AB-410 Exam Guide 2026: Intelligent Applications Builder Associate

Last updated: August 2026. Researched against the official Microsoft Learn AB-410 study guide, the Intelligent Applications Builder Associate certification page, and Microsoft's published exam policies, all verified on 3 August 2026.

TL;DR AB-410, Building Intelligent Applications, went live on 30 July 2026 and leads to the Microsoft Certified: Intelligent Applications Builder Associate credential. It runs 120 minutes, needs 700 out of 1000 to pass, and covers Power Platform, Dataverse, Copilot and AI Hub. PL-200 retires on 31 August 2026.

Microsoft released Exam AB-410: Building Intelligent Applications on 30 July 2026, and it arrived with a deadline attached [1][2]. The Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate certification behind PL-200 stops being earnable on 31 August 2026, and AB-410 now occupies that slot in Microsoft's certification path [3][4]. If you are a Power Platform professional who has been putting off a certification decision, the calendar has made it for you.

This guide covers what AB-410 actually tests, the exact domain weightings from Microsoft's official skills outline, how the exam is delivered, what Microsoft assumes you already know, and how the certification feeds into the expert-level AB-100 credential. It also flags, clearly, the things Microsoft has not published, because a guide that invents a question count or a price is worse than no guide at all.

What Exam AB-410 covers and who it is for

AB-410 certifies low-code developers who build AI-powered business applications on Microsoft Power Platform. The exam leads to the Microsoft Certified: Intelligent Applications Builder Associate credential, an associate-tier certification [2]. Microsoft's own audience profile is specific about the role:

As a candidate for this Microsoft Certification, you're a professional who builds AI-powered solutions in Microsoft Power Platform by using Microsoft Copilot, natural language prompts, and low-code tools. You create apps, data models, and flows that connect to agents, AI models and prompts, and visualizations to enrich these experiences." [2]

The important word in that description is Power Platform. AB-410 is not an Azure exam. Its AI surface is Power Platform's own AI Hub (the prompts and models workspace), Copilot inside Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Pages and Dataverse, and Microsoft Copilot Studio for agent building [1]. It does not touch Microsoft Foundry, the platform Microsoft renamed from Azure AI Foundry, and it does not test Azure AI services. If you want that developer stack, AI-103 is the exam you want, not this one.

So the candidate AB-410 is aimed at is a functional consultant or low-code maker who already lives in Dataverse and Power Automate, and who is now expected to add AI capability to what they build. It is a natural next credential for anyone whose day job involves building model-driven apps, canvas apps and cloud flows for a business, rather than writing code against AI APIs.

A note on links. AB-410 is not currently in the Examinotion practice-test catalogue. This article is a study guide, not a product page. If you are weighing up which Microsoft AI certification to sit, our role-based decision guide and the Microsoft AI certification roadmap are better starting points, and you can compare everything we do cover at Examinotion's exam hub.

AB-410 and PL-200: the 31 August 2026 deadline

PL-200 retires on 31 August 2026, and after that date the Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate certification can no longer be earned or renewed. Microsoft states this directly on the PL-200 certification page:

This certification, related exam, and renewal assessments will retire on August 31, 2026. You will no longer be able to earn or renew this certification after this date." [4]

AB-410 and PL-200 sit in the same slot on Microsoft's AB-100 prerequisite list, one marked "retiring 8/31/2026" and the other "releasing 7/30/2026" [3]. That pairing is what makes AB-410 the practical successor. Be aware, though, that Microsoft has never used the word "replaces" on any official page. The succession is evident from the retiring and releasing pairing in the same list, not from a Microsoft statement, and this guide will not put words in Microsoft's mouth.

Three questions follow from the deadline, and only two of them have clean answers.

Does an existing PL-200 certification become worthless on 1 September 2026? No. A Microsoft employee on the Skills Hub blog is explicit: "If you've already earned any of the retiring Certifications, your credential remains valid until it expires." [5] Retirement stops new people earning it and stops existing holders renewing it. It does not revoke what you already have.

Is there a bridge exam or a discounted upgrade path from PL-200 to AB-410? No such mechanism appears on any Microsoft Learn or Tech Community page as of 3 August 2026. If you hold PL-200 and want the newer credential, the evidence says you sit AB-410 in full, at full price. Treat any third-party claim of a transition offer with suspicion unless Microsoft publishes one.

