I'm setting up some infrastructure for a small playground website and want to keep the database as free or inexpensive as possible while I experiment. Azure's free offerings appear to include quotas for certain database services, but I'm repeatedly seeing no available quota when trying Cosmos DB, Azure SQL Database, and MySQL in regions including UK South, West Europe, North Europe, East US, and East US 2. The quota view also doesn't seem to list every resource or service clearly. Is there a better way to check which database options are currently available in the free quota, or are there recommended relational databases that would be suitable for very low-cost development?
4 Answers
For a small project, serverless Cosmos DB is worth considering. At low usage it can be nearly free, and even with a fair amount of stored data the monthly cost may only be a few dollars. You’ll need to handle HTTP 429 responses when the service throttles requests. Azure Table Storage is another very cheap option, although its data model is much more limited. Cosmos DB capacity is usually available in many regions, and you may not need to request a separate quota increase. It’s also worth checking that the relevant provider is registered and trying a few regions.
Azure SQL Database has a low-cost development option, starting around $5 per month for the Basic tier. It may not be free, but it’s a practical fallback if you specifically need a relational database and the free quota isn’t available.
For lightweight workloads, Azure SQL can work well at a modest price. The Basic tier is roughly $5 monthly, while a higher DTU tier may be around $15. The Azure pricing calculator lets you select Azure SQL Database, choose the DTU purchasing model, and compare the available performance tiers before provisioning.
Azure Table Storage is another option if your application can work with a simple key-value or table-oriented data model. It’s extremely inexpensive, but it doesn’t provide the relational features, joins, or SQL behavior you’d get from Azure SQL.
That sounds promising. I’ll look into provisioning a serverless Cosmos DB instance.