Microsoft-hosted -Parallel jobs

Question

Hi Team

We are facing challenges with activation of MS Hosted CI/CD free 1800 mints in Azure DevOps on Pipelines parallel

please guide us for activation

Answer 1

Hi ,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

To activate the Microsoft-hosted parallel jobs with 1,800 free minutes/month in Azure DevOps Pipelines, you need to ensure a few things are set up correctly. Here is a clear checklist and guidance to help you troubleshoot and activate it:

Steps to Activate Microsoft-hosted CI/CD (1800 Free Minutes)

1. Use a Public or Private Project

Free 1,800 minutes are available only for:

Public projects (unlimited free CI/CD)

  Private projects with the free tier (1 parallel job with 1,800 minutes/month)
  

2. Check Organization Billing Settings

Go to Azure DevOps Portal > Your Organization > Organization settings > Billing.

Confirm that your organization is linked to an Azure subscription (even if you are using free minutes).

3. Enable Microsoft-hosted Parallel Job

Navigate to:
Project Settings > Pipelines > Agent Pools > Azure Pipelines

Confirm that the Microsoft-hosted parallel job is enabled.

If you see a “0 parallel jobs” message or “No Microsoft-hosted jobs available”, then the free tier may not have been activated yet.

4. Check in Organization Settings

• Go to: Organization Settings > Parallel jobs
  You should see:
  • 1 Microsoft-hosted parallel job listed under “Included with Azure DevOps Services”
  • 1,800 minutes/month available

IF Free Tier Is Not Automatically Activated

Option A: Use DevOps Portal

1. Navigate to https://dev.azure.com/YOUR_ORG/_settings/billing

Under Free tier, click on Get free tier (if shown).

Option B: Contact Microsoft Support

If you are still not seeing the parallel job activated:

• Open a support request here: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com
• Mention: "Microsoft-hosted free tier parallel job (1,800 minutes) is not active in our Azure DevOps organization."

Pls note:

1. Free minutes reset monthly.
2. Only 1 parallel job is included in the free tier; if your pipelines are queued or delayed, consider increasing concurrency (via paid parallel jobs).
3. If your organization was created a while ago and has never used pipelines, the free tier sometimes does not activate until a build is attempted.

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