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Microsoft certifications

Microsoft's certifications are organised by role and run on two systems. The Fundamentals exams are one sitting and never expire. The role-based Associate and Expert certificates are valid for one year and are extended at no cost by a short unproctored assessment on Microsoft Learn. Beside them sit the Microsoft Office Specialist exams, taken inside the application through Certiport and valid for five years, and Applied Skills, free lab-based credentials that do not expire. Exams are delivered worldwide through Pearson VUE, most of them in nine or more languages. The Microsoft credentials below span Azure, security and identity, data, Microsoft 365, Power Platform, the Office applications and the Copilot administration fundamentals.

Exam delivery: Pearson VUE (test centre or online proctored); students through Certiport

Microsoft's exams test product behaviour rather than transferable theory, so a Microsoft certificate pays when the platform in the objectives is the platform at work. In an organisation that runs on AWS or Google Cloud little of it carries over, and the objectives are worth reading for the vocabulary before sitting another vendor's exam. Application developers whose teams are judged on what ships gain little from the ladder; a DevOps expert badge proves less than a pipeline history does. The credentials pay for administrators, analysts, identity and security staff, and for career changers who need one legible line on a CV without a relevant job title. For that last group one exam is enough. AZ-900 is the Fundamentals paper worth sitting on its own merit: it teaches the vocabulary of the platform that dominates enterprise purchasing, it never expires, and non-technical colleagues recognise it. SC-900 serves compliance, sales and procurement staff who will never sit a security associate exam. DP-900, AI-901 and PL-900 cover ground the associate exams cover again in depth, so they suit candidates who will stop at fundamentals.

Six tracks that barely cross

TrackFundamentalsAssociateExpertValidity
Azure infrastructureAZ-900AZ-104AZ-305, AZ-400AZ-900 permanent; the rest one year
Security and identitySC-900SC-200, SC-300Not among the exams belowSC-900 permanent; the associates one year
Data and analyticsDP-900DP-700Not among the exams belowDP-900 permanent; DP-700 one year
Microsoft 365AB-900SC-300, one of the four accepted prerequisitesMS-102AB-900 permanent; MS-102 one year and retires on 30 November 2026
Power PlatformPL-900PL-300Not among the exams belowPL-900 permanent; PL-300 one year
Office applicationsMO-110, MO-210, MO-310Three associate passes earn the combined MOS Associate titleMO-211 Excel ExpertFive years, tied to the application version

One year, free renewal, and why that argues for fewer certificates

Every role-based certificate in the table is valid for one year from the day of the pass. Six months before it runs out, Microsoft opens a renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn: no proctor, no fee, taken at any time and repeatable if it goes badly. The assessments follow the current product rather than the exam originally sat, so each badge held is a yearly task that grows harder to pass cold as the platform moves. Two certificates that match the daily work cost an afternoon a year each; six become a burden that ends with some of them lapsing. Once a certificate has expired the renewal route closes, and the only way back is the full proctored exam, booked and paid for again. The one-year clock is therefore a filter at the moment of purchase: a role-based exam is worth booking when the role will still be the job a year later. The Fundamentals certificates never lapse, which is what makes AZ-900 sensible for a career changer to hold for years. The Office Specialist certificates run on a five-year interval tied to the application version examined. MS-102 has an announced end: renewal is possible only until its retirement on 30 November 2026.

Applied Skills: labs instead of questions

Alongside its certifications Microsoft issues Applied Skills, narrow scenario-based credentials earned in a live lab. The candidate opens a virtual machine, reads task requests in a simulated inbox and changes a real Azure, Microsoft 365 or Foundry environment before the timer runs out. The credential pages show no fee, a retake is allowed 72 hours after an attempt, and Applied Skills never expire; a credential Microsoft retires stays active on the transcript for two years. They do not replace the role-based exams, and they sit well beside them as proof of one specific job done rather than the right answer recognised. Four have pages below: Azure management, Defender XDR, agents in Foundry and AI chat in the Office applications.

The Office ladder and the Copilot fundamentals

The Microsoft Office Specialist papers are sat through Certiport and examined inside the application itself: fifty minutes of tasks in a running copy of Word, Excel or PowerPoint, checked on the finished file. One exam per product earns an associate certificate; three passes across different applications earn the combined associate title; the two expert papers, Word and Excel, earn the MOS Expert title, and Excel Expert has a page below. These certificates run for five years, and with no short renewal test on offer, keeping one means passing the then-current exam again. At the other end of the office sits Copilot administration: an Applied Skills lab tests business users working with the assistant, and AB-900 certifies the administrators who decide what the assistant may read, now that Microsoft 365 Fundamentals is retired. AB-900's English edition changes on 14 October 2026, with localised editions following about eight weeks later.