Should you rush to sit PL-200 before 31 August 2026? That depends on your renewal horizon rather than on the badge. A PL-200 earned in August 2026 is valid, but it cannot be renewed after the retirement date, so it becomes a wasting asset. AB-410 renews normally. For most people with more than a year of career runway, AB-410 is the better use of the exam fee.

AB-410 exam format, length and passing score

Microsoft publishes some of the exam mechanics and deliberately withholds others. Here is the honest split.

What Microsoft publishes:

What Microsoft does not publish for AB-410 specifically:

• Question count. Microsoft's general guidance is that "most Microsoft Certification exams typically contain between 40 to 60 questions; however, the number can vary depending on the exam" [6]. That is a policy statement, not an AB-410 figure. Anyone quoting you an exact number for AB-410 is guessing.
• Price in dollars. Microsoft's general FAQ says associate and expert exams "typically cost US$165 but are priced according to currency values in specific countries and regions" [7]. Treat $165 as a benchmark for the tier, not as AB-410's confirmed list price, and check the Pearson VUE booking page for your own region.
• Whether the exam contains labs. Microsoft says candidates "may have interactive components" [2] and has stated as policy that it does not publish a list of exams with labs, because the presence of labs "can literally change from one candidate to the next" [7]. Plan as though you might get an interactive task and you will not be caught out.

The 700 pass mark is a scaled score, not a percentage. It does not mean 70 percent of questions correct. Our guide to what 700 out of 1000 really means explains the scaling in detail, and it matters more than most candidates realise when they are estimating readiness.

In-exam Microsoft Learn access. Microsoft's policy states: "You can access Microsoft Learn as you complete your associate or expert exam. NOTE that access to Learn is NOT available on Fundamentals exams or GitHub exams." [6] AB-410 is an associate role-based exam, so the policy covers it by category. Be precise about this, though: the AB-410 exam page does not itself contain an AB-410-specific sentence confirming in-exam Learn access. The conclusion follows from the exam's tier under Microsoft's general policy. Confirm it on the booking screen before you rely on it, and read our open-book rules explainer for how to actually use that access without burning your clock.

There is no free practice assessment yet. Microsoft's certification page says so plainly:

The Practice Assessment for this exam is not currently available. Practice Assessments are usually available within 8 weeks of the exam being out of beta and generally available." [2]

Counting eight weeks from a 30 July 2026 general availability date puts a likely practice assessment somewhere around late September 2026. That is Microsoft's stated pattern, not a committed date.

Domain 1: Create a foundation for intelligent applications (25-30%)

This domain tests solution design and data modelling, the groundwork before any AI capability is added. It carries 25 to 30 percent of the exam [1].

It splits into two skill groups. The first, designing Power Platform solutions using AI-enabled tools, covers analysing requirements to identify components and implementation options, evaluating built-in agents to include in a business solution, recommending extensibility options, recommending environment types, and applying a Power Platform solution and application lifecycle management strategy [1].

The second, building data models, is pure Dataverse and it is dense: creating and editing tables in the data workspace, creating and modifying standard tables, configuring table properties, creating and modifying columns, configuring table relationships, configuring prompt columns, configuring row summaries, configuring public views, configuring main forms, and configuring security [1].

Prompt columns and row summaries are the AI-native items on that list, and they are where a PL-200-era candidate is most likely to be caught out. These are the Dataverse features that let a table column be populated by a generative prompt and let a row carry an AI-generated summary. If your Dataverse experience predates them, spend disproportionate time here. The rest of the list is the classic functional consultant skill set that PL-200 tested, and if you have been doing this work you already know it.

The ALM and environment-type items reward practical experience over reading. Know when a developer environment beats a sandbox, how solutions move between environments, and what managed and unmanaged solutions imply for downstream editing.

Domain 2: Create intelligent applications (25-30%)

This domain is the app-building core, split evenly between model-driven apps and canvas apps. It also carries 25 to 30 percent [1].

For model-driven apps, Microsoft lists creating and configuring forms, creating and configuring views, creating generative pages by using natural language, composing a model-driven app, configuring access to forms and views, configuring access to the app itself, and creating and configuring charts and dashboards [1].

For canvas apps, the list is longer and more developer-flavoured: creating a canvas app using data, designing apps for accessibility, performance, responsiveness and usability, automating business processes from canvas apps, creating reusable components including named formulas, user-defined functions and component libraries, managing variables and collections, implementing error handling, testing canvas apps including using Monitor, and creating a Copilot Studio agent from a canvas app [1].

