AZ-104 vs AZ-204: Azure Administrator vs Developer Associate Compared

AZ-104 (Azure Administrator Associate) and AZ-204 (Azure Developer Associate) have long stood as the twin pillars of the Azure Associate tier. Both share the same headline specs — USD 165, 100-120 minutes, 40-60 questions, 700 to pass (the AZ-204 figures are as of its retirement) — yet the target roles and exam content are distinctly different. Note, however, that AZ-204 was retired at the certification level on July 31, 2026 and can no longer be taken. Its successor is Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate (Exam AI-200: Developing AI Cloud Solutions on Azure). This article compares the two from multiple angles and then lays out which route to take now that AZ-204 is gone.

Side-by-Side Comparison Table

Note: the AZ-204 fee, exam length, question count, and domain count above are as of its retirement on July 31, 2026. Check the official Microsoft pages for the corresponding AI-200 figures.

Target Role Differences

The single biggest thing that separates AZ-104 and AZ-204 is who the exam is for.AZ-104 targets people who operate and manage Azure environments and tests skills for configuring and running VMs, VNets, Storage, Backup, and Monitor using the Azure portal, Azure CLI, PowerShell, and Bicep.AZ-204 targets people who build applications on Azure and tests skills for working with App Service, Functions, Cosmos DB SDK, Service Bus, API Management, and Event Grid from C#, Python, JavaScript, or Java code.

This difference shows up directly in question style. AZ-104 leans heavily on operations-style questions such as "how do you configure this setting in the Azure portal?" or "which CLI command option is correct?", while AZ-204 is dominated by code-reading questions such as "what is the return value of this C# / Python code?" or "how do you optimize this Cosmos DB SDK query?".

Scope Overlap and Unique Areas

The exam scopes overlap by roughly 30-40%. Shared areas include identity (Entra ID authentication, Managed Identity, OAuth 2.0), Storage SDK / Blob operations, networking basics (VNet, NSG, Private Endpoint), monitoring (Azure Monitor, Application Insights), and IaC (ARM, Bicep). If you take AZ-104 first and then move on to AZ-204, you can usually cover these areas with little to no additional study.

The unique areas are cleanly separated.AZ-104 only: VMSS scaling, Azure Backup / Site Recovery, Azure Files (SMB/NFS), Storage account replication (LRS/GRS, etc.), VPN Gateway / ExpressRoute, Application Gateway / Load Balancer, basic KQL, Azure Policy / RBAC / Resource Lock.AZ-204 only: App Service Deployment Slots, every Functions trigger type (Timer/Blob/Queue/HTTP/Event Hub/Service Bus/Cosmos DB), Cosmos DB SDK partition design and query optimization, Service Bus FIFO / sessions / transactions, API Management policies, Event Grid schema and webhook delivery, Container Apps scaling rules, and OpenAPI / Swagger knowledge.

Difficulty and Study-Time Comparison

Study time tends to be longer for AZ-204. For AZ-104, Japanese candidate reports average 100-150 hours for those with 1-3 years of IT experience, 60-100 hours if you already know another cloud, and 150-200 hours for IT generalists who are new to Azure. For AZ-204, the typical ranges are 100-150 hours for developers with 3+ years of app experience, 150-250 hours for Azure-savvy candidates whose dev experience is lighter, and 300+ hours for total beginners.

AZ-204 takes longer because it assumes you can already code. Candidates without programming fundamentals need to add 50-100 hours of upfront language study in Python, C#, or JavaScript. On the other hand, experienced developers sometimes find AZ-104 takes longer than AZ-204 because they have little hands-on experience with infrastructure tasks like VM sizing, picking a storage replication tier, or configuring VPNs.

