How to reduce charges to $0 while in the Free Tier plan

yzr 50 Reputation points
2024-11-11T07:17:02.65+00:00

I recently joined the Cloud Free Tier plan. I have no prior experience with Azure. I am in the process of learning the slightly different terminology and UI (from AWS and GCP).

Yesterday I managed to create my first virtual machine. I took the suggested free tier defaults, thinking that during this Free Tier period (12 months max), I will incur $0 charges.

I didn't install anything yet on the virtual machine. I only let it run for several hours, to track charges because the moment I created the VM, I was already charged $0.01 which baffled me: Is any of the options I selected not free?

After letting it run for several hours (nothing of my own installed on the VM whatsoever), I checked the charges and was surprised to discover that it grew to $0.15, with the following breakdown:

User's image

I tried to consult Copilot to understand how I can make those $0, but the answer I received was general and couldn't point me to what I mistakenly configured or misunderstood:

As you can see, the charges are primarily related to Virtual Network and Storage services. The charges for these services account for 86.67% of the total charges. To bring the charges to $0, you can consider the following steps:

  1. Review the usage of the Virtual Network and Storage resources to identify any unnecessary or unused resources that can be deleted or scaled down.
  2. Optimize the storage usage by removing any unnecessary files or data.
  3. Monitor and manage the network traffic to minimize bandwidth consumption.

I am not familiar with the subtleties that make the difference between exactly $0 and $0.01 for resources that I understood to be free during the Free Tier plan period.

Would you be able to help me, please, to figure this out?

Thank you

Azure Virtual Machines
Azure Virtual Machines
An Azure service that is used to provision Windows and Linux virtual machines.
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Accepted answer
  1. Anonymous
    2024-12-18T05:13:57.25+00:00

    Hi yzr,

    I'm glad to know that you were able to resolve your issue and thank you for posting your solution so that others experiencing the same thing can easily reference this! Since the Microsoft Q&A community has a policy that "The question author cannot accept their own answer. They can only accept answers by others ", I'll repost your solution in case you'd like to "Accept " the answer.

    Issue:

    How to reduce charges to $0 while in the Free Tier plan.

    Solution:

    To create a truly free VM, on the https://portal.azure.com/#home page, click the Free services icon, instead of clicking the Virtual machines icon:
    User's image

    By clicking the Free services icon, a 3-step creation process started, instead of the 9-steps process via the 'Virtual machines' icon.
    If you have any other questions or are still running into more issues, please let me know. Thank you again for your time and patience throughout this issue.

    Please remember to "Accept Answer" if any answer/reply helped, so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. User's image

    Thank you.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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3 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-11-11T16:23:17.16+00:00

    Hi yzr,
    Based on the screenshot, your usage is indeed within the limits for each Free Tier service, as all entries show "Unlikely to exceed."
    However, here are some possible reasons why you might still see charges:

    Networking Costs: The Free Tier includes 15GB of free outbound data per month; any additional outbound data beyond this limit will incur charges. Ensure your VM isn’t generating significant outbound traffic that exceeds this limit.

    Storage Charges: Azure provides limited free storage for specific types, but:

    Additional Disks: Only the default OS disk is covered by the Free Tier. Any extra disks will incur charges.

    Premium Disks: Ensure you’re using Standard HDD or SSD, as Premium disks are not included in the Free Tier.

    Snapshots and Backups: Snapshots or backup storage created for your VM may lead to extra costs.

    Public IP Address: A static public IP assigned to your VM can result in charges, even within the Free Tier.

    Ensure VM is within Free Tier Limits: Confirm that your VM size qualifies for the Free Tier. See the Azure Free Account - Virtual Machines for eligible VM types.

    Stop the VM: If you’re not actively using the VM, stop it to avoid compute charges (note that storage costs for the OS disk still apply).

    Delete Unused Resources: If you no longer need the VM, delete it along with any associated resources (like disks or IPs) to prevent future charges.
    Please refer the below document for more information
    Azure subscription and service limits, quotas, and constraints
    View your usage summary details and download reports for EA enrollments
    If you have any further queries, do let us know in the comment.
    Thank you.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  2. yzr 50 Reputation points
    2024-12-12T09:01:13.15+00:00

    To create a truly free VM, on the https://portal.azure.com/#home page, click the Free services icon, instead of clicking the Virtual machines icon:

    User's image

    By clicking the Free services icon, a 3-step creation process started, instead of the 9-steps process via the 'Virtual machines' icon.

    That's it. It's that simple.

    1 person found this answer helpful.

  3. Abiola Akinbade 29,490 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2024-11-11T07:29:16.2766667+00:00

    Only certain tiers within a service are included for free. So you will need to review deployed resources and see what causes the costs and if they are in the free tier. This may include storage type, networking and others. For VMs:

    For windows VMs 750 hours each of B1s, B2pts v2 (Arm-based), and B2ats v2 (AMD-based) burstable VMs

    While for Linux VMs 750 hours each of B1s, B2pts v2 (Arm-based), and B2ats v2 (AMD-based) burstable VMs

    See all free services here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/purchase-options/azure-account?icid=azurefaq#free-services

    To learn about services included with your free account, see the Azure free account FAQ.

    https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/purchase-options/azure-account?icid=azurefaq

    You can mark it 'Accept Answer' and 'Upvote' if this helped you

    Regards,

    Abiola

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