Two items on that canvas list deserve extra attention. User-defined functions and named formulas are relatively recent Power Fx additions and they appear explicitly in the skills outline, which is a strong signal they are testable rather than incidental. Creating a Copilot Studio agent from a canvas app is the bridge between the app-building and agent-building worlds, and it is exactly the kind of integration point Microsoft likes to test with scenario questions.

The accessibility and performance sub-skill is easy to skim past and it should not be. Microsoft has tested accessibility on Power Apps exams for years, and "design apps for accessibility, performance, responsiveness, and usability" is a single bullet covering four distinct bodies of guidance. If you build apps that only ever get used on a desktop by people who use a mouse, this is a genuine gap.

Domain 3: Build business application logic and automation (40-45%)

This is the heaviest domain by a wide margin at 40 to 45 percent of the exam, and it is where the AI content concentrates. [1] If you have limited study time, spend it here.

It has three skill groups.

Create cloud flows covers recommending cloud flow triggers, evaluating and recommending connectors, managing approvals by using cloud flows, configuring cloud flow actions, implementing flow control with conditions and loops, and testing and troubleshooting cloud flows [1]. Note the verbs: "recommend" and "evaluate" appear twice, which points at scenario questions where you pick the right trigger or connector for a described business situation, rather than recall questions about where a button lives.

Create prompts and models in AI Hub is the domain's AI heart and the single most distinctive part of AB-410. Microsoft lists building prompts from templates or from blank, consuming a prompt in apps, consuming a prompt in cloud flows, adding knowledge to a prompt, customising prompt settings including models, adding inputs to a prompt, consuming an AI model in apps, and consuming an AI model in cloud flows [1].

Look at the shape of that list. Four of the eight items are about consuming prompts and models in two different surfaces, apps and cloud flows. Microsoft is testing whether you can wire an AI capability into a real solution in both directions, not whether you can write a clever prompt. Hands-on practice here is worth more than any amount of reading.

Implement business and process logic rounds the domain out with configuring business rules, configuring business process flows, configuring calculated, rollup and formula columns, and evaluating use cases for business logic [1]. That last bullet, "evaluate use cases for business logic", is a judgement item: given a requirement, do you solve it with a business rule, a business process flow, a calculated column or a cloud flow? Expect to be asked to choose.

What Microsoft expects you to know before you sit AB-410

Microsoft's study guide separates experience from prerequisites, and both lists are worth reading as a self-assessment.

Experience Microsoft says candidates should have [1]:

• Using natural language to create solution assets
• Dataverse modelling
• Power Automate cloud flows
• AI capabilities in Microsoft Power Platform
• Power Apps development
• Power Pages sites

Prerequisites Microsoft lists for the exam [1]:

• Familiarity with Copilot in Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Pages and Dataverse
• Awareness of creating agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio
• Foundational knowledge of AI models and prompts in AI Hub
• Ability to map business processes to flows, agents or app capabilities
• Ability to work with Dataverse as a core data platform
• Familiarity with low-code automation, including Power Fx
• Awareness of environment governance, roles, policies and solution lifecycle steps

Power Pages appears in the experience list but not in any domain of the skills outline. That is worth noticing rather than worrying about. Microsoft expects contextual familiarity with Power Pages as part of the role, but the measured skills concentrate on model-driven apps, canvas apps, cloud flows and AI Hub.

For official preparation, Microsoft offers the instructor-led Course AB-410T00-A: Build intelligent applications, a three-day intermediate course available in a wide range of languages [8]. The study guide's own resource table points at the Microsoft Copilot Studio documentation and the Microsoft Power Platform documentation as the primary reading [1].

How AB-410 fits the AB-100 expert path

AB-410 is a confirmed qualifying prerequisite for the expert-level Microsoft Certified: Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect credential, earned via AB-100. [3] That matters commercially, because it means AB-410 is not a dead-end associate badge. It is an on-ramp.

Microsoft's AB-100 exam page lists fifteen qualifying associate certifications. Three of them carry retirement dates [3]:

If your plan is AB-100, choosing AB-410 over PL-200 is straightforwardly the safer route: one is a prerequisite with a retirement date on it, the other is brand new. Our AB-100 prerequisites guide goes through the qualifying routes in more depth, and if AB-100 is the destination, how to pass AB-100 and what early AB-100 candidates report are the next two things to read. You can practise for AB-100 itself on Examinotion's AB-100 exam page.

