What is the AWS equivalent of AZ-104?

Certification Landscape and Role Alignment

Cloud providers offer many certifications, each designed to validate skills for a specific job role. These exams are not abstract theory tests; they map directly to real operational responsibilities such as managing identity, operating compute resources, configuring networks, and controlling cloud spend. Picking the right certification helps professionals align learning with real-world job expectations.

As engineers and administrators move between cloud platforms, they often look for equivalent credentials to avoid restarting their learning journey. Understanding how certifications align across providers helps candidates plan study time efficiently and spend training budgets wisely. It also helps hiring managers translate one cloud badge into familiar skills from another ecosystem.

Azure and AWS Administrator Roles

Microsoft Azure names its mid-level operations certification AZ-104, officially titled Azure Administrator Associate. Amazon Web Services offers a similar credential called AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate. While branding and service names differ, both certifications validate the same core role: a cloud administrator responsible for day-to-day operations.

Both exams focus heavily on operational tasks rather than system design or application development. They target professionals who keep workloads available, secure, monitored, and cost-effective. This includes responding to alerts, managing access, applying updates, and ensuring workloads recover quickly when failures occur.

Why Mapping These Exams Matters

Many organizations operate in more than one public cloud due to mergers, vendor strategies, or customer requirements. Mapping equivalent certifications helps teams understand how skills transfer across platforms, reducing duplicate training and shortening onboarding time when engineers expand into a second cloud.

Clear mappings also help recruiters and hiring managers interpret resumes accurately. When a resume lists AZ-104, an AWS-focused recruiter can reasonably infer SysOps-level operational skills. This shared understanding reduces hiring friction and improves confidence in candidate evaluations.

AZ-104: Azure Administrator Associate

The AZ-104 exam awards the Azure Administrator Associate certification. Microsoft defines the role across several operational skill areas, including identity and governance, storage management, compute deployment, networking configuration, monitoring, and cost control.

Passing AZ-104 demonstrates the ability to deploy, move, and maintain Azure workloads in production. It signals practical, hands-on capability rather than theoretical knowledge, showing that the candidate can manage live systems and respond to real operational issues.

An Azure administrator provisions virtual machines, configures network security rules, manages storage accounts, applies updates, and monitors performance metrics. The role blends routine maintenance with troubleshooting and often requires collaboration with development, security, and business teams.

Administrators work across multiple tools, including the Azure Portal, PowerShell, Azure CLI, and infrastructure-as-code templates such as ARM or Bicep. Comfort switching between GUI and scripting is essential for both the exam and the job.

AWS Certification Structure and SysOps Role

AWS organizes its certifications into four tiers: Foundational, Associate, Professional, and Specialty. Associate-level certifications are designed to validate hands-on operational skills, making them the closest comparison point to AZ-104.

Among the Associate exams, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate is the most direct match. While Solutions Architect focuses on design and Developer focuses on application integration, SysOps centers on operating and maintaining AWS workloads.

The SysOps Administrator exam (SOA-C02) validates the ability to deploy, manage, and operate systems on AWS. It emphasizes monitoring, scaling, automation, security controls, and cost management. It is widely considered one of the most operationally focused AWS Associate exams.

A SysOps administrator manages EC2 instances, configures load balancers, sets Auto Scaling policies, maintains IAM permissions, and reviews cost reports. The role relies heavily on the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, and CloudFormation templates, with a strong emphasis on uptime and reliability.

Domain Comparison and Skill Overlap

When comparing AZ-104 and AWS SysOps, the overlap is substantial—roughly 70%. Both exams focus on five core operational areas: identity and access management, compute services, storage solutions, networking, and monitoring.

The main differences lie in service names and tooling rather than underlying concepts. AWS places stronger emphasis on disaster recovery and business continuity, while Azure integrates backup and recovery within broader monitoring and governance topics.

Identity topics on AZ-104 focus on Microsoft Entra ID, role-based access control, and policy enforcement. AWS SysOps covers IAM users, groups, roles, and Organizations. Both stress least privilege, MFA, and secure role assumption.

Compute services differ in naming but not intent. Azure emphasizes virtual machines, scale sets, and App Service, while AWS uses EC2, Auto Scaling groups, and Elastic Beanstalk. Both exams test patching, scaling, image management, and log access.

Networking topics map cleanly across clouds. Azure covers VNets, subnets, network security groups, and ExpressRoute. AWS covers VPCs, subnet tiers, network ACLs, and Direct Connect. CIDR planning, segmentation, and layered security appear in both exams.

