Azure for Students: $100 in credit and a card-free cloud sandbox
Full-time university students register with a school email to get $100 of Azure credit over 12 months, free monthly quotas on 20+ popular services, and annual renewal without ever adding a credit card.
Step-by-step guide
How to do it
Open the Azure for Students page
Use azure.com/free/students and click Start free with a valid school email.
Verify enrollment
Verification works through your school domain; some institutions require a re-check.
Spend the $100 credit
The credit runs over 12 months — plan VM, Azure OpenAI or Cosmos DB usage accordingly.
Renew every year while enrolled
Renew annually with your school email; the card-free sandbox continues as long as you stay enrolled.
Details & Context
Azure for Students is a long-running student grant: full-time university students sign up with a school email, no credit card is ever required, and the account renews yearly while enrollment continues. Benefits include $100 in Azure credit across the first 12 months, monthly free quotas on more than 20 popular services, access to 65+ always-free services (Azure App Service, Functions, Azure AI, Cosmos DB and more), plus curated student resources for AI and cloud skills. There is also a lighter Azure for Students Starter for students aged 13–17 who qualify for a subset without the $100 credit. The regular retail Azure free account, by contrast, requires a card and only lasts 30 days — the student variant wins on the no-card rule and the annual renewal.
Part of a Curated Trick Chain
Step 3 of 6 (Compute & Backend) · Total stack value: $3,289
Eligibility & Verification Requirements
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