Note that AB-730 and AB-731 do not appear on the AB-100 qualifying list. That surprises people, and it is a live piece of misinformation in AI search results. AI-103 and AB-620 do qualify.

A four-week AB-410 study plan

This plan assumes you already work with Power Platform and need to close specific gaps, which is the realistic AB-410 candidate. It weights time by domain percentage, so the heaviest block goes to Domain 3.

Week 1: Foundation and Dataverse (Domain 1). Rebuild a data model from scratch in a developer environment. Create standard tables, configure relationships, build main forms and public views, and configure security roles. Then specifically build a prompt column and a row summary, because these are the items most likely to be new to you. Finish the week by reading Microsoft's ALM guidance and moving a solution between two environments.

Week 2: Apps (Domain 2). Split the week. First half: build one model-driven app end to end, including charts, a dashboard, and a generative page created with natural language. Second half: build one canvas app that uses named formulas and at least one user-defined function, includes real error handling, and that you debug using Monitor. End by creating a Copilot Studio agent from that canvas app.

Week 3: Automation and AI Hub (Domain 3, the heavy one). Build three cloud flows with different trigger types and deliberately break them so you practise troubleshooting. Then spend at least half the week in AI Hub: build a prompt from a template, build one from blank, add knowledge to it, add inputs, change the model in the prompt settings, and consume it from both a canvas app and a cloud flow. Do the same for an AI model. Finish with business rules, business process flows, and calculated, rollup and formula columns.

Week 4: Consolidation. Re-read the skills outline line by line and score yourself on every bullet honestly. Anything below confident goes on a list, and the list is your week. Because Microsoft's free practice assessment for AB-410 is not available yet [2], you cannot lean on it, so self-assessment against the outline is the substitute. Read our guides to Microsoft exam question types and online proctored exam logistics so exam-day mechanics are not the thing that costs you marks.

If four weeks is not realistic, the ordering still holds: Domain 3 first, Domain 1 second, Domain 2 last.

Common mistakes Power Platform professionals make on AB-410

Assuming AB-410 is PL-200 with a new number. It is not. The AI Hub skill group, prompt columns, row summaries, generative pages and Copilot Studio agent creation are genuinely new measured skills. A PL-200 veteran who studies nothing new is walking into the heaviest domain underprepared.

Confusing AI Hub with Microsoft Foundry. These are different products. AI Hub is Power Platform's prompts and models workspace and it is what AB-410 tests. Microsoft Foundry, the renamed Azure AI Foundry, is Azure's separate AI developer platform and it belongs to exams like AI-103 [1]. Studying the wrong one is an expensive mistake.

Reading instead of building. Four of the eight AI Hub bullets are about consuming prompts and models inside apps and flows [1]. That is muscle memory, not recall. A developer environment is free and there is no substitute for having actually wired a prompt into a cloud flow before someone asks you about it under time pressure.

Skipping accessibility and performance. It is one bullet covering four topics [1], it sits in a 25 to 30 percent domain, and it is the single most commonly skipped item on Power Apps exams.

Trusting an unofficial question count or price. Microsoft publishes neither for AB-410 [2][6][7]. If a site quotes you exact figures, it is inferring them, and you should discount everything else on the page accordingly. For the same reason, never use sites offering "real exam questions": they violate the NDA you agree to when you sit the exam, and the content is routinely wrong.

Ignoring the beta-era noise. AB-410 ran as a beta through spring and early summer 2026 before its 30 July general availability, and Microsoft's own blog posts from March and May 2026 gave slightly different timelines during that period [9][5]. Some third-party articles still repeat the older dates. Anchor on the certification page, not on commentary. If you want the general picture of how beta exams work, we have a Microsoft beta exam guide.

Renewing the Intelligent Applications Builder certification

Microsoft role-based certifications expire and are renewed free of charge by passing an online assessment on Microsoft Learn rather than by resitting the exam [4].

Microsoft has not yet published AB-410-specific renewal terms, because the certification is days old and no renewal assessment exists for it yet. The closest comparator is PL-200, the same-tier certification AB-410 succeeds, which renews on a 12-month cadence with a six-month pre-expiry window [4][10]:

If you have this certification and it will expire within six months, you're eligible to renew. Show that you have kept current with the latest Microsoft Power Platform updates by passing the renewal assessment." [10]

Expect AB-410 to follow the same pattern, since it is the standard associate arrangement, but treat that as an informed expectation rather than a published AB-410 fact until Microsoft puts up the renewal page. Our certification renewal guide covers the mechanics of the renewal assessment in general.

