AZ-900 vs AZ-104: Which Azure Certification Should You Take First?

Half the pages ranking for this question exist to sell you a practice-dump subscription. Here is the version a working engineer would give you over coffee: what each exam is, what it costs you in time and money, and which one a hiring manager actually reads.

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Short answer: most people start with AZ-900 — and the one case you skip it

Start with AZ-900 if you are new to cloud. It is cheaper, shorter, and gives you the vocabulary AZ-104 assumes you already have, so you walk into the harder exam with your footing. Skip straight to AZ-104 only if you already administer Azure (or another cloud) at work — there is no rule making AZ-900 a prerequisite, and your AZ-104 badge never shows whether you took it.

That is the whole decision in two sentences. The rest of this note is the reasoning, so when someone on a forum tells you AZ-900 is "mandatory" or "a waste of money," you can tell which one is wrong. Both camps are usually arguing from their own situation and forgetting yours.

What each exam actually tests

These two exams sit at different levels and ask for different things, and that gap is the source of most of the confusion.

AZ-900, Microsoft Azure Fundamentals, tests whether you understand the concepts. Cloud models, shared responsibility, core Azure services, pricing and support, governance and compliance. You are answering "what is a resource group" and "what does the SLA cover," not doing anything. It is a knowledge check. You can pass it having never opened the Azure portal, though I would not recommend that.

AZ-104, Microsoft Azure Administrator, tests whether you can run Azure. Manage identities and governance in Microsoft Entra, configure virtual networks and their peering, set up storage accounts and access, deploy and size virtual machines, monitor and back up resources. It leans on case studies and interactive tasks where you work through the portal or the CLI. If you have never actually built a VNet or attached a disk, you feel it immediately. Reading about it is not the same as having clicked through it.

AZ-900 asks whether you know what the cloud is. AZ-104 asks whether you can be trusted with the keys.

So they are not really competing. AZ-900 is the on-ramp; AZ-104 is the credential a team hires against. The only real question is whether you need the on-ramp or can merge straight onto the highway.

Study time and difficulty, honestly

Nobody selling you a course wants to say this plainly, so I will. AZ-900 is an easy exam by design. With a little IT background, most people are ready in 15 to 25 hours — a couple of focused weekends, or a week of evenings. Microsoft's own learning paths plus one round of practice questions get most candidates over the line. If you already work in tech, it can be a weekend.

AZ-104 is a different animal. Budget 80 to 120 hours, spread over roughly six to ten weeks, and a good chunk of that has to be hands-on in a live subscription rather than reading. The exam punishes people who memorized without touching the portal, because the interactive items and scenario questions assume you have done the thing. Coming in with no cloud background at all, expect longer, and do not skip the lab time to save a week — that is the week the exam is testing.

The difficulty gap is the single most underestimated thing about this pair. People pass AZ-900 in a weekend, get confident, book AZ-104 for two weeks out, and then fail it. Respect the jump.

Which one employers actually care about

Here is where the honest answer diverges from the marketing. On a resume, AZ-104 is the one that moves a hiring manager. It maps to an actual job title — Azure Administrator — and it signals you can do the day-to-day work: identity, networking, storage, compute, monitoring. When a recruiter filters for Azure roles, AZ-104 is on the checklist. AZ-900 usually is not.

That does not make AZ-900 worthless. It is a real signal for career-changers and non-engineers — a project manager, a salesperson, an analyst who needs to speak cloud credibly. And for a total beginner it is proof to yourself that you can pass a Microsoft exam at all, which matters more than people admit. But if your goal is a cloud engineering or admin job, understand what each line does on the page: AZ-900 says "I am serious about learning this," AZ-104 says "I can be handed a subscription." Employers pay for the second sentence.

Cost math: skipping AZ-900 and the retake-fee risk

Let us put real numbers on the decision, because "just take both" is easy to say with someone else's money.

Now the trap. AZ-900 runs about $99 and AZ-104 about $165 in the US, with prices set by the region where you sit the exam, so check the number for your country before you book. Skipping AZ-900 saves you that $99 and a weekend — a fair trade if you already know Azure. But if you skip it because you are impatient and then fail AZ-104, the retake costs you another ~$165. That is the math that actually matters: a failed associate exam costs more than the entire fundamentals exam you skipped. The question is never "can I skip AZ-900," it is "am I ready for AZ-104 without the ramp." If you are honestly not sure, the cheap exam is also the cheap insurance.

