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

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Popular services free for 12 months

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55+ other services free always

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Start with $200 Azure credit

You'll have 30 days to use it—in addition to free services

Here's just some of what you can do with Azure

Support modern cloud applications

Optimize performance and durability with automated, AI-powered features that are always up to date.

Simplify SQL Server migration to the cloud

Easily migrate your SQL Server workloads to Azure and take advantage of powerful, versatile virtual machines.

Lower your total cost of ownership

Take advantage of cost savings that are only available on Azure for Windows Server and SQL Server workloads.

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

Azure Cosmos DB

1,000 request units per-second provisioned throughput with 25 GB storage

Always

Azure App Service

10 web, mobile, or API apps with 1 GB storage 1 hour per day

Always

Azure Functions

1 million requests

Always

Azure Event Grid

100,000 operations per month

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.

After your credit, keep getting free services
Azure service	Description	Type	Free monthly amount	Free period
Advisor	Get personalized recommendations and best practices for Azure.	Management and Governance	Unlimited	Always
AI Anomaly Detector	Detect anomalies in data to quickly identify and troubleshoot issues.	AI + Machine Learning	20,000 transactions of free tier	Always
AI Bot Service	Develop intelligent, enterprise-grade bots that scale on demand.	AI + Machine Learning	10,000 premium channel messages and unlimited standard channel messages	Always
AI Content Safety	Moderate text and images to provide a safer, more positive user experience.	AI + Machine Learning	5,000 text records or 5,000 images of free tier	Always
AI Custom Vision	Easily customize computer vision models for your unique use case.	AI + Machine Learning	10,000 predictions S0 tier, one training hour, two projects with 5,000 training images each	12 months
AI Document Intelligence	Automate the extraction of text, key/value pairs, and tables from your documents.	AI + Machine Learning	500 pages S0 tier	12 months
AI Immersive Reader	Embed text reading and comprehension capabilities into applications.	AI + Machine Learning	3 million characters	Always
AI Language	Extract information such as sentiment, key phrases, named entities, and language from your text.	AI + Machine Learning	5,000 text records	Always
AI Metrics Advisor	Embed AI-powered monitoring features to proactively diagnose issues.	AI + Machine Learning	Up to 25 time series of standard tier	Always
AI Personalizer	Deliver rich, personalized experiences for every user.	AI + Machine Learning	50,000 transactions S0 tier	12 months
AI Search	Include a cloud search service in your web and mobile application.	AI + Machine Learning	50 MB storage for 10,000 hosted documents and 3 indexes per service	Always
AI Speech -Speaker Recognition	Accurately verify and identify speakers by their unique voice characteristics.	AI + Machine Learning	10,000 transactions each of speaker verification, speaker identification, and voice profile storage	Always
AI Speech - Speech to Text	Transcribe spoken audio to text.	AI + Machine Learning	5 audio hours each of Standard, Custom, and Conversation Transcription Multichannel Audio, 1 Custom endpoint hosting model	Always
AI Speech - Speech Translation	Integrate real-time speech translation into your app.	AI + Machine Learning	5 audio hours Standard	Always
AI Speech - Text to Speech	Build apps that convert text to lifelike speech.	AI + Machine Learning	0.5 million neural characters per month	Always
AI Translator	Add real-time, multi-language text translation to your apps, websites, and tools.	AI + Machine Learning	2 million characters free tier	Always
AI Vision	Extract rich information from images to categorize and process visual data.	AI + Machine Learning	5,000 transactions for each S1, S2, and S3 tier	12 months
API Management	Manage APIs across all platforms with a hybrid, multicloud platform.	Integration	1 million monthly calls free with Consumption tier	Always
App Configuration	Store and manage configurations for all your Azure apps.	Developer Tools	1,000 requests per day with 10 MB storage	Always
App Service	Quickly build, deploy, and scale web apps and APIs globally with a fully managed platform as a service (PaaS).	Compute	Up to 10 web or API apps with 1 GB storage and 1 hour per day	Always
Archive Storage	Store and manage rarely accessed data with locally redundant storage (LRS) or geo-redundant storage (GRS).	Storage	10 GB LRS storage, 10 GB LRS or GRS write and retrieval, and 100 reads	12 months
Automation	Simplify cloud management with process automation.	Management and Governance	500 minutes of job runtime	Always
Azure Arc	Extend Azure management and services.	Hybrid + Multicloud	Free Azure control plane functionality for resources outside Azure, search and indexing for Azure Arc-enabled resources	Always
Azure Attestation	Verify the identity and security posture of trusted platform modules and trusted execution environments.	Security	Free	Always
Azure Automanage	Simplify and optimize IT management with automated operations.	Management and Governance	There are no charges specifically for Automanage. Azure services that are onboarded through Automanage will be billed individually.	Always Free
