Billing for Virtual Machine in Azure Free Account after first month?

Jon Luers - When you upgrade your Azure Free Account to Pay‑As‑You‑Go, you are billed for the Azure resources you have provisioned/used, not only for the public IP address. In practice, a Virtual Machine scenario typically includes multiple billable resources.

1. Virtual machine (compute)

• After upgrading, VM usage is billed at standard Pay‑As‑You‑Go rates based on your resource usage (for example, the VM size and runtime usage). [Billing (P...rosoft Q&A | Learn.Microsoft.com]

2. Public IP address (if you have one)

• Public IP pricing depends on the SKU (Basic/Standard) and whether the IP is dynamic or static. Microsoft’s IP Address pricing page confirms this varies by SKU/type. [Pricing -...soft Azure | Azure.Microsoft.com]
• If your VM is stopped (deallocated):
• In the ARM deployment model, there is no charge for a dynamic public IP address when the associated VM is stopped‑deallocated. [Pricing -...soft Azure | Azure.Microsoft.com]
• For a static public IP, charges apply regardless of the associated resource state (i.e., it can still be billed even if the VM is stopped‑deallocated). [Pricing -...soft Azure | Azure.Microsoft.com]

3. What happens after free credits end

• Microsoft’s Azure Free Account purchase options page states that if you don’t move to pay‑as‑you‑go, your account and services are disabled, and to resume usage you must move to pay‑as‑you‑go.
• Microsoft Q&A (hosted on Microsoft Learn) also describes that after free credits expire, usage is billed at standard pay‑as‑you‑go rates, and for Azure free accounts specifically the subscription is disabled until upgraded. [Billing (P...rosoft Q&A | Learn.Microsoft.com]
• No it’s not “just the public IP.” After upgrading to Pay‑As‑You‑Go, the VM and associated resources are billed per their pricing rules. [Billing (P...rosoft Q&A | Learn.Microsoft.com], [Pricing -...soft Azure | Azure.Microsoft.com], [Create You...soft Azure | Azure.Microsoft.com]
• Public IP charges depend on whether it’s dynamic or static, and whether the VM is stopped‑deallocated. [Pricing -...soft Azure | Azure.Microsoft.com], [Create You...soft Azure | Azure.Microsoft.com]

Helpful Microsoft links

1. Azure Free Account / Pay‑As‑You‑Go purchase options (what happens after 30 days)
2. IP Addresses pricing (public IP billing behavior) [Pricing -...soft Azure | Azure.Microsoft.com], [Create You...soft Azure | Azure.Microsoft.com]

Hi Jon,

As I mentioned in my answer to your other question, you will be charged for Public IP address, assuming you created one with your free VM and you created free VM properly. Please review my answer over there if you haven't already. Don't forget to expand your disk to use full 64 GiB if you haven't already.

Regardless of whether or not you created your free VM properly, it is critical to review your charges daily, set up alerts to notify of exceeding budget, etc., so that you can catch any accidental/unintended charges.

The above assumes you stay within the free limits. For example, if you have large file on your IIS and it is downloaded many times, you could exceed the monthly limit of outgoing bandwidth and would be charged for overage.

Please review article below:

Avoid charges with your Azure free account

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/avoid-charges-free-account

Please click Accept Answer if above was helpful.

Thanks.

-TP

After the first 30 days, the $200 free credit expires. To keep using the VM, the subscription must be upgraded to pay-as-you-go. After upgrading, charges apply for all billable components of the VM, not just the public IP.

For a Windows virtual machine, the following parts are billed:

1. Virtual machine compute
   The VM size (for example, B1S) is billed per hour at standard virtual machine rates.
2. OS disk and any data disks
   The managed OS disk (and any additional data disks) are billed at managed disk rates. Azure does not charge for the local temporary disk, but the OS disk is always billable.
3. Public IP address (if present)
   Public IPs are billed according to IP address pricing. A private IP is also created but that is part of the network configuration.
4. Virtual network and related resources
   The VM is attached to a virtual network and NIC. NICs and NSGs themselves do not incur separate charges, but the virtual network and any outbound bandwidth usage are billable according to their pricing models.
5. Windows OS license
   For Windows VMs, the OS license cost is included in the VM price and varies with the number of cores.

With an Azure free account:

• During the first 30 days, usage (including non-free tiers) is covered by the $200 credit until it is exhausted.
• For the first 12 months, only specific VM types and quantities (for example, certain B-series VMs up to 750 hours/month) are free. Usage beyond those limits, or use of non-free tiers, is charged at pay-as-you-go rates.
• Once the free 12 months end, all VM usage is billed at pay-as-you-go rates.

So after upgrading, the VM will incur charges for compute, disks, public IP, bandwidth, and the Windows license component, not just the public IP. To minimize costs, ensure the VM size and disks are right-sized and stop/delete any resources that are not needed.

References:

• Avoid charges with your Azure free account
• Create services included with Azure free account
• Upgrade your Azure free account or Azure for Students Starter account
• Plan to manage costs for virtual machines
• Virtual machines in Azure