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A plain-language guide to the Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals certification, Microsoft’s entry point for working with data on Azure, as of October 2026. It covers the DP-900 exam, the four domains and their weights, the 45-minute format and passing score, the $99 fee, why it never expires, and the data roles it opens the door to.
The Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals certification, earned through exam DP-900, is Microsoft’s entry-level data credential. It proves you understand core data concepts and the Azure services built around them, from relational databases and non-relational storage to analytics with Microsoft Fabric, Azure Databricks, and Power BI.
Nobody asks you to tune a database or build a pipeline. The questions are about choices: whether a product catalog belongs in Azure Cosmos DB or Azure SQL Database, what normalization is for, how a batch workload differs from a streaming one, and which Power BI visual suits the data in front of you. Microsoft aims it at people who are beginning to work with data in the cloud, and that includes plenty of people who will never hold a DBA title.
There are no prerequisites. Microsoft says candidates should be familiar with relational and non-relational data and with transactional versus analytical workloads, and it notes that DP-900 can help you prepare for role-based exams such as the Azure Database Administrator Associate without being required for any of them. It is issued and maintained by Microsoft, and the skills-measured outline was last updated on July 21, 2026.
Structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data, file formats and data stores, transactional versus analytical workloads, and who does what on a data team. 25 to 30%.
Normalization, SQL statements, database objects, the Azure SQL family, and the Azure services for open-source databases. 20 to 25%.
Blob storage, Azure Files, Table storage, and Azure Cosmos DB with its APIs. The smallest domain at 15 to 20%.
Ingestion and analytical stores, Microsoft Fabric and Azure Databricks, batch versus streaming data, and Power BI. 25 to 30%.
Four things that make Azure Data Fundamentals the usual first step into Microsoft’s data certifications in 2026.
Database administrators, data engineers, and data analysts each get their own line in the DP-900 outline, and that is the point of the exam. It gives everyone on a data project the same map of Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Microsoft Fabric, and Power BI, and it’s a natural first step before the DP-300, PL-300, DP-600, and DP-700 associate exams, even though none of them require it.
Much of the outline comes down to picking the right store or service for a workload, whether the choice is relational against non-relational, Blob against Table storage, or batch against streaming. Once you can explain why an order system fits Azure SQL Database and a globally distributed app fits Cosmos DB, you’ve learned what the exam is really after.
A $99 fee in the US, 45 minutes of exam time, and a credential that never expires. Our guide to Microsoft certifications shows where DP-900 sits next to the other fundamentals exams and the associate tracks above it.
DP-900 is not a DoD 8140 credential. Microsoft claims no DoD 8140 mapping for it, so it won’t satisfy a cyber-coded position requirement on its own.
Its weight is practical instead. For organizations that run on Azure SQL, Power BI, or Microsoft Fabric, DP-900 is a low-cost way for analysts, developers, and non-technical staff to show they understand how the platform stores and analyzes data.
The certification and exam details that matter for DP-900, checked against Microsoft Learn in October 2026.
Azure Data Fundamentals is a starting point by design. From here the path splits by the job you want: running databases, building reports, or engineering data in Microsoft Fabric. These are the three common next steps.
The move from describing Azure SQL to running it. DP-300 covers provisioning, security, monitoring and tuning, automation, and high availability and disaster recovery for Azure SQL and SQL Server in a 100-minute exam. Microsoft updates the English version on October 27, 2026, and the certification renews free every 12 months.
The analyst track. PL-300 picks up where the Power BI objectives in DP-900 stop, testing how you prepare, model, visualize, and secure data with Power Query and DAX in a 100-minute exam. Our Data+ guide compares it with CompTIA’s vendor-neutral analyst credential.
The engineering tracks. Fabric Data Engineer Associate (DP-700) tests ingestion, transformation, and monitoring with SQL, PySpark, and KQL. Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate (DP-600) centers on semantic models, warehouses, and lakehouses using SQL, KQL, and DAX. Both build on the analytics domain of DP-900.
DP-900 sits at the fundamentals tier of Microsoft’s data path. Above it, the associate tier splits into database administration and Power BI analysis, and from there into data engineering on Microsoft Fabric or a wider Azure skill set.
The data groundwork
Hands-on role-based exams
Pick your path
Two questions to answer before you commit: can you sit it, and should you spend the time on DP-900 rather than going straight to an associate exam. Here’s a straight answer to both.
No prerequisites of any kind.
There is no prerequisite credential, no experience requirement, and no application. You register through Pearson VUE and test at a center or online, or go through Certiport if you’re a student or educator. If a first attempt doesn’t go your way, you can retake it after 24 hours, then after 14 days for each later attempt, with a limit of five attempts in 12 months.
Simple concepts, a lot of lookalike products.
No single DP-900 objective is hard, but several Azure services overlap. Blob storage, Azure Files, and Table storage all sit inside a storage account, and Cosmos DB alone offers several APIs. Reading about them tends to blur them together. Spend an afternoon in an Azure free account creating a SQL database and a Cosmos DB account, then take Microsoft’s free DP-900 practice assessment to see which domain still needs work.
