Hi Charles,
Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.
The SQL Server auto-pausing is a feature that you can turn on/off as per your need when you create the Azure SQL database. Please see the image below wherein I have enabled auto-pause which will suspend the database when there are no activity in the database after specified time period.
Should you need, please refer the below answer which explains more on free tier services that are offered in azure.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/391722/free-tier-azure-sql-database.html
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