Pay as you go vs azure plan

Question

Pay as you go vs azure plan

Zegan, Michał 21

Hello, I am confused between azure plan and pay as you go subscriptions.
For example this page https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/cancel-azure-subscription suggests azure plan is something different than free and pay as you go subscription. This page https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/legal/offer-details/ shows azure plan as something separate from both, yet when you go to azure plan page from there, it looks almost as if it also talks about free and pay as you go accounts.
Here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/understand/mca-overview#azure-plans-determine-pricing-and-service-level-agreement-for-subscriptions it seems like only azure plan and azure plan for dev/test are using microsoft customer agreement, so noting the above links I would think that free account and pay as you go subscriptions individually created through azure signup process are not covered by microsoft customer agreement.
I am also pretty sure that previously when I was creating my subscriptions on a previous ms account I had, they really weren't covered.
However now, when creating pay as you go subscriptions even on new AAD accounts that haven't yet signed up, what I get is a customer agreement billing account and subscription under it, stating that it is "azure plan". It seems to work normally. When offer id is ever displayed, for example during the signup process, it states to sign me up for 003P that is pay as you go, not azure plan which is probably 001G. Also I have an azure free account/subscription upgraded to PAYG and both before and after upgrade it states to be azure plan... well I am not sure what it stated when I created it first because I think the subscription details page showed a bit different info until I moved subscription to another tenant, namely it showed that the subscription offer is "free", now it also shows itself as "azure plan".
What is actually going on here? did all individual PAYG and free subscriptions switch to azure plan? I am confused pretty much.

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Answer 1

SadiqhAhmed-MSFT 49,331 Microsoft Employee Moderator

Hello anonymous user - Thank you for your post and I apologize for the delayed response!

Microsoft Azure has two platforms - Legacy and Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA).

If you are using an old subscription it falls under Legacy and doesn't show up as Azure plans. However, if its a new subscription it shows as Azure plan.

The behavior you observed could be because of the region you are in. For your reference - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/microsoft-customer-agreement/microsoft-customer-agreement-faq

If you've more questions and needs clarity, I suggest you reach out to us by raising a support request to Azure subscription management team using this link - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-portal/supportability/how-to-create-azure-support-request

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If the response helped, do "Accept Answer" and up-vote it

European Personality 5 Reputation points

2023-04-04T03:19:30.12+00:00

My account is pretty old and it's "Pay-As-You-Go" which seems to be what I want. What was the point in the change?
David Langer 0 Reputation points

2024-01-07T02:49:37.4666667+00:00

I cannot get the link to work.
SadiqhAhmed-MSFT 49,331 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2024-01-08T06:39:33.18+00:00

@European Personality The Azure Pay-As-You-Go pricing model is a flexible and consumption-based pricing model that allows you to pay only for the services that you use. This pricing model is still available and is a good option if you have unpredictable usage patterns or if you want to try out Azure services without making a long-term commitment.

The Azure Plan is a newer pricing model that provides a more structured and predictable way to purchase Azure services. With the Azure Plan, you can pre-commit to a certain amount of Azure services over a period of time (usually 12 months) and receive discounts based on your commitment level. The Azure Plan also provides additional benefits such as the ability to manage your Azure services and billing in a single place, and the ability to share your Azure services across multiple subscriptions.

The main point of the change was to provide customers with more options and flexibility when it comes to purchasing Azure services. The Azure Plan is a good option if you have predictable usage patterns and want to save money by committing to a certain amount of Azure services over a period of time. However, if you have unpredictable usage patterns or want to try out Azure services without making a long-term commitment, the Pay-As-You-Go pricing model is still a good option.

It's worth noting that if you have an existing Pay-As-You-Go subscription, you can continue to use it and are not required to switch to the Azure Plan. However, if you are interested in the Azure Plan, you can learn more about it and compare it to other pricing models on the Azure website.
SadiqhAhmed-MSFT 49,331 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2024-01-09T08:09:21.5566667+00:00

@David Langer Checking in to see if the previous answer helped. If yes, please do "Accept Answer" and Up-Vote it. Let us know if there are still any additional issues we can help with.
European Personality 5 Reputation points

2024-01-09T15:21:52.9466667+00:00

I appreciate the explanation. What I infer from your answer is that "Pay-As-You-Go" is no longer being offered. The "Azure Plan" seems to eliminate low-use/experimental users like me. That's sad.
SadiqhAhmed-MSFT 49,331 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2024-01-12T08:36:53.9933333+00:00

@European Personality I think you misunderstood the explanation. "Pay-As-You-Go" will still be offered. It is left to the customer to decide what fits best for them.
European Personality 5 Reputation points

2024-01-12T16:00:04.9866667+00:00

Thank you for the clarification.
European Personality 5 Reputation points

2024-01-12T16:00:37.4366667+00:00

Thank you for the clarification.
SadiqhAhmed-MSFT 49,331 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2024-01-15T16:15:49.7833333+00:00

@European Personality You are welcome. :)

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Pay as you go vs azure plan

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