The short version
AZ-900 is Microsoft’s entry-level exam on cloud concepts and the core of Microsoft Azure. It checks that you can describe what the cloud is, what Azure’s main services do, and how Azure is secured, governed, and managed. You do not need to build anything. This guide follows the study guide that Microsoft lists as “Skills measured as of July 20, 2026”.
What the exam is
The full name is Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals, and passing it earns the Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals credential. Microsoft rates it Beginner and calls it a common starting point for a career in Azure. Nearly every skill in the study guide starts with “describe”, “define”, “compare”, or “identify”. So the exam is about recognizing things: what a service is for, which of two similar services fits a situation, and who is responsible for what.
Think of it as a vocabulary test with small scenarios. If a question mentions data that must stay in one region but survive a datacenter failure, you should think about zone-redundant storage. If it mentions stopping accidental deletion, think about resource locks. You will not click through the Azure portal.
Who it is for
Microsoft describes the candidate as a technology professional who wants to show foundational knowledge of cloud concepts in general and Azure in particular. It expects you to have some skills and experience in an area of IT, and gives three examples: infrastructure management, database management, and software development. That is a description of the usual candidate, not a hard requirement. The prerequisites page explains what actually helps if you are coming from outside IT.
Microsoft also notes that you may be eligible for ACE college credit if you pass. Check Microsoft’s college credit page if that matters to you.
Format at a glance
| Item | What Microsoft says |
|---|---|
| Exam code | AZ-900 |
| Level | Beginner |
| Time | 45 minutes of exam time |
| Passing score | 700 or higher on a scale of 1 to 1,000 |
| Delivery | Proctored, scheduled through Pearson VUE (students and educators can use Certiport) |
| Languages | 13, including English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese (Brazil) |
| Number of questions | Not published for this exam; Microsoft says most exams have 40 to 60 |
The exam format page covers scoring, question types, and retakes in detail.
The three domains and their weightings
| Domain | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Describe cloud concepts | 25-30% |
| Describe Azure architecture and services | 35-40% |
| Describe Azure management and governance | 30-35% |
Describe cloud concepts
The ideas that apply to any cloud. Cloud computing and the shared responsibility model, public, private, and hybrid models, the consumption-based model, pricing models, and serverless. Then the benefits (high availability, scalability, reliability, predictability, security, governance, manageability) and the three service types: IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.
Describe Azure architecture and services
The largest domain, and the one with the most product names. It starts with the building blocks: regions, region pairs, sovereign regions, availability zones, datacenters, resources, resource groups, subscriptions, and management groups. Then compute and networking (virtual machines, containers, functions, virtual networks, VPN Gateway, ExpressRoute, private endpoints), storage (services, tiers, redundancy, moving files and data), and identity, access, and security (Microsoft Entra ID, MFA, Conditional Access, RBAC, Zero Trust, defense in depth, Defender for Cloud).
Describe Azure management and governance
Cost management (what affects costs, the pricing calculator, Cost Management, tags), governance tools (Microsoft Purview, Azure Policy, resource locks), tools for managing and deploying resources (the portal, Cloud Shell, CLI, PowerShell, Azure Arc, infrastructure as code, ARM templates), and monitoring (Azure Advisor, Service Health, Azure Monitor).
Official source
For the vendor’s own page, see the Microsoft Learn AZ-900 study guide. It is the final authority if anything here differs.
More guides for AZ-900
- AZ-900 Study Plan: 4-Week and 8-Week
- AZ-900 Sample Questions With Answers
- Is AZ-900 Hard? An Honest Look
- AZ-900 Renewal and Retakes Explained
- Is AZ-900 Worth It? An Honest Look
- AZ-900 Cheat Sheet: Key Facts to Review
- AZ-900 vs AI-901: Which First?
- AZ-900 vs SC-900: Which Exam First?
Next step
Read the domains explained page to see where your time should go. When you want to check yourself, our AZ-900 practice tests are original practice sets built around these three domains.
Frequently asked questions
Does AZ-900 expire?
No. Microsoft states that fundamentals certifications do not expire, so there is nothing to renew.
Is the exam only in English?
No. Microsoft lists 13 languages. It updates the English version first, and says other languages follow about eight weeks later.
Do I need an Azure account?
No, but a free trial account lets you look at the portal, which makes the service names easier to remember.