AZ-104 (Microsoft Azure Administrator) is the most popular Azure certification at the associate level. The exam costs $165 USD, tests five domains across 100 minutes, and includes interactive case-study questions. Getting the content delivery right matters: a course that is mostly video theory without labs will leave you unprepared for the question types you will actually see.
Here are the courses worth your time, ranked by real-world utility.
1. Microsoft Learn (free)
The official Microsoft Learn paths for AZ-104 are free and map directly to the exam objectives. There are 11 learning paths covering every domain. The built-in sandbox environments let you practice without a paid Azure subscription for many exercises.
Best for: People who prefer reading over video and want to confirm they are studying exactly what the exam tests. The free practice assessment on Microsoft Learn is the best indicator of your readiness.
Gap: No structured lab sequence. You have to assemble the lab exercises yourself from the Microsoft Learning GitHub repo.
2. John Savill's AZ-104 Study Cram (free, YouTube)
John Savill is a Microsoft employee and one of the most credible Azure educators on YouTube. His AZ-104 study cram is a single long-form video (4-5 hours) that covers every exam domain with clear visual explanations. It is not a full course, but it is the best exam-focused overview available for free.
Best for: Final week review after you have done the structured study. Do not use this as your only study resource.
3. Pluralsight AZ-104 path
Pluralsight's AZ-104 learning path is well-structured, regularly updated, and includes skill assessments that tell you which domains you are weakest on before you sit the exam. The lab integration with Azure sandbox environments is better than most competitors.
Best for: Teams with an existing Pluralsight subscription who want a structured track with measurable progress.
Cost: Pluralsight subscription required (from $29/month).
4. A Cloud Guru AZ-104
A Cloud Guru (now part of Pluralsight) offers a dedicated AZ-104 course with hands-on labs in a real Azure environment. The course content is thorough and includes practice exams. Quality has improved since the Pluralsight acquisition.
Best for: Candidates who want video instruction plus live lab environments without managing their own Azure subscription.
5. MCT-led instructor course (Cloud Evolvers)
An MCT-led course (Microsoft Certified Trainer) is the fastest way to prepare if you are training a team, have a deadline, or want structured feedback on lab exercises. The official Microsoft curriculum is delivered by a trainer who has passed the exam and works with Azure daily.
Best for: Corporate teams, individuals with exam dates already booked, and anyone who does better with a live instructor than self-paced video.
Browse the Cloud Evolvers AZ-104 training catalog for upcoming course dates and in-company options.
What the best courses have in common
Every course that reliably produces passing candidates covers these four things in depth:
- Identity and governance (Entra ID, RBAC, policy, management groups)
- Storage (accounts, replication types, lifecycle management, access tiers)
- Compute (VMs, availability sets, scale sets, Azure Kubernetes Service basics)
- Networking (VNets, NSGs, peering, load balancers, Application Gateway)
If a course you are evaluating does not include hands-on labs for all four of these, look elsewhere.
Quick lab check: verify your understanding
# Create a resource group (basic AZ-104 task)
az group create --name rg-exam-prep --location westeurope
# Assign a built-in role (identity domain)
az role assignment create --assignee user@domain.com --role "Contributor" --scope /subscriptions/<subscription-id>/resourceGroups/rg-exam-prep
# List storage accounts (storage domain)
az storage account list --resource-group rg-exam-prep --output table
If these commands feel unfamiliar, your lab practice time is not yet sufficient. AZ-104 questions will assume you can do tasks like these without looking up the syntax.