Microsoft and Azure AI Certifications in 2026: The Full Path

Microsoft’s main AI certifications in October 2026 are AI-901 (Azure AI Fundamentals, $99), AI-103 (Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate, $165) and AI-300 (Machine Learning Operations Engineer Associate, $165). They replaced AI-900, AI-102 and DP-100, which all retired in June 2026.

Around that core, Microsoft added more AI credentials this year: AI-200 for Azure back-end developers, the expert-level AI-500 for multi-agent systems, and a business track (AB-730, AB-731, AB-900, AB-620, AB-410 and AB-100) for people who use, run or design with Copilot and agents. This page maps every one of them, what each costs, the order to take them, and how renewal works.

Microsoft AI certifications at a glance

Checked against Microsoft Learn certification pages, exam study guides, Microsoft’s exam pricing data and the Microsoft Skills Hub blog on October 6, 2026.

Azure AI certifications (for people who build)

*The AI-901 page doesn’t list a time; 45 minutes is Microsoft’s standard length for Fundamentals exams. Microsoft doesn’t publish question counts for these exams. It says most of its exams have 40 to 60 questions.

AI business and Copilot certifications (for people who use, run or design with AI)

Microsoft also has AI-flavored certifications in other tracks, such as Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate (SC-500), SQL AI Developer Associate (DP-800), Dynamics 365 Sales AI Consultant Associate (AB-210), Dynamics 365 Contact Center AI Engineer Associate (AB-250) and GitHub Certified: Agentic AI Developer (GH-600). They sit outside this page’s scope.

Which Microsoft AI certification path fits you

AB-100 vs AI-103: these get compared a lot, but they sit at different levels. AI-103 is an associate developer exam about building generative AI apps and agents with Microsoft Foundry in Python. AB-100 is an expert architect exam spanning Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Copilot Studio and Azure AI, and to earn the certification you need AB-100 plus one associate certification from Microsoft’s list (AI-103, AI-300 and AB-620 all qualify). Microsoft updates the English AB-100 exam on October 14, 2026, so check its study guide before you book.

Torn between the two most popular Azure exams? Read AI-901 vs AI-103. Working across clouds? Compare AWS AI Practitioner vs Azure AI Fundamentals.

AI-901: Azure AI Fundamentals (start here)

The on-ramp: $99, 45 minutes, 700 to pass, no formal prerequisites, and it never expires. It is beginner level but not code-free: Microsoft expects basic Python syntax and familiarity with Azure resources. The skills outline has two domains: identify AI concepts and capabilities, including responsible AI and common AI workloads (40–45%), and implement AI solutions by using Microsoft Foundry (55–60%), which covers generative AI apps and agents, text and speech, computer vision and image generation, and information extraction.

Start with the free AI-901 study guide, follow the 2-week study plan, and test yourself with free AI-901 practice questions (original questions written from Microsoft’s published skills outline). See also the AI-901 exam cost, whether AI-901 is worth it and what changed from AI-900.

AI-103: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate

Microsoft’s main AI developer certification and the replacement for AI-102. It costs $165 in the US, runs 120 minutes, and expects experience developing apps in Python. The skills outline: plan and manage an Azure AI solution (25–30%), implement generative AI and agentic solutions (30–35%), implement computer vision solutions (10–15%), implement text analysis solutions (10–15%), and implement information extraction solutions (10–15%). If you studied for AI-102, your service knowledge carries over, but the Foundry and agent material is new.

Prepare with the AI-103 study guide, free AI-103 practice questions and the 3-week AI-103 study plan. Budget with the AI-103 exam cost page, and read is AI-103 worth it and AI-102 vs AI-103 if you are coming from the old exam.

AI-300: Machine Learning Operations Engineer Associate

The successor to DP-100, with the focus moved from building models to running them in production. It costs $165, runs 120 minutes and is offered in English only. Microsoft expects a data science background, Python, and entry-level DevOps skills such as GitHub Actions, command-line tools and Bicep. The outline covers MLOps infrastructure (15–20%), the ML model lifecycle and operations (25–30%), GenAIOps infrastructure (20–25%), generative AI quality assurance and observability (10–15%), and optimizing generative AI systems and model performance (10–15%).

Read is AI-300 worth it and what replaced DP-100. If your stack is mixed, AWS’s closest equivalent is the AWS Machine Learning Engineer Associate.