Azure Data Fundamentals is an entry credential, so it opens doors rather than filling senior data seats on its own. These are the roles where it fits best, starting with the three that Microsoft names in the exam outline itself.
The most direct fit. Analysts query, clean, and report on data, and DP-900 covers the vocabulary behind that work, from analytical workloads to Power BI data models. PL-300 is the credential most analysts on Microsoft tools work toward next.
An entry seat on a database team, usually under a senior DBA. DP-900 explains the Azure SQL family and normalization at the level you need on day one, and DP-300 is the hands-on administration credential that follows.
Engineers build the pipelines that move data into analytical stores. DP-900 introduces ingestion, batch versus streaming, Microsoft Fabric, and Azure Databricks, and DP-700 is where the engineering skills themselves get tested.
Developers whose apps write to Azure SQL Database or Azure Cosmos DB. DP-900 helps you pick the right store and API for a workload before you commit code to it, which is a cheaper decision to get right early than to undo later.
Technical sales roles at Microsoft partners and resellers. These teams need people who can explain when a customer needs Cosmos DB, Azure SQL, or Microsoft Fabric without overselling, and that service-selection judgment is what DP-900 measures.
Non-engineering roles on data migration and reporting projects. DP-900 lets you follow the technical conversation, scope the work realistically, and understand why the engineers want a lakehouse instead of another shared spreadsheet.
Three certifications people commonly weigh against DP-900: the Azure platform fundamentals sibling, CompTIA’s vendor-neutral data analyst exam, and the Power BI associate exam above it. Here’s how they line up.
| Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900) | Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) | CompTIA Data+ (DA0-002) | Power BI Data Analyst (PL-300) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issuer | Microsoft | Microsoft | CompTIA | Microsoft |
| Level | Fundamentals | Fundamentals | Early-career, vendor-neutral | Associate |
| Focus | Core data concepts and Azure data services | Cloud concepts and Azure basics | Data analysis and reporting | Power BI modeling and reports |
| Exam | Count not published, 45 min | Count not published, 45 min | Up to 90 questions, 90 min | Count not published, 100 min |
| Passing Score | 700 of 1000 | 700 of 1000 | 675 of 900 | 700 of 1000 |
| Cost | $99 | $99 | $264 | $165 |
| Validity | Does not expire | Does not expire | 3 years, 20 CEUs and $75 fee | 1 year, free renewal |
| Best For | Beginners working with data on Azure | Beginners and non-technical roles on Azure | Early-career data analysts | Analysts who build in Power BI |
Prices are US list prices as of October 2026 and vary by country and taxes. Microsoft fundamentals certifications do not expire, PL-300 renews free every 12 months through an online assessment, and Data+ is valid for three years. DP-900 and PL-300 facts are from Microsoft Learn. AZ-900 facts are from our Azure Fundamentals guide, and Data+ facts are from our Data+ guide.
Certification Matchups: the published facts, strengths and weak spots of 33 certifications, side by side.
As a Microsoft Authorized Training Partner, we run our Azure Data Fundamentals boot camp as one day of live, instructor-led training, in person or online. It covers all four DP-900 domains with official Microsoft courseware and hands-on labs in Azure SQL Database and Cosmos DB, and your $99 exam voucher and a free retake are included. You sit the exam at the end of the day, while the service names are still fresh.
Where DP-900 fits among Microsoft’s 2026 certifications, what changed this year, and how to read a practice score before exam day.
The full Microsoft map for 2026, from the fundamentals tier where DP-900 sits to the associate and expert levels, including the AI and data track and the exams that retired this year.
The platform fundamentals question, answered. It also sketches where the data path runs after the fundamentals tier, from DP-900 to DP-700 for Fabric data engineering.
The Microsoft exams people are actually sitting this year, with costs and who each one fits, including PL-300 for analysts who build reports in Power BI.
From MCSA and MCSE to role-based exams to the 2026 reshuffle, and why it pays to check Microsoft’s retirement page before you buy a study guide.
How to read a practice result by domain, and why the 700 that Microsoft requires is a scaled score, not 70 percent correct.
ID checks, online proctoring, and retake waits compared across vendors, including Microsoft’s rule of 24 hours after a first attempt and 14 days after that.
How Microsoft and other vendors handle requests for extra time and assistive technology, the documentation reviewers look for, and how early to start.
The DP-900 exam is organized into four domains, each carrying its own weight. Core data concepts and analytics carry the most, 25 to 30 percent each, and together they outweigh the two Azure database domains combined. Click any domain for what it covers.
What data looks like and where it lives. You need to tell structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data apart, recognize common data file formats and data stores, and match Azure datastores to common use cases. The domain also covers the difference between transactional and analytical workloads, and the responsibilities of database administrators, data engineers, and data analysts.
The relational half of the exam. It covers the features of relational data, normalization and why it is used, common SQL statements, and common database objects. On the Azure side, you need to know the Azure SQL family (Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines) and the Azure database services for open-source systems such as PostgreSQL and MySQL.
