Microsoft Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500): Retired August 31, 2026, and What Replaces It

This is an unusual entry, because it documents a certification that no longer exists for new candidates. Microsoft retired the AZ-500 exam, the Azure Security Engineer Associate certification, and its renewal assessments on August 31, 2026. You can no longer sit the exam, earn the certification, or renew it, at any price. If you came here searching for AZ-500 because you want an Azure security credential, the answer is its successor, covered below. If you already hold AZ-500, this page explains exactly what you keep and for how long. Everything here is checked against Microsoft Learn on the date at the top.

The retirement is the headline

The Azure Security Engineer certification page now carries the past-tense warning: the certification, its related exam, and its renewal assessments were retired on August 31, 2026, and you will no longer be able to earn or renew it. The AZ-500 study guide adds the precise cutoff, 11:59 PM Central Standard Time on that date, and the exam no longer has a price on Microsoft Learn. Microsoft’s expiration policy fills in what retirement means for holders. Nothing is clawed back: an AZ-500 already on your transcript stays verifiable, remains in your active certifications until its normal one-year expiry, and then moves to the historical section. There is no automatic conversion to the successor and no discount for switching.

The successor is not a like-for-like rename. Microsoft’s new Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate certification (exam SC-500) covers identity, access, and governance; storage, databases, and networking; compute; and security posture management, and it adds securing AI solutions as an explicit responsibility. Its exam runs 120 minutes, it lists at $165 in the US, and as of October 2026 Microsoft says its practice assessment is not yet available. If your goal is a durable Azure security credential, SC-500 is the thing to plan around.

Who should do what now

If you hold AZ-500: your credential stays valid until the expiry date shown on your transcript, and you cannot extend it, because the renewal assessment is gone. Plan the move to SC-500 before your AZ-500 lapses if a contract clause, an employer checklist, or a partner-competency requirement depends on holding an active Azure security associate credential.

If you were about to start studying: stop buying AZ-500 material. Practice tests and courses for retired Microsoft exams stay on sale long after the exam is gone, and none of it can lead to a certification now. If you are early in cloud security, the vendor-neutral CompTIA Security+ is a sound foundation and carries verified DoD 8140 approval. If you want Azure depth, go to SC-500. If your security work spans more than one cloud, ISC2 CCSP and AWS Security Specialty are the durable alternatives.

What it cost

Until August 31, 2026, AZ-500 was $165 in the US, Microsoft’s standard associate price, set per country and currency with tax added in some regions. A failed attempt cost another $165 after a 24-hour wait, with 14-day waits between later attempts. Prep followed the usual Microsoft pattern, with a free learning path and a free official practice assessment on Microsoft Learn. Today the cost of AZ-500 is zero in the only sense that matters: there is nothing left to buy. The money and the study hours belong with the successor.

The exam as it was

AZ-500 ran 100 minutes, or 120 when lab tasks were included, and could include interactive components performed in a live environment. Microsoft never published a fixed question count and cited a typical 40 to 60. Scores were reported on a 1 to 1,000 scale with 700 to pass, and there was no published pass rate. The final outline, dated January 22, 2026, had four weighted domains: secure identity and access (15 to 20 percent), secure networking (20 to 25 percent), secure compute, storage, and databases (20 to 25 percent), and secure Azure using Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Microsoft Sentinel (30 to 35 percent).

Renewal math, and why it ended

Azure associate certifications are normally one-year credentials with a free, open-book renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn, the same fee-free model as AZ-104. AZ-500 followed that model until the renewal assessments themselves retired with the exam. Anyone who earned AZ-500 in its final months holds a credential that runs to its one-year expiry and then lapses, with no free assessment to save it and no exam to re-earn it. The usual nine-year projection does not apply; the most $165 could ever buy from here was about a year of active status.

Nine-year cost of ownership: $165, a single exam that bought at most one year of active status, with no renewal possible after the August 31, 2026 retirement. Certification renewal costs explained covers how the free renewal model works for Microsoft certifications that are still current.

What it does for the occupation you are entering

AZ-500 maps to the information security analyst occupation (BLS code 15-1212), which fits the role it described: implementing controls, managing security posture, and remediating vulnerabilities across Azure and hybrid environments. The panel on this page shows that occupation’s national median wage and headcount as context for the field, not a payout attached to this badge. An AZ-500 on a resume still documents real Azure security work, and recruiters will recognize it for some time. What it can no longer do is stay active, which is why the occupation context here is better read as an argument for the field’s current credentials, SC-500 among them, than for this one.

Common mistakes

Buying AZ-500 prep after the retirement. Courses and practice tests for AZ-500 are still sold. None of them can lead to a certification, because there is no exam to sit.

Assuming AZ-500 upgrades to SC-500. It does not. There is no automatic conversion and no discount for holders; SC-500 is a separate exam you sit fresh.

Expecting to renew before expiry. The renewal assessments retired with the exam. An AZ-500 on your transcript runs to its expiry date and then moves to history, so plan any replacement credential before that date, not after it.