Both are associate-level certifications from their respective clouds. Both are legitimate career credentials that hiring managers recognise. The question is which one to prioritise given your current situation. Here is a direct comparison.
Exam basics
| Dimension | AWS SAA-C03 | AZ-104 |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $150 USD | $165 USD |
| Duration | 130 minutes | 100 minutes |
| Questions | 65 (50 scored) | 40-60 (varies) |
| Format | Multiple choice + multiple response | Multiple choice, case study, interactive |
| Passing score | 720/1000 | 700/1000 |
| Renewal | Every 3 years | Every 12 months (free online) |
Domain coverage
AWS SAA-C03 covers four domains:
- Design Secure Architectures (30%)
- Design Resilient Architectures (26%)
- Design High-Performing Architectures (24%)
- Design Cost-Optimised Architectures (20%)
The exam is architecture-focused. Questions present a business scenario and ask you to choose the most appropriate AWS services and configuration. You need to know the nuances between EC2 instance types, S3 storage classes, RDS configurations, VPC design patterns, and IAM policies.
AZ-104 covers five domains:
- Manage Azure Identities and Governance (15-20%)
- Implement and Manage Storage (15-20%)
- Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources (20-25%)
- Implement and Manage Virtual Networking (15-20%)
- Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources (10-15%)
AZ-104 is administrator-focused. Questions test whether you can configure and manage specific Azure resources. You get interactive lab-style questions where you perform tasks in a simulated Azure portal.
The key difference: architect vs administrator
AWS SAA-C03 tests your ability to design solutions using AWS services. You are selecting the right tool for a given scenario. AZ-104 tests your ability to configure and manage Azure resources operationally. Both require hands-on familiarity, but the emphasis is different.
If your job involves deciding which cloud services to use, SAA-C03 maps better to your work. If your job involves deploying, configuring, and operating Azure resources daily, AZ-104 maps better.
Study time and pass rates
SAA-C03: Most candidates need 50-80 hours. Community-reported pass rates on first attempt are around 65-70%. Stephane Maarek's Udemy course is the most recommended resource by a significant margin based on r/AWSCertifications community data.
AZ-104: Most candidates need 60-80 hours including lab time. Candidates who complete all 11 official Microsoft lab exercises pass at higher rates than those who only study video courses. The interactive exam format rewards hands-on practice more than SAA-C03 does.
Job market value
In the Netherlands: AZ-104 is listed in more enterprise job descriptions than SAA-C03. The Netherlands is an Azure-heavy market due to Microsoft's strong enterprise presence and data centre availability in West Europe.
Globally: SAA-C03 is listed more frequently overall. AWS's larger market share means more raw job volume. SAA-C03 is listed as a requirement or preference in more job postings across the US and Asia-Pacific than AZ-104.
Can you study for both at once?
You can, but it is slower. The concepts overlap at about 40-50% (networking, identity, storage, compute fundamentals transfer between clouds). The service-specific knowledge is different and can confuse you during exam prep if you are switching between the two simultaneously. The standard recommendation is to get one cert, use it to get or advance in a job, then prepare for the second cert.
Cross-cloud CLI comparison
# AWS: list EC2 instances in a region
aws ec2 describe-instances --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].{ID:InstanceId,State:State.Name,Type:InstanceType}' --output table
# Azure: list VMs in a resource group
az vm list --resource-group my-rg --query "[].{name:name, size:hardwareProfile.vmSize, state:powerState}" --output table
Running both CLIs side by side when you start your second cloud study is the fastest way to map familiar concepts to new syntax. The mental model transfers; the commands do not.