrumentation, analysis and outcomes
- The OpenTelemetry API and SDK — 46%: data model, composability and extension, configuration, signals (tracing, metrics, logs), SDK pipelines, context propagation, agents
- The OpenTelemetry Collector — 26%: configuration, deployment, scaling, pipelines, transforming data
- Maintaining and Debugging Observability Pipelines — 10%: context propagation, debugging pipelines, error handling, schema management
Source: Linux Foundation Education — OTCA certification. Checked 14 October 2026.
OTCA prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for the OTCA exam. You do not need another Linux Foundation certification or a completed course.
The Linux Foundation does note that a solid foundation in infrastructure, cloud, DevOps and security is valuable, and points to LFCS, CKA, CKAD and CKS as related certifications. Some hands-on time instrumenting a small application and running a Collector makes the API, SDK and Collector domains far easier.
Source: Linux Foundation Education — OTCA certification. Checked 14 October 2026.
OTCA training: official Linux Foundation resources
The Linux Foundation offers a self-paced course, Getting Started with OpenTelemetry (LFS148), listed at $0 with 8 to 10 hours of material. It covers instrumenting code for traces, metrics and logs, both manually and automatically, and operating the OpenTelemetry Collector, with hands-on labs.
The course page does not describe itself as OTCA exam preparation, but its content lines up with the two largest exam domains. Use the domain list above as the checklist and the course as the hands-on part.
Source: Linux Foundation Education — Getting Started with OpenTelemetry (LFS148). Checked 14 October 2026.
How long is the OTCA certification valid?
The OTCA certification is valid for two years. The Linux Foundation’s multiple-choice FAQ states that you can retake and pass the exam to renew, and that renewal must be completed before the certification expires.
Put the expiry date in your calendar when you pass. A renewal attempt needs the same preparation as the first one, and leaving it to the last weeks risks a lapse.
Source: Linux Foundation — Multiple Choice Exams: FAQ. Checked 14 October 2026.
OTCA exam rules
The Linux Foundation states a zero-tolerance rule for exam misconduct. Suspicious activity can lead to consequences including revoking your passing score and restricting your ability to take the exam again, and failing to comply with the candidate handbook forfeits the exam.
For a 90-minute online exam the practical rules matter as much: a clean desk, a private room, a single screen and nothing else running on the computer.
Source: Linux Foundation — Exam Terms of Service. Checked 14 October 2026.
OTCA practice questions
Certsqill OTCA practice questions are expert-developed for the OpenTelemetry Certified Associate exam. Every question comes with an explanation for every answer option, so you learn why the right answer is right and why each of the others is wrong.
A readiness score per domain shows whether you are ready across all four domains, with the API and SDK domain carrying the most weight. Access comes with a 7-day money-back guarantee.
OTCA questions people ask
What is the OpenTelemetry Certified Associate?
A Linux Foundation and CNCF certification that validates OpenTelemetry and observability fundamentals. Source: Linux Foundation Education, checked 14 October 2026.
How much does the OTCA exam cost?
$250 for the exam, or $495 with a THRIVE-ONE annual subscription. Source: Linux Foundation OTCA page, checked 14 October 2026.
How long is the OTCA exam?
90 minutes, online and proctored. Source: Linux Foundation OTCA page, checked 14 October 2026.
How many questions are on the OTCA exam?
The OTCA page does not say. The Linux Foundation’s general multiple-choice exam instructions state 60 questions. Checked 14 October 2026.
What is the OTCA passing score?
Not stated on the OTCA page; the Linux Foundation’s multiple-choice exam FAQ states 75% or above. Checked 14 October 2026.
Is a retake included in the OTCA exam price?
Yes. The purchase includes two attempts, one of them a retake, within 12 months. Source: Linux Foundation OTCA page, checked 14 October 2026.
Are there prerequisites for the OTCA?
No. Source: Linux Foundation OTCA page, checked 14 October 2026.
Which domain carries the most weight?
The OpenTelemetry API and SDK, at 46%. Source: Linux Foundation OTCA page, checked 14 October 2026.
How long is the OTCA cert valid?
Two years. Renew by passing the exam again before it expires. Source: Linux Foundation, checked 14 October 2026.
