AZ-104 vs AZ-204: Which Microsoft Azure Certification Should You Take Next?

Introduction: The Fork in the Azure Road

You’ve passed AZ-900. You understand the fundamentals of Azure, you know what cloud computing means, and you’re ready to move into a real technical certification that opens doors to actual Azure roles. Then you look at the Microsoft certification catalog and hit your first major decision point: AZ-104 or AZ-204?

Both are associate-level Azure certifications. Both are well-respected. Both lead to strong career outcomes. But they serve completely different roles, target completely different job functions, and test completely different skill sets. Choosing the wrong one wastes months of preparation time on content that doesn’t match your career direction.

This guide breaks down everything you need to know about both certifications — what they cover, who they’re designed for, how difficult they are, and which one you should pursue based on where you want your Azure career to go.

What Is the AZ-104?

The AZ-104, officially titled Microsoft Azure Administrator, is designed for professionals who manage, monitor, and maintain Azure environments on a day-to-day basis. Think of an Azure administrator as the person who keeps the lights on — provisioning virtual machines, managing storage accounts, configuring virtual networks, setting up identity and access controls, and monitoring resource health.

AZ-104 Exam Domain Breakdown

The exam covers five major domains. Identity management covers Azure Active Directory, users, groups, and role-based access control. Governance and compliance covers Azure Policy, resource locks, management groups, and cost management. Azure administration covers storage accounts, virtual machines, and app services. Virtual networking covers VNets, subnets, DNS, VPN gateways, and ExpressRoute. Monitoring covers Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and Azure Alerts.

The exam consists of 40–60 questions completed in 120 minutes, with a passing score of 700. It includes a mix of multiple choice, drag-and-drop, and case study questions. Most candidates with hands-on Azure experience describe it as moderately difficult — challenging but fair.

For candidates actively preparing, the AZ-104 study materials on CertEmpire provide updated practice questions that reflect the current exam objectives, which Microsoft revises periodically as Azure services evolve.

What Is the AZ-204?

The AZ-204, officially titled Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure, is designed for developers who build cloud-native applications on Azure. Where the AZ-104 administrator keeps existing infrastructure running, the AZ-204 developer builds new things on top of that infrastructure — APIs, serverless functions, containerized applications, and event-driven architectures.

AZ-204 Exam Domain Breakdown

The exam covers developing Azure compute solutions including Azure Functions, App Service, and Container Instances. It covers developing for Azure Storage including Blob storage, CosmosDB, and Azure Cache for Redis. It covers implementing Azure security, monitoring and troubleshooting Azure solutions, and connecting to and consuming Azure services including API Management, Event Grid, Service Bus, and Azure Queue Storage.

The AZ-204 is widely regarded as significantly more difficult than AZ-104. It assumes genuine software development experience — you need to be comfortable writing code, understanding APIs, and working with SDKs. Candidates who are strong administrators but not developers consistently struggle with it.

Head-to-Head: The Key Differences

Role Alignment

AZ-104 is for cloud administrators, system administrators, and infrastructure engineers. AZ-204 is for software developers, application developers, and cloud-native engineers. This is the most important distinction — your current or target job role should drive this decision entirely.

Technical Prerequisites

AZ-104 requires strong Azure operational knowledge and familiarity with the Azure portal, CLI, and PowerShell. AZ-204 requires programming proficiency — Microsoft recommends one to two years of professional development experience and familiarity with Azure SDKs.

Exam Difficulty

AZ-104 is considered moderately difficult. AZ-204 is considered one of the harder associate-level certifications available, with a notoriously low first-attempt pass rate among candidates who underestimate the coding component.

Salary and Career Roles

AZ-104 typically leads to Azure Administrator and Cloud Operations Engineer roles with salaries between $95,000 and $125,000. AZ-204 leads to Azure Developer and Cloud Application Engineer roles with salaries between $105,000 and $140,000, reflecting the premium employers place on development skills.

Path Forward

AZ-104 is the practical prerequisite for AZ-305 Azure Solutions Architect Expert. AZ-204 connects naturally to DevOps paths and advanced developer certifications.

Who Should Choose AZ-104?

Choose AZ-104 if you work in or are targeting infrastructure, operations, or system administration roles. If your day involves managing servers, configuring networks, setting up user access, and monitoring system health — whether on-premises or in hybrid environments — AZ-104 directly validates the cloud version of those skills.

It’s also the right choice if your goal is eventually earning the AZ-305 Azure Solutions Architect Expert, which builds on the administrative and infrastructure foundation that AZ-104 establishes.

Who Should Choose AZ-204?

Choose AZ-204 if you’re a developer who builds applications and wants to move those skills into cloud-native Azure development. If your day involves writing code, building APIs, designing data pipelines, or deploying containerized applications, AZ-204 validates the Azure-specific dimension of that work.

Be honest about your coding ability before committing. If you can’t comfortably read and write C# or Python and understand REST API concepts, the AZ-204 will be an uphill battle regardless of how well you know Azure conceptually.

Can You Do Both?

Yes, and many senior Azure professionals eventually hold both certifications. The typical path is AZ-104 first — building a solid administrative foundation — followed by AZ-204 to add development depth. This combination is particularly valuable for professionals moving toward DevOps or solutions architect roles where both operational and development understanding is expected.

Preparation Tips for Both Exams

How to Prepare for AZ-104

Hands-on practice in a real Azure environment is non-negotiable. Create a free Azure account and work through administrative tasks — create resource groups, configure VNets, set up RBAC assignments, configure Azure Monitor alerts. The exam tests operational knowledge that only comes from actually doing these things.

How to Prepare for AZ-204

Set up a development environment with the Azure SDK for your preferred language and build small projects — a simple Azure Function, a Blob Storage integration, a CosmosDB-backed API. The coding questions on the exam are much more manageable when you’ve actually written Azure-integrated code before.

Final Thoughts

AZ-104 and AZ-204 are both excellent certifications that open real doors in the Azure ecosystem. The decision between them isn’t about which is better — it’s about which matches your current skills and target role. Administrators go AZ-104. Developers go AZ-204. If you’re somewhere in between, honest self-assessment of your stronger skill set should guide the choice.

For additional Azure certification practice resources and study materials to complement your preparation, certmage.com is worth exploring as you build toward your exam date.