Azure Cosmos DB	Build modern apps at any scale using a fast NoSQL database with open APIs.	Databases	400 request units per-second provisioned throughput with 25 GB storage	12 months
Azure Cosmos DB	Build modern apps at any scale using a fast NoSQL database with open APIs.	Databases	1,000 request units per-second provisioned throughput with 25 GB storage	Always
Azure Database for MySQL	Host a fully managed, scalable MySQL database in Azure.	Databases	750 hours of Flexible Server—Burstable B1MS Instance, 32 GB storage, and 32 GB backup storage	12 months
Azure Database for PostgreSQL	Build intelligent, scalable apps with fully managed database for PostgreSQL.	Databases	750 hours of Flexible Server—Burstable B1MS Instance, 32 GB storage, and 32 GB backup storage	12 months
Azure DevOps	Build apps in any language using Git repos, CI/CD, and build and release automation.	Developer Tools	5 users with unlimited private Git repos	Always
Azure Files	Migrate to simple, distributed, cross-platform file storage without changing code.	Storage	100 GB of LRS transaction optimized, hot, and cool files. 2 million read, list, and other file operations	12 months
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)	Deploy and manage containers using the tools you choose.	Compute	AKS cluster management is free; you’ll incur a charge for resources consumed by nodes	Always
Azure Lighthouse	Manage service providers with Zero Trust access controls.	Management and Governance	Free	Always
Azure Managed Applications, Service catalog	Make it easier to acquire services with a catalog of approved cloud offerings.	Management and Governance	Free publishing	Always
Azure Maps	Create location-aware web and mobile applications using geospatial services, APIs, and SDKs.	Internet of Things	1,000 to 5,000 transactions for specific mapping and location insights features	Always
Azure Migrate	Discover, assess, right-size, and migrate your on-premises virtual machines to Azure.	Migration	Free	Always
Azure Policy	Achieve real-time cloud compliance at scale with consistent resource governance.	Management and Governance	Free access to configuration and change tracking features	Always
Azure Resource Mover	Simplify how you move multiple resources between Azure regions.	Management and Governance	Free (ingress and egress charges may apply)	Always
Azure SignalR Service	Add real-time communications into your web applications.	Web	20 concurrent connections per unit and 20,000 messages	Always
Azure SQL Managed Instance	Modernize existing apps with a fully managed SQL instance on Azure.	Database	750 vCore hours per month with 32 GB of storage	12 months
Azure Update Manager	Centrally govern and manage software updates at scale.	Management and Governance	Free for Azure resources (charged for Arc-enabled servers) – see pricing page for details.	Always Free
Bandwidth (Data Transfer)	Transfer data inbound and outbound through our robust network of global data centers.	Networking	15 GB outbound	12 months
Bandwidth (Data Transfer)	Transfer data inbound and outbound through our robust network of global data centers.	Networking	100 GB outbound	Always
Batch	Scale your application in the cloud with job orchestration and scheduling for HPC applications.	Compute	Free	Always
Blob Storage	Use massively scalable object storage for any type of unstructured data.	Storage	5 GB locally redundant storage (LRS) hot block with 20,000 read and 10,000 write operations	12 months
Cloud Shell	Manage Azure resources in a browser-based shell using popular command-line tools and programming languages.	Management and Governance	5 GB free storage in Azure Files for 12 months	Always
Container Apps	Build and deploy modern apps and microservices using serverless containers.	Containers	180,000 vCPU seconds, 360,000 GiB seconds, and 2 million requests	Always
Container Registry	Store and manage container images across all types of Azure deployments.	Containers	1 Standard tier registry with 100 GB storage and 10 webhooks	12 months
Cost Management	Monitor, allocate, and optimize cloud costs with transparency, accuracy, and efficiency.	Management and Governance	Free	Always
Data Catalog	Get more value from your enterprise data assets.	Analytics	Unlimited users	Always
Data Factory	Compose and manage data services at scale.	Analytics	5 low-frequency activities	Always
Database Migration Service	Simplify on-premises database migration to the cloud.	Databases	Free Standard Compute	Always
DevTest Labs	Enable fast, easy, and lean dev-test environments.	Developer Tools	Free	Always
Event Grid	Get reliable event delivery at massive scale.	Integration	100,000 operations per month	Always
Face	Detect, identify, analyze, organize, and tag faces in images.		30,000 transactions S0 tier	12 months
Face	Detect, identify, analyze, organize, and tag faces in images.		30,000 transactions of Free instance	Always
Functions	Process events with a serverless code architecture.		Compute	1 million requests	Always
Health Bot	Build and deploy AI-powered, compliant, conversational healthcare experiences at scale.		AI + Machine Learning	3,000 messages (up to 10 messages per second)	Always
Health Data Services	Unify and manage health data and protected health information (PHI) in the cloud.	Integration	1 GB structured and blob storage, 50,000 API requests, .5 GB transformation operations, 100,000 events	Always
IoT Edge	Extend cloud intelligence and analytics to IoT edge devices.	Internet of Things	Free, open-source edge runtime	Always