Foundational

Associate

Expert

Choosing within Microsoft

Each verdict is written from the first exam's page; the reverse view, where one exists, is written from the other's.

AB-900 against MS-102
The expert administrator certificate: far deeper, with a qualifying associate certificate required and a published retirement date. AB-900 is the entry-level view of the same estate through an AI lens, and it is not among MS-102's prerequisites.
AB-900 against SC-900
Security, compliance and identity fundamentals across Microsoft's platforms. It shares ground with AB-900 on Entra ID and Purview but has no Copilot or agent administration. Choose AB-900 if your work is Microsoft 365, SC-900 if it is security in general.
AI-901 against DP-900
The data fundamentals paper, and perhaps the more useful of the two for most non-technical readers, because every AI project fails on data long before it fails on models.
AI-901 against PL-300
A genuine associate-level step into analytics work rather than vocabulary. If you want something an employer reads as capability, go there instead.
AZ-900 against AZ-104
Where anyone technical should go instead. It is not gated behind this paper, it costs more, and it is the one an employer reads as evidence you can run something.
AZ-900 against SC-900
The same tier for security and compliance vocabulary. Worth holding alongside this only if compliance conversations are part of your work.
DP-900 against AI-901
The AI vocabulary paper at the same tier. This one is the better first purchase for most readers, because AI projects fail on data more reliably than they fail on models.
DP-900 against PL-300
The analytics associate sitting above this. What it certifies is that a report of yours can be depended upon, which is a different and more employable claim.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Get started developing agents in Microsoft Foundry against AI-901
The proctored fundamentals exam proves you understand the concepts and Microsoft's AI services; this lab proves you can build a basic agent with them. Take the exam first if the ideas are new, the lab first if you learn by doing.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Get started with Azure management tasks against AZ-104
The role-based administrator certification most Azure job adverts name. Far broader, paid, proctored and renewed every year. This lab is a free, practical stepping stone towards it, not a replacement.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Get started with Azure management tasks against AZ-900
The fundamentals exam proves you know the vocabulary; this lab proves you can use some of it. Doing both, in that order, tells a clearer story than either alone.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Streamline business workflows with AI chat against AB-900
The administrator's side of the same rollout: licences, data protection and agent controls rather than daily use. This lab suits the people who use Copilot; AB-900 suits the people who decide what it may touch.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Streamline business workflows with AI chat against Microsoft Applied Skills: Get started developing agents in Microsoft Foundry
The developer-facing lab, where the candidate deploys a model and assembles an agent. This one keeps you in the Office applications as a user. Choose by whether your job is building AI or working with it.
MO-110 against MO-310
The natural companion paper. Both reward structure over hand formatting: masters and layouts there, styles and sections here. With an Excel pass the two complete the three-exam associate title.
MO-110 against MO-210
The stronger choice for finance and operations roles, where spreadsheets carry the work. Word is the better first pick where documents are the product, as in legal and administrative posts.
MO-210 against PL-300
The move upward for anybody whose ambition is data work rather than spreadsheet work. It is a different discipline, and the point at which a workbook has outgrown itself is exactly where it starts.
MO-210 against PL-900
The other certificate aimed at business users, covering breadth of tooling rather than depth in one application. That one proves you know what exists; this proves you can do something.
MO-310 against MO-110
The companion paper on documents. Both reward the same discipline of structure over hand formatting, so preparing for them together saves effort, and each earns its own certificate.
MO-310 against Microsoft Applied Skills: Streamline business workflows with AI chat
The Copilot lab asks you to draft a presentation by prompting; this exam asks you to control the file yourself. An assistant can produce a first draft quickly, but repairing its layouts still takes the master skills examined here.
PL-900 against PL-300
A genuine associate certificate on the analytics side. Anyone needing a credential read as competence instead of acquaintance should sit that instead.
PL-900 against AZ-900
Broader and about the platform rather than the business applications on top of it. If you can justify only one fundamentals paper, that one covers more ground.
PL-900 against MO-210
The other certificate aimed squarely at business users, and practical rather than a matter of choosing between options. It proves you can do something; this proves you know what is available.
SC-900 against SC-200
The operations exam this one introduces. It certifies that you can hunt and respond rather than define, and it is the sensible next step for anyone technical.
SC-900 against AZ-900
The same tier for the platform rather than its security products. Where the budget stretches to a single foundational sitting, the platform paper reaches further.
AZ-104 against AZ-305
The architect certificate directly above, and it requires this one. Holding both means two annual renewals rather than one, a point to weigh before starting the climb.
AZ-104 against AZ-900
Optional and not a prerequisite. Skip it if you are technical; the fundamentals paper adds nothing an employer will read once you hold this.
DP-700 against PL-300
The analytics certificate on the consumption side of the same platform. If you build the reports rather than the pipelines, that is your exam.
DP-700 against DP-900
One tier down and purely definitional; nothing gates this exam behind it, so anybody already engineering data elsewhere can pass straight over.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Defend against cyberthreats with Microsoft Defender XDR against SC-200
The role-based analyst certification, paid, proctored and renewed each year, covering this product and the rest of Microsoft's security operations tooling. The lab is a free, focused proof of one part of that role and a sensible rehearsal before the exam.
PL-300 against DP-900
Vocabulary rather than practice, and not a prerequisite. If you already produce reports, skip it and come here.
PL-300 against DP-700
The engineering side of the same platform. That builds the pipeline, this consumes it, and holding both describes a small-team analyst who does everything.
SC-200 against SC-900
The vocabulary tier below, and not required. Skip it if you already work in security; it introduces products rather than teaching you to use them.
SC-200 against SC-300
Identity rather than operations, and the natural pair for anyone whose incidents keep turning out to be account compromise, which is most of them.
SC-300 against SC-200
Operations rather than identity, and a natural pair. Most incidents an analyst investigates started as an account problem, so holding both covers a real workflow rather than two hobbies.
SC-300 against MS-102
Broader and retiring in November 2026. If identity is the part that interests you, this certificate is the one with a future.
AZ-305 against AZ-104
Required before this, and worth holding on its own merits. If you are unsure whether to climb, note that stopping here costs one annual renewal instead of two.
AZ-305 against AZ-400
The other Microsoft expert paper, reachable from the same prerequisite. It answers how software reaches production where this answers how the platform is shaped.
AZ-400 against AZ-305
The other expert paper from the same prerequisite. Architecture decides how the platform is shaped; this decides how software reaches it.
MO-211 against MO-210
The associate paper certifies building a clean sheet; this one certifies keeping a shared, formula-heavy workbook safe and analysable. Sit the associate first unless your daily work is already at expert level.
MO-211 against PL-300
Where the goal is reporting across many data sources, the Power BI analyst certificate is the next move. The Excel expert paper stays inside one workbook; the analyst exam begins where one workbook becomes the limit.
MS-102 against SC-300
Identity in far more depth, still current, and not facing retirement. If the identity half is what interests you, that is the safer certificate to invest in right now.
MS-102 against SC-200
The security operations counterpart, focused on detection and response rather than tenant administration. It overlaps with this paper's threat-protection section and goes much deeper.