A 30-day plan to pass AZ-104 on your first try

If the fundamentals are already in place — from AZ-900 or from doing the work — AZ-104 is passable in about a month of steady effort: roughly three focused hours a day, most of it hands-on in a live subscription rather than reading. Here is a four-week shape that follows the exam's own weighting, with the class that drills each block.

Week 1 — Identity, governance and cost

Start where the exam does: Microsoft Entra ID, users and groups, RBAC, and Azure Policy. Set up role assignments by hand until "give this person read access to one storage account" is muscle memory. Drilled in Class 7 — Entra ID and Class 8 — RBAC & Policy.

Week 2 — Virtual networks and connectivity

The heaviest, most hands-on domain, and where memorisers fail. Build VNets and subnets, peer them, configure NSGs, and get load balancing and private connectivity straight. Drilled across Class 10, Class 13 and Class 14.

Week 3 — Compute and storage

Deploy and size VMs, attach and manage disks, and configure storage accounts, access tiers and file shares. Do every task in the portal once, then repeat it in the CLI so automation is in your hands too. Drilled in Class 11 — Compute and Class 12 — Storage.

Week 4 — Monitoring, backup, and practice exams

Finish with Azure Monitor, alerts and backup and recovery, then spend the back half of the week on full-length practice exams under time pressure — not to memorise answers, but to find the domains you are shaky on and patch them. Monitoring is drilled in Class 28 through Class 30; sit timed sets on the practice page.

Thirty days is aggressive if Azure is brand new to you — stretch it to six or eight weeks and keep the same order. The order is the part that matters: identity and networking first, because everything else sits on top of them. And if you want the whole run as a paced calendar, the 100 Days of Azure plan folds AZ-104 into a full zero-to-hero route.

The gap: neither cert alone gets you hired — what to pair it with

This is the part the dump sites will never tell you, because it does not sell practice questions. A certification proves you can pass a test. It does not prove you can do the job, and hiring managers know the difference — many of them have been burned by a paper-certified hire who froze on day one.

So treat the cert as one leg of a three-legged stool. The other two:

• Hands-on work you can talk about. A handful of things you actually built in a real subscription — a VNet with peering, a VM you deployed and locked down, role assignments you set up and can explain. Two or three projects you can walk through beat a fourth certificate every time.
• The story and the scripting. Being able to narrate how you solved a problem, plus enough PowerShell or CLI to show you can automate instead of clicking. That is what turns "certified" into "hireable."

Get AZ-104, yes. But get it alongside projects you can defend in an interview, not as a substitute for them. A cert with a portfolio behind it opens doors. A cert on its own is a line on a page that a hundred other applicants also have.

Questions people also ask

Should I take AZ-900 before AZ-104?

Usually, yes, but not because you have to. AZ-900 is not a prerequisite for AZ-104; you can register for AZ-104 first. Most people take AZ-900 first because it is cheaper, gives you the vocabulary, and builds confidence before the harder admin exam. If you already work with Azure daily, skip it.

Is AZ-104 harder than AZ-900?

Yes, by a wide margin. AZ-900 tests whether you understand cloud and Azure concepts. AZ-104 tests whether you can actually administer Azure: virtual networks, identity, storage, VMs, and governance, often through case studies and interactive tasks. Plan on several times the study effort for AZ-104.

Can I skip AZ-900 and go straight to AZ-104?

Yes. There is no rule requiring AZ-900 first, and nothing on your AZ-104 credential shows whether you took it. Skip AZ-900 if you already administer Azure or another cloud at work. Take it first if you are new to cloud and want a low-cost win before the harder exam.

How long does it take to study for AZ-104?

For most people with some IT background, roughly 6 to 10 weeks of steady study, or about 80 to 120 hours, with real hands-on time in a live Azure subscription. Coming in with no cloud experience, expect longer. The exam rewards clicking through the portal, not memorizing slides.

Is AZ-104 enough to get a job?

On its own, rarely. AZ-104 proves you know Azure administration, but employers hire for the whole picture: hands-on projects, scripting, networking fundamentals, and how you talk through problems. Pair the cert with a portfolio of real work and interview practice, and it becomes a genuine door-opener rather than a line on a resume.