Yes — Azure Monitor has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans. The free plan includes Platform metric queries include the first 1,000,000 API calls per month, Activity Log alert rules are limited to 100 rules per subscription, and Metric alerts include 10 monitored metric time-series per month.
About
Azure Monitor is Microsoft Azure’s observability service for collecting, analyzing, and acting on telemetry from applications, infrastructure, and network resources. It combines logs, metrics, alerts, notifications, web tests, and workspace-based monitoring features, with support for Azure, multicloud, and hybrid environments.
The service is enabled automatically for new Azure subscriptions and includes free platform metrics and activity logs at no cost. Paid usage is primarily based on log ingestion, retention, export, alerting, and related monitoring features, with pricing varying by region, currency, and selected log plan.
- Automatic activity log collection
- Free platform metrics ingestion
- 30-day Basic and Auxiliary Logs retention
- 31-day Analytics Logs retention
- 90-day activity log retention
- Up to 12-year log retention
- 1,000,000 free metric API calls
- 100 free activity log alert rules
Free Tier Value
This free tier has real monthly value because it includes several always-on monitoring basics: activity logs, unlimited standard platform metrics, the first 1,000,000 metric API calls, ping web tests, and a bundle of alert/notification quotas. Since Azure Monitor’s paid logs are usage-based and the page gives a concrete free allowance of 5 GB/month in the Analytics Logs tier, the practical value is modest but meaningful; for a developer comparing options, that’s roughly a few dollars of avoided spend each month. A credit card is still required to create the account, and the offer is capped by monthly quotas rather than being unlimited.
What's included in the free tier
- Azure Activity Logs available at no charge for ingestion.
- Platform metrics ingestion included at no cost with unlimited standard metrics.
- Platform metric queries include the first 1,000,000 API calls per month.
- Ping web tests are free.
- Activity Log alert rules are limited to 100 rules per subscription.
- Metric alerts include 10 monitored metric time-series per month.
- Notifications include 1,000 emails per month.
- Notifications include 1,000 push notifications per month.
- Notifications include 1,000 ITSM connector create or update events per month.
- Notifications include 1 secure web hook.
- Notifications include 100,000 web hooks per month.
- Voice calls include 0-10 calls for supported countries.
- SMS includes 0-100 notifications in the United States.
See Azure Monitor pricing for current limits.
Paid plans
Azure Monitor
- free log ingestion
- first 5 GB/month per billing account in Analytics Logs tier
- platform metrics ingestion
- unlimited standard metrics at no cost
- platform metric queries
- first 1,000,000 API calls/month
- activity logs ingestion
- no charge
- ping web tests
- free
- Logs ingestion billed by data ingested
- Retention and export charges for logs
- Platform logs export from Azure resources
- Metrics, alerts, notifications, and web tests available
- Advanced monitoring capabilities included at no additional cost for ingested data
Pricing extracted from Azure Monitor's pricing page. Always verify current pricing before committing.
Common questions
Is Azure Monitor free forever?
Yes. Azure Monitor has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans, though the allowance typically resets each month.
Does Azure Monitor require a credit card?
Yes. Azure Monitor asks for a card at signup, even for the free tier.
What is Azure Monitor's free tier worth?
We estimate Azure Monitor's free tier is worth about $3.00 per month. That maps to an FTV score of 44/100. See freetier.co/ftv for how we calculate it.