Frequently asked

What happens if I let a Microsoft certificate expire?
Microsoft opens the free assessment in the half-year before expiry and closes it on the expiry date. Once a certificate has lapsed, the credential comes back only through the full proctored exam, paid for again, in its current version. This applies to every associate and expert certificate. The Fundamentals certificates never expire, so the question does not arise for AZ-900, AI-901, DP-900, PL-900, SC-900 or AB-900.
Which Microsoft exam should I sit first?
AZ-900 for cloud work of any kind, including sales and project roles around it. SC-900 for compliance, data protection or identity work where one credential is wanted rather than a career track. PL-900 for someone who already builds in Power Apps or Power Automate and wants it recognised. MO-210 where the job is spreadsheets, since it is examined in Excel itself.
Do I need a Fundamentals certificate before an associate exam?
No. AZ-104, DP-700, PL-300, SC-200 and SC-300 have no required certification; Microsoft states an experience expectation instead. Three exams carry a hard prerequisite: AZ-305 requires AZ-104; AZ-400 requires AZ-104, or the retired AZ-204 for those who hold it; MS-102 requires one of four associate certificates, SC-300 among them.
How many Microsoft certificates is it sensible to hold?
Two or three, plus the Fundamentals paper that started the track: one associate that matches the daily work, one expert credential where the track offers one and the employer cares, and nothing else. Beyond that the yearly renewal load grows faster than the credibility, and a lapsed certificate on a profile reads worse than one never claimed.

Official certification portal: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials

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Last reviewed 26 September 2026 · Getting Digital