What is the difference between MS-700 and MS-102 for Teams administration?
MS-700 specializes in Teams governance, policies, collaboration management, Purview compliance for Teams, and communication troubleshooting. MS-102 covers the full Microsoft 365 tenant including Teams as one workload among identity, Defender, DLP, retention, and all M365 services.
MS-700 specializes in Teams — it covers Teams-specific governance, policy configuration, collaboration management, Purview compliance controls for Teams data, and communication troubleshooting. It is the right certification for administrators whose primary responsibility is Teams governance and deployment.
MS-102 covers the full Microsoft 365 tenant including Teams as one workload among many, alongside Exchange, Defender, DLP, identity, and retention across all M365 services. It leads to the Microsoft 365 Administrator certification.
Administrators whose primary responsibility is Teams governance and deployment should pursue MS-700 first. Those responsible for the entire M365 environment — identity, security, compliance, and all workloads — should target MS-102.
Related Information
- MS-700: Teams-specific governance and compliance · MS-102: full M365 tenant scope including Teams
- MS-700: 4-day course, CHF 119 · MS-102: 5-day course, CHF 119
- MS-700: Teams Admin Center, PowerShell, Purview for Teams data · MS-102: Defender, DLP, retention for all M365 workloads
- Choose MS-700 if: primary role is Teams administration and collaboration governance
- Choose MS-102 if: responsible for the full M365 tenant across identity, security, compliance, and all workloads
Expert Insight
The most common mistake when choosing between MS-700 and MS-102 is role mismatch. Teams administrators who attempt MS-102 first spend too much time on Exchange, DLP, and identity workloads they don't yet manage in practice, which makes the scenario questions ungrounded. MS-700 first gives the administrator deep workload expertise that makes the cross-workload governance questions in MS-102 far easier to navigate.
Well-prepared organizations sequence these certifications deliberately: MS-700 for the Teams administrator who owns collaboration governance, then MS-102 when that administrator is ready to take on full tenant scope. That sequence mirrors the actual career progression from workload specialist to platform administrator.
Topics
Related Answers
Who should attend MS-700 Teams administrator training?
MS-700 is designed for M365 administrators managing Teams governance and compliance, collaboration engineers deploying Teams in enterprise environments, IT operations managers needing audit-ready configurations, and security or compliance analysts validating Teams controls. M365 administration and Entra ID experience are required.
byMarc BOUVIER
What does the MS-700 exam cover?
The MS-700 exam tests configuring Teams governance policies, deploying Teams with identity and network dependencies, managing internal and external collaboration, implementing Purview compliance controls, and troubleshooting messaging and meetings. The passing score is 700.
byAlexis HIRSCHHORN
What is the MS-700 certification and what does it validate?
The MS-700 exam leads to the Teams Administrator Associate certification, which validates the ability to configure, deploy, and manage Microsoft Teams environments. Certified administrators configure governance policies, manage collaboration settings, implement Purview compliance controls, and troubleshoot communication workloads. The passing score is 700.
byPhani SRIPADA