4.3 AWS Support Plans

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02

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1 Introduction

About the AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) Exam Study Strategies and Exam Tips

2 Domain 1: Cloud Concepts (24%)

1.1 What Is Cloud Computing? 1.2 Cloud Deployment Models 1.3 AWS Well-Architected Framework 1.4 Cloud Migration Strategies 1.5 Cloud Economics

3 Domain 2: Security and Compliance (30%)

2.1 The AWS Shared Responsibility Model 2.2 AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) 2.3 AWS Security Services 2.4 Compliance and Governance 2.5 Network Security

4 Domain 3: Cloud Technology and Services (34%)

3.1 AWS Compute Services 3.2 AWS Storage Services 3.3 AWS Database Services 3.4 AWS Networking and Content Delivery 3.5 Management and Governance Services 3.6 AI/ML and Analytics Services 3.7 Application Integration and Other Services

5 Domain 4: Billing, Pricing, and Support (12%)

4.1 AWS Pricing Models 4.2 Billing and Cost Management Tools 4.3 AWS Support Plans 4.4 Additional Billing Concepts and Services

6 AWS Services Deep Dive

5.1 Compute Services Deep Dive 5.2 Storage and Database Deep Dive 5.3 Security Services Deep Dive 5.4 Architecture Best Practices and Design Principles 5.5 Practice Exam — Mixed Domain Questions

4.3 AWS Support Plans

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

The online CLF-C02 exam guide lists Basic Support (free), AWS Business Support+, AWS Enterprise Support, and AWS Unified Operations.

Business Support+ is the minimum plan with 24/7 phone, web, and chat access to engineers, the Support API, and the full set of Trusted Advisor checks.

Enterprise Support adds a designated Technical Account Manager (TAM) and a target of under 15 minutes for business-critical system-down cases.

Unified Operations adds designated Domain Specialist Engineers and Incident Management Engineers who target under 5 minutes for critical incidents.

Developer, Business, and Enterprise On-Ramp are discontinued on January 1, 2027 (they remain in AWS GovCloud (US)); older materials still use those names.

Last updated: October 2026

Quick Answer: The online CLF-C02 exam guide lists four AWS Support options: Basic Support (free), AWS Business Support+ , AWS Enterprise Support , and AWS Unified Operations . Memorize three lines: Basic cannot open technical support cases, Business Support+ is the minimum plan with 24/7 access to engineers and the full set of Trusted Advisor checks, and a designated Technical Account Manager (TAM) starts at Enterprise Support .

Support Plan Comparison

Feature Basic Business Support+ Enterprise Support Unified Operations

Recommended for Every account (included free) Production workloads (AWS's minimum recommended plan) Business-critical workloads that need expert guidance Mission-critical workloads that need enhanced resilience

Technical support cases No (account, billing, and quota help only) Unlimited cases and contacts Unlimited Unlimited

24/7 phone, web, chat, email No Yes Yes Yes

Trusted Advisor All Service Limits checks plus selected Security and Fault Tolerance checks Full set of checks Full set + Trusted Advisor Priority Full set + Trusted Advisor Priority

Designated TAM No No Yes Yes

Account and billing help Customer service 24/7 billing support White-glove billing concierge Designated Senior Billing and Account Specialist

Architectural guidance No Contextual to your use cases Consultative reviews of your applications Continuous reviews with designated domain specialists

Response Time Comparison

These are human response-time targets for technical cases; AWS says it makes every reasonable effort to respond within them. Basic Support has no technical cases, so it has no column.

Severity Business Support+ Enterprise Support Unified Operations
General guidance < 24 hours < 24 hours < 24 hours
System impaired < 12 hours < 12 hours < 12 hours
Production system impaired < 4 hours < 4 hours < 4 hours
Production system down < 1 hour < 1 hour < 1 hour
Business- or mission-critical system down < 30 minutes < 15 minutes < 5 minutes (Incident Management Engineer)
Plan Details
Basic Support (Free)

Included for every AWS customer. You get 24/7 access to customer service, documentation, whitepapers, and AWS re:Post, one-on-one responses to account and billing questions, help with service quota increases, the AWS Health Dashboard, and the core Trusted Advisor checks. No technical support cases : you cannot open a case about a service issue.

