AZ-900 (Microsoft Azure Fundamentals): the beginner Azure certification, explained before you book it
Try 6 questions, two per skill area
Keys: 1–4 or A–D to answer, left and right arrows to move
Question 1 of 6
Cloud conceptsDescribe cloud computing
What describes the practice of paying only for the computing resources used during a specific time period?
Metered usage allows organizations to pay only for the specific resources consumed during a given time period.
Why each answer is in or out
AAn annual subscription is a fixed commitment.
BCorrect: metered usage charges by measured consumption per period, which is the consumption-based model.
CBulk pricing is a volume discount.
DReserved capacity is a prepaid commitment.
Cloud conceptsDescribe cloud computing
What is a key benefit of using cloud services for organizations with unpredictable workload patterns?
The consumption-based model allows organizations to pay only for resources used during peak periods without maintaining excess capacity during low-usage periods.
Why each answer is in or out
AFixed costs are wasteful when demand swings.
BPredictable billing is a strength of reservations, not of consumption pricing.
CCorrect: consumption-based pricing charges only for what is used, so quiet periods cost little.
DReserved capacity commits you to a level you may not use.
Architecture and servicesDescribe the core architectural components of Azure
What is the smallest unit of Azure resources that can be deployed and managed?
A resource is the basic building block in Azure, representing manageable items such as virtual machines, databases, or web apps.
Why each answer is in or out
ACorrect: a resource, such as a VM, storage account or VNet, is the basic manageable item in Azure.
BA management group holds subscriptions.
CA resource group holds resources.
DA subscription holds resource groups.
Architecture and servicesDescribe Azure compute and networking services
Which networking feature in Azure translates domain names to IP addresses?
Azure DNS provides domain name resolution services for Azure resources and can be integrated with your custom domain names.
Why each answer is in or out
AExpressRoute is private connectivity.
BVPN Gateway provides encrypted tunnels.
CCorrect: Azure DNS hosts DNS zones and resolves names to IP addresses on Azure infrastructure.
DNetwork Watcher is a network monitoring and diagnostics tool.
Management and governanceDescribe cost management in Azure
What is the maximum number of tag name-value pairs that can be applied to an Azure resource?
Azure resources can have a maximum of 50 tag name-value pairs for organization and management.
Why each answer is in or out
ACorrect: Azure resources, resource groups and subscriptions support up to 50 tag name-value pairs each.
B100 exceeds the limit.
C25 is below the actual limit.
D15 was the old limit, raised years ago.
Management and governanceDescribe features and tools in Azure for governance and compliance
Which role is required to create new resource locks?
Owner or User Access Administrator roles are required to create resource locks in Azure.
Why each answer is in or out
AReader can view resources but cannot create locks.
BGuest has no Azure management role.
CCorrect: creating or deleting locks needs Microsoft.Authorization/locks permissions, which Owner and User Access Administrator have.
DContributor can manage resources but cannot create locks.
Six stops here; the practice test runs 60 across all three lines, with a 45-minute clock if you want one.
AZ-900 (Microsoft Azure Fundamentals) is the single exam behind Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals, Microsoft’s beginner certification on cloud concepts, Azure’s core services, and how Azure is managed and governed, with no prerequisites. The six practice questions above are two from each skill area. Read the four options before the stem and you’ll usually spot the pair of near-twin services the question is really about.
Passing AZ-900 earns Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals, a Beginner-level credential that says you can explain the fundamentals of Azure: what cloud computing is, which Azure service fits which need, and which tool prices, secures, governs or monitors it. Every objective in Microsoft’s skills outline opens with a verb such as describe, compare or identify. The exam checks that you recognize and tell services apart, not that you can configure them.
That shapes the questions. The typical item gives you a short need and asks which service, tool or model fits it, and the options tend to come in look-alike pairs: availability zones and region pairs, Azure Policy and Azure RBAC, Azure Advisor and Azure Service Health. Telling the pair apart is the skill being measured, so this site teaches by contrast rather than by glossary.
Two rows on that board are where older prep material goes wrong most often. The 700 is a scaled score that may not equal 70% of the questions, and there is no fixed question count, so prepare for a range rather than a number. One limit the board leaves out: on Fundamentals exams you can’t open Microsoft Learn during the exam, so anything you would look up has to be in your head before you sit down.
The full format, from check-in to the score report, is on AZ-900 exam details. The fee in other countries and the retake costs are on what AZ-900 costs.
Who AZ-900 is for (and who can skip it)
Microsoft rates AZ-900 Beginner and lists no prerequisites. It is also optional: no role-based Azure certification, AZ-104 included, requires it first. The people who get the most from it fall into four groups.
Non-technical roles such as sales, finance, procurement and project management, where you sit in meetings about subscriptions, regions and pricing and want the words to mean something.
Students, who can book through Certiport and may qualify for academic pricing in most countries; check Microsoft’s current terms before you pay.
Career changers who want a first certification exam with a clear outline before taking on a role-based one.
IT staff new to Azure: administrators who know on-premises servers or another cloud and need Azure’s names for ideas they already use.
Who can skip it: if you already build or run Azure resources every day and are aiming at AZ-104, you can go straight there. AZ-104 is a separate, hands-on administrator exam that renews every 12 months; AZ-900 does not expire, but it adds little you don’t already use at work.
