AZ-120 Training vs Self-Study: Do You Need a Course? (2026)
No course is required for the AZ-120. Here is what the training on the market costs, what it gives you, and when self-study is the smarter spend.
- NoCourse required?
- $2,095Official course
- ~$250Self-study
- 60-100 hPrep time
- $165Exam fee
Table of Contents
Most AZ-120 candidates do not need to pay for a course: the class teaches the same material Microsoft publishes free, and it predates the April 2026 outline. Spend instead on a capped pay-as-you-go lab and a practice test. Pay for AZ-120T00 when an employer funds it, or when you come from SAP Basis and want a trainer to bridge the Azure side quickly. Either way, the SAP on Azure documentation is the most current source.
AZ-120 earns Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty. It is aimed at architects and engineers who plan, migrate and run SAP landscapes on Azure, so it assumes both Azure administration skills and real SAP HANA and NetWeaver knowledge. The exam is live and not scheduled to retire; Microsoft refreshed its skills outline on 17 April 2026, including a section on integrating with RISE with SAP.
The training market is small. Microsoft's three-day AZ-120T00 course is sold through Learning Partners for about $2,095 in the US, and the same material is free on Microsoft Learn, though it was last revised before the new outline. Beyond that there are a few short video courses and one practice-test publisher. The real cost of self-study is lab time, not content: SAP-sized VMs bill by the hour, and free Azure trials cannot run them.
Is a course required for the AZ-120?
Microsoft sets no training requirement for AZ-120. You schedule it through Pearson VUE, pay the fee ($165 in the United States; it varies by country) and sit a 100-minute proctored exam. Microsoft strongly recommends holding Azure Administrator Associate first and expects extensive knowledge of SAP HANA, NetWeaver and Business Suite, but neither is a prerequisite, and passing AZ-120 alone earns the certification.
Cheapest credible way to prepare:Work from the April 2026 study guide, the SAP on Azure documentation and Microsoft's free Learn paths, then practise in a pay-as-you-go subscription with a budget cap, mostly on small VMs. Add the $99 MeasureUp test for timed revision, because Microsoft offers no free Practice Assessment for this exam.
Three ways to prepare
Costs below are training only. The exam fee ($165) is the same whichever route you take.
Three instructor-led days on Microsoft's AZ-120T00-A courseware, Planning and Deploying SAP on Azure, from a Microsoft Learning Partner online or in a classroom. It covers Azure IaaS and identity foundations for SAP, deploying SAP on Azure, business continuity and disaster recovery, migration and monitoring, with labs and a trainer who can field questions that cross SAP and Azure.
Best for:SAP Basis teams moving to Azure on an employer budget, and Azure admins who need SAP context quickly.
Watch out:Microsoft's course page was last updated in April 2025, a year before the April 2026 outline, so newer topics may be thin.
About five and a half hours of video across 50 lessons plus practice tests, sold separately at $29.95 each or as a $59.90 bundle that is often discounted to about $39. It walks through all four domains in order and gives you timed questions, but short videos cannot replace building SAP-on-Azure infrastructure yourself.
Best for:Azure or SAP specialists who want a quick structured tour of the side they know less before deeper study.
Watch out:The course page shows no update date, and five hours of video is light for an exam spanning both Azure and SAP.
The April 2026 study guide as your checklist, Microsoft's SAP on Azure documentation as the main text, the free AZ-120 learning paths for structure, a pay-as-you-go subscription with a spending cap for Pacemaker, load balancer, storage and network labs, and the MeasureUp practice test that Microsoft's study guide links, for timed revision.
Best for:SAP Basis or Azure engineers with project exposure who can read reference architectures and build their own labs.
Watch out:SAP-certified HANA VMs are large and bill by the hour, and free trial subscriptions cannot raise vCPU quotas, so cap spend and deallocate.
Every option on one price line
6 options for the AZ-120, placed by list price. The numbered pins match the table.
