System design

Microsoft System Design Questions

Every system design problem candidates reported at Microsoft between September 2025 and September 2026, most-asked first. Each one links to a full solution. Tick them off as you go.

Practice a Microsoft system design round with me

I'm Alex. I'll pick one of these Microsoft questions and interview you on it: scope, design, and deep dives.

24problems
27candidate reports
2asked more than once
25topics
Start Microsoft System Design Interview→

Topics

Design an Event Booking System
3 reports · last seen Feb 2026Distributed SystemsPaymentsBooking System
Beginner▶ Mock
Design a Distributed Key-Value Store
2 reports · last seen Jun 2026DatabasesDistributed SystemsStorage
Advanced+2▶ Mock
Design a High-Concurrency Incident Ticket Correlation Platform
1 report · last seen Aug 2026ObservabilityData PipelinesDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Design an Ad Impression Reconciliation and Aggregation Service
1 report · last seen Aug 2026AdsAnalyticsData Pipelines
Advanced+2▶ Mock
Design a Metrics Ingestion Pipeline
1 report · last seen Jun 2026ObservabilityData PipelinesStorage
Advanced+3▶ Mock
Design a To-Do List Service (CRUD, Auth, Rate Limiting, Caching & API Versioning)
1 report · last seen Jun 2026API DesignReal-timeCollaboration
Beginner▶ Mock
Externally Sort a 500 GB CSV by One Column with 16 GB of RAM
1 report · last seen Jun 2026AlgorithmsStorageData Pipelines
Intermediate▶ Mock
Design A Low-Latency Product Price Update API
1 report · last seen Apr 2026E-commerceCachingDatabases
Intermediate▶ Mock
Design A Scalable Web Crawler
1 report · last seen Apr 2026Distributed SystemsStorageSearch
Advanced+2▶ Mock
Design User Re-engagement Notifications
1 report · last seen Apr 2026Real-timeMessagingDistributed Systems
Advanced+5▶ Mock
Design a typeahead search service
1 report · last seen Apr 2026SearchCachingData Pipelines
Intermediate▶ Mock
Design a Secure Copilot API
1 report · last seen Apr 2026AI / MLSecurityAPI Design
Advanced▶ Mock
Design a ChatGPT-like serving system
1 report · last seen Mar 2026AI / MLReal-timeDistributed Systems
Advanced+2▶ Mock
Design a simple API rate limiter
1 report · last seen Feb 2026Rate LimitingDistributed SystemsAPI Design
Intermediate+9▶ Mock
Design a job scheduler ETL pipeline system
1 report · last seen Feb 2026SchedulingDistributed SystemsEvent Driven
Advanced+7▶ Mock
Design a high-level logging system
1 report · last seen Feb 2026ObservabilityData PipelinesSearch
Intermediate+1▶ Mock
Design a replicated cloud storage service
1 report · last seen Jan 2026StorageCDNDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock
Design a live-stream comments system
1 report · last seen Jan 2026Real-timeMessagingDistributed Systems
Intermediate▶ Mock
Design REST APIs for JSON file storage
1 report · last seen Jan 2026API DesignStorageDatabases
Beginner▶ Mock
Design a resource change tracking database
1 report · last seen Jan 2026DatabasesEvent DrivenStorage
Intermediate▶ Mock
Design device telemetry pipeline for real-time and batch
1 report · last seen Dec 2025IoTData PipelinesStorage
Intermediate+1▶ Mock
Design streaming error-log counting with moving average
1 report · last seen Dec 2025AnalyticsReal-timeAlgorithms
Advanced+4▶ Mock
Design a cloud console main page
1 report · last seen Dec 2025FrontendAPI DesignCaching
Intermediate▶ Mock
Design local sports team recommendation system
1 report · last seen Nov 2025AI / MLData PipelinesDistributed Systems
Advanced▶ Mock

Duplicate reports of the same problem are merged and counted.

Practice with a Mock Interview

Apply these questions in a live system design mock interview with InterviewSkool's AI interviewer.

Start System Design Interview →

Frequently Asked Questions

What system design questions does Microsoft ask?

Candidates reported 24 distinct system design problems at Microsoft between September 2025 and September 2026, including Design an Event Booking System, Design a Distributed Key-Value Store, Design a High-Concurrency Incident Ticket Correlation Platform.

How to prepare for Microsoft system design interview?

Start with the Microsoft problems reported most often, work through each full solution, then practice explaining a design end to end under time pressure in a mock interview.

What is the difference between HLD and LLD at Microsoft?

HLD (High-Level Design) focuses on system architecture, scalability, and component interactions. LLD (Low-Level Design) dives into class diagrams, API contracts, and database schemas. Microsoft tests both.