Free vs Basic vs Standard App Service Plan: Key Differences and Use Cases

Azure App Service Plans differ mainly in features and pricing: Free is for testing with limited resources, Basic offers dedicated compute with no autoscale, and Standard adds autoscale and more features for production apps. Choose based on your app's scale and feature needs.

Quick Comparison

This table summarizes key differences between Free, Basic, and Standard Azure App Service Plans.

Feature	Free	Basic	Standard
Cost	Free	Low cost	Moderate cost
Compute Resources	Shared	Dedicated	Dedicated
Custom Domains	No	Yes	Yes
SSL Support	No	Yes	Yes
Autoscale	No	No	Yes
Daily CPU Quota	Limited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Staging Slots	No	No	Yes

Key Differences

The Free plan is designed for learning and testing. It uses shared compute resources and has strict limits like no custom domains or SSL support. It also has a daily CPU time quota, so it’s not suitable for production apps.

The Basic plan provides dedicated compute resources, allowing your app to run more reliably. It supports custom domains and SSL but does not include autoscale or staging slots. This plan is good for small production workloads with predictable traffic.

The Standard plan adds autoscale, which automatically adjusts resources based on demand, and staging slots for smooth app updates. It supports all features needed for production apps with variable traffic and higher availability requirements.

Free Plan Example

This example shows how to create a Free App Service Plan using Azure CLI.

bash

az appservice plan create --name MyFreePlan --resource-group MyResourceGroup --sku F1 --is-linux

Output

Succeeded

Basic Plan Equivalent

This example creates a Basic App Service Plan with dedicated compute.

bash

az appservice plan create --name MyBasicPlan --resource-group MyResourceGroup --sku B1 --is-linux

Output

Succeeded

When to Use Which

Choose Free when you want to experiment or develop small apps without cost and can accept limits.

Choose Basic for small production apps needing dedicated resources but no autoscale.

Choose Standard for production apps requiring autoscale, staging slots, and full feature support.

Key Takeaways

Free plan is best for testing with limited features and shared resources.

Basic plan offers dedicated compute but no autoscale, suitable for small production apps.

Standard plan supports autoscale and staging slots for scalable production apps.

Custom domains and SSL are not available in Free but supported in Basic and Standard.

Choose your plan based on app scale, traffic, and feature needs.