Storage topics also align closely. AZ-104 covers Blob storage tiers, file shares, and managed disks. SysOps focuses on S3 storage classes, EBS volumes, and EFS. Encryption, lifecycle rules, replication, and cost optimization are tested in both.

Monitoring, Automation, and Tooling

Monitoring and observability are central to both certifications. Azure administrators use Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and Alerts, while AWS administrators rely on CloudWatch, CloudTrail, and AWS Config. The tasks remain the same: define metrics, collect logs, trigger alerts, and automate responses.

Automation is another shared pillar. Azure administrators script using PowerShell, Azure CLI, and Bicep templates. AWS administrators use CLI scripts and CloudFormation. Both integrate with CI/CD pipelines such as GitHub Actions or native cloud tooling to enforce repeatable deployments.

While tooling differs, the operational mindset remains consistent across platforms. Administrators are expected to reduce manual work, standardize deployments, and respond quickly to incidents.

Skill Gaps When Switching Clouds

Despite strong overlap, moving between Azure and AWS requires targeted study. AWS places greater emphasis on serverless operations through Lambda, while AZ-104 only lightly touches Azure Functions.

AWS also includes more coverage of managed database operations and content delivery services like CloudFront. Azure administrators transitioning to AWS should plan extra time for these areas, as they are more prominent on the SysOps exam.

Tooling differences also matter. Azure Resource Manager and AWS CloudFormation follow similar infrastructure-as-code principles but differ in syntax and workflow. Learning console layouts and navigation patterns can save valuable exam time.

Study Strategy and Training Resources

Both Microsoft and AWS provide free exam outlines, documentation, and hands-on labs. Vendor learning platforms offer structured paths aligned directly to exam objectives, making them a strong starting point.

Paid courses and practice exams can accelerate preparation, especially for candidates new to cloud operations. The most effective approach combines documentation reading, regular hands-on labs, and practice tests late in the study cycle.

Hands-on labs are particularly valuable. Microsoft Learn and AWS Skill Builder provide sandbox environments that allow safe experimentation. Building equivalent resources in both clouds reinforces understanding and highlights differences.

Job Market Demand and Salary Outlook

Cloud operations skills remain in high demand across industries. Job boards consistently list roles requiring Azure or AWS administration experience, often stating “or equivalent certification.”

Salary ranges for Azure administrators and AWS SysOps administrators are comparable. In the U.S., median salaries commonly fall in the low-to-mid six figures, depending on region, industry, and experience level.

Employer Expectations and Real-World Use

Employers expect certified administrators to deploy secure infrastructure quickly, manage costs, automate routine tasks, and respond effectively to incidents. Collaboration with development and security teams is a core part of the role.

Many organizations migrate workloads between Azure and AWS. Administrators who understand both platforms can map equivalent services, anticipate limitations, and guide smoother transitions. Dual certification reduces risk and increases operational flexibility.

Training Timeline, Exams, and Costs

Candidates with experience in one cloud typically need six to eight weeks to prepare for the equivalent exam in another platform. Newcomers should plan for twelve to sixteen weeks of consistent study.

Exam costs are similar. AZ-104 typically costs around $165 USD, while AWS SysOps costs around $150 USD. Practice exams and optional courses add to the total, with a reasonable overall budget landing near $400.

Both certifications are valid for three years. Azure offers free online renewal assessments, while AWS requires retaking an exam or passing a higher-level certification.

Testing Format and Exam Day Tips

AZ-104 uses multiple-choice and drag-and-drop questions. AWS SysOps adds interactive lab questions that require real configuration changes in an AWS console, increasing realism and difficulty.

For remote exams, strict proctoring rules apply. A stable wired internet connection, a quiet room, and careful time management are essential, especially for SysOps lab sections.

Career Progression and Long-Term Value

After AZ-104, many administrators move toward Azure Solutions Architect (AZ-305). AWS SysOps holders often advance to Solutions Architect – Associate or DevOps Engineer – Professional.

Specialty certifications in security, networking, or databases build naturally on SysOps or Azure admin skills. For multi-cloud professionals, combining vendor-specific badges with vendor-neutral certifications strengthens long-term career resilience.

Final Takeaways

The AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate is the closest equivalent to Microsoft’s AZ-104. Both certifications validate real-world cloud operations skills across identity, compute, storage, networking, monitoring, and cost management.

Approximately 70% of skills overlap, reducing study time when adding a second cloud certification. Hands-on practice in each console remains the most important factor for success.

As multi-cloud adoption grows, professionals who hold both certifications position themselves strongly for operational roles. Cloud platforms will continue to evolve, but the need for skilled, cost-aware, and automation-focused administrators will remain constant.