Quick reference
| Number | What | Why it matters | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $200 | Free account credit | Spend it on a 30-day lab, then use always-free services. | free |
| 700 | AZ-104 pass score | Out of 1000. Scaled, so not a simple percentage. | exam |
| 3 | Availability Zones | Most regions have 3, for surviving a datacenter failure. | HA |
| 99.99% | VM SLA (multi-AZ) | Spread VMs across zones to earn the higher SLA. | SLA |
| 65+ | Always-free services | Services with a free tier beyond the 30-day credit. | free |
| 5 min | Delete a lab | The habit that keeps your free credit alive. | cost |
Explained
$200, the free account credit. A new Azure account gives you $200 to spend in the first 30 days. That is more than enough for a full AZ-104 lab: VMs, networking, storage and identity. After the 30 days, you drop to the always-free services.
700, the AZ-104 pass score. Microsoft exams are scored from 1 to 1000, and 700 is the pass mark. It is scaled, not a raw percentage, so do not assume 70% of questions. Practice assessments are the best gauge.
3, availability zones. Most major Azure regions have three physically separate zones. Spreading resources across them is how you survive a single datacenter failure, and it is a core AZ-104 concept.
99.99%, the VM SLA. You only get the top availability SLA when VMs are spread across zones. A single VM has a much lower guarantee. The architecture earns the SLA, not the VM type.
65+, always-free services. Beyond the 30-day credit, Azure has dozens of services with a standing free tier, enough to keep learning without spending.
5 minutes, to delete a lab. The single habit that protects your credit and your wallet: put everything in a resource group and delete it when you are done.
The theme: respect the free limits, and nothing on this list costs you money.
In one line
Know the limits, keep the credit. Most Azure bill shocks are a lab nobody deleted.
Guard the bill: set a budget alert on day one
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