What is Azure for Students Starter?

Azure for Students Starter gets you started with the Azure products you need to develop in the cloud at no cost to you*. This benefit provides you access to a free tier of the following services:

  • Azure App Services—A fully-managed cloud offering that enables you to build and deploy native and web apps in minutes. Use the technology you love—ASP.NET, Java, PHP, Node.js or Python. Add a variety of essential app services including authentication, social integration, offline data sync, and more, regardless of whether your app runs on Windows 10, iOS, or Android. Set up continuous integration and deployment workflows with VSO, GitHub, TeamCity, Hudson, or BitBucket—enabling you to automatically build, test, and deploy your web app on each successful code check-in or integration test.
  • Notification Hubs—Keep your app in-touch with users by enabling you to send mobile push notifications tailored by audience, language, and location using any back end and major mobile platforms.
  • MySQL database from MySQL in-app which gives you the experience of native MySQL support for your Web Apps. Deploy CMS solutions such as WordPress, Joomla, and more, or custom applications driven by MySQL database.
  • Application Insights provides you with the deep diagnostics and performance telemetry to ensure your web apps and services are running at their maximum potential. Search and analyze your data to continuously improve your application, prioritize future investments, and improve the overall customer experience.
  • Visual Studio Team Services provides a set of cloud-powered collaboration tools that work with your existing IDE or editor, so your team can work effectively on software projects of all shapes and sizes.

Azure for Students Starter is available to verified students at no cost, commitment, or time limit.

*Costs are limited by providing access to Azure services that include a free tier of service use. Get more details on Azure pricing.

To get detailed terms of use for Azure for Students Starter, please visit the offer terms.

Who is eligible for the Azure for Students Starter?

Azure for Students Starter is available only to students who meet the following requirements. You must affirm that you are age 13 or older if you reside in the United States and age 16 or older if you reside in a country other than the United States. You must verify your academic status through your organization’s email address (or Shibboleth if supported by your organization). This offer is not available for use in a massive open online course (MOOC) or in other professional trainings from for-profit organizations.

This offer is limited to one Azure for Students Starter subscription per eligible customer, is non-transferable, and can’t be combined with any other offer unless otherwise permitted by Microsoft. Microsoft may terminate this offer at our sole discretion. Other restrictions may apply.

Do I pay anything to use Azure for Students Starter?

No. Signing up is free and doesn’t require a credit card.

Will I have to pay something at any point in time?

A credit card is not required for the Azure for Students Starter offer. You will initially only be able to access a limited set of Azure services that are available with the offer. However, at any point of time, you may upgrade your subscription to a pay-as-you-go subscription to get access to all Azure services.

How many Azure for Students Starter subscriptions am I allowed to sign up for?

There is a limit of one subscription per person.

Is Azure for Students Starter renewable?

As long as you have verified your academic status within the past 12 months, you will have access to this offering.

What are subscriptions and how do they relate to Azure for Students Starter?

Subscriptions are the entity that provide access to the Azure products as part of the Azure for Students Starter offer.

What do I need in order to sign up?

You need a phone number and your academic organization’s email address (example: your_name@your_school.edu) or Shibboleth if supported by your organization.

Why do I need to provide a phone number?

We use the phone number for identity verification.

Can Azure for Students Starter be used for production or only for development?

Azure for Students Starter provides access to Azure products expressly intended to support education or teaching, non-commercial research, or efforts to design, develop, test, and demonstrate software applications for the above purposes.

Is Azure for Students Starter available internationally?

Yes, it’s available in all countries where Azure is commercially available (but doesn’t include sovereign cloud products in US Government, Azure China, and Azure Germany regions). Azure is currently commercially available in 140 countries/regions including:

Is there a limited supply of Azure for Students Starter users?

Azure for Students has a limited supply of activations and will be available only while supplies last.

What if I am unable to access or qualify for Azure for Students Starter?

We encourage you to consider an Azure Free Account.