Azure Credits

5 min

when can azure credits be activated? \you\ how can azure credits be activated? \microsoft administrators\ \ might assign the credits to you in the microsoft partner centre, which then sends you an email with a link and steps to activate the credits this usually involves linking the credits to your azure account (often by creating or selecting an azure subscription where the credits will apply) always follow the exact instructions provided in the email or portal \ should all azure credits be activated at once? \you\ \ don’t need to activate them all at the same time you must activate azure credits within 90 days of accepting the program agreement for those approved for an azure credit offer of $1,000, $5,000, $25,000, $50,000, or $150,000, azure credits will expire one year after you activate azure if you're approved for more azure credits, this extends your time in program by one year from the date you were approved see in short, use the credits when they benefit you most, but don’t let any credit offers expire unredeemed \ what is the timespan to activate the credits, and then use them once activated? \activation deadline \ \there is usually a fixed window to activate your credits after they’re awarded commonly this is around 90 days from the time you receive the credit offer you should activate the credits within this period \ \ once activated, the credits are typically valid for a set duration (often 12 months) before they expire in other words, you will have up to one year to spend the credit after you activate it after that time, any remaining credit is forfeited for example, if you activated a $30,000 azure credit today, you would have one year from today to use those funds for azure services \ where can azure credits be used (microsoft services vs third party solutions)? \azure credits can be used for most microsoft azure cloud services this means you can apply them toward azure’s first party offerings like virtual machines, storage, databases, networking, ai services, and other azure resources you deploy in the azure portal essentially, any standard azure service provided by microsoft itself will consume your credits \ \however, there are some things azure credits cannot be used for generally, you cannot use credits for third party products or services in the azure marketplace, nor for certain separate microsoft services that aren’t core azure consumption for example, credits won’t cover purchases of third party software solutions, marketplace vm images from outside vendors, or add ons like visual studio licenses, azure active directory premium plans, or microsoft support plans those kinds of charges are billed separately and would require a normal payment method \ \in summary, you should use your azure credits for microsoft’s own azure services if you try to purchase a third party solution or an extra service (outside of the typical azure resource usage), your credits likely won’t apply to those charges, and you would be charged separately for them always double check if a service is eligible for credit use, but as a rule, azure credits cover azure’s cloud services, not third party marketplace items \ check this https //learn microsoft com/en us/microsoft for startups/benefits/azure credits billing for more info