The AZ-204 Retirement and What It Means for Your Choice

AZ-204 was retired on July 31, 2026 (11:59 PM Central Standard Time), and the retirement applied to the entire certification: the Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate certification, its exam, and its renewal assessments all went away, so it can no longer be earned or renewed. Its successor is Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate (Exam AI-200: Developing AI Cloud Solutions on Azure). AI-200 is live and bookable through Pearson VUE, but it is currently offered in English only — there is no Japanese version.

There are three realistic options:

• Option A (take the successor, AI-200): AI-200 is the direct continuation of the developer track. It is English-only for now, so whether you can sit an English exam is the deciding factor.
• Option B (substitute with AZ-104): Earn AZ-104 first and build your Azure foundation from the infrastructure side. It is available in Japanese and is the certification named most often in job postings — the safe choice.
• Option C (pivot to a new area): Move on to AI-103 (AI apps and agents) or AZ-400 (DevOps). Best for engineers interested in AI or DevOps.

The successor carries a different certification name — Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate — so it is not a rebadged AZ-204: the focus has moved to cloud development that assumes AI. In practice the developer role is splitting across AI-200 (AI cloud development), AI-103 (AI apps and agents), and AZ-400 (DevOps Expert). For more, see the AZ-204 complete guide.

How to Choose: Recommended Paths

Here are our recommendations:

• Infrastructure engineer / SRE / operations: AZ-104 only. No need for AZ-204.
• App developer / backend engineer (already on Azure): AZ-204 is gone, so choose between the successor AI-200 (English only) and the Japanese-available AZ-104 → AZ-400 route.
• App developer / backend engineer (just starting): Build the foundation with AZ-104, then move on to AI-200, AI-103, or AZ-400.
• Aspiring DevOps engineer / full-stack: AZ-104 → AZ-400 is the shortest route today; add AI-200, the AZ-204 successor, if you want the developer side too.
• Cloud beginner (role not yet decided): Start with AZ-900 → AZ-104 to get a feel for cloud as a whole, then branch into AI-200 or another Associate depending on what interests you.

If You're Taking Both: Study Order

Because AZ-204 has retired at the certification level, you can no longer earn both from scratch. What follows is for readers who already hold AZ-204, and for those mapping the successor AI-200 onto the AZ-204 slot. When both were available, AZ-104 → AZ-204 was the standard order. The Entra ID, Storage, VNet, and Monitor fundamentals you pick up for AZ-104 transfer directly into AZ-204, cutting roughly 30-50 hours off the standalone AZ-204 study time. The reverse order (AZ-204 → AZ-104) is inefficient because AZ-104 then piles on a large block of infrastructure-ops content — VMs, VPNs, Backup, Site Recovery — that AZ-204 never touches. Plan on a combined 200-300 hours if you have prior experience, or 400+ hours if you're starting from zero.

What to Earn Next

After AZ-104 and AZ-204, several paths open up.Solutions Architect Expert: AZ-305 covers Expert-tier design decisions. AZ-104 holders already meet the AZ-305 prerequisite, so AZ-104 + AZ-305 alone reaches Expert.DevOps Engineer Expert: AZ-400 covers CI/CD, IaC, GitOps, and SRE practices. Either AZ-104 or AZ-204 satisfies its prerequisite, but AZ-204 is retired at the certification level, so new candidates should plan on AZ-104 + AZ-400.Network Engineer Associate: AZ-700 goes deeper on networking specialization.Security track: SC-300 (Identity Admin), SC-200 (SOC Analyst), and SC-500 (Microsoft Certified: Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate). Its predecessor AZ-500 retires on August 31, 2026, so new candidates should go straight to SC-500.AI / Data track: AI-103 (GA 2026-06), DP-700, and DP-300.

Frequently Asked Questions

Exam information in this article is based on the official Microsoft Learn AZ-104 page and the official AZ-204 page. This article is not an official Microsoft product and has no partnership or sponsorship relationship with Microsoft. Microsoft, Azure, and Microsoft Entra are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Information is based on official materials published as of May 24, 2026. Always check the official pages for the latest details.