Understand Azure preview features
Azure is constantly evolving, and new features are released continuously. It may take some time before new features are generally available through the preview process. While preview features can benefit your applications, there are some tradeoffs around supportability.
Azure offers preview features that are designed for non-production usage. It's important to note that previews are subjected to reduced or different service terms. Depending on the region your resources are hosted, preview features may not be available and may have limited service level agreements (SLA), and functionality.
Microsoft doesn't recommend the use of preview features in a production environment, unless you're working directly with the product team to ensure support.
Preview features are broken down into the following categories:
- Private preview
- Public preview
Private preview features will require that Microsoft add your subscription to an allowlist for a given feature.
Public preview features are opted into in the portal but are available to everyone. Some features may require further opt-in at the individual resource. The public preview experience isn't consistent across Azure services.
You can check the latest public preview features by opening the Azure portal preview page.
After public preview, the status of the feature changes to generally availability. General availability (GA) is the final release status, and it means the functionality is complete and accessible to all users.