Clinical assessment programs (CEPs) are an essential part of nursing education because they enable structured assessment of students' clinical competence in conjunction with theoretical teaching. The effectiveness of these programs depends on their clarity, consistency and acceptance by stakeholders. The study examined perceptions of CEP by nursing students and clinical instructors in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, including associated demographic factors. It was a quantitative cross-sectional study with 303 university students and 6 clinical nurses, data were collected by a validated questionnaire. Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to compare differences between groups, followed by regression analysis of associations with demographic variables. Perceptions of CEP were moderate overall with a mean score of 3.26 for students and 3.50 for instructors on a 5-point Likert scale. There were significant associations between perceptions of CEP and demographic variables such as age, academic level, gender, and marital status with small to medium effect sizes.