AZ-104 vs AZ-305: which exam first?
Take AZ-104 first. AZ-104 tests whether you can configure and operate Azure resources; AZ-305 tests whether you can design a solution from business requirements. Microsoft makes the order official: you must hold the Azure Administrator Associate certification, earned by passing AZ-104, before passing AZ-305 earns you the Azure Solutions Architect Expert credential.
The two exams side by side
| AZ-104 | AZ-305 | |
|---|---|---|
| Exam title | Microsoft Azure Administrator | Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions |
| Certification | Azure Administrator Associate | Azure Solutions Architect Expert |
| Level | Associate (intermediate) | Expert |
| Prerequisite certification | None | Azure Administrator Associate |
| Passing score | 700 | 700 |
| Languages offered | 10 | 10 |
| Verb in the objectives | Configure, create, manage | Recommend, design, evaluate |
| Renewal | Free, every 12 months | Free, annually |
You can sit AZ-305 before AZ-104; nothing stops you from booking it. But the expert certification is only awarded once both are in place, and AZ-305 assumes the hands-on knowledge that AZ-104 tests.
Domains compared
| AZ-104 domain | Weight | Closest AZ-305 domain | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manage Azure identities and governance | 20–25% | Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions | 25–30% |
| Implement and manage storage | 15–20% | Design data storage solutions | 20–25% |
| Deploy and manage Azure compute resources | 20–25% | Design infrastructure solutions | 30–35% |
| Implement and manage virtual networking | 15–20% | Design infrastructure solutions (network part) | — |
| Monitor and maintain Azure resources | 10–15% | Design business continuity solutions, plus monitoring | 15–20% |
The subjects overlap heavily. The difference is in the question you are asked about them.
Same topic, different question
Storage redundancy. AZ-104 asks you to change a storage account’s redundancy and know which options can be converted. AZ-305 asks which redundancy option meets a recovery objective and a budget, alongside a database and a backup design.
Networking. AZ-104 asks why a VM cannot reach another one, and expects you to read NSG rules, peering settings and user-defined routes. AZ-305 asks which connectivity design links three regions and an on-premises site with the least operational overhead.
Identity. AZ-104 asks which built-in role at which scope gives a user exactly the access described. AZ-305 asks how an organisation should structure authentication, identity governance and secrets across its estate.
Backup and recovery. AZ-104 asks you to create a vault, set a backup policy and run a Site Recovery failover. AZ-305 asks which combination of services meets a stated RPO and RTO for compute, databases and unstructured data.
What AZ-305 adds
Several AZ-305 topics barely appear on AZ-104:
- relational databases, their service and compute tiers, and database high availability;
- data integration and analysis;
- application architecture: messaging, event-driven design, API integration, caching and configuration management;
- migration planning with the Cloud Adoption Framework;
- design trade-offs framed by the Well-Architected Framework.
If you come to AZ-305 from AZ-104, those are the areas to study from scratch.
What only AZ-104 tests in detail
AZ-104 goes into operational detail that AZ-305 assumes you already know: SAS tokens and stored access policies, AzCopy and Storage Explorer, reading and modifying ARM templates and Bicep files, VM disks and sizes, App Service deployment slots and TLS certificates, NSG effective rules, and Azure Monitor alert processing rules. The architect exam rarely asks how to click something, but its answer options often only make sense if you know what each setting really does.
Which one is harder?
AZ-305 is the harder exam for most people, because its questions have several plausible answers and the right one depends on a requirement buried in the scenario. AZ-104 is harder in a different way: it is wide, and it punishes anyone who has read about Azure without using it. See is AZ-104 hard? for the detail.
A sensible order
- Pass AZ-104 using the four-week study plan.
- Keep working in Azure for a while. Architect questions are easier once you have seen real designs succeed and fail.
- Study AZ-305’s extra areas, especially databases, application architecture and migration.
- Take AZ-305 while your AZ-104 knowledge is still fresh.
If you are deciding whether to start the route at all, read is AZ-104 worth it?.