IoT Hub	Connect, monitor, and manage IoT assets with a scalable platform.	Internet of Things	8,000 messages per day and .5 KB message meter size of Free edition	Always
Key Vault	Safeguard and maintain control of keys and other secrets.	Security	10,000 transactions RSA 2048-bit keys or secret operations, Standard tier	12 months
Language Understanding (LUIS)	Build natural language understanding into apps, bots, and IoT devices.	AI + Machine Learning	10,000 text request transactions S0 tier	12 months
Load Balancer	Instantly add scale, availability, and network performance to your applications.	Networking	750 hours, 15 GB of data processing, and up to five rules with Standard Load Balancer	12 months
Logic Apps	Build automated integration solutions across clouds and on-premises systems.	Integration	4,000 built-in actions with the Consumption plan	Always
Machine Learning	Develop and run R and Python models on your platform of choice.	AI + Machine Learning	Free	Always
Managed Disks	Get high performance, durable block storage for Azure Virtual Machines with simplified management.	Storage	2 64 GB (P6) solid state drives SSD storage, plus 1 GB snapshot and 2 million I/O operations	12 months
Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD)	Enable identity and access management in the cloud.	Identity	50,000 stored objects with single sign-on (SSO) to all cloud apps	Always
Monitor	Gain full observability into your applications, infrastructure, and network.	Management and Governance	See Azure Monitor pricing details for free amounts per feature	Always
Network Watcher	Monitor, diagnose, and gain insights into your network performance and health.	Networking	5 GB storage with 1,000 checks, 10 tests, and 10 connection metrics	Always
Notification Hubs	Send push notifications to any platform from any back end.	Mobile	1 million push notifications with free namespace	Always
Open Datasets	Accelerate machine learning with curated datasets.	AI + Machine Learning	Free (egress charges may apply)	Always
Private Link	Privately access services on Azure, keeping your data on the Microsoft network.	Networking	Free	Always
Resource Manager	Simplify how you manage your app resources.	Management and Governance	Free	Always
Security Center	Prevent, detect, and respond to threats with increased visibility and control over the security of your Azure resources.	Security	Free policy assessment and recommendations	Always
Service Bus	Get reliable cloud messaging as a service with simple hybrid integration.	Integration	750 hours and 13 million operations Standard tier base unit	12 months
Service Fabric	Build and operate always-on, scalable, distributed apps.	Containers	Free	Always
Spatial Anchors	Build mixed reality apps that map, share, and persist 3D content.	Mixed Reality	10,000 anchors queried	Always
SQL Database	Create a SQL database that delivers intelligence built-in.	Databases	100,000 vCore seconds of SQL database serverless usage per month with 32 GB of storage	Always
Static Web Apps	Streamline full-stack development from source code to global high availability.	Compute	100 GB bandwidth per subscription, 2 custom domains and .5 GB storage per app	Always
Virtual Machines—Linux	Create Linux virtual machines (VMs) in seconds to meet your workload and budget needs.	Compute	750 hours each of B1s, B2pts v2 (Arm-based), and B2ats v2 (AMD-based) burstable VMs	12 months
Virtual Machines—Windows	Create Windows VMs in seconds to meet your workload and budget needs.	Compute	750 hours each of B1s, B2pts v2 (Arm-based), and B2ats v2 (AMD-based) burstable VMs	12 months
Virtual Network	Provision private networks and connect to on-premises datacenters.	Networking	50 virtual networks	Always
Visual Studio Code	Boost productivity with a powerful, lightweight code editor for cloud development.	Developer Tools	Free	Always
VPN Gateway	Establish secure, cross-premises connectivity.	Networking	750 hours VpnGw1 Gateway Type	12 months
Web PubSub	Build real-time, two-way communication into your web and mobile apps.	Web	20,000 messages per unit per day and 20 concurrent connections per unit (1 unit max)	Always

Get two more Azure services free for 12 months

Azure Files and Azure Media Services, Live and on-demand streaming are now free for 12 months when you create your Azure free account.

Azure Files
Azure Media Services, Live and on-demand streaming

Try Azure free—then only pay for what you use

After your $200 credit, only pay for what you use beyond the free amounts of services. With pay as you go, there’s no fee to maintain your Azure free account, and no upfront commitment. Cancel anytime.

Start free

Join the Azure community and get your questions answered live

Get started with confidence by joining the weekly Azure Live Q&A session led by Azure experts. Learn how to get free services, architect solutions, manage resources, deploy apps and databases, and save money.

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Ready? Here’s a review of how it works

Start free. Get $200 credit to use in 30 days. While you have your credit, get free amounts of popular services and 55+ other services.

After your credit, move to pay as you go to keep getting popular services and 55+ other services. Only pay if you use more than the free monthly amounts.

After 12 months, you'll continue getting 55+ services free always—and still only pay for what you use beyond the free monthly amounts.

Start free