AZ-900
AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals Certification Guide
What the AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam covers, who it suits, how the July 2026 outline is weighted, and how to prepare for it.
By Code Nexus team · 5 min read · Published · Updated · Reviewed by Code Nexus team
At a glance
- Exam code
- AZ-900
- Level
- Foundational
- Questions
- Check the official page
- Time allowed
- Check the official page
- Passing score
- 700 or greater (scaled score)
- Price
- Check the official page
- Valid for
- Check the official page
- Prerequisites
- None stated; a common starting point for an Azure career
- Languages
- Check the official page
Last checked 2026-09-25. Prices and exam details change, so confirm them on the official page before you book.
Before choosing a cloud service, understand what you are responsible for and how it is billed. AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals assesses foundational cloud concepts, Azure architecture and governance. This guide explains the outline and a practical way to prepare, using Microsoft's official study guide for exam facts.
What is the AZ-900 certification?
AZ-900 measures foundational knowledge of cloud concepts and of Microsoft Azure. Microsoft describes the candidate as a technology professional who wants to demonstrate that knowledge, and calls the exam a common starting point in a journey towards a career in Azure.
You are expected to be able to describe Azure's architectural components and services, including compute, networking and storage, and the features and tools used to secure, govern and administer Azure. You should have some experience in an area of IT, such as infrastructure management, database management or software development.
It is the cloud entry point on the certification roadmap, and a good foundation for the AI services that run on the same platform.
What the exam looks like
- Passing score: 700 or greater, on a scaled score.
- Skills outline: the current version applies as of July 20, 2026.
- Question count, time and price: the study guide does not state these, and price depends on the country where you sit the exam. Check the exam page when you book.
- Practice: Microsoft offers a free practice assessment, linked from the study guide, so you can try the question style first.
Microsoft's guide notes that its bullets illustrate how each skill is assessed and that related topics may be covered. Treat the outline as a minimum, not a fence.
What AZ-900 teaches
The outline has three skill areas.
| Area | What it covers | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Describe cloud concepts | What cloud computing is, the shared responsibility model, public, private and hybrid models, consumption-based pricing, serverless, benefits such as high availability and scalability, and IaaS, PaaS and SaaS | 25 to 30% |
| Describe Azure architecture and services | Regions, availability zones, resource groups, subscriptions and management groups; compute and networking (virtual machines, containers, functions, virtual networks); storage services, tiers and redundancy; identity, access and security | 35 to 40% |
| Describe Azure management and governance | Cost management and the pricing calculator, tags, Azure Policy, resource locks, Microsoft Purview, the portal, Cloud Shell, CLI and PowerShell, infrastructure as code and ARM templates, monitoring with Azure Monitor | 30 to 35% |
The middle area is the largest, but the weights are close, so no single area can be skipped. In particular, the management and governance area is bigger than many candidates expect.
Topics that catch people out
- Shared responsibility. Which security tasks belong to the provider and which to you, for each of IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
- The hierarchy. How management groups, subscriptions and resource groups nest.
- Policy versus role-based access control versus locks. They sound similar and do different jobs.
- Storage details. Access tiers and redundancy options are easy to mix up.
- Cost tools. When to use the pricing calculator and when to use cost management.
Who AZ-900 is for
- Anyone new to the cloud who wants the vocabulary.
- IT professionals in infrastructure, databases or software who are moving toward Azure.
- Non-technical staff in sales, project management or procurement who work with cloud products.
- Learners heading toward AI engineering, since many AI services are deployed and secured through Azure.
The benefits
- A shared vocabulary. Terms like region, subscription and shared responsibility come up in every cloud conversation.
- A base for role-based certifications. The Azure AI and DevOps exams later on the roadmap assume this knowledge.
- A clear syllabus. The three areas make an unstructured subject manageable.
- Concepts that transfer. Much of the cloud-concepts area applies to any provider.
Is there demand for the skill?
