Cloud Practitioner or AZ-900? A beginner-level comparison of AWS and Azure entry certifications on cost, format, expiry, job market and which fits your start.
Here is a fact that surprises most beginners: one of these two entry-level certifications expires after three years, and the other never expires at all. That single difference — AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) versus Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) — is a good early clue that these "equivalent" foundational exams are built on quite different philosophies, and that the right first choice depends on where you are starting from.
Short answer: neither certification is objectively better. AZ-900 is the gentler, cheaper-to-maintain on-ramp — a 45-minute exam and a credential that never lapses — and it is the obvious pick if your current or target employer runs Microsoft. Cloud Practitioner is a slightly longer, slightly broader exam attached to the market-share leader, and it is the better pick if you are aiming at the widest possible pool of cloud job adverts. Both assume no prior experience, and neither locks you out of the other vendor later.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) is Amazon Web Services' foundational credential. The exam has 65 multiple-choice and multiple-response questions in 90 minutes, costs $100 USD (local pricing varies by region), and is scored on AWS's 100–1,000 scale with 700 needed to pass. AWS suggests up to six months of general exposure to the AWS Cloud but sets no prerequisites. The certification is valid for three years; you renew by retaking it, by passing any Associate or Professional exam, or via AWS's free game-based recertification path listed on its recertification page.
Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) is Microsoft's beginner credential. The proctored exam runs 45 minutes and may include interactive question components; Microsoft does not publish question counts, and pricing is set per country rather than as a flat USD figure (third parties commonly cite about US$99, but confirm on Microsoft Learn for your region). The passing score is 700 on Microsoft's 1,000-point scale — a scaled score, not 70%. There are no prerequisites, a free official practice assessment and exam sandbox are provided, and — unusually — fundamentals certifications never expire.
Both are knowledge exams about cloud concepts, core services, pricing and governance on their respective platforms. Neither involves hands-on labs, and neither requires you to have deployed anything.
| Factor | AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) | Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) |
|---|---|---|
| Difficulty | Beginner; 65 questions over 90 minutes gives more breadth to cover | Beginner; shorter 45-minute format, generally seen as the softer landing |
| Prerequisites | None (up to ~6 months' exposure suggested) | None |
| Cost | $100 USD, varies by region | Priced by country; commonly cited around US$99 — check Microsoft Learn |
| Format | 65 multiple-choice/multiple-response questions | 45-minute proctored assessment, may include interactive components; count unpublished |
| Passing score | 700 scaled (100–1,000) | 700 scaled (1–1,000) |
| Validity | 3 years; renew by retake, higher exam, or free recertification path | Never expires |
| Retakes | Per AWS retake policy | Allowed 24 hours after a first fail |
| Best for | Beginners targeting the broadest job market or AWS-heavy employers | Beginners in Microsoft-centred organisations or with Microsoft 365 exposure |
| Next step on the ladder | Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) and other Associate exams | AZ-104 Azure Administrator and other role-based certs |
| Free official prep | AWS Skill Builder question sets | Microsoft Learn path, free practice assessment, exam sandbox |
On raw market size, AWS leads. Synergy Research Group's figures for Q3 2025 put AWS at 29% of the cloud infrastructure services market and Microsoft at 20%, in a quarterly market worth $106.9 billion — with Synergy noting AWS's share has drifted down from roughly 32% in 2021 while Microsoft and Google gained. More AWS deployments broadly means more AWS-flavoured job adverts, which is why "learn AWS first" remains common advice for candidates with no employer constraints. AWS also reported more than 1.42 million active certifications and 1.05 million certified individuals as of January 2025, so recruiters everywhere recognise the scheme.
But beginners should read that statistic carefully, because the market that matters is not the global one — it is the one you can actually apply into. Azure's 20% is concentrated in large enterprises, the public sector and any organisation already committed to Microsoft 365, Windows Server and Active Directory. If your town's biggest employers are banks, councils, hospitals and consultancies, Azure demand locally may outweigh AWS demand, whatever the global chart says. The practical test: search your preferred job board for entry-level cloud, support and junior administrator roles, and count which vendor appears more often within commuting distance.