The newer Azure AI certifications: AI-200 and AI-500

AI-200 (Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate) is the replacement Microsoft named for AZ-204, the Azure Developer Associate, which it scheduled to retire on July 31, 2026. It is aimed at developers who build the back end of AI solutions: containerized solutions on Azure (20–25%), AI solutions on Azure data management services including vector search (25–30%), connecting to and consuming Azure services (20–25%), and securing, monitoring and troubleshooting Azure solutions (20–25%). $165, 120 minutes.

AI-500 (Multi-Agent AI Solutions Expert) is Microsoft’s expert-level agent exam. Microsoft announced it in July 2026 with a beta, and it is offered in English only. To earn the certification you also need AI-103. The outline covers architecting multi-agent solutions (15–20%), developing them in Azure (30–35%), evaluating, optimizing and monitoring them (20–25%), and securing, governing and deploying them (20–25%). Microsoft expects Python and familiarity with Microsoft Agent Framework, MCP, RAG and LangGraph.

The AI business certifications: AB-730, AB-731 and AB-900

AB-730 (AI Business Professional) is for people who use Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents at work without building anything. Microsoft updates the English exam on October 20, 2026, and the new outline covers generative AI fundamentals (25–30%), managing prompts and chats in Microsoft 365 Copilot (20–25%), managing business content and collaboration with Copilot (20–25%), and driving business outcomes with agents (20–25%).

AB-731 (AI Transformation Leader) is for business decision-makers: identifying the business value of generative AI (35–40%), the benefits and opportunities of Microsoft’s AI apps and services (35–40%), and an implementation and adoption strategy (20–25%). No coding. AB-900 is the administrator’s fundamentals exam for Microsoft 365, Copilot and agents. All three cost $99 in the US and run 45 minutes.

What Microsoft AI exams cost by country

Microsoft sets the price by the country where you take the exam. These are the list prices in Microsoft’s exam pricing data, before tax:

Microsoft’s pricing data lists the same $165 US price for the AI and AB exam families, which covers the expert exams AI-500 and AB-100. Prices can change without notice, and promotional, trainer and partner discounts aren’t reflected. For a cross-vendor view, see what an AI certification actually costs.

Retired Microsoft AI certifications

Retirement doesn’t take away a certification you earned: it stays on your transcript until it expires. If you hold AI-900, there is nothing to do, because Fundamentals certifications don’t expire. If you hold AI-102 or DP-100, Microsoft retired their renewal assessments too, so they can’t be renewed; take AI-103 or AI-300 to stay current. The details are in AI-102 is retired: what to do and DP-100 is retired.

Do Microsoft AI certifications expire?

• Fundamentals (AI-901, AB-900): never expire, so there is nothing to renew.
• Associate and expert (AI-103, AI-200, AI-300, AB-620, AB-410, AI-500, AB-100): valid for one year. You renew for free by passing an online renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn. The window opens six months before expiry and you can retry as often as you need.
• Brand-new certifications: Microsoft offers a renewal assessment once a certification has been available for more than six months.
• Retaking the full exam doesn’t count: Microsoft says the only way to renew is the renewal assessment, not a beta exam or a retake.
• AB-730 and AB-731: Microsoft’s renewal FAQ covers fundamentals, associate, specialty and expert certifications only, so check the expiry date on your Microsoft Learn profile.

Microsoft’s own renewal FAQ has the full rules. Track every date with our free AI certification renewal tracker, and see do AI certifications expire for other vendors.

Keep reading: AI-900 vs AI-901: what changed · The 2-week AI-901 study plan · AWS’s version of the same reshuffle · The best AI certifications, ranked

HOW TO // AI is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft. Exam codes, certification names and Azure are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; we reference them descriptively. Our practice questions are original and written from Microsoft’s published study guides. Verify current details on Microsoft Learn before you book.

Correction, September 2026: an earlier version of this page said AI-102 had not been retired. Microsoft retired AI-102 on June 30, 2026 and replaced it with AI-103.

Keep exploring: AI-300 study guide · AI Certification Requirements Index · generative AI certifications · GitHub Copilot (GH-300) study guide · AB-900 study guide

More certification guides: Agentic AI Certification in 2026: 16 AI Agent Certifications, Grouped by Role and AI Engineer Certification in 2026: The 7 Real Options, Compared by Stack.

Related guides

• AI-900 vs AI-901: What Changed in Azure AI Fundamentals (2026)
• AI-102 vs AI-103: AI-102 Is Retired — Here’s What Changed and What to Do
• DP-100 Is Retired: What Replaced Azure’s Data Science Certification
• AI-901 vs AI-103: Which Azure AI Certification Should You Take?