Cloud skills are among the most sought after in engineering. The Linux Foundation's 2022 Open Source Jobs Report found that 69% of employers were seeking hires with cloud and container skills, and that 93% reported difficulty finding sufficient talent with open source skills. That is a 2022 snapshot and covers cloud in general, not Azure or this exam.
We have not found reliable evidence that employers require AZ-900 by name. Treat it as proof that you have learned the fundamentals and as a first step toward the role-based exams, not as a job requirement.
How Code Nexus prepares you for AZ-900
Four episodes cover the exam. They follow the fictional company as a traffic spike pushes it toward elastic cloud capacity.
- Episode 25, Why Not Just Buy Servers? covers cloud concepts and the case for the cloud.
- Episode 26, A Home in Azure covers regions, resource groups, compute, networking and storage.
- Episode 27, Who Gave Them Access? covers identity, access and security.
- Episode 28, The Bill Has a Plot Twist covers cost, governance, management tools and monitoring, and is the readiness check for the exam.
The episodes use a simulated cloud console that teaches the ideas and names the real Azure services, so you meet the exam's vocabulary as you go. It is not a live Azure subscription, so pair it with Microsoft's free learning material and a free Azure account to see the real portal. The episodes sit in the curriculum.
Code Nexus prepares you for the exam. Microsoft delivers it and issues the certification.
A study plan
- Read the skills outline on the official study guide and tick off each bullet.
- Learn the hierarchy first. Draw the tree of management groups, subscriptions and resource groups from memory.
- Make comparison tables for the confusable topics: Policy, RBAC and locks; storage tiers; IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
- Explore the portal. Open a free account and find each service the outline names.
- Take the free practice assessment and study every answer you got wrong.
What to do next
After Azure fundamentals, the roadmap offers the same ideas on another provider in CLF-C02, AWS Cloud Practitioner, or moves straight to the AI exams starting with AI-901. Before it, GH-900 covers the collaboration tools you will use alongside the cloud. To see why we teach through tasks instead of slides, read why practice beats passive study.
Ready to start? Create a free account and open Episode 25.
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Frequently asked questions
- Is AZ-900 a good first cloud certification?
- Yes. Microsoft describes it as a common starting point in a journey towards a career in Azure. It assumes some experience in an area of IT, such as infrastructure, databases or software development, but it does not require you to have used Azure.
- What score do I need to pass AZ-900?
- Microsoft states that a score of 700 or greater is required to pass. That is a scaled score, not 70% of questions correct.
- What changed in the July 2026 update?
- The study guide's change log lists minor changes to the compute and networking, management and deployment, and monitoring skill areas. The overall structure and the three main skill areas were unchanged.
- Do I need to write code or use the command line?
- You do not need to write code, but you should be able to describe tools such as the Azure portal, Cloud Shell, the Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell, and explain concepts like infrastructure as code and ARM templates.
- Which is the heaviest area on the exam?
- Describing Azure architecture and services carries the most weight, at 35 to 40% of the skills measured. Management and governance is next at 30 to 35%, and cloud concepts is 25 to 30%.
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Mentioned in
- AI-901 Azure AI Fundamentals Certification Guide
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- AZ-400 DevOps Engineer Expert Certification Guide
What Microsoft's AZ-400 DevOps Engineer Expert exam covers, why pipelines carry half the marks, who it is for, and how to prepare for it.
- CLF-C02 AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification Guide
What the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) exam covers, its four weighted domains, who it suits, and how to prepare, with the official guide.
- GH-900 GitHub Foundations Certification Guide
What the GH-900 GitHub Foundations exam covers, who it is for, what changed in January 2026, and how to prepare, with a link to the official study guide.
- The Certification Roadmap: Python to Azure AI
A step-by-step certification roadmap from Python and Linux through cloud, AI and DevOps, with what each exam covers and how to sequence them.
Sources
- Study guide for Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (Microsoft Learn) (accessed 2026-09-25)
- Open Source Jobs Report (Linux Foundation) (accessed 2026-09-25)
Code Nexus is not affiliated with Microsoft. Microsoft Azure Fundamentals and its badge are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Code Nexus prepares you for the exam; Microsoft issues the certification.