Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate
Code
AI-200
Length
120 minutes
Pass mark
700 out of 1,000
Price
Set by country, shown when you book
Valid for
12 months, renewed by a free online assessment
Study time, our estimate
50 to 70 hours
AI-200Associate
The successor to AZ-204, and despite the name, it is a backend exam. There is little model work here. It covers the plumbing that AI apps run on: containers, vector storage, messaging and observability. Backend developers will find it the most comfortable Azure AI exam.
Take it if
You build the services around the model: APIs, queues, vector stores and containers on Azure.
Skip it if
You want to prove prompt, RAG or agent design skill. AI-103 covers that.
Before you start
Check yourself against this list first. If something is missing, close that gap before you pay for an exam.
You write Python against Azure SDKsMicrosoft lists this as a core skill.
You have run containersBuild and run one image before you start.
You know basic SQL and NoSQLThe data domain is the largest.
None formally. Python and Azure SDK experience expected.
If you fail
Wait 24 hours, then 14 days
What the exam covers
Develop containerized solutions on Azure20–25%
Develop AI solutions by using Azure data management services25–30%
Connect to and consume Azure services20–25%
Secure, monitor, and troubleshoot Azure solutions20–25%
What to focus on
Vector workloads on Cosmos DB for NoSQL, PostgreSQL with pgvector, and Azure Managed Redis. This is the largest domain.
Cosmos DB basics that still catch people out: RU cost, indexing policies, consistency levels, and the change feed.
Container Apps with KEDA scaling, revisions, and AKS deployments from manifests.
Service Bus against Event Grid, including dead-letter handling.
Key Vault, App Configuration, OpenTelemetry and KQL.
Everything on one mapEvery topic and key idea in this certification.
mindmap
root((AI-200))
Containers
ACR Tasks
KEDA
Revisions
Data services for AI
Cosmos DB
pgvector
Managed Redis
Messaging and functions
Service Bus
Event Grid
Functions
Secure and monitor
Key Vault
App Configuration
OpenTelemetry and KQL
Lesson 1 of 4, 20–25% of the exam
Containers
AI backends mostly run in containers, so this is the base layer.
ACR Tasks
Build images inside the registry, with no Docker needed on your CI agent.
KEDA
Event-driven scaling in Container Apps, including down to zero.
Revisions
Container Apps keeps versions, which helps with rollouts.
KEDA scaling on a queueReplicas follow the work, down to zero.
stateDiagram-v2
direction LR
[*] --> Zero
Zero --> Running: Messages arrive
Running --> MoreReplicas: Queue grows
MoreReplicas --> Running: Queue shrinks
Running --> Zero: Queue is empty
Common trap
Setting a fixed replica count for spiky queue work.
The largest domain, and it grew in the October 2026 update.
Cosmos DB
Tune indexing policies to control RU cost, and use the change feed to react to changes.
pgvector
Add an index for vector search, or Postgres compares every row.
Managed Redis
Use it for caching and vector similarity.
Where the vectors can liveThe exam covers all three.
flowchart TD
A{"Where is your data already?"} -->|"Documents in NoSQL"| B["Cosmos DB vector search"]
A -->|"Relational tables"| C["PostgreSQL with pgvector"]
A -->|"Need very fast lookups"| D["Azure Managed Redis"]
B --> E["Tune indexing policy and RUs"]
C --> F["Add a vector index"]
D --> G["Set expiry and invalidation"]
Common trap
Indexing every path in Cosmos DB, which raises the cost of each write.
Try it yourself
Run the same vector search on Cosmos DB and pgvector, and record cost and latency.
Durable work queues, with a dead-letter queue for failures.
Event Grid
Routes events to subscribers, with filters and retries.
Functions
Serverless APIs built with triggers and bindings.
Queue or event?Ask what the message means.
flowchart TD
A{"What is the message?"} -->|"Work that must be done"| B["Service Bus"]
A -->|"Something happened"| C["Event Grid"]
B --> D["Failures go to the dead-letter queue"]
C --> E["Subscribers filter what they want"]
Common trap
Using Event Grid when work must be processed reliably from a queue.
Try it yourself
Send failing messages to the dead-letter queue, then replay them.
Every design question has a security or observability angle.
Key Vault
Stores secrets, with rotation and retrieval.
App Configuration
Stores settings outside your code.
OpenTelemetry and KQL
Trace across services, then query logs and metrics.
One traced requestA trace shows where the time went.
sequenceDiagram
participant G as API
participant S as Worker service
participant D as Database
G->>S: traceparent header
S->>D: Same trace continues
D-->>S: Result
S-->>G: Response
Note over G,D: Query the spans with KQL
Common trap
Scaling up before finding where the time goes.
Try it yourself
Trace one request through three services, and write a KQL query for its slowest step.
Store embeddings and run vector search on Cosmos DB and on pgvector. Compare index types, and measure RU cost per query.
Week 3: containers
Build an image with ACR Tasks, deploy it to Container Apps with KEDA scaling, then deploy it to AKS.
Week 4: messaging and observability
Process work through Service Bus with a dead-letter queue, react to Event Grid events, and trace it all with OpenTelemetry.
Exam week
Take the free practice assessment and the mock below. Practice writing KQL by hand.
Exam day and after
You can open Microsoft Learn during associate and expert exams, but the clock keeps running. It helps with one lookup and not with twenty, so use it for exact names and limits.
Most questions cover generally available features, though preview features can appear if they are widely used.
Try the free exam sandbox first so the interface is not a surprise on the day.
The certification page was last updated on October 7, 2026, so check older notes against the current study guide.
Microsoft's guide shows the data domain at 30–35% in its summary but 25–30% on the section heading. Its change log says the share increased, so we use 30–35%.
Test yourself8 practice questions, scored by exam topic.
Exam facts checked on October 31, 2026 against AI-200 study guide. Lessons are our own explanations, so use the official docs as the final word, and confirm price and dates before booking.
