Certifications
AZ-500 retired on 31 August 2026
What happens to the certification you already hold, why it can no longer be renewed, and what SC-500 changes about the scope.
If you were studying for AZ-500, read this first
AZ-500 retired on 31 August 2026, and its renewal assessment retired the same day. It can no longer be booked, and a certification you already hold can no longer be renewed. SC-500 is the replacement, it has been generally available since July 2026, and it covers everything AZ-500 did plus AI workload security.
What happens to a certification you already hold
It stays on your transcript as an active certification until its current expiry date, then moves to the historical section. What you lose is not only the ability to earn it fresh: Microsoft closed the renewal assessment on the same day as the exam, so an AZ-500 credential cannot be renewed at all.
There is no transition exam and no equivalency path. The only way to hold the replacement credential, Microsoft Certified: Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate, is to pass SC-500.
Nobody reviewing your profile will think less of an AZ-500 earned in 2024. What they will notice, in about two years, is if it is the most recent thing on the list.
Can you still sit it?
No. The exam closed on 31 August 2026 and cannot be booked.
Any study plan still pointed at AZ-500 should be redirected to SC-500 now. The overlap on infrastructure security means almost none of that study is wasted.
What SC-500 adds
SC-500 keeps the Azure infrastructure security scope you would expect: identity and access, storage, databases, networking and compute. The genuinely new territory is securing AI workloads, which is the part almost nobody has trained for.
That means Purview Data Security Posture Management for Copilot, protection for Copilot Studio agents, Conditional Access applied to Entra Agent ID, the AI Gateway in API Management, and Defender for AI Service. If you have been securing Azure for years, this is the section that will surprise you.
| Status | |
|---|---|
| AZ-500 available to book | No. Retired 31 August 2026 |
| AZ-500 credential already held | Stays on transcript until expiry, cannot be renewed |
| SC-500 available | Generally available since July 2026 |
| Official SC-500 practice assessment | Not released at time of writing |
| Study overlap | High on infrastructure, none on AI security |
Confirm current dates on Microsoft Learn before booking. Microsoft occasionally changes retirement windows.
The verdict
Switch to SC-500 now
AZ-500 can no longer be booked or renewed, the infrastructure study carries across almost entirely, and the AI security section is new territory for everyone.
Do not wait for a transition path. Microsoft has said there is none, so an AZ-500 holder has until their current expiry date to pass SC-500 without a gap.
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