In this article, I will explain how to use the Azure Cosmos DB free tier and the limitations of the Azure Cosmos DB free tier plan. The Azure Cosmos DB free tier enables a developer or learner to quickly get started, test or learn about the Azure Cosmos DB, and even deploy test applications.

The free tier discount can be used in the following two ways:

• Azure Cosmos DB Free Tier (paid or corporate subscription)
• Azure Free Account (Free Azure Account for Learners )

The Azure Cosmos DB Free Tier and the Azure Free Account are two different things. The Azure Cosmos DB Free Tier is typically associated with corporate or paid subscriptions, whereas the Azure Free Account is a Microsoft offering that allows users to learn about Azure Services by creating a free account for a limited time or for the duration of the subscription.

The Cosmos DB free tier discount can be applied during the creation of the Cosmos DB account. During account creation, the following options will be available, as shown in the following image:

Azure Cosmos DB Free Tier Limitations and Features

• The Azure Cosmos DB free tier discount is only supported in provisioned throughput capacity mode.
• This free discount is not yet supported in the serverless capacity mode.
• The discount can be applied to only one Cosmos DB account per subscription, meaning you cannot apply the discount to two Cosmos DB accounts in the same subscription.
• The dedicated throughput is not supprted since the throughput is shared across all the containers in the database.
• The maximum of 1000 RU per second is supported on the database level, which can be shared across containers.
• The maximum of 25 GB of storage is free per account, along with the first 1000 RU/s.
• The maximum of 25 containers created per database is similar to the normal account, but the limit for the free discount is that the throughput is shared across all the containers.
• Beyond 1000 RU/s and the maximum storage capacity, the normal charges are applied.
• If you create a free Azure account, you will receive combined benefits for the first 12 months, which means you will receive 400 RU/s of free Azure account and 1000 RU/s for Azure Cosmos DB free tier disccount, totaling 1400 RU/s for the first 12 months, after which the regular Azure free account limits will apply.
• The same combined benefits are applied for the storage. You will get the 25 GB of Azure free account and the 25 GB of Cosmos DB free tier discount, which combined are 50 GB for 12 months. After the 12 months, the normal limits are applied for the lifetime of your free Azure account.