Azure support plans

Plan comparison

¹ Two Azure online forum options: MSDN and Stack Overflow. MSDN is a Microsoft online property. Stack Overflow is not associated or affiliated with Microsoft.

² 24x7 technical support for service issues with select Azure services (Virtual machine, Web app, SQL database, DocumentDB, Redis cache) via Resource health in Azure portal. Additional services will be added over time.

³ Initial response time (IRT) shown is for the maximum severity of each offering, and is the fastest IRT available for each offering. Lower severities have a longer IRT.

⁴ For most countries, business hours are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM during week days (weekends and holidays excluded). For North America, business hours are 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Pacific time, Monday through Friday excluding holidays. In Japan, business hours are from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM weekdays. Support provided in nine languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, and Japanese: 24x7 in English for severity A and B and in Japanese for severity A. For other languages and severities, support provided during local business hours.

Support plans	Included with Azure	Developer Upgrade Support	Standard Upgrade Support	Professional Direct Upgrade Support	Premier Contact Premier
Best for:	Billing and subscription support; online self-help	Trial and non-production environments	Production workload environments	Business-critical dependence	Substantial dependence across multiple products
Range of support	Microsoft Azure	Microsoft Azure	Microsoft Azure	Microsoft Azure	All Microsoft products
Twitter @AzureSupport & Forums 1
Technical support for Azure service issues via Resource health 2,4
Unlimited 24x7 billing & subscription support
Unlimited 24x7 technical support, including non-Microsoft technologies running on Azure		Business hours only 4
Non-Microsoft technologies running on Azure
Advisory services				Limited advisory	Customer-specific
Escalation and account management				Pooled account management	Assigned account management
Initial response time 3		< 8 hours 4	< 2 hours	< 1 hour	< 15 minutes (with Azure Rapid Response) or <1 hour (without Azure Rapid Response)
Maximum severity		C	A	A	A
Monthly costs		$29.0/mo	$300.0/mo	$1000.0/mo	Contact us
Support plans 4		Developer Upgrade Support	Standard Upgrade Support	Professional Direct Upgrade Support	Premier Contact Premier

Get the Azure support datasheet

Azure Government and Azure Germany customers

Support plans and pricing on this page are for Azure customers and do not include plans for Azure Government or Azure Germany customers.

Azure Government support includes a range of support options designed to meet the needs of United States government agencies. Learn more.

Azure Germany support includes a range of support options designed to match the Azure Germany privacy standards. Learn more.

Purchase options

Azure Premier, Professional Direct, and Standard support agreements can be purchased as part of your Enterprise Agreement (EA) through your sales representative and are subject to your EA terms. Developer Support is not available in EA. Azure Professional Direct, Standard, and Developer can also be purchased online, except where Azure was purchased via an Enterprise Agreement (EA).

The subscription term is six months. Acceptable payment types for online purchase are limited to credit and debit cards, unless previously approved for invoice. Please note that we do not accept prepaid and virtual credit cards. You will be billed monthly, along with your Azure subscription. Monetary commitment dollars may not be applied toward support. You may choose to upgrade your current Azure support offer at any time by contacting Billing and Subscription support.

For additional information on Premier support, including how to purchase, please visit the Premier support website.

Offering availability

Azure Developer, Standard, and Professional Direct support plans are generally available in markets in which Microsoft Azure is offered.

Renewal policy

By default, your subscription to support will automatically renew. You will be notified via e-mail when your term is about to renew. You may disable the auto-renewal at any time.

Cancellation policy

Azure support requires commitment for the duration of the subscription term. Cancellation will not result in a pro-rated refund.