AWS certifications last three years, and renewing usually means paying for another exam. Microsoft role-based certifications last one year, and renewing is a free online assessment. How you keep each certification, not which cloud is bigger, is what should drive your choice. Checked against AWS and Microsoft pages on October 14, 2026.
Understand the choice
What you are actually choosing between
Most comparisons of AWS and Azure certification spend their time on the two cloud platforms: which has more services, which has more customers, which is growing faster. That is a different question from the one you are asking.
When you choose a certification, you are choosing a program: a set of exams, a price, a validity period, a renewal mechanism, and a set of rules about what you must pass before you can pass something else. Those things differ between AWS and Microsoft in ways that affect your time and money for years. The platforms themselves matter mostly in one respect — which one your employer actually runs.
So this guide compares the two programs using what AWS and Microsoft publish on their own pages. Where something is not published, it says so instead of guessing.
Understand the choice
How the two programs are structured
AWS organizes certifications by seniority. There is a Foundational tier, an Associate tier, a Professional tier, and a set of Specialty certifications. You pick a level and a role within it.
Microsoft organizes certifications by job role across its whole product range, not only Azure. The levels are Fundamentals, Associate, Expert and Specialty, and the same structure covers Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics, Power Platform and security. An “Azure certification” is one branch of a much larger catalog.
One practical consequence: a Microsoft certification path can take you sideways into Microsoft 365 or security without leaving the program. An AWS path keeps you inside AWS.
Compare them
Where each one starts you
Both programs have an entry-level certification aimed at people who are new to the platform.
| AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) | Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) | |
|---|---|---|
| Level | Foundational | Beginner / Fundamentals |
| Exam length | 90 minutes | 45 minutes |
| Questions | 65 | Not published |
| Price | $100 USD | Varies by country |
| Expires? | Yes — 3 years | No |
That last row is the one people miss. Microsoft states plainly that renewal “does not apply to fundamentals certifications as they do not expire.” The AWS Cloud Practitioner certification is valid for three years like every other AWS certification.
If the entry-level certification is your destination rather than a step towards an Associate, that difference is the whole decision. The Azure one stays on your profile permanently; the AWS one does not.
Compare them
What each exam costs
AWS publishes list prices in US dollars by level:
| AWS level | Price (USD) |
|---|---|
| Foundational and Business | $100 |
| Associate | $150 |
| Professional and Specialty | $300 |
Those prices cover one attempt. AWS updates them at least annually in May to account for exchange rates.
Microsoft does not publish a single list price. Every Microsoft exam page carries the same line: “Price based on the country or region in which the exam is proctored.” The price you pay is shown when you schedule through Pearson VUE, and Microsoft notes that pricing excludes applicable taxes and can change without notice.
This is a genuine difference in how you budget. With AWS you can plan a path and total it up in advance. With Microsoft you have to check your own country’s price before you can compare anything — and you cannot take a figure you read in an article, including this one, as your price.
Compare them
Keeping the certification: the real difference
This is where the two programs diverge most, and it is usually buried at the bottom of comparison articles or left out entirely.
AWS gives you two different mechanisms, and they are easy to confuse. AWS certifications are valid for three years, and the recertification page lists “Renew” and “Maintain” as separate options with different effects.
| Renew | Maintain | |
|---|---|---|
| Extends validity by | 3 years | 1 year |
| How | Retake the current version of your exam. For some certifications, passing a specific higher-level exam renews it instead. | Complete a maintenance activity on AWS Skill Builder. |
| Requirements | A 50% discount voucher in your AWS Certification Account applies to exam-based recertification. | An active certification within 90 days of expiry, and a paid Skill Builder subscription (Monthly, Annual or Team). |
| Availability | All certifications. | Most, but not all. Not offered for AI Business Strategist, AI Practitioner or Generative AI Developer — Professional. |
The higher-level shortcut is certification-specific, not a general rule. Which exam counts is set per certification. Cloud Practitioner is the most flexible: any Associate or any Professional exam renews it. Solutions Architect — Associate is renewed by Solutions Architect — Professional. Developer — Associate and CloudOps Engineer — Associate are renewed by DevOps Engineer — Professional. Data Engineer — Associate and Machine Learning Engineer — Associate are renewed by Generative AI Developer — Professional. Professional and Specialty certifications have no higher-level option at all, and two certifications — AI Business Strategist and Generative AI Developer — Professional — can only be renewed by retaking their own exam.
