Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305)
The AZ-305 exam is designed for professionals who implement and configure Azure. It validates your ability to design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions, design data storage solutions, design business continuity solutions, and design infrastructure solutions.
Exam details
- Certification
- Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert
- Application
- Azure
- Exam code
- AZ-305
- Level
- Expert
- Duration
- Approximately 120 minutes
- Questions
- Typically 40–60 questions
- Passing score
- 700 out of 1000
- Cost
- USD $165 — typical price; the exact fee varies by country/region and currency, and local taxes may apply.
- Prerequisites
- None required
- Languages
- English (also available in Japanese, German, French, Spanish and several other languages)
- Delivered by
- Pearson VUE
- Renewal
- Free online assessment, every 12 months
Skills measured
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions (25–30%)
- Recommend logging, routing, and monitoring solutions.
- Recommend authentication, identity, authorisation, and secrets management.
- Recommend management groups, subscriptions, tagging, compliance, and identity governance.
Design data storage solutions (20–25%)
- Recommend relational storage, service tiers, scalability, and data protection.
- Recommend semi-structured and unstructured storage with the right performance and cost.
- Recommend data integration and analysis solutions.
Design business continuity solutions (15–20%)
- Recommend backup and disaster recovery for Azure and hybrid workloads.
- Recommend high availability for compute, relational data, and unstructured data.
Design infrastructure solutions (30–35%)
- Recommend compute, containers, serverless, messaging, API, caching, and deployment designs.
- Evaluate migration to IaaS and PaaS using Cloud Adoption Framework.
- Recommend connectivity, network security, load balancing, and routing.
Study Resources
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Frequently asked questions
Who should take AZ-305?
AZ-305 is for experienced Azure solutions architects who design cloud and hybrid solutions across compute, networking, storage, monitoring, and security. To earn the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification, you must also hold the Azure Administrator Associate certification (AZ-104).
What is the average salary for an Azure Solutions Architect?
For comparable Azure Solutions Architect roles, ZipRecruiter reports an average U.S. salary of about $145,963. In the UK, IT Jobs Watch reports a £90,000 median advertised salary for Microsoft Azure Architect roles. Pay varies by experience and location.
How should I prepare for AZ-305?
Access the free AZ-305T00 Course on Microsoft Learn. Then use Microsoft's free Practice Assessment and the official MeasureUp AZ-305 practice test to check your readiness.
Avoid exam dumps: using them can invalidate your score, revoke certifications you already hold, and bar you from future exams.
You can also search the Microsoft Training Services Partners directory for instructor-led options. Current U.S. listings for the four-day AZ-305T00 course range from $2,375 at TechSherpas 365 to $2,495 at New Horizons. Prices vary by provider and format.
Does the exam include official labs I can use to practice?
The exam does not include hand-on labs exercises, and the self-paced AZ-305T00 course on Microsoft Learn may include some tasks using a lab.
If you purchase Instructor-led training, Microsoft Training Partners usually provide access to official labs for about 90 days. Always checks the labs are from Microsoft Partners like Skillable.
Depending on the exam, you could get a trial licence which could include demo data you can use to practice, but that is not always guaranteed and Microsoft often changes policies about free trials with demo data. If you prefer hand-on learning using labs, contact a Microsoft Training Services Partner for Instructor-led training.