Three of the six Microsoft Power Platform certifications have been retired inside a single year. The Power Platform Solution Architect Expert (PL-600) and the Power Automate RPA Developer Associate (PL-500) both retired on 30 June 2026, and the Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate (PL-200) retires on 31 August 2026. Every one of those exams is now either unbookable or about to be.
If you were part way through a Power Platform certification path, this is the short version: PL-900, PL-300 and PL-400 are still live and still renewable, everything above associate level has been replaced by Microsoft's new AB series, and certifications you already earned stay on your transcript. Nothing you passed has been taken away from you.
Here is what changed, what each retired exam maps to, and which exam to book depending on the job you actually do.
What Retired and When
Microsoft publishes retirements on its credential retirement page, and the Power Platform entries there tell a blunt story.
| Certification | Exam | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power Platform Solution Architect Expert | PL-600 | Retired | 30 June 2026 |
| Power Automate RPA Developer Associate | PL-500 | Retired | 30 June 2026 |
| Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate | PL-200 | Retiring | 31 August 2026 |
| Power Platform Fundamentals | PL-900 | Active | Updated 24 July 2026 |
| Power BI Data Analyst Associate | PL-300 | Active | Updated 20 April 2026 |
| Power Platform Developer Associate | PL-400 | Active | Updated 19 March 2026 |
Two Power Platform Applied Skills credentials went with them. "Create and manage model-driven apps with Power Apps and Dataverse" retired on 30 June 2026, and "Implement AI models with Microsoft Power Platform AI Builder" retired on 31 July 2025.
Exam Tip: If you are reading this before 31 August 2026, PL-200 is still bookable. After that date the exam disappears from the Pearson VUE catalogue and the only route to the same job role is AB-410.
The same 31 August 2026 date takes AZ-500 Azure Security Engineer Associate out of the catalogue, which we covered in AZ-500 vs SC-500. Microsoft has been clearing out a lot of role-based certifications at once, and the full 2026 retirement list runs to eleven certifications.
Why the PL Line Was Cut
Microsoft is rebuilding its business applications credentials around agents rather than around individual Power Platform products. The new AB series (Agentic AI Business Solutions) covers the same work, but frames it as building, administering and architecting AI agents that happen to run on Power Platform, Copilot Studio, Dataverse and Foundry. The shift shows inside the surviving exams too: PL-900 now assesses agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio as one of its five measured areas.
For candidates, the old vertical path (fundamentals, then functional consultant, then solution architect) no longer exists as a straight line. The associate tier is now a wide set of qualifying certifications feeding one expert credential.
Which Power Platform Certifications Survive
Three remain, and they cover different jobs rather than different rungs of one ladder.
PL-900, Power Platform Fundamentals. Beginner level, 45 minutes, US list price $99. It measures the business value of Power Platform, environment management, Power Apps, Power Automate, and agents in Copilot Studio. It is not a prerequisite for anything, so treat it as an orientation exam rather than a gate.
PL-300, Power BI Data Analyst Associate. Intermediate level, 100 minutes, US list price $165, renewable every 12 months. Four measured areas: prepare the data, model the data, visualise and analyse the data, and manage and secure Power BI. This one sits under the Power BI product rather than Power Platform proper, which is part of why it was never at risk. We have an 8-week PL-300 study plan if that is your target.
PL-400, Power Platform Developer Associate. Intermediate level, 100 minutes, US list price $165, renewable every 12 months. Its English version was updated on 19 March 2026. Six measured areas, from creating a technical design through to developing integrations, and it expects real development experience in Power Fx, JavaScript, C#, TypeScript and REST APIs.
PL-400 is now the most valuable of the three, because it is one of the qualifying associate certifications for the AB-100 expert credential. It went from being a developer specialism to being a gateway.
What Replaces PL-600
There is no like-for-like PL-600 replacement. Microsoft has moved the solution architect role to AB-100, Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect Expert.
AB-100 measures three areas: plan, design, and deploy AI-powered business solutions. The candidate profile expects multi-agent orchestration, Model Context Protocol (MCP), Agent2Agent (A2A), responsible AI compliance, and ROI analysis of an AI-powered solution. It spans Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Copilot Studio and Microsoft Foundry rather than Power Platform alone, so it is a wider brief than PL-600 ever had.
Like PL-600, it is an expert credential with a prerequisite. You need AB-100 plus one qualifying associate certification. The Power Platform routes in are PL-400 and, until 31 August, PL-200. The AI routes in include AB-620, AB-410, AI-103 and AI-300, and nine Dynamics 365 associate certifications also qualify.
One catch worth planning around: AB-100 is currently offered in English only. PL-600 was available in several languages, so if you were preparing in Japanese, Spanish or German, the replacement is not yet available to you. Our AB-100 breakdown goes through the exam in detail.
What Replaces PL-500
PL-500 tested Power Automate desktop flows, unattended and attended RPA, and process mining. Microsoft has not shipped a dedicated RPA certification to take its place.
