Here's the full AZ-900 cost picture — the Microsoft fees you'll pay, plus how to keep your total down by passing on the first attempt.
| Item | Fee (USD) |
|---|---|
| Exam fee | $99 (US price; varies by country) |
| Retake | Full exam fee (24-hour wait after the first failed attempt) |
| Recertification | None — Fundamentals certifications do not expire |
The exam fee is $99 USD in the United States; Microsoft prices exams per country, so check the price shown on the AZ-900 page for your region. Microsoft regularly issues free exam vouchers through virtual training days. A free official Practice Assessment is available on Microsoft Learn.
The biggest hidden cost of any certification is the retake — fail once and you pay the exam fee again, plus weeks of lost momentum. The cheapest way to sit AZ-900 once is to walk in genuinely ready.
That's where affordable practice pays for itself: ExamDeck is $15 for lifetime AZ-900 access (or $19/month All-Access across every exam) — a fraction of the exam fee — with original questions, an explanation for every option, and a readiness report that tells you when you're ready to book.
6 free questions · per-area readiness · no dumps · no ads.
Start free →No. Microsoft's renewal policy applies to role-based certifications; Fundamentals certifications such as Azure Fundamentals never expire and carry no renewal assessment or fee.
Microsoft's study guide lists the current skills measured as of July 20, 2026, with minor wording changes in compute/networking, deployment tools and monitoring. The three skill areas and their weights are unchanged.
On its own, rarely — it proves cloud literacy, not administration skill. It is the standard first step before AZ-104 (Administrator) or a role-based associate exam, and a common requirement in sales, project and business roles that touch Azure.
45 minutes of exam time (65 minutes seat time), delivered by Pearson VUE at a test centre or online, or through Certiport for students and educators.
The passing score is 700 on a scale of 1–1,000 (roughly 70%). Aim for a consistent 80–85% on realistic practice exams before booking.
Microsoft does not publish official pass rates, so any exact percentage quoted online is unverified. The readiness signal that actually predicts passing: consistently holding 80–85% on realistic, full-length practice exams before you book.
No prerequisites — anyone can schedule AZ-900 through Microsoft Learn (Pearson VUE) or, as a student, through Certiport. Microsoft's audience profile is a technology professional with skills in some area of IT (infrastructure, database or software development) who wants to demonstrate foundational cloud knowledge; no Azure hands-on experience is required.
The exam fee is $99 USD in the United States; Microsoft prices exams per country, so check the price shown on the AZ-900 page for your region. Microsoft regularly issues free exam vouchers through virtual training days. A free official Practice Assessment is available on Microsoft Learn.
For most candidates, commonly reported 15–30 hours; Microsoft Learn's free learning paths are sufficient for most candidates (no official figure). What matters most is practising questions and analysing why each option is right or wrong — not just reading.
none — Microsoft Fundamentals certifications do not expire and have no renewal requirement.
No — every question is original, written to test the concepts and reviewed before it ships, with an explanation linked to the source for every option. Dumps are stale, often wrong, and against Microsoft's policies.