How to choose your first Azure certification in 2026

The short answer

Get the certification that matches the Azure work you do, or want to do, every week. For most people starting out that is one of three:

• Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) if you work in IT but are new to Azure.
• Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) if you run Azure resources: users, storage, virtual machines, networks.
• Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate (AI-200) if you build the back end of applications on Azure. Microsoft recommends it in place of AZ-204, which retired on July 31, 2026.

Each Microsoft certification page names the job role it is written for: Administrator for AZ-104, Developer for AI-200, Security Engineer for SC-500. Start from that role, not from the badge.

Microsoft’s Azure catalog changed in 2026

Microsoft retired several Azure exams this year and named a recommended replacement for each (retired exams list, June 2026 credentials roundup). Advice written before mid-2026 may point you to an exam you can no longer take.

Retired exam	Retired on	Microsoft’s recommended replacement
DP-100, Azure Data Scientist Associate	June 1, 2026	AI-300, Machine Learning Operations Engineer Associate
AI-900, Azure AI Fundamentals	June 30, 2026	AI-901; the certification keeps its name
AI-102, Azure AI Engineer Associate	June 30, 2026	AI-103, Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate
AZ-204, Azure Developer Associate	July 31, 2026	AI-200, Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate
AZ-500, Azure Security Engineer Associate	August 31, 2026	SC-500, Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate
AZ-800 and AZ-801, Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate	September 30, 2026	AZ-802; the certification is renamed Windows Server Administrator Associate

AZ-900, AZ-104, AZ-305 and AZ-700 are not on Microsoft’s retirement list as of October 20, 2026. The only exam the list shows as scheduled to retire is MS-102, a Microsoft 365 exam, on November 30, 2026.

Match the certification to the job

If your work is mostly…	Certification	Exam
Learning what Azure offers, in an IT role where Azure is new	Azure Fundamentals	AZ-900
Learning AI concepts on Azure, early in an AI development career (some Python needed)	Azure AI Fundamentals	AI-901
Running an Azure environment: identity, governance, storage, compute, virtual networks	Azure Administrator Associate	AZ-104
Running Windows Server on-premises, in Azure or in a hybrid setup	Windows Server Administrator Associate	AZ-802
Building the back end of AI applications on Azure	Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate	AI-200
Building AI apps and agents with Microsoft Foundry	Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate	AI-103
Securing Azure, hybrid and AI workloads	Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate	SC-500
Designing and maintaining Azure networking	Azure Network Engineer Associate	AZ-700

The descriptions follow the audience profile on each certification page (see the sources below).

Fundamentals or associate first?

Microsoft lists no prerequisite certification for any of the associate certifications above. If you already do the job, you can go straight to the associate exam.

The two levels behave differently after you pass. Fundamentals certifications do not expire. Associate certifications expire every 12 months, and you renew them for free by passing an online assessment on Microsoft Learn (certification renewal).

Associate exams assume hands-on work. AZ-104 expects experience with the Azure portal, PowerShell, Azure CLI, Resource Manager templates or Bicep, and Microsoft Entra ID (AZ-104 certification page). SC-500 expects practical experience administering Azure and hybrid environments, including compute, network and storage (SC-500 certification page). If you are heading for security, much of that is the Azure ground AZ-104 covers.

When to go further

Azure’s architect and DevOps expert certifications sit on top of an associate one, as a formal requirement:

• Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) requires Azure Administrator Associate first (certification page).
• DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400) requires Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Developer Associate (certification page). Azure Developer Associate can no longer be earned since AZ-204 retired, so for a new candidate the route runs through AZ-104.

Our take

If you already manage Azure resources at work, AZ-104 is the certification that matches that work most directly, and it is the one both expert certifications above accept. Our AZ-104 study guide is written to the April 17, 2026 outline. If your week is Windows Server or Azure security instead, we have independent guides for AZ-802 and SC-500.