{"rid":"compute/azure-windows","card":{"rid":"compute/azure-windows","eid":"microsoft","topic":"compute","slug":"azure-windows","provider":"Azure Virtual Machines (Windows Server)","url":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/windows/","domain":"microsoft.com","category":"Windows host","tier":null,"verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","vorder":1,"grp":"usable","confidence":"documented","binding":"request-rate","identity_kind":"email","identity_basis":"defaulted","needs_card":null,"needs_phone":null,"needs_id":null,"needs_institution":null,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":null,"egress_metered":null,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-22T04:46:20.533Z","verified_basis":"live","checked_on":"2026-10-23","stale_on":"2026-11-22","n_evidence":2,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"750 hours each of B2ts v2, B2pts v2 and B2ats v2 burstable VMs free every month for the first 12 months, which is one always-on machine of each family","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":17},"record":{"topic":"compute","slug":"azure-windows","provider":"Azure Virtual Machines (Windows Server)","url":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/windows/","category":"Windows host","free_tier":{"stated":"750 hours each of B2ts v2, B2pts v2 and B2ats v2 burstable VMs free every month for the first 12 months, which is one always-on machine of each family","unit":"hours","metered_on":"wall-clock","source_url":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/windows/","read_on":"2026-10-22"},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"not stated","bytes":null,"source_url":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/windows/","notes":null},"retention":{"stated":"not stated","days":null,"source_url":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/windows/","notes":"not stated"},"egress":{"terms":"not stated","metered":false,"free_allowance":null,"price_per_tb":null,"source_url":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/windows/"},"interface":["unknown"],"interface_detail":null,"tooling":"not stated","chaining":"not stated","limits":[{"kind":"request-rate","value":"750 hours a month each on B2ts v2, B2pts v2 and B2ats v2, for the first 12 months only","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/windows/"},{"kind":"retention-clamped","value":"a Stopped VM still bills its allocated cores; only a Deallocated VM stops the compute charge","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/windows/"}],"limits_note":"not stated","identity_cost":{"kind":"email","detail":null,"country":null},"reliability_note":"no reliability event recorded","confidence":"documented","confidence_note":"the Windows virtual machines pricing page was read on 2026-10-22 and states the 750-hour monthly allowance per burstable family for 12 months. Because the page is the Windows one, the allowance includes the licence, which the Linux page's rows do not","evidence":[{"url":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/windows/","date":"2026-10-02","proved":null},{"url":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/windows/","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"'Get 750 hours each of B2ts v2 (Intel-based), B2pts v2 (Arm-based), and B2ats v2 (AMD-based) burstable VMs free every month for 12 months' and 'Stopped: you are billed for allocated cores' and 'Deleted (Deallocated): cores are no longer allocated', quoted"}],"verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","verified_at":"2026-10-22T04:46:20.533Z","price_per_tb_month":null,"notes":"","extras":{"talaria_m10h_usd":12.48,"talaria_m24h_usd":29.95,"nemo_m10h_usd":null,"keep_rate":1,"keep_rate_basis":null,"billing_model":"unclassified","shape":{"vcpu":2,"ram":8,"disk":null,"gpu_class":null,"gpu_count":null,"note":"B2ts v2: 2 vCPU, 8 GiB burstable, with the Windows licence included in the free hours"},"session_cap":{"wall_clock_min":null,"idle_reap_s":null,"restart_required":false,"note":"750 hours a month is 730 hours of always-on use, so one machine of each family fits; the 12-month clock resets nothing"},"persistent_storage":null,"network_out":null,"price_note":null,"free_tier_kind":"trial","granularity":{"min_billed_s":0,"rounding_s":null},"net":{"out":true,"in":true,"ports":"any","static_ip":false,"ipv6":false,"allowance":null}},"binding":"request-rate"},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":750,"unit":"hours","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:request-rate","num":750,"unit":"hours","per":"month","currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[1].value","kind":"limit:retention-clamped","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"}],"unknown":[["$.chaining","not-stated"],["$.egress.metered","egress-unknown"],["$.egress.terms","not-stated"],["$.evidence[0].proved","process"],["$.extras.keep_rate_basis","process"],["$.extras.price_note","process"],["$.identity_cost.detail","defaulted"],["$.identity_cost.kind","identity-defaulted"],["$.interface","interface-unknown"],["$.interface_detail","withheld"],["$.limits_note","not-stated"],["$.per_object_cap.notes","process"],["$.per_object_cap.stated","not-stated"],["$.reliability_note","none-observed"],["$.retention.notes","not-extracted"],["$.retention.stated","not-stated"],["$.tooling","not-stated"]],"history":[{"hid":"history/2026-10-22T050600Z/azure-allowances-are-monthly-not-credit.md","when":"2026-10-22T05:06:00Z","status":"corrected","title":"Azure's free compute is a monthly vCPU-second allowance, and three records carried the credit instead"}],"drift":[]}