Before you book AZ-900, budget for two things, the exam fee and the cost of failing it. In the United States the exam costs $99 USD per attempt, and Microsoft sets a different price in each country or region. You pass at 700 on a 1 to 1,000 scaled score. If you fail, the retake is another full fee, and you wait 24 hours before the next attempt. This page checks each Microsoft-sourced number against Microsoft's own pages, so you can set a budget and pick a booking date from the official numbers.
The fee is regional, so the number to trust is your checkout price
Microsoft's AZ-900 exam page lists the price as $99 USD for the United States, with the note "Price based on the country or region in which the exam is proctored" (as of September 2026). In other countries the price differs, so check the total at the Pearson VUE checkout before you book.
Each attempt is billed in full. Microsoft's retake policy says "You must pay to retake the exam (if applicable.)" There are no free retries. If you hold a voucher from an employer or a Microsoft event, Microsoft's voucher documentation says "If you are eligible for an exam discount, it will be applied during checkout" on Pearson VUE, where you enter the code on the payment screen.
Scheduling has two limits that affect when you can book. You can schedule up to 90 days ahead, and you can hold at most two Microsoft certification exams at once (register and schedule an exam). And register with a personal Microsoft account. The exam page warns that if you register with a work or school account, "your exam records will be lost if you leave your organization and they will be unrecoverable."
A 700 is a scaled score, not 70 percent correct
Microsoft's exam scoring page states it plainly. "All technical exam scores are reported on a scale of 1 to 1,000. A passing score is 700 or greater." And: "As this is a scaled score, it may not equal 70% of the points." The passing mark is set against question difficulty, so an easier set of questions needs more points to pass and a harder set needs fewer. A raw percent-correct is not a readiness number, which is exactly why Microsoft says "providing a simple percent correct won't help you gauge success."
Three more details from the same page. Some questions are unscored and used to test new items. You will not know which are which, so answer every question as if it counts. For most exams, results arrive within minutes of finishing, and the score is available in your Learn profile within 24 hours. The score report shows one overall number plus a bar chart by skill area, and Microsoft does not show which questions you got wrong, so plan any retake around the weak skill areas the bars point to, not around remembered questions.
For practice, aim for 700 on any practice test scored on the same 1 to 1,000 scale.
What "hard" means for AZ-900, and how to calibrate it
AZ-900 is Microsoft's fundamentals-level Azure exam. The exam page calls it "a common starting point in a journey towards a career in Azure," and the study guide audience profile assumes experience in an IT area such as infrastructure management, database management, or software development. The exam itself is 45 minutes, proctored, and may include interactive components.
The study guide measures three skill areas. From the version marked "Skills measured as of July 20, 2026":
- Describe cloud concepts, 25-30%
- Describe Azure architecture and services, 35-40%
- Describe Azure management and governance, 30-35%
Most questions cover features in general availability, and the guide notes the exam "may contain questions on Preview features if those features are commonly used." The change log for the July 20, 2026 update lists minor changes in the compute and networking, deployment tools, and monitoring groups, with the domain structure unchanged.
Prep pages list study-hour estimates, but the official pages (exam page, study guide, scoring page) do not state a study-hour figure. Calibrate difficulty with the two free tools Microsoft links from the study guide instead. The free Practice Assessment gives "an overview of the style, wording, and difficulty of the questions you're likely to experience on the exam," and the exam sandbox lets you interact with question types in the same interface you will use during the exam.
A failed attempt costs a second fee and a waiting period
Microsoft's retake policy sets the timeline. If you fail the first time, "you must wait 24 hours before retaking it." After that, "A 14-day waiting period is imposed between all subsequent attempts (up to 5)." You may not take a given exam more than five times within a 12-month period from the first attempt, and if you fail five times, you wait 12 months from that first attempt to sit it again. A waiver of the wait exists only for internet connectivity issues or equipment failure during the exam, with a Pearson VUE case created.
The booking rules add another way to lose the fee. Reschedule or cancel at least 24 hours before the appointment or "your fee will be forfeited," and if you used a company-purchased voucher, the voucher is forfeited as well (reschedule and cancellation policies). Both actions happen from your Learn profile.
The cost stops at the exam fee itself once you pass. Microsoft's credential expiration policy says "Microsoft fundamentals Certifications do not expire," while role-based and specialty certifications are valid for one year and must be renewed before the expiration date. After AZ-900 there is no renewal to take, and nothing to pay.
The free prep to run before the fee is charged
Microsoft Learn's study guide is free and carries the full skills outline, the change log, and links to the free Practice Assessment and the exam sandbox.
If you want a structured check before you spend the fee, the full AZ-900 path on CramHQ is free, with no card required. It starts with a free assessment that gives you a Readiness Report and your top gaps, and includes 500+ original questions with explanations, flashcards, six practice tests, and a Final Timed Simulation (free AZ-900 assessment). Take it before you book. It shows the gaps you should close first, and a passing score on a set you have not seen confirms you are ready.
If you are deciding whether to book now, the separate am I ready for AZ-900 page tells you which practice scores mean you are ready and what to do with each result.
What to do before you book
Check your Pearson VUE checkout price for your region. Take the free assessment. A retake costs the full fee again. Book when you pass a full practice set you have not seen before, and if the real exam comes back as a fail, the retake policy above is exactly what happens next.