AZ-400 exam format: questions, score and cost
AZ-400 gives you 100 minutes, or 120 minutes if your exam includes labs, requires a scaled score of 700 out of 1000 to pass, and is priced per country at the booking step. Microsoft does not publish a question count for this exam. Below is everything it does publish, and what it means for your preparation.
| Exam title | Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions |
| Certification | Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert |
| Level | Expert |
| Duration | 100 minutes; 120 minutes if the exam may contain labs (the time is shown when you register) |
| Passing score | 700 on a scale of 1-1000 |
| Number of questions | Not published for this exam. Microsoft says most exams have 40-60 questions, and the number can vary |
| Languages | English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Korean, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Traditional), Italian |
| Delivery | Proctored, online or at a test centre |
| Price | Set per country or region; shown at booking |
| Renewal | Annual, free, through an online assessment on Microsoft Learn |
| Retirement | No retirement date published |
| Current outline | Skills measured as of July 27, 2026 |
The five domains
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Design and implement processes and communications | 10-15% |
| Design and implement a source control strategy | 10-15% |
| Design and implement build and release pipelines | 50-55% |
| Develop a security and compliance plan | 10-15% |
| Implement an instrumentation strategy | 5-10% |
The pipelines domain dominates. It holds six sub-areas: package management, testing strategy, pipeline design, deployments, infrastructure as code and pipeline maintenance. Because that single domain is more than half of the exam, a candidate who knows every other domain perfectly but is weak on YAML, triggers, templates and deployment strategies will struggle to reach 700.
Instrumentation is the smallest domain at 5-10%, but its content is predictable: Azure Monitor, Application Insights, alerts and basic KQL. It is worth the few hours it takes.
What changed on July 27, 2026
Microsoft revised the outline on July 27, 2026. The domain structure did not change. The change log lists minor edits in traceability and flow of work, security and compliance scanning, and the two monitoring sub-areas. If you studied from 2025 material, most of it still holds, but check it objective by objective against the current outline.
The English exam is updated first. Localised versions follow about eight weeks later, so if you sit the exam in another language soon after an update you may still get the previous outline.
Prerequisite for the certification
Microsoft’s certification page states that to become a DevOps Engineer Expert you must earn at least one of the Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Developer Associate certifications, in addition to passing AZ-400. The Learn exam page does not describe any restriction on booking, so check the booking flow for your own case. See prerequisites and exam tips for the detail.
Question types
Expect the usual Microsoft mix:
- Single-answer and multiple-answer multiple choice
- Drag-and-drop ordering, for example the stages of a deployment
- Dropdown completion of YAML, Bicep or KQL snippets
- Yes/no statement series about one scenario
- Case studies with several questions sharing one scenario
- Possibly labs, which is why the time is stated at booking
Microsoft does not describe formats in advance, but the exam sandbox shows the interface and question types without testing content. On role-based exams you can open Microsoft Learn in a side panel during the test. The clock keeps running, so use it for a single detail, not for every question.
The practice assessment
AZ-400 has a free official practice assessment on Microsoft Learn. Take it once early to find your weakest domain, and once near the end. It shows the style and difficulty of the questions, not their exact format.
The passing score is scaled
700 out of 1000 is not 70% correct. Microsoft scales scores and does not publish the conversion. Aim for a consistent 80% on realistic practice questions.
Time management
The risk is reading YAML under time pressure. Pipeline snippets are short, but a wrong indentation or a misplaced dependsOn is the whole question. Read snippets line by line once, decide, and move on. Do not spend more than two minutes on a single item.
Retakes and renewal
If you fail, you can retake after 24 hours; later attempts need 14 days between them, with at most five attempts in 12 months, under Microsoft’s retake policy. Once certified, you renew annually, free of charge, with an online assessment on Microsoft Learn, in the months before the credential expires. For the day itself, see the exam day guide, and for what the exam costs across providers, certification costs.