Comparison
PL-300 vs DP-600
Power BI Data Analyst and Fabric Analytics Engineer, compared on who they are for and what they test, from each exam's own official outline.
PL-300
Exam page ↗Power BI Data Analyst
Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate
- For
- Analysts who build Power BI models and reports
- Exam time
- 100 minutes, 50 questions
- Works with
- Power BI, Power Query and DAX
DP-600
Exam page ↗Fabric Analytics Engineer
Microsoft Certified: Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate
- For
- Analytics engineers who build semantic models, warehouses and lakehouses
- Exam time
- 100 minutes, 50 questions
- Works with
- SQL, KQL and DAX
Exam domains
Where the exam time goes
The domains each exam's official skills outline lists, and the share of the exam Microsoft assigns to each one.
PL-300
- Prepare the data 25-30%
- Model the data 25-30%
- Visualize and analyze the data 25-30%
- Manage and secure Power BI 15-20%
DP-600
- Maintain a data analytics solution 25-30%
- Prepare data 45-50%
- Implement and manage semantic models 25-30%
Verdict
Which one first
PL-300 stays inside Power BI: its domains cover preparing, modeling, visualizing and securing data with Power Query and DAX, nothing more. DP-600 shares the modeling and DAX ground but adds engineering: almost half of its exam, 45-50%, is preparing data in lakehouses and warehouses with SQL and KQL, on top of semantic modeling and governance. If you build Power BI reports today and nothing else, start with PL-300: it is the narrower exam and matches that job directly. Move to DP-600 once your work, or your ambition, extends into the lakehouse and warehouse side of Fabric that PL-300 does not touch.