One route is genuinely free, and it covers exactly one certification. AWS Cloud Quest: Recertify Cloud Practitioner is a game-based activity, available when Cloud Practitioner is within six months of expiry. The 50% voucher does not apply to it, because it costs nothing; nor does the voucher apply to Skill Builder maintenance, which needs a paid subscription instead.
Microsoft: one year, then a free assessment. Microsoft role-based and specialty certifications expire after one year. Microsoft’s stated reason is to keep skills current with the technology. Renewal is free, and the only way to do it is by passing an online renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn — no exam retake, no alternative path, and Microsoft says there are no exceptions. The assessment takes about 45 minutes, focuses only on what has changed, and has unlimited retakes, though you wait 24 hours between attempts after the second try.
Two rules catch people out:
- The renewal window opens six months before expiry and not before. You cannot renew early and bank the time.
- If it expires, it is gone. You have to earn the certification again by passing the full exam.
So the headline comparison is: AWS gives you three years, then asks for a paid exam — discounted, and for most certifications avoidable for another year through a paid Skill Builder subscription. Microsoft gives you one year, then asks for a free 45-minute assessment, but only inside a six-month window, and makes you re-sit the full exam if you miss it.
Which is better depends on you. Microsoft’s renewal costs nothing but needs attention every year. AWS asks less often, and what it asks for depends on which certification you hold and whether you are willing to pay for either an exam or a Skill Builder subscription. If you are renewing an AWS certification, the guide to paying less for an AWS exam (opens in a new tab) covers the 50% voucher and the other routes in detail.
Compare them
Do you have to take them in order?
AWS: no. AWS does not state anywhere that its certifications must be taken in a set order. You can sit an Associate exam without holding the Foundational one. Whether you should comes down to one question: have you worked with the services the Associate exam covers, or only read about them?
Microsoft: sometimes yes. Some Expert certifications have a hard prerequisite. To become a Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Microsoft states you must earn the Azure Administrator Associate certification first. That is a requirement, not a recommendation.
One useful detail: if your Associate prerequisite later expires, your Expert certification does not automatically expire with it. Each one is renewed separately.
Weigh the evidence
What the salary question can and cannot tell you
A lot of people searching this comparison add “salary” or “job market demand” to the query, and a lot of articles answer with a confident number.
Neither AWS nor Microsoft publishes salary data for certification holders. The figures you see quoted come from third-party salary surveys with different methods, different countries, different years and self-selected respondents. They are not comparable to each other, and averaging them does not make them more accurate.
What can be said honestly is narrower, and more useful:
- Pay is set by your role, your experience and your location far more than by which badge you hold.
- A certification is most valuable where an employer has already decided to use that platform. In a Microsoft-heavy organization, an Azure certification is the relevant one, whatever a global average says.
- The platform your current employer runs, or the one your target employers name in their job postings, is better evidence for your decision than any national salary figure.
If you want a number for your own market, read actual job postings in your city for the role you want, and note which platform they name. That is first-hand evidence about your situation, which a global average is not.
Decide
Which one fits your situation
Your employer already runs one of them. Take that one. This outranks every other consideration in this guide. Certification is most useful when it matches the environment you work in daily, because you can practice what you are studying.
You work in a Microsoft environment but not on Azure. Azure is the natural step. You already know Active Directory, Microsoft 365 and the admin tooling, and Microsoft’s role-based structure lets you move between those areas later without leaving the program.
You are starting from scratch with no employer preference. Either is defensible. Two practical tie-breakers: Azure Fundamentals is a shorter exam and never expires, so it is a lower-commitment first step; AWS publishes fixed prices, so you can plan and budget a whole path before you start.
You want the lowest long-term upkeep. Microsoft, provided you are disciplined about the annual window: the renewal is free and takes about 45 minutes. Keeping an AWS certification costs money in some form — a discounted exam every three years, or a Skill Builder subscription to push it out a year at a time — unless you hold Cloud Practitioner, which has a free recertification route.
Decide
If you want to hold both
Holding an AWS and an Azure certification is a reasonable goal for consultants, architects and anyone working across a merged or multi-cloud estate. It is a poor goal for a first certification.
Learning two platforms at once mostly produces confusion between two sets of names for similar things. The services overlap conceptually but differ in detail, and cloud fundamentals transfer between them far better than service specifics do.
If you want both, the sequence that tends to work is: certify on the platform you use at work, get real hands-on time with it, then add the second one once the first is solid. Factor the upkeep in before you commit — two programs means two renewal cycles on two different clocks, one annual and one every three years.
Decide
What to do next
- Check which platform your employer, or your target employers, actually run. If there is a clear answer, your decision is made.
