Azure Administrator Associate Certification 2026

Choosing the right Azure Administrator Associate certification route comes down to one question. How much hands-on Azure work have you already done? Microsoft official exam pricing data puts United States fees at $99 for a fundamentals exam and $165 for an associate exam. The AZ-104 itself runs for 100 minutes. By the end of this guide you will know whether you are ready to book. You will see what the five skill domains cover and what the real budget looks like.

Do you have the hands-on Azure experience the AZ-104 assumes?

Microsoft describes the audience as people who can implement, manage, and monitor an Azure environment. That covers virtual networks, storage, compute, identity, security, and governance. You also need working knowledge of PowerShell, the Azure CLI, and the Azure portal. Add ARM templates or Bicep files, plus Microsoft Entra ID, the directory that holds your users and groups.

Microsoft lists the credential as intermediate level and names no prerequisite exam. That does not make the experience optional. If you have only ever clicked around the portal, your study budget goes on learning command line and template formats. That leaves less time for exam practice. If you already run subscriptions for a team, you are close to ready.

What does the Azure Administrator Associate certification test?

The skill list was last updated on April 17, 2026, and Microsoft splits it into five weighted domains. The weights tell you where to spend your study time, because each one is a different slice of the exam.

Manage Azure identities and governance

This is the heaviest domain and the one people most often under study. The study guide asks you to create users and groups in Microsoft Entra ID, manage licenses and external users, and configure self service password reset. It also expects role based access control and built in roles assigned at different scopes. Add Azure Policy, resource locks, tags, resource groups, management groups, and cost alerts with budgets.

Implement and manage storage

Storage questions usually start with a storage account. You need to configure storage firewalls and virtual network rules. Then create shared access signature tokens, manage access keys and stored access policies, and set redundancy and encryption. The same domain covers Azure Files shares, blob containers, storage tiers, and soft delete. Add snapshots, blob versioning, lifecycle management, and moving data with Storage Explorer and AzCopy.

Deploy and manage Azure compute resources

The remaining three domains are compute, virtual networking, and monitoring. The compute domain expects you to read an ARM template or a Bicep file, then change an existing one. You also deploy the resources it describes and manage virtual machines, disks, and scaling. Networking covers virtual networks, subnets, peering, load balancing, and DNS. Monitoring, the smallest slice at 10 to 15 percent, covers Azure Monitor, alerts, Log Analytics, and Advisor recommendations.

How is the AZ-104 scored and how long does the exam run?

The exam runs for 100 minutes and is proctored by Pearson VUE, the testing provider Microsoft uses across its certification catalog. You can sit it at a test center or online from home. The exam may include interactive components, so read every question to the end before you answer it.

Microsoft scores the exam on a scaled scale out of 1,000 points, and you need 700 to pass. That is the same bar used for the AZ-305 expert exam. If you fail, Microsoft lets you retake after 24 hours, with a longer wait before later attempts. The exam is offered in ten languages, so English does not have to be your strongest one.

The best preparation tools cost nothing. Microsoft publishes a study guide for the AZ-104 and a practice assessment on AI Skills Navigator. An exam sandbox shows the exact interface you will meet on test day. Take the practice assessment until your scores are steady, then book a paid sitting.

What does the AZ-104 cost in the United States?

Microsoft official exam pricing data lists the AZ exam family at $165 for exams proctored in the United States. You pay that fee when you schedule through Pearson VUE, and tax is not included in the published price. Fundamentals exams such as the AZ-900 sit lower at $99, which makes them the cheapest Microsoft exam you can buy.

The fee is not the whole budget. Hands-on practice costs a little, because a free Azure account includes credit but not unlimited usage. The Azure pricing page shows what a small virtual machine or a Log Analytics workspace costs per month. On the fee side, our Azure certification cost guide explains every line item. The full path breakdown from AZ-900 to AZ-305 prices a multi exam plan.

Here is the good news. The credential expires after 12 months, and Microsoft renews it at no cost. You renew by passing an online assessment on Microsoft Learn, so you pay the exam fee once rather than once a year. If identity and access management is your focus, our comparison of Okta Workforce and Entra ID P2 covers the licensing side of that domain.

How is AZ-104 different from AZ-900 and AZ-305?

The AZ-900 is the beginner exam, and Microsoft still lists it as a live credential, last updated on July 20, 2026. It runs for 45 minutes and asks you to describe cloud concepts, Azure architecture, and Azure management and governance. The AZ-104 does not describe. It asks you to build, configure, and fix, which is why it needs 100 minutes and a hands-on background.

The AZ-305 sits one level above the AZ-104. Its full title is Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions, and it feeds the Azure Solutions Architect Expert credential. Its domains are design oriented, with design infrastructure solutions carrying 30 to 35 percent of the exam. Microsoft expects advanced operations experience plus Azure administration and development experience for it.

The order that makes sense for most people is AZ-900, then AZ-104, then AZ-305. If your goal is AI work instead of infrastructure, our Azure AI Fundamentals guide covers that branch. The Microsoft AI certifications guide covers AI-200 and AI-300.

What can the credential do for your career?

The clearest way to price it is with government wage data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $99,130 for network and computer systems administrators in May 2025. The lowest 10 percent earned $62,640, and the highest 10 percent earned $155,050. That group employed about 314,340 people that year.

The honest part of that number is the trend. BLS projects a 4 percent decline for that occupation between 2025 and 2035. Meanwhile the wider computer and information technology group grows faster than average, with about 280,000 openings each year. A credential does not create a job, but it is one of the few signals a hiring manager can read in seconds.

What the Azure Administrator Associate certification does for you is narrow and real. It proves you can run identity, storage, compute, networking, and monitoring in a live Azure subscription. It also opens the door to AZ-305 and to platform engineer roles that list it as a preferred credential. Put it on your resume with the date, keep it renewed, and let the hands-on proof do the talking.

What is a good four week study plan for the AZ-104?

Start with the two heaviest domains, which are worth 40 to 45 percent between them. In week one, create users and groups in Microsoft Entra ID. Assign a built in role at resource group scope, apply a policy, set a tag, and add a resource lock. Week two goes to storage. Create a storage account, set redundancy, generate a shared access signature token, enable soft delete, and write one lifecycle rule.

Week three covers compute and networking together, since they share a virtual network. Write a short Bicep file and deploy a virtual machine. Attach it to a subnet with a network security group, and put a load balancer in front of it. Week four covers monitoring, then practice. Set up Azure Monitor alerts and a Log Analytics workspace, read the Advisor recommendations, and finish with the practice assessment.

On exam day, expect an identity check before the clock starts. The interface is the same one you saw in the sandbox, and notes are not allowed. Once you hold the Azure Administrator Associate certification, look at the best cloud certifications for career growth and decide what comes next.

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