AWS Business Support+

AWS calls it the minimum recommended plan for production workloads . It adds AI-assisted contextual recommendations, 24/7 phone, web, and chat access to Cloud Support Engineers , unlimited cases that any user with permissions can open, third-party software support, the AWS Support API , and the full set of Trusted Advisor checks . It starts at a $29/month minimum per account, and business-critical system-down cases get human engagement in under 30 minutes.

AWS Enterprise Support

Everything in Business Support+, plus a designated Technical Account Manager (TAM) , a response target of under 15 minutes for business-critical system-down cases, AWS Security Incident Response at no additional cost, strategic business reviews, Well-Architected and proactive security reviews, AWS Countdown support for planned events, and a white-glove billing concierge. AWS lowered its minimum to $5,000/month (from $15,000).

AWS Unified Operations

The top plan, for mission-critical workloads . It adds designated Domain Specialist Engineers alongside the designated TAM, Incident Management Engineers who target under 5 minutes for critical incidents, 24/7 workload monitoring, critical workload reviews, infrastructure event management, and a designated Senior Billing and Account Specialist.

Key Roles in the Higher Plans
Technical Account Manager (TAM)

A TAM is a designated technical contact who provides proactive best-practice guidance, assists with architecture and operations reviews, and coordinates access to AWS specialist teams.

On the Exam: "Designated TAM" = Enterprise Support or higher . Basic Support and Business Support+ have no designated TAM. "Designated domain specialist engineers" = Unified Operations .

Billing and Account Help

Every plan gets account and billing help. Business Support+ adds 24/7 billing support, Enterprise Support adds a white-glove billing concierge, and Unified Operations adds a designated Senior Billing and Account Specialist.

Quick Decision Guide

Scenario Recommended Plan
Learning or experimenting; only account and billing help needed Basic
Production workload that needs 24/7 engineer access Business Support+
Lowest-cost plan with full Trusted Advisor checks or the Support API Business Support+
Business-critical workloads, a designated TAM, 15-minute critical response Enterprise Support
Mission-critical workloads, domain specialist engineers, 5-minute incident response Unified Operations
Older Plan Names (Developer, Business, Enterprise On-Ramp)

AWS is ending three older plans. Developer Support and Business Support (the plan without the plus) will be discontinued on January 1, 2027 ; customers can keep them until then or move to Business Support+. Enterprise On-Ramp is also discontinued on January 1, 2027, and throughout 2026 its customers are being upgraded automatically to Enterprise Support. All three remain available in the AWS GovCloud (US) Region .

The downloadable PDF version of the exam guide and many older courses still list the old tiers. The online exam guide lists the four options above, so study those. If older notes mention Developer or Business, map them to Business Support+ ; map Enterprise On-Ramp to Enterprise Support .

How Support Questions Are Phrased

Support-plan questions on the CLF-C02 usually test a single differentiator, so train yourself to spot the trigger in the scenario. If the scenario mentions a designated technical contact or a 15-minute business-critical response, the answer is Enterprise Support . If it mentions domain specialist engineers , 24/7 workload monitoring , or a 5-minute incident response, the answer is Unified Operations . If it mentions 24/7 phone support , all Trusted Advisor checks , unlimited cases , or the Support API at the lowest cost, the minimum answer is Business Support+ .

If it mentions only billing questions with no technical cases , the answer is Basic .

Two facts catch many test-takers: Basic Support cannot open technical support cases at all (only account, billing, and quota requests), and Business Support+ does not include a designated TAM . Keeping the "minimum plan that provides X" phrasing in mind prevents over-selecting Enterprise Support when Business Support+ already satisfies the requirement, a deliberate trap in several questions.