Important context first: DP-203 (Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure) was retired by Microsoft on March 31, 2025. The successor is DP-700 (Fabric Data Engineer Associate). If you are searching DP-203 vs AZ-204 in 2026, you are almost certainly looking at the question of "data engineer cert or developer cert first?" rather than the literal exam codes. The comparison below answers both: how DP-700 (the live data engineer cert) compares to AZ-204 today, and what to do if you are looking at DP-203 study material online.
What each exam covers
AZ-204 (Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure)
AZ-204 is the live Microsoft developer certification. Cost: $165 USD via Pearson VUE. The exam covers building Azure-native applications across these areas: Azure App Service, Azure Functions, Azure Storage (Blob, Table, Queue), Cosmos DB at the developer level, Service Bus, Event Grid and Event Hubs, API Management, Azure Container Apps and AKS basics, secure development with Key Vault and Managed Identity, and monitoring with Application Insights.
The bar: you can write code that runs on Azure, integrate with managed services, secure secrets and identities properly, and instrument the application for observability.
DP-203 (retired) and DP-700 (replacement)
DP-203 covered Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Databricks, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, Cosmos DB at the data engineering level, and the design of batch and streaming pipelines. The exam was retired because Microsoft consolidated its data engineering story around Microsoft Fabric.
DP-700 (Fabric Data Engineer Associate) is the current cert. Cost: $165 USD. It covers Microsoft Fabric workloads including Lakehouse, Data Warehouse, Data Factory pipelines in Fabric, Real-Time Intelligence, Spark notebooks, and the OneLake storage layer. It also tests data modelling, SQL transformations, and Spark-based processing.
If you have DP-203 study material from 2024-2025, the underlying concepts (data lake design, batch vs streaming, data modelling, performance tuning) are still valid. The specific tooling has shifted from Synapse and Databricks to Fabric. About 60-70% of conceptual content transfers; the tool-specific knowledge does not.
Which to take first based on your background
| Background | Take first | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Software engineer, Java/.NET/Python web | AZ-204 | Builds on existing developer skills directly |
| Data engineer, on-prem SQL or ETL | DP-700 | Maps to data engineering work directly |
| Data analyst with SQL fluency | DP-700 | Closer to existing data work; AZ-204 requires application coding |
| Backend engineer wanting to do data work | AZ-204 | Easier ramp; pivot to DP-700 after |
| Pure ops or sysadmin | Neither yet | AZ-104 first, then either as a specialisation |
Time to prep
AZ-204: most candidates with 1+ years of Azure development experience need 50-70 hours over 6-8 weeks. Without prior Azure exposure, plan for 90-120 hours over 10-12 weeks. The exam includes code-snippet questions in C# and Python, so reading code under pressure is part of the skill set.
DP-700: most candidates with prior data engineering experience (any platform) need 60-80 hours over 8-10 weeks. The Fabric-specific tooling adds learning curve even for experienced data engineers because Microsoft consolidated several legacy products into a new unified UX.
If you are studying DP-203 material because you found it cheap or already paid for it: stop. Use it as background for the data lake and pipeline design concepts, then study DP-700 specifically for the Fabric-based questions you will see on the live exam.
Salary uplift expected
AZ-204 holders in the US earn a median total comp of $140,000-$180,000 at the mid-level (3-5 YoE) per Glassdoor 2026 and Levels.fyi data, depending on the type of employer. The cert correlates with roughly a 5-10% salary uplift over uncertified Azure developers at the same experience level.
DP-700 is too new to have stable salary data. DP-203 data from 2023-2024 showed Azure data engineer roles in the US at $130,000-$170,000 mid-level. Fabric-specific roles in 2026 are appearing in the same band, with consultancies paying a premium because Fabric expertise is still scarce.
In the EU, AZ-204 holders typically earn EUR 60,000-85,000 mid-level (Netherlands, Germany), DP-700 holders EUR 65,000-90,000. The data engineering premium is real and consistent across regions.
The honest career framing
If you want to build applications, AZ-204 is the right cert and the path opens to senior backend engineer, full-stack engineer, or Azure-focused application architect. If you want to work with data, DP-700 is the right cert and the path opens to data engineer, analytics engineer, or data platform architect. The two paths increasingly diverge after the associate level: AZ-204 leads to AZ-305 (architect) or AZ-400 (DevOps); DP-700 leads to DP-600 (Fabric Analytics Engineer) or DP-100 (Azure Data Scientist).
One concrete tactical note: if your current job involves writing code that loads or queries data, AZ-204 first will give you immediate utility while you decide whether to pivot toward data engineering. The reverse is less true: DP-700 study assumes Fabric tooling familiarity that does not transfer back to general application development.
What to verify before booking either exam
# Confirm Azure CLI version (both exams assume current CLI)
az --version
# Verify you have the developer extensions installed if studying AZ-204
az extension list --output table
# Expected: appservice-kube, functionapp, etc.
# For DP-700, confirm you have a Fabric-enabled tenant
az login
# Then sign in to https://app.fabric.microsoft.com to verify access
The lab work for both exams assumes a working Azure subscription and CLI. Free trial credits cover most of the lab requirements for AZ-204; DP-700 lab work benefits from a Fabric capacity F2 SKU which you can pay-as-you-go.