The three skill areas and their weights
The three skill areas as lines (outline as of 20 July 2026)
features and tools in Azure for governance and compliance
features and tools for managing and deploying Azure resources
monitoring tools in Azure
Line length is the top of Microsoft’s range on a 0–40% scale; the shaded tail is the range itself. Stations are the sub-objectives.
Microsoft publishes the weights as ranges in the skills outline dated 20 July 2026, and the ranges sit close enough that no area is safe to skip. Azure architecture and services is the heaviest at 35–40%: regions and availability zones, compute and networking, storage tiers and redundancy, and identity and security from Microsoft Entra ID to Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Azure management and governance follows at 30–35%: cost tools and tags, Azure Policy, resource locks and Microsoft Purview, the ways to deploy resources, and monitoring. Cloud concepts takes 25–30%: cloud models, the shared responsibility model, the benefits of cloud, and IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
The July 2026 revision changed wording, not weights: subnets lost their “virtual” prefix, Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell now appear as tools in their own right beside Azure Cloud Shell, and Application Insights is named under Azure Monitor.
Here is the move this site practices everywhere, on a question written for this page. Read the four answers first: two are identity and security services, two are governance services, and the stem only has to tell you which family it wants.
Elimination run
A company wants to find and label sensitive records across Azure, its on-premises file shares and a SaaS app, and see where regulated data lives. Which service fits?
AMicrosoft Entra IDOut · round 1
BAzure PolicyOut · round 2
CMicrosoft PurviewSurvivor
DMicrosoft Defender for CloudOut · round 1
The stem’s tell is data across Azure, on-premises and SaaS. Round one strikes the security family: Entra ID decides who signs in, and Defender for Cloud watches workloads for threats. Round two strikes Azure Policy, which rules on the settings of Azure resources and never looks inside a file share. Purview survives.
How to prepare in four steps
1
Read the outline first
Go through the study guide or Microsoft’s own skills outline and mark every sub-area you can’t define in one sentence. That list, not the length of a course, is your plan.
2
Learn one area at a time
Microsoft Learn has a free self-paced Azure Fundamentals path, linked from the credential page; Microsoft also lists a one-day instructor-led version, run through its training partners, if you prefer a classroom. Read the two line guides here alongside it: they set side by side the services the exam likes to pair.
3
Practice by area, answers first
Work the AZ-900 sample questions, where every option carries a note, then filter the practice test to one skill area. On each item, read the options before the stem; the near-twin pair tells you what is being tested before you finish the first line.
4
Finish with a timed run
Run all 60 questions of the AZ-900 practice test against the 45-minute clock and review only the misses. Microsoft’s free practice assessment, linked from the same credential page, is a second, separate check; Microsoft says its questions are not the ones you will see on the exam.
Booking the exam and what happens on the day
Booking. You schedule from the credential page through Pearson VUE, at a test center or, where it is offered, online with a remote proctor. Students and educators can book through Certiport instead.
Time. 45 minutes of exam time inside a 65-minute seat, which also covers the instructions and the candidate agreement. The exam may include interactive item types, so try Microsoft’s exam sandbox once.
Result. Your score report shows pass or fail, a score on the 1–1000 scale, and a bar for each skill area rather than a number per area.
Breaks, rescheduling, online check-in and the full retake ladder are on the exam details page.
Is the Azure Fundamentals certification worth it?
For a newcomer it is a low-cost, non-expiring way to show you can name Azure’s parts correctly; for someone already configuring Azure daily it adds little that AZ-104 won’t. The comparison with AZ-104 and the other Fundamentals exams is on is AZ-900 worth it.
It checks that you can describe cloud concepts and Azure’s core services, management and governance at a beginner level. Passing the one exam earns Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals, and the three skill areas weigh 25–30%, 35–40% and 30–35% in the outline as of 20 July 2026.
Q2Is AZ-900 difficult to pass?
Microsoft rates it Beginner, and the outline asks you to describe and compare rather than configure. What trips people is vocabulary: options that differ by one word, such as zone and region, or Advisor and Service Health. Microsoft publishes no pass rate, so judge your readiness by how cleanly you strike wrong options in a timed practice run, not by a figure someone quotes.
Q3Which is better, AZ-900 or AZ-104?
They serve different needs. AZ-900 is a Beginner exam about recognizing Azure services and does not expire; AZ-104 leads to Azure Administrator Associate, covers hands-on configuration, and renews every 12 months. AZ-900 is not required before AZ-104, so choose by the work you do now.
Q4Is the AZ-900 exam free or paid?
Paid: US$99 in the United States as of 13 Oct 2026, with the price set by country (check yours on Microsoft’s exam page), and each retake is paid too. Discount offers come and go, and preparation can be free; the cost page covers both.
Q5Can I take the AZ-900 exam at home?
Microsoft exams are delivered by Pearson VUE at a test center or online with a remote proctor; the options open to you appear when you schedule from the credential page. Online delivery has its own room and equipment rules, so read Microsoft’s online exam guidance before you choose it.
Q6Does AZ-900 expire?
No. Microsoft states that Fundamentals certifications do not expire, so Azure Fundamentals has no renewal (renewal rules).
Q7What is the MS-900 certification?
MS-900 was the exam for Microsoft 365 Fundamentals, a different certification about Microsoft 365 rather than Azure, and Microsoft has retired it (its credential page).