Azure free tier explained: what is actually free and for how long

Quick answer

The Azure free tier has three distinct parts: a starting credit (about 200 USD to spend in your first 30 days), 12-month free popular services (a small B-series VM, some managed disk and Blob storage, a SQL database allotment) that stay free for a year on a new account, and always-free services (many with monthly caps, like a number of serverless function executions, App Service hours, and Cosmos DB throughput) that never expire. The trap is treating the 12-month services as permanent: when the year ends, they start billing at standard rates.

The Azure free tier is not one thing. It bundles a short-lived credit, a year of free popular services, and a permanent set of always-free services, and each behaves differently. Understanding the three parts is the difference between running a genuinely free learning environment and getting a surprise invoice the month a trial window quietly closes.

The three parts of Azure free

Part	What you get	Duration
Starting credit	About 200 USD to spend on almost anything	First 30 days
12-month free	Small VM, managed disks, Blob storage, a SQL database allotment	12 months from signup
Always free	Serverless functions, App Service hours, Cosmos DB throughput, and more, each capped monthly	Never expires

The credit lets you try paid services (like larger VMs) without charge for a month. The 12-month tier covers a modest VM and storage footprint for a year. The always-free tier is a long list of services with monthly caps that renew each month. Confusing the 12-month tier for the always-free tier is where most surprise bills come from.

What is always free

The always-free list is generous for small workloads: a monthly allotment of serverless function executions, a number of free App Service compute hours, a Cosmos DB throughput and storage allotment, some free bandwidth, and free tiers of services like Azure DevOps and several databases. Each has a monthly cap, and staying under it keeps that service free indefinitely. For hobby projects and learning, the always-free tier alone can carry a surprising amount.

Where the surprise bills come from

The classic mistake is spinning up the free 12-month VM and forgetting the clock. On day 366 it starts billing at the standard rate, and an idle VM you forgot is pure waste. Data transfer out beyond the free bandwidth allotment also bills quietly, a theme covered in picking a cheap Azure region. To stay safe, set a budget alert at a low threshold so any real charge pings you immediately.

Getting the most from free

Track which services are on the 12-month clock versus always-free, tear down 12-month resources before the year ends or plan for them to start billing, and lean on the always-free tier for anything long-running. Compare with the equivalents in the GCP and AWS free tiers if you are choosing a provider for learning. And when you do move to paid workloads, price them before you deploy: the resource catalog shows what each Azure service costs at real usage so the first paid bill is never a shock.

FAQ

Is Azure actually free?

Partly. Azure gives new accounts a starting credit (about 200 USD for the first 30 days), a set of popular services free for 12 months (a small VM, some managed disk and Blob storage, a SQL database allotment), and a long list of always-free services with monthly caps that never expire. The always-free tier can genuinely run small workloads at no cost, but the 12-month services start billing when the year ends.

What is the difference between 12-month free and always-free Azure services?

The 12-month free services (like the small B-series VM and starter storage) are free only for a year from signup, then bill at standard rates. The always-free services (serverless function executions, App Service hours, Cosmos DB throughput, and more) have monthly caps that renew each month and never expire. Confusing the two is the main cause of surprise Azure bills.

How long does the Azure free credit last?

The starting credit (about 200 USD) is valid for the first 30 days after you create the account. You can spend it on almost any paid service to try things out. After 30 days, or once the credit is used up, unused credit expires and you pay standard rates for anything beyond the free tiers, so plan any credit-funded experiments within that window.

Will an Azure free VM start charging me?

Yes, once the 12-month window ends. The free B-series VM is only free for a year from signup. On day 366 it bills at the standard rate, and an idle VM you forgot about is pure waste. Tear it down before the year ends or plan for the charge, and set a low budget alert so any real charge notifies you right away.

How do I avoid surprise charges on an Azure free account?

Set a budget alert at a low threshold so any charge pings you immediately, track which resources are on the 12-month clock versus always-free, tear down 12-month resources before the year ends, and watch data transfer out beyond the free bandwidth allotment. Leaning on the always-free tier for long-running work keeps genuine costs near zero.

Does C3X help estimate Azure costs beyond the free tier?

Yes. C3X prices Azure infrastructure from your Terraform before you deploy, so when you move from free-tier experiments to paid workloads you see the monthly cost upfront rather than discovering it on the first bill. The resource catalog shows what each Azure service costs at real usage, making the transition off the free tier predictable.

What to do next

Moving past the Azure free tier? Price your workload before it ships. C3X reads your Terraform and prices your resources against a live catalog.