One more market nuance: a foundational certificate on either platform is a door-opener, not a job qualification. Employers treat CLF-C02 and AZ-900 as evidence of initiative and vocabulary, and both certs do that job equally well. The vendor choice starts to bite at the next rung, which is beyond this article's scope — for how the two ecosystems compare across full career ladders, see AWS vs Azure for cloud careers.
AZ-900 is generally the softer landing, for structural reasons rather than intellectual ones. The exam is 45 minutes against Cloud Practitioner's 90, Microsoft's free Learn path maps one-to-one onto the measured skills, and the free practice assessment plus exam sandbox mean you can rehearse both the content and the interface before paying anything. Microsoft's 24-hour retake rule after a first fail also lowers the stakes psychologically.
CLF-C02 is not hard, but it is broader: 65 questions ranging across the AWS service catalogue, billing models, support plans and the shared-responsibility model. Beginners with no IT background typically need to absorb more raw service vocabulary for AWS than for Azure's fundamentals blueprint. Neither exam publishes a pass rate — no major cloud provider does — so ignore any percentage you see quoted.
A note on scoring, because it trips people up on both sides: 700 out of 1,000 does not mean 70% of questions correct. Both vendors use scaled scoring, so your target is simply to be comfortable across every domain in the official exam guide rather than to count questions.
The sticker prices are near-identical: $100 USD for CLF-C02 and country-based pricing commonly cited around US$99 for AZ-900. The hidden differences favour Azure slightly at this tier:
Either way, the total cash outlay for a first certification is roughly £80–£100 equivalent — modest compared with the study time, which is the real investment.
If you are also weighing Google Cloud as a third option, that three-way beginner decision is covered in AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud certification.
Scenario one: a service-desk analyst in a Microsoft shop. Priya spends her days resetting passwords in Entra ID and supporting Microsoft 365 users. For her, AZ-900 is close to a free win: perhaps half the exam's concepts — identity, tenants, subscriptions, governance — already live in her daily work, so a few weeks of evening study through the free Microsoft Learn path fills the gaps. More importantly, the credential speaks directly to her current employer, where the realistic promotion path runs through Azure administration. Choosing Cloud Practitioner instead would teach her a platform nobody around her uses, delaying the moment her certificate converts into responsibility.
Scenario two: a career-changer with no employer and no legacy skills. Tom is leaving retail management for tech and has nothing anchoring him to either vendor. His constraint is the job market itself, so the sensible move is empirical: he searches entry-level cloud and junior support roles within his region, finds AWS mentioned roughly twice as often, and books CLF-C02. The 90-minute, 65-question format demands a bit more study than AZ-900 would, but every hour maps onto the vendor most of his applications will name. Same logic, opposite conclusions — because the deciding input was each person's situation, not the exams.
If neither portrait resembles you, borrow the method rather than the answer: identify the platform your next twelve months of applications or appraisals will reward, and certify that one.
Yes, and the second one is dramatically easier because the underlying concepts overlap heavily. If your job market genuinely splits between the vendors, holding both foundational certs is an inexpensive way to keep every advert in reach.
Alone, rarely. Either one gets your CV past keyword filters for junior support, helpdesk and trainee roles and proves initiative. Pair it with hands-on practice on the platform's free tier and, soon after, an associate-level credential.
No. Both are conceptual exams about cloud ideas, core services, security basics and pricing. No code is written or read in either.
Neither vendor publishes an official study-hour figure, and honest answers vary with your background — IT professionals often prepare in a few weeks of part-time study, while complete newcomers need longer. Let timed practice results, not the calendar, tell you when you are ready.
Entirely. The concepts transfer, both vendors let you enter at any level, and no employer penalises a beginner for holding the other vendor's foundational cert.
Book AZ-900 if Microsoft technology surrounds you — at work, in your target employers, or in your existing skills — or if you want the shortest, lowest-maintenance first step with a credential that never expires. Book Cloud Practitioner if you are optimising for the biggest global job market, expect to climb the AWS ladder, or simply see more AWS roles in your local searches. If after reading you genuinely have no lean either way, take AZ-900 first for its speed and free rehearsal tools, and let your first job decide which vendor's ladder you climb — the full AWS exam range and Microsoft exam range will both still be there when you are ready for the next rung.
Exam facts in this guide were checked against official certification-provider pages on . Fees, exam codes and policies change — confirm on the provider’s own site before you book.
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