Azure Linux Virtual Machines
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) providers
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
Take the quiz to check if Azure Linux Virtual Machines and its alternatives fit your requirements.
Pay-as-you-go
Free Trial
Free version unavailable
Small
Medium
Large
- Public sector and nonprofit organizations
- Healthcare and life sciences
- Education and training
What is Azure Linux Virtual Machines
Azure Linux Virtual Machines is Microsoft Azure’s infrastructure service for provisioning and running Linux-based virtual machines in the cloud. It targets IT operations, platform teams, and developers who need compute for web applications, enterprise workloads, development/test environments, and lift-and-shift migrations. The service supports multiple Linux distributions, a wide range of VM sizes, and integration with Azure networking, storage, identity, monitoring, and automation services. It is typically consumed through the Azure portal, CLI, SDKs, and infrastructure-as-code tools.
Broad VM and region choice
Azure Linux VMs provide many instance families and sizes, including general purpose, memory-optimized, compute-optimized, and GPU options. Customers can deploy across a large set of global Azure regions and availability zones for latency and resiliency needs. The platform also supports scale sets and availability sets to distribute instances and manage capacity.
Deep Azure service integration
Linux VMs integrate natively with Azure Virtual Network, load balancing, and private connectivity options. They also connect with Azure storage services (managed disks and object storage) and Azure identity and access controls. Operational tooling such as Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and policy/governance features can be applied consistently across VM fleets.
Enterprise security and compliance controls
Azure supports security features such as disk encryption, secure boot and vTPM on supported configurations, and network security controls (NSGs and firewalls). The platform provides role-based access control and resource governance via Azure Policy and management groups. These capabilities help organizations implement standardized controls for regulated or multi-team environments.
Cost management can be complex
Pricing varies by VM size, region, storage type, networking, and attached services, which can make forecasting difficult. Long-running workloads may require reservations or savings plans to control spend, adding planning overhead. Data egress and premium storage choices can materially affect total cost.
Operational overhead versus managed services
Teams remain responsible for OS configuration, patching strategy, hardening, and lifecycle management unless they add additional management tooling. High availability and scaling require correct design (for example, zones, scale sets, and load balancers) and ongoing monitoring. For some workloads, managed platform services can reduce this burden compared with VM-based deployments.
Service limits and quota dependencies
VM deployments are subject to subscription quotas and regional capacity constraints, which can delay scaling or new rollouts. Certain features depend on specific VM generations, regions, or images, requiring validation during architecture and procurement. Organizations may need to request quota increases and plan around regional availability.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go (usage-based hourly/minute billing per VM SKU and region).
Free tier/trial: Azure free account: $200 credit for 30 days; 12 months of select free services that include 750 hours/month each of certain burstable Linux VM sizes (B1s, B2pts v2 (ARM), B2ats v2 (AMD)).
Example costs: Per-SKU pay-as-you-go rates vary by VM series, size, and region and are listed on the official Azure Linux Virtual Machines pricing page and the Azure Pricing Calculator (prices not copied here because they are region- and SKU-specific). For exact hourly/monthly prices, select the region and VM SKU on: or use the Azure Pricing Calculator.
Discount options:
- Azure Reserved VM Instances (1-year or 3-year) for up to substantial discounts vs pay-as-you-go.
- Azure savings plan for compute (term-based flexible savings across compute usage).
- Azure Hybrid Benefit to use existing on-prem licenses for further savings.
- Azure Spot Virtual Machines for deeply discounted interruptible capacity.
Notes & additional charges:
- Some Linux Marketplace images include separate publisher support charges billed in addition to VM compute rates.
- Network egress, managed disks, public IPs, and other attached resources are billed separately.
(Information sourced only from Microsoft/Azure official pages: Azure Linux Virtual Machines pricing page, Azure Free account & Free services pages, Azure pricing/purchase options, and Azure documentation on reservations and spot VMs.)
Seller details
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, Washington, United States
1975
Public
https://www.microsoft.com/
https://x.com/Microsoft
https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft/
