Azure's free tier does not offer an "always free" option for virtual machines (VMs) in the same way that some other cloud providers do. Instead, Azure provides a limited-time free tier for certain services, including VMs. For the first year, you can use 750 hours of B1S VMs per month for both Windows and Linux. This means you can run two VMs continuously for a month without incurring additional costs, provided you stay within the free tier limits.
The B1S VM size is a small instance suitable for development and testing environments. It typically includes 1 vCPU and 1 GB of RAM. This size is part of the Azure Standard tier, which offers better compute, memory, and IOPS compared to the Basic tier. However, the Basic tier is not recommended for new deployments as it lacks features like Load Balancer support and auto-scaling.
If you need larger VM sizes, you would need to upgrade beyond the free tier, which would incur standard rates for usage beyond the free limits. Azure does not provide larger VM sizes within its free tier offerings.
For detailed information on Azure VM sizes and their specifications, you can use the Azure Virtual Machine selector tool to find the best fit for your workload. Additionally, Azure offers a cost calculator to help estimate costs for specific configurations beyond the free tier.
Citations:[1] https://cloudtweaks.com/2023/09/azure-free-tier-vs-aws-free-tier/
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/AZURE/comments/eq8noi/how_to_create_a_free_tier_vm/
[3] https://github.com/cloudcommunity/Cloud-Free-Tier-Comparison
[4] https://docs.azure.cn/en-us/azure-resource-manager/management/azure-subscription-service-limits
[5] https://www.communicationsquare.com/news/microsoft-azure-virtual-machines/
[6] https://www.cloudzero.com/blog/aws-vs-azure-pricing/
[7] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/951218/azure-vm-free-tier-limit
[8] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes/overview