The smallest domain. It covers the features of Azure Blob storage, Azure Files, and Azure Table storage, then Azure Cosmos DB: the use cases it fits and how its APIs differ. The skill being tested is choosing between these services for a described workload, not configuring them.
How large-scale analytics fits together on Azure. It covers data ingestion and processing, options for analytical data stores, and the Microsoft cloud services for large-scale analytics, including Azure Databricks and Microsoft Fabric. It then moves to batch versus streaming data and the services for real-time analytics, and it closes with Power BI: its capabilities, its data models, and choosing the right visualization for the data.
Domains and weights reflect the Microsoft DP-900 skills-measured outline as of July 21, 2026, which made minor changes to the ways to represent data, Azure storage, and real-time analytics skill areas without changing the four domains. Microsoft refreshes exams periodically, so confirm the current outline on Microsoft Learn before scheduling.
The questions candidates ask most often when researching the Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals certification.
The Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals certification, earned by passing exam DP-900, is Microsoft’s entry-level data credential. It tests whether you understand core data concepts and the Azure services for relational data, non-relational data, and analytics, including Microsoft Fabric and Power BI. It’s aimed at people beginning to work with data in the cloud, and it doesn’t assume you’ve administered a database.
The current exam is DP-900, and Microsoft’s skills-measured outline is dated July 21, 2026. The changes in that update were minor, touching the ways to represent data, the capabilities of Azure storage, and real-time analytics. The four domains stayed the same. DP-900 isn’t on Microsoft’s list of exams scheduled to retire as of October 2026.
No. DP-900 has no prerequisites, so anyone can register and sit the exam. Microsoft suggests familiarity with relational and non-relational data and with transactional and analytical workloads, but that’s a recommendation, not a requirement. DP-900 also isn’t required before DP-300 or any other role-based exam.
The four domains are Describe core data concepts (25 to 30 percent), Identify considerations for relational data on Azure (20 to 25 percent), Describe considerations for working with non-relational data on Azure (15 to 20 percent), and Describe an analytics workload on Azure (25 to 30 percent). Core concepts and analytics together make up at least half of the exam.
Microsoft doesn’t publish a question count for DP-900. Its general guidance is that most certification exams have 40 to 60 questions, and the number varies by exam. You get 45 minutes of exam time inside a 65-minute seat time, and Microsoft Learn isn’t available to look things up during fundamentals exams the way it is on role-based ones.
You need 700 on a scale of 1 to 1,000. Microsoft uses scaled scoring, so 700 doesn’t mean 70 percent of questions correct. The passing line accounts for question difficulty, some questions may be unscored, and there’s no penalty for guessing, so answer every question.
DP-900 costs $99 USD in the United States as of October 2026, and the price varies by country. It’s delivered through Pearson VUE at a test center or online, or through Certiport for students and educators. Training Camp’s Azure Data Fundamentals boot camp includes the exam voucher in the program fee, along with a free retake.
No DoD 8140 mapping is claimed for it. Microsoft doesn’t list DP-900 against a DoD 8140 work role, so don’t count on it to satisfy a cyber-coded position requirement. Its value is with employers that run on Azure SQL, Power BI, or Microsoft Fabric and want staff who understand how that platform stores and analyzes data. See the full DoD 8140 work role paths.
No. Microsoft fundamentals certifications, including Azure Data Fundamentals, don’t expire and have no renewal assessment. That’s different from associate and expert certifications such as DP-300 and PL-300, which renew every year through a free online assessment on Microsoft Learn. Once you pass DP-900, it stays on your transcript.
On its own, DP-900 supports entry-level and data-adjacent roles rather than senior ones: junior data analyst, junior database administrator, junior data engineer, application developer working with Azure data stores, data solution specialist in pre-sales, and business analyst or project manager on data projects. For hands-on data jobs, plan on an associate credential such as DP-300, PL-300, or DP-700 next.
It depends on what you’ll work on. If your job is about data, take DP-900 first, because it covers the databases, storage, and analytics services you’ll use. If you need the wider Azure platform (compute, networking, governance, and cost management), start with AZ-900. Both cost $99, run 45 minutes, and never expire, and neither is a prerequisite for the other.
DP-900 is a fundamentals exam, so it tests understanding rather than configuration. The difficulty is telling similar services apart: Azure SQL Database versus SQL Managed Instance, Blob versus Table storage, Microsoft Fabric versus Azure Databricks. Our Microsoft certifications guide estimates 20 to 40 hours of study for a fundamentals exam if you’re starting with no background, and Microsoft’s free practice assessment on Microsoft Learn shows you where the gaps are.
For anyone starting with data on Azure, yes. It’s a $99 exam that takes 45 minutes, never expires, and gives you a working vocabulary for Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Microsoft Fabric, and Power BI. It’s less useful if you already run SQL Server or build Power BI reports every day, since DP-300 or PL-300 will say more about what you can do.
Deciding between DP-900 and an associate exam, planning a Microsoft data certification path, or arranging Azure data training for a team: tell us where you are and we’ll help you map out the right next step.