Is AZ-104 Hard? An Honest Look at the Azure Administrator Exam

Is AZ-104 hard? It is a real step up from AZ-900, but it is very passable with the right preparation. Microsoft rates it intermediate: harder than beginner Fundamentals, below the expert architect exams. What makes it challenging is that it tests whether you can actually run Azure — so hands-on practice, not memorization, is what gets people through.

How hard is AZ-104, really

Microsoft places AZ-104 at intermediate level. That is the honest frame: it is not a beginner exam, and it is not an expert one. It sits above AZ-900 (Azure Fundamentals) and below the expert tier, such as the Azure Solutions Architect track.

In our experience building the question bank for this exam, the difficulty is not obscure trivia. It is that the questions describe a real situation and ask what you would do — which configuration, in what order, or why one option is wrong. You get those right by having done the work, not by recognizing a term.

Why it's harder than AZ-900

The clearest signal is in the verbs. On AZ-900, almost every objective begins with describe. On AZ-104, the skills outline is full of configure, create, manage, deploy, and troubleshoot. The exam expects action, not explanation.

Two more things raise the bar. The exam relies on scenarios and case studies — you read a situation and make an administrator's decision. And Microsoft's own audience profile expects real experience: comfort with operating systems, networking, servers, and virtualization, plus hands-on time with PowerShell, the Azure CLI, the portal, ARM templates or Bicep, and Microsoft Entra ID. AZ-900 assumes none of that.

What is the AZ-104 pass rate?

You will find confident numbers online — "45%," "60 to 70%." Ignore them. Microsoft does not publish a pass rate for AZ-104, so every one of those figures is invented, and they disagree with each other precisely because none is real.

Here is what Microsoft does tell you: scores are scaled to 1000, and you need 700 — and that 700 is not "70% of questions right," because questions are weighted and some are unscored. A made-up pass rate tells you nothing about your own chances. Your practice-test scores, under exam-like conditions, tell you a great deal. Trust the second, not the first.

Who finds AZ-104 hard — and who doesn't

From the shape of the exam, the pattern is fairly predictable.

It's hardest for people who study only theory, who jump straight from AZ-900 without spending time in the portal, or who try to memorize service names instead of practicing tasks. The exam is built to catch exactly that.

It's manageable for working administrators, engineers from another cloud, and anyone who pairs the reading with real hands-on time. If you have configured a virtual network, set an RBAC role, or deployed a VM, much of the exam will feel like your day job.

How to make it easier (without underestimating it)

The honest advice is short: do the tasks, don't just read about them. Work through the official skills outline in the Azure portal, then test yourself under timed, exam-like conditions until your scores are consistently comfortable — that is the readiness signal that actually predicts passing.

Our AZ-104 practice exams are built for that check: every question mapped to the official skills outline, real case studies included, and every answer explained and linked to the Microsoft page behind it — no dumps. For a full week-by-week path, see our AZ-104 study plan; for the exam facts and format, the AZ-104 exam guide. Treated seriously, AZ-104 is hard in the way a good professional exam should be — and very much passable.