- Official
- Free
- Third-party
Log scale: each step to the right costs several times more. List prices checked October 2026, training only (exam fee not included).
| # | Option | Type | List price | Format and what you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AZ-120T00 Planning and Deploying SAP on AzureFast Lane (Microsoft Learning Partner) | Official | $2,095 | 3 days, instructor-led online or classroom (FLEX). Microsoft courseware and labs with a trainer; US sessions listed from December 2026 |
| 2 | Microsoft Learn AZ-120 learning pathsMicrosoft Learn | Free | Free | Self-paced: SAP on Azure foundations, deployment, BCDR, migration, monitoring. The self-paced version of AZ-120T00; some paths were last revised in 2024, before the current outline |
| 3 | SAP on Azure documentationMicrosoft Learn | Free | Free | Planning guides, reference architectures, HA guides for SUSE and Red Hat. The most current source for HANA storage, Pacemaker clustering, Azure Center for SAP solutions and RISE |
| 4 | Microsoft Practice Test AZ-120MeasureUp | Third-party | $99 list | 115 questions with practice and timed certification modes. The practice test Microsoft's study guide links to; first released December 2021 |
| 5 | AZ-120 video course and practice testsWhizlabs | Third-party | $59.90 list, often ~$39 | About 5.5 h of video in 50 lessons, plus practice tests. Video and practice tests sold separately at $29.95 each or as a bundle |
| 6 | SAP S/4HANA fully-activated appliance, 30-day trialSAP Cloud Appliance Library | Free | Licence free, Azure billed | Preconfigured SAP system deployed into your own Azure subscription. A real HANA and S/4HANA landscape for backup, monitoring and start/stop practice; you pay Azure for the VMs |
Whichever route you pick, test it
A course or a book only proves itself under exam conditions. ExamCert AI has 600+ exam-style AZ-120 questions with an explanation for every option. Do a mixed set before you pay for anything else.
Practise on ExamCert AIAZ-120 practice questionsWhat a course gives you, and the free substitute
The honest question is not "is the course good?" but "which part of it can I not get for free?" For the AZ-120:
Pay or self-study? 3 questions
Answer in order. The first yes decides it.
A complete AZ-120 self-study kit
Everything a self-studier needs, at list price, totalled.
Finish the kit with exam-style practice
Work AZ-120 questions by domain, see which areas a course would actually have helped with, and spend money only there.
Practise on ExamCert AIAZ-120 practice questionsFAQ
Do I need a course or AZ-104 before AZ-120?
Neither is required. Microsoft sets no training requirement, and you earn Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty by passing AZ-120 alone. Microsoft does strongly recommend holding Azure Administrator Associate first, and it expects extensive knowledge of SAP HANA, NetWeaver and Business Suite. Those are experience recommendations; nobody checks them when you book the exam.
Is AZ-120 being retired?
Not as of 15 October 2026. AZ-120 is not on Microsoft's list of exams scheduled to retire, which currently names only MS-102 (30 November 2026), and its skills outline was refreshed on 17 April 2026. Microsoft retired several Azure exams during 2026, so check the retirement page again before booking a date several months ahead.
How much does the official AZ-120T00 course cost?
Microsoft does not publish prices for instructor-led training; Learning Partners set their own. In October 2026 Fast Lane lists the three-day AZ-120T00, Planning and Deploying SAP on Azure, at US$2,095, online or in a classroom. The same course is free and self-paced on Microsoft Learn, although its learning paths were last revised before the April 2026 outline.
How expensive is it to lab SAP on Azure?
It can be the biggest cost of this exam. SAP-certified HANA VMs are large and bill by the hour, and Azure free trial subscriptions are not eligible for quota increases, so you need pay-as-you-go. Practise Pacemaker, load balancing and networking on small VMs, use SAP CAL's 30-day S/4HANA trial only in short sessions, and set a budget alert first.
Is there a free practice test for AZ-120?
No. Unlike many Microsoft exams, AZ-120 has no free Practice Assessment on Microsoft Learn; the certification page offers only the exam sandbox, which demonstrates the interface. The study guide points to MeasureUp's paid practice test, listed at $99. It was first released in 2021, so check newer topics such as RISE with SAP against the current outline.
Sources
Figures on this page come from Microsoft and the other primary sources below:
- Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty (Exam AZ-120)
- Study guide for Exam AZ-120
- Microsoft: Exam and assessment lab retirement (AZ-120 not listed)
- Course AZ-120T00-A: Planning and Deploying SAP on Azure
- SAP on Azure documentation
- Azure subscription limits: free trials not eligible for quota increases
- Fast Lane US: Microsoft AZ-120T00 course price
- MeasureUp: Microsoft Practice Test AZ-120
- Whizlabs: AZ-120 course and practice tests
- SAP: Quick guide for the SAP S/4HANA fully-activated appliance 30-day trial
Checked October 15, 2026. Fees, outlines and eligibility rules change — confirm with Microsoft before you book.