AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions

Pick how to study

• Try 10 free AZ-400 questions
• AZ-400 mock exam: timed, you pick the length
• AZ-400 flashcards: spaced repetition
• AZ-400 decision sheets: look-alike services, settled

The AZ-400 exam

• Questions: 288

What AZ-400 covers

Every question and flashcard is mapped to the AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions skills outline so you only revise what is on the exam.

• Design and implement processes and communications
• Design and implement a source control strategy
• Design and implement build and release pipelines
• Develop a security and compliance plan
• Implement an instrumentation strategy

Why earn the AZ-400 certification in 2026

AZ-400 is Microsoft's expert-level certification for DevOps engineers. Microsoft expects candidates to have experience administering or developing in Azure, plus experience implementing both GitHub and Azure DevOps solutions. Earning it requires the Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) or Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204) certification first. Build and release pipelines carry the largest share of the exam; the rest covers processes and communications, source control, security and compliance, and instrumentation.

Who should sit this exam

Developers and infrastructure administrators who build and run delivery pipelines, platform engineers who own GitHub runners or Azure DevOps agents, and release managers who design deployment and approval flows.

Exam tips

• Write multi-stage YAML pipelines with reusable templates, variable groups, and checks and approvals on environments
• Compare blue-green, canary, ring and feature flag deployments, including Azure App Configuration Feature Manager
• Choose between service principals, managed identities and workload identity federation for pipeline authentication
• Review GitHub Advanced Security, Dependabot alerts and Microsoft Defender for Cloud DevOps Security

AZ-400 skill areas and weights

The AZ-400 skills outline was updated on 27 July 2026. The change log lists minor edits to four objective groups: traceability and flow of work, security and compliance scanning, monitoring for a DevOps environment, and analysing metrics from instrumentation. Build and release pipelines carry 50 to 55% of the exam, the largest single area.

• Design and implement processes and communications: 10 to 15%
• Design and implement a source control strategy: 10 to 15%
• Design and implement build and release pipelines: 50 to 55%
• Develop a security and compliance plan: 10 to 15%
• Implement an instrumentation strategy: 5 to 10%

Source: Microsoft Learn study guide for AZ-400, skills measured as of 27 July 2026.

AZ-400 traps: free decision sheets

Each sheet settles one choice the exam tests, with every rule cited to a practice question.

• Azure Artifacts feed views: publish, promote and resolution order
• Bicep vs ARM JSON vs Terraform for Azure infrastructure as code
• Azure Boards and GitHub linking: '#N' vs 'AB#N'

AZ-400 study resources

• Build a study plan: tell us your exam date and we schedule daily practice and review sessions backwards from the date.
• Decision sheets: each sheet settles one choice between look-alike services, verdict first, then the comparison, then the traps.

Frequently asked about AZ-400

How many questions are in the AZ-400 practice exam?

The AZ-400 practice exam covers DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, infrastructure as code, monitoring, and security. The current question count is shown on the AZ-400 landing page.

What tools does AZ-400 cover?

AZ-400 covers Azure DevOps (Boards, Repos, Pipelines, Artifacts), GitHub and GitHub Actions, Azure Pipelines, ARM templates, Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes (AKS), and Azure Monitor.

Is AZ-400 suitable for developers or operations?

AZ-400 is designed for DevOps engineers who bridge development and operations. It requires both coding skills (for pipeline scripts and IaC) and operations knowledge (deployment, monitoring, security).

Other Expert certifications

• Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions (AZ-305) practice exam
• Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-104) practice exam

Ready for AZ-400?

Try the practice surface for free. Answer a few questions, see the spacing loop, then decide. Try 10 free AZ-400 questions or browse the catalogue.