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Windows Azure Pricing Options

Windows Azure platform pricing options range from "pay as you go" to commitment. If you want to try the Windows Azure platform with no financial commitment, you should sign up for our Introductory…

Windows Azure platform pricing options range from “pay as you go” to commitment. If you want to try the Windows Azure platform with no financial commitment, you should sign up for our Introductory Special offer, which allows you to try a small amount of Windows Azure platform resources at no charge. When you sign up for the Introductory offer, you will be asked for a credit card but your card will not be billed as long as you stay within the no-charge amount included in the offer.

If you want to use Windows Azure but don’t want to make a long-term financial commitment, select from our Standard consumption offers and simply pay for what you use.  If you’re prepared to make a 6-month commitment, select from one of our Commitment offers, which provide a significantly discounted price in return for a six-month commitment to pay a monthly base fee.

For all of our offers, we provide members of the Microsoft Partner Network an additional 5% discount on all charges except storage and data transfers.

Click the links below to see a full description of what’s included in each offer.

Commitment Offers

  • Windows Azure Core: Defined amount of compute hours, storage, data transfers, AppFabric Service Bus connections, and Access Control transactions at a deeply discounted monthly price
  • SQL Azure Core: 10 GB SQL Azure database at a 25% discount
  • Windows Azure and SQL Azure Extended: A combination of the Windows Azure and SQL Azure Core offers above

Member Offers*

  • MSDN Subscribers: A special offer for MSDN subscribers
  • MPN Members: Special offers that includes a 5% discount for our Microsoft Partner Network members

Standard Offers

  • Introductory Special: Usage in excess of the base amount is charged at normal rates.
  • Consumption: Just like the introductory special, but without any free services

Please visit our Windows Azure offers page for additional details.  You can view our comparison table for a summary of our standard plans, our MSDN site for a summary of our MSDN Offers and the Microsoft Partner Network for a description of Windows Azure platform offers for partners.

*Authentication will be required to qualify for these offers.