Azure for Students
Microsoft's free Azure offer for full-time university students: $100 of credit to use within 12 months, free amounts of popular services and no credit card. You sign up with your school email and can renew every year while you are a student. It is the easiest way to practise cloud without a card.
$100 within 12 months
azure.microsoft.com · Oct 2026
Not required
azure.microsoft.com · Oct 2026
Programme
Career Growth
Microsoft
12 months, renewable yearly
All
Free
Student pack
- When
- Open all yearSign up any time while you are a student and renew yearly. Verification uses your school email.
- Who can apply
- Full-time university students who can verify their status, usually with a school email address. No credit card is required. Microsoft's terms set the minimum age and supported countries.
- Where
- Online, global
Dates move from year to year. Check the official page before you plan around them.
What it is
Azure for Students is Microsoft's free cloud offer for students. According to the official page it includes:
- $100 credit to use on Azure services within 12 months,
- free monthly amounts of 20+ popular services for 12 months (for new Azure customers),
- 65+ always-free services up to their free limits, and
- access to services such as Azure OpenAI, within the credit.
No credit card is needed, and you can renew each year while you are still a student.
Who can apply
Full-time university students. You verify your status with your school email. Microsoft also offers a separate "Azure for Students Starter" option; compare the two on the official page.
Timeline
There is no deadline. Sign up whenever you are ready to build something, since the 12-month clock starts at sign-up.
How to get in
- Open the Azure for Students page and choose "Start free".
- Sign in with your school email to verify.
- Set a budget alert in Cost Management on day one.
- Delete resources you are not using; idle databases and virtual machines eat credit.
What you get
When the $100 is used up, Microsoft emails you to ask whether you want to move to pay as you go. If you do not, your subscription and resources are disabled rather than billed, which makes it safer to experiment than a card-based trial. You cannot spend the credit on Azure Marketplace offers.
How to use it well
- Deploy a small full stack project with a database and keep it running for your portfolio.
- Try an Azure OpenAI app within the credit, and watch its usage.
- Use it to prepare for Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900).
- It is also required for Microsoft Student Ambassadors.
Pair it with on Sefism
- Follow the Cloud engineer roadmap or the DevOps and cloud roadmap.
- Read which cloud to learn first: AWS, Azure or GCP.
- Pick a cloud-backed project from FYP ideas.
Best for: university students who want to practise cloud and AI services without a credit card.
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