Try SQL Server in the cloud with an Azure free account
Run Microsoft SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines or use Azure SQL Database, a fully managed service
Choose the Azure account that’s right for you
Pay as you go or try Azure free for up to 30 days. There’s no upfront commitment—cancel anytime.
Azure free account
Best for proof of concept and exploring capabilities
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Available only to new Azure customers
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Free monthly amounts of 20+ popular services for 12 months (new Azure customers only)
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Free monthly amounts of 65+ always-free services
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Access to full catalog of services up to free amounts and $200 credit
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Spending protection—credit card won’t be charged*
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No upfront commitment—cancel anytime
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Move to pay-as-you-go pricing to continue beyond 30 days or after credit is used up
to use on Azure services within 30 days
Pay as you go
Best for customers ready to start building workloads.
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Free monthly amounts of 20+ popular services for 12 months (new Azure customers only)
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Free monthly amounts of 65+ always-free services
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Access to full catalog of services with no cap on service usage
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Technical support options available
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No upfront commitment—cancel anytime
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No action required to continue beyond 30 days
beyond free monthly amounts
[*]
During the signup verification process, there may be a temporary $1 authorization placed on your card, which will be reversed upon verification.
FREE SERVICES
Take advantage of free products
These products are free up to the specified monthly amounts. Some are always free to all Azure customers, and some are free for 12 months to new customers only.
12 months
Azure Virtual Machines—Windows
750 hours each of B1s, B2pts v2 (Arm-based), and B2ats v2 (AMD-based) burstable VMs
12 months
Azure Virtual Machines—Linux
750 hours each of B1s, B2pts v2 (Arm-based), and B2ats v2 (AMD-based) burstable VMs
Always
Azure SQL Database
100,000 vCore seconds of SQL database serverless usage per month with 32 GB of storage
12 months
Azure Blob Storage
5 GB locally redundant storage (LRS) hot block with 20,000 read and 10,000 write operations
Always
AI Speech
0.5 million neural characters per month
Always
AI Search
50 MB storage for 10,000 hosted documents and 3 indexes per service
12 Months
AI Document Intelligence
500 pages S0 tier
12 Months
AI Vision
5,000 transactions for each S1, S2, and S3 tier
RESOURCES
Learn more about Azure
Take the next step
Start building on Azure free
Get free services and a $200 credit to explore Azure for up to 30 days.
Get started with pay as you go
Pay only for what you use beyond free amounts of services.
Frequently asked questions
- Read the full offer terms to find information on service-level agreements, the cancellation policy, and other important account details.
- It costs nothing to start with Azure. If you sign up for an Azure free account, you won’t be charged anything unless you decide to move to pay-as-you-go pricing. With pay-as-you-go pricing, you’ll be charged only for what you use beyond your monthly free amounts of services. During the signup verification process, a one-dollar (or equivalent) temporary authorization charge may be placed on your card and then removed upon verification.
- When you create your Azure account, you start getting monthly free amounts of certain types of services. Some are always free to all Azure customers, and some are free to new customers until 12 months after you created your account. If you sign up for an Azure free account, you’ll need to move to pay-as-you-go pricing within 30 days or after you’ve used your credit (whichever happens first) to continue to receive free services.
- Each month you receive specified free amounts of certain types of services. With pay-as-you-go pricing, if you exceed your monthly free amounts for any services, you’ll be billed for them at pay-as-you-go rates. For the services that are free for 12 months, any services you’re using after 12 months has expired will continue to run and you’ll be billed for them at pay-as-you-go rates.
- The Azure free account provides access to all Azure services and does not block customers from building their ideas into production. The Azure free account includes certain types of specific services—and certain amounts of those services—for free. To enable your production scenarios, you may need to use resources beyond the free amounts. If you choose to move to pay as you go, you’ll be billed for those additional resources at pay-as-you-go rates.
- Only specific amounts of certain services are free. If you sign up for an Azure free account, you’ll get a $200 credit that you can apply to try services that aren't in the free list, or to use more than your free amounts of any services. You have up to 30 days to use your credit.
- If you sign up for an Azure free account, you can see your remaining credit under Microsoft Cost Management in the Azure portal.
- We’ll never charge you unless you decide to move to pay-as-you-go pricing. If you move to pay as you go, you’ll only be charged for services that you use above the free monthly amounts. You can check your usage of free services in the Azure portal.
- If you sign up for an Azure free account, we’ll notify you that it’s time to decide if you want to move to pay-as-you-go pricing. If you do, you’ll continue to receive free services and be able to purchase services beyond free amounts. If you don’t, your account and services will be disabled. To resume usage, you'll need to move to pay as you go.
- If you sign up for an Azure free account and move to pay-as-you-go pricing before the end of 30 days, you won’t lose your credit. When you move to pay as you go, any credit you have remaining will still be available for the full 30 days from when you created your free account.
- All you need is a phone number, a credit card or a debit card (non-prepaid), and a Microsoft account or a GitHub account. Only credit cards are accepted in Hong Kong and Brazil.
- We use the phone number and credit card or debit card for identity verification to validate that account holders are real people and not bots. We don't charge your credit card or debit card anything when you sign up for Azure, but you may see a one-dollar (or equivalent) verification hold on your credit card or debit card account. The hold is temporary and will be removed. Azure free account customers will not incur any charges. For pay-as-you-go customers, the credit or debit card you provide will be used as your default payment method when you authorize payment.
- You can sign up with either a Microsoft account or a GitHub account.
- Use the "Sign in with GitHub" option on the Azure sign-in page. When you first sign into a Microsoft product with your credentials, GitHub will ask for your permission to consent. GitHub will share with Microsoft the name and public and private email addresses on your GitHub account to check if you already have a Microsoft account. If it looks like you already have an account, you’ll have the option to use that account and add your GitHub account as a login method. Otherwise, a new account will be created and linked to the GitHub account.
- Microsoft is committed to user privacy. The request for profile information is used to check for the presence of an existing Microsoft account and to create an account if needed. Once your information enters the Microsoft ecosystem, it’s protected by the Microsoft terms of service and isn’t shared without your permission. Connecting a GitHub identity to a Microsoft account will not give Microsoft any code access.
- No, your Azure free account credit can’t be applied to Azure Marketplace offers and you can only purchase products on Azure Marketplace once you’ve moved to pay-as-you-go pricing. However, many Azure Marketplace partners offer free trials and/or free tier plans for their solutions.
- There is a limit of one account with free services and $200 credit per new customer.
- The Azure Hybrid Benefit cannot be combined with the Azure free account credit. You’ll need to move to pay-as-you-go pricing to be able to use your Azure Hybrid Benefit.
- No, but if you move to pay as you go after you use your credit, you can purchase Spot Virtual Machines at deep discounts compared to pay-as-you-go pricing for virtual machines.
- Contact Sales by chat, phone, or email and we'll be happy to answer any questions you have.
Is Azure available in my location?
Azure is commercially available in 140 countries and regions, including those listed below. Azure free account, free services, and $200 credit don’t include sovereign cloud products in US Government, Azure China, and Azure Germany regions.