Frequently Asked Questions

What replaces PL-200?

AB-410, Building Intelligent Applications, occupies PL-200's slot in Microsoft's certification path and released on 30 July 2026, the month before PL-200 retires on 31 August 2026. Microsoft never uses the word "replaces", but both appear in the same qualifying-prerequisite list for AB-100, one retiring and one releasing.

Is AB-410 hard?

AB-410 is an associate-level exam requiring 700 out of 1000 to pass in 120 minutes. Experienced Power Platform consultants will find Domains 1 and 2 familiar, but Domain 3 carries 40 to 45 percent of the marks and includes AI Hub prompts and models, which are new material for most PL-200-era candidates.

How long is the AB-410 exam?

Microsoft states 120 minutes to complete the AB-410 assessment. Under Microsoft's general exam-duration policy, an associate exam that may contain labs carries a 120-minute exam duration and a 140-minute total seat duration, which includes time for instructions and the non-disclosure agreement before the exam itself begins.

What is the passing score for AB-410?

700 out of 1000. This is a scaled score, not a percentage, so it does not mean answering 70 percent of questions correctly. Microsoft scales scores to account for varying question difficulty across exam forms, which is why estimating readiness from raw practice percentages is unreliable.

Does AB-410 count towards the AB-100 expert certification?

Yes. AB-410 appears on Microsoft's list of fifteen qualifying associate certifications for the Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect credential earned through AB-100. AI-103 and AB-620 also qualify. Note that AB-730 and AB-731 do not appear on that list, despite claims to the contrary in some search results.

Is there a free practice assessment for AB-410?

Not yet. Microsoft's certification page states the practice assessment is not currently available and that practice assessments are usually released within eight weeks of an exam leaving beta and becoming generally available. Counting from 30 July 2026, that points to roughly late September 2026, though Microsoft has not committed to a date.

How many questions are on AB-410?

Microsoft does not publish a question count for AB-410 or for any individual exam. Its general guidance says most Microsoft certification exams contain between 40 and 60 questions, with variation by exam. Any source quoting an exact AB-410 figure is guessing rather than citing Microsoft.

Can I use Microsoft Learn during the AB-410 exam?

Microsoft's policy grants in-exam Microsoft Learn access on associate and expert role-based exams, and AB-410 is an associate role-based exam, so the policy covers it by category. However, the AB-410 exam page does not confirm this in AB-410-specific wording, so verify it at booking rather than assuming.

Does my PL-200 certification expire on 31 August 2026?

No. Retirement means PL-200 can no longer be earned or renewed after that date. A certification you have already earned remains valid until its own expiry date. What you lose is the ability to renew it, which makes it a wasting asset and is the main practical argument for sitting AB-410 instead.

Conclusion

AB-410 is the clearest certification decision in the Power Platform space right now. PL-200 stops being earnable on 31 August 2026, AB-410 covers the same functional consultant ground plus the AI capability the role has actually acquired, and it qualifies you for the expert-level AB-100 path. The one real cost is that Microsoft's free practice assessment has not arrived yet, so your preparation has to be self-directed and hands-on for now.

Weight your study time towards Domain 3. It is 40 to 45 percent of the exam, it contains the AI Hub material that is new to most candidates, and it is the domain where reading about the product will not save you.

If you are still deciding where to put your certification effort across Microsoft's AI portfolio, browse Examinotion's exam preparation courses to see the full catalogue, or start with our role-based decision guide if you are not yet sure which exam fits your job.

Sources

1. Exam AB-410: Building Intelligent Applications study guide - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-08-03
2. Microsoft Certified: Intelligent Applications Builder Associate - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-08-03
3. Exam AB-100: Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-08-03
4. Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-08-03
5. The AI job boom continues: Build the skills that move business forward - Microsoft Tech Community, published 31 March 2026, accessed 2026-08-03
6. Exam duration and exam experience - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-08-03
7. Certification exam frequently asked questions - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-08-03
8. Course AB-410T00-A: Build intelligent applications - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-08-03
9. New Microsoft Certified: Intelligent Applications Builder Associate certification - Microsoft Tech Community, published 27 May 2026, accessed 2026-08-03
10. Renewal for Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-08-03