The closest fit is AB-620, AI Agent Builder Associate. It is intermediate level, 120 minutes, and measures planning and configuring agent solutions, integrating and extending agents in Copilot Studio, and testing and managing agents. Automation is still central, but the automation is now agent-driven rather than screen-driven: computer-using agents, MCP server integration, custom connectors, APIs and Microsoft Fabric.
That is a genuine change of subject, not a rebadge. An RPA developer who spent two years building desktop flows will find perhaps a third of AB-620 familiar. The generative AI content (models, orchestration, retrieval-augmented generation, prompt engineering) is new ground for most people coming from PL-500.
AB-620 is offered in 13 languages, so the localisation problem that affects AB-100 does not apply here. Our AB-620 guide covers the syllabus.
The other option for former PL-500 candidates is AB-410, Intelligent Applications Builder Associate, which is the low-code side of the same territory: Dataverse modelling, canvas and model-driven apps, Power Pages, and cloud flows with agents embedded. AB-410 runs 120 minutes and is English only for now. If you were building automations for business users rather than writing code, AB-410 is the better landing spot, and it is also the replacement Microsoft points PL-200 candidates towards. We wrote that one up when the PL-200 date was announced: PL-200 is retiring, AB-410 replaces it.
If You Already Hold PL-500, PL-600 or PL-200
You keep it. Microsoft is explicit that a certification earned or renewed before its retirement date stays in the Active Certifications section of your transcript until it expires, and moves to Historical Certifications after that. It remains verifiable through your Microsoft Learn transcript.
What you cannot do is renew it. Role-based certifications expire after 12 months and are renewed by passing a free online assessment on Microsoft Learn. Once the underlying certification is retired, that renewal assessment goes away with it. So a PL-600 earned in March 2026 is live on your transcript until roughly March 2027, and then it becomes a historical credential.
There is no automatic migration. Nobody's PL-600 converts into an AB-100. If you want the current expert credential, you sit AB-100 and hold a qualifying associate certification alongside it.
Exam Tip: If your PL-400 or PL-300 renewal window opens in the next six months, take the renewal assessment. Both certifications are active, both renew for free, and a lapsed PL-400 costs you a qualifying associate route into AB-100.
Which Exam to Book Now
Pick by the work you do, not by the ladder you were on.
| If you were heading for | Book instead | Level | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| PL-600 Solution Architect | AB-100 (plus a qualifying associate) | Expert | Proctored |
| PL-500 RPA Developer, pro-code | AB-620 AI Agent Builder | Associate | 120 min |
| PL-500 or PL-200, low-code | AB-410 Intelligent Applications Builder | Associate | 120 min |
| PL-200 Functional Consultant | AB-410, or sit PL-200 before 31 August | Associate | 120 min |
| First Power Platform exam | PL-900 Fundamentals | Beginner | 45 min |
| Power BI reporting work | PL-300 | Associate | 100 min |
| Power Platform development | PL-400 | Associate | 100 min |
Every Microsoft technical exam is scored on a scale of 1 to 1,000 with a passing mark of 700 or greater. That is a scaled score, so it does not translate to 70% of the questions answered correctly. Harder question sets need fewer raw points to pass, easier ones need more. There is no penalty for guessing, so answer everything.
Prices vary by the country the exam is proctored in. The US list prices are $99 for fundamentals exams and $165 for associate, expert and specialty exams.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is PL-600 retiring?
PL-600 has already gone. The Power Platform Solution Architect Expert certification retired on 30 June 2026 and the exam can no longer be booked. Microsoft directs solution architects to AB-100, Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect Expert, which requires the AB-100 exam plus one qualifying associate certification such as PL-400.
Is PL-500 retired?
Yes. The Power Automate RPA Developer Associate certification retired on 30 June 2026, on the same date as PL-600. Microsoft has not released a direct RPA replacement. AB-620 (AI Agent Builder Associate) is the nearest pro-code equivalent and AB-410 (Intelligent Applications Builder Associate) is the nearest low-code equivalent.
Which Power Platform certification is best in 2026?
For most people it is PL-400, Power Platform Developer Associate. It survived the cull, it renews annually for free, and it is one of the qualifying associate certifications that unlocks the AB-100 expert credential. PL-300 is the better choice if your work is Power BI reporting rather than app development, and PL-900 is the right starting point if you have never used the platform.
How much does PL-900 cost?
The US list price for PL-900 is $99, matching every other Microsoft fundamentals exam. The final price depends on the country or region where the exam is proctored, and taxes are added on top. The exam runs for 45 minutes and is offered in 12 languages.
Do my retired Power Platform certifications still count?
They stay on your Microsoft Learn transcript. A certification earned before its retirement date sits in Active Certifications until it expires, then moves to Historical Certifications, and it stays verifiable throughout. You cannot renew it once the certification has retired, so a PL-600 passed in early 2026 becomes historical about twelve months later.
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