- Pick the entry point. AWS Cloud Practitioner or Azure Fundamentals, unless you already have hands-on experience, in which case go straight to the Associate level.
- Look up your own exam price. AWS publishes list prices; for Microsoft, check your country’s price at scheduling.
- Put the renewal date in your calendar the day you pass — and for a Microsoft certification, set the reminder for ten months, so you are inside the six-month window with time to spare.
- Prepare properly before you book. Booking an exam date is not a study plan.
If you have chosen AWS, the guide to which AWS certification to start with (opens in a new tab) goes deeper on picking your first exam, and the AWS exam preparation guide (opens in a new tab) covers how to study for it.
If you have chosen Azure, the Microsoft exam voucher collection (opens in a new tab) shows which exam versions EvolveSkill currently lists. Check that the exam code on the product page matches the exam you plan to sit.
Reference
Frequently asked questions
Which is easier to start with, AWS or Azure?
The entry-level exams are close in scope, but Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) is a 45-minute exam against 90 minutes for AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02), so it is the shorter commitment. Neither vendor publishes a difficulty rating or a pass rate, so treat any claim that one is objectively easier as opinion.
Do AWS and Azure certifications expire?
Both do, with one exception. AWS certifications are valid for three years. Microsoft role-based and specialty certifications expire after one year. Microsoft fundamentals certifications, including Azure Fundamentals, do not expire at all.
Which certification is cheaper to keep?
Microsoft. Renewal is free and is done with an online assessment on Microsoft Learn that takes about 45 minutes. Keeping an AWS certification normally costs something: renewing for three years usually means retaking the exam, with a 50% discount voucher in your AWS Certification Account, and the alternative of extending by one year on AWS Skill Builder needs a paid subscription. The one free AWS route, Cloud Quest, covers Cloud Practitioner only.
What is the difference between renewing and maintaining an AWS certification?
Renewing extends your certification by three years and normally means passing an exam. Maintaining extends it by one year and means completing an activity on AWS Skill Builder, which requires a paid subscription and an active certification within 90 days of expiry. Maintaining is not offered for every certification.
Does passing a higher AWS exam renew a lower certification?
For some certifications, yes, but which exam counts is set per certification rather than by a general rule. Cloud Practitioner is renewed by any Associate or any Professional exam; Solutions Architect — Associate by Solutions Architect — Professional; Developer — Associate and CloudOps Engineer — Associate by DevOps Engineer — Professional. Professional and Specialty certifications have no higher-level option.
Do I have to take the exams in a set order?
AWS does not state any required order. Microsoft does for some Expert certifications — the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification requires you to earn the Azure Administrator Associate certification first.
How much does each exam cost?
AWS publishes USD list prices: $100 for Foundational and Business, $150 for Associate, and $300 for Professional and Specialty. Microsoft does not publish a single price; every exam page says the price is based on the country or region where the exam is proctored, and it is shown when you schedule.
Which one pays more?
Neither AWS nor Microsoft publishes salary data for certification holders, so there is no authoritative answer. Third-party salary surveys disagree with each other and use different methods, countries and years. Your role, experience and location affect pay far more than which of these two certifications you hold.
Should I learn both?
Not for your first certification. Certify on the platform you actually use, get hands-on experience with it, then add the second one if your work needs it. Two certifications also means two renewal cycles on different clocks.
Reference
Sources
Every fact above was checked against the vendors’ own pages. The AWS renewal and recertification rules, the AWS exam details quoted here, and the Microsoft renewal rules were re-verified on October 14, 2026. The Microsoft exam-page details — duration, the Expert prerequisite and country-based pricing — were checked on October 13, 2026, and the $300 Professional and Specialty price on October 7, 2026.
- Microsoft — Renew your Microsoft Certification FAQ: one-year validity, free renewal, renewal assessment is the only method, six-month window, fundamentals do not expire, retake rules, what happens after expiry
- Microsoft — Azure Solutions Architect Expert: the Azure Administrator Associate prerequisite
- Microsoft — Exam AZ-104: 100-minute duration, 12-month renewal frequency, country-based pricing, retake policy
- Microsoft — Azure Fundamentals: Beginner level, 45-minute exam, no renewal requirement
- AWS — Recertification: three-year validity, renewal by exam or higher-level exam, the 50% voucher, Cloud Quest for Cloud Practitioner, and the Skill Builder maintain option
- AWS — Certification pricing and exam pages: prices by level, Cloud Practitioner and Solutions Architect Associate exam details
- AWS — Certification FAQs: no stated required order
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