AZ-400
AZ-400, "Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions," is the single exam that earns Microsoft's expert-level DevOps Engineer credential. It is not a fundamentals quiz — more than half of the exam is build and release pipelines, and you'll be reasoning across Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, YAML, Key Vault, and infrastructure as code. You also need an associate certification (AZ-104 or AZ-204) in place for the credential to be granted, so a missed pass can stall a promotion, a role offer, or a partner-competency deadline. This page breaks down exactly what the exam tests, how it's delivered, and how to get it done right the first time.
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No upfront fee — you settle only after your verified passing score. We advertise guaranteed results — 100% pass guaranteed or money back.
How AZ-400 is built — at a glance
5
Processes & communications, source control, build & release pipelines, security & compliance, and instrumentation — with pipelines dominating at 50–55% of the exam.
700
Scored 1–1000 with 700 required to pass. That's a scaled score, not a flat 70% — the raw number of correct answers needed shifts between exam forms.
Mixed
Multiple choice, multiple response, drag-and-drop, build-list and ordering, hot-area, and scenario-based case studies — sometimes a hands-on lab segment.
Plan for roughly 100 minutes of testing time, plus a few minutes for the non-disclosure agreement, instructions, and (online) check-in — so block out about two hours overall. Case studies appear in a separate timed section; once you leave a case study you generally cannot return to it, so pace yourself carefully.
There is no penalty for wrong answers, so never leave a question blank. Microsoft uses scaled scoring across a 1–1000 range, and your score report shows a bar chart of performance by skill area rather than a per-question breakdown. AZ-400 is the only exam required for the credential — but you must also hold AZ-104 or AZ-204 before the expert certification is issued.
Five official skill domains — bars show each domain's weight on the exam
The heart of the exam: package management with Azure Artifacts and GitHub Packages, testing and quality gates, Azure Pipelines and GitHub Actions, YAML pipelines, deployment strategies (blue-green, canary, ring, feature flags), and infrastructure as code with Bicep and ARM.
Traceability and flow of work with GitHub Flow, Azure Boards and GitHub Projects integration, DevOps metrics and dashboards (cycle time, lead time, time to recovery), wikis, release notes, webhooks, and Microsoft Teams integration.
Branching strategies (trunk-based, feature, release), pull-request workflows with branch policies and protection rules, large-file handling with Git LFS and Scalar, repository permissions and tags, and recovering or scrubbing data with Git commands.
Service principals and managed identities, GitHub and Azure DevOps authentication, secrets with Azure Key Vault and workload identity federation (OIDC), plus dependency, code, and secret scanning via GitHub Advanced Security and Defender for Cloud DevOps Security.
Monitoring a DevOps environment with Azure Monitor, Application Insights, and Container/VM Insights; configuring GitHub Insights and pipeline alerts; analyzing telemetry and infrastructure performance; distributed tracing; and writing basic Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries against logs.
Weightings are taken from Microsoft's official AZ-400 study guide. Because build and release pipelines make up over half the exam, a strong grasp of YAML pipelines, GitHub Actions, and deployment strategies is where the score is won or lost — the other four domains together account for the remaining ~45%.
Two ways to sit AZ-400 — and what to expect on test day
You schedule through Microsoft's exam page, which hands off to Pearson VUE. At the center, staff verify your government-issued ID, store your belongings, and seat you at a monitored workstation with a provided erasable noteboard. No personal devices or notes are allowed in the room.
OnVUE lets you sit AZ-400 from a private room at home or work. You run a system test in advance, check in by photographing your ID and your workspace, and a greeter then connects you to a live proctor. No scratch paper is allowed — only the built-in digital whiteboard. The exam fee is the same as the test-center option.
A valid, unexpired government photo ID whose name matches your Microsoft Learn / Pearson VUE profile exactly. OnVUE captures ID photos and a headshot before the exam unlocks.
A clear desk, no second monitor, no phone within reach, and a webcam scan of the room. The space must be private — no one else may be present for the duration of the exam.
Stay on camera and in frame the whole time. Talking aloud, leaving your seat, reading questions out loud, or losing connection can pause or void the session. There are no scheduled breaks.
AZ-400 is built for hands-on DevOps practitioners
An associate cert is required for the credential
Difficulty: AZ-400 is widely regarded as one of Microsoft's tougher role-based exams. It spans two toolchains (Azure DevOps and GitHub), rewards real pipeline-building experience over memorization, and leans heavily on scenario questions. Candidates with day-to-day DevOps work often still invest weeks of focused prep — exactly the kind of pressure point our help is designed to remove.
AZ-400 is a broad, scenario-heavy expert exam that sits between you and a credential your employer or a partner deadline may be counting on. Exam Assist pairs you with a vetted Azure DevOps specialist and works on a pay-after-you-pass model — so the risk sits with us, not you. No upfront fee, guaranteed results: Exam Assist handles the sitting end to end, and you settle only after the verified result.
Tell us your target exam date, delivery method (center or OnVUE), and whether your AZ-104 or AZ-204 prerequisite is already in place. Takes a couple of minutes over WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord.
We review your timeline and target and tell you plainly whether it's realistic — before any money is discussed. If it isn't a fit, we say so.
Exam Assist handles the sitting end to end. You're matched with an Azure DevOps specialist who maps the work around the five skill domains, the pipeline-heavy weighting, and the OnVUE environment — discreetly and confidentially.
You only pay once your passing result is confirmed on your official Microsoft transcript. No verified result, nothing owed.
See the full pay-after-you-pass Azure exam service, pricing model, and how matching works.
Straight answers about AZ-400
Service, guides, and sibling exams
Pair with a vetted Azure DevOps specialist on a results-first arrangement. No upfront fee — settle only after a verified passing score.
Explore the service GuideHow the fundamentals, associate, and expert exams stack up — and where AZ-400 fits in your DevOps roadmap.
Read the guide AZ-104One of the two associate prerequisites for the DevOps Engineer Expert credential — covers identity, storage, networking, and compute.
View exam AZ-204The developer-track associate prerequisite for AZ-400 — building, testing, and deploying cloud apps and services on Azure.
View exam AZ-305The other Azure expert credential — designing infrastructure, governance, and data solutions across Azure.
View exam Get StartedTell us your exam, date, and target. Get an honest feasibility answer with no upfront fee — and pay only after you pass.
Start nowGet expert AZ-400 help with no upfront fee — you settle only after your verified passing result. Honest feasibility answer first, results-first arrangement always.