Azure VM

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Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) offer persistent VMs hosted on Azure infrastructure running Windows Server, Linux, and (in certain scenarios) Windows client OSs. Organizations can provision VMs with required computing resources, and the subscriber is responsible for the deployment, maintenance, and management of all software within the VM. Azure VMs offer an alternative to running Microsoft’s Hyper-V or solutions from VMware or other vendors on-premises, and the service competes with Amazon Web Services EC2 and VMware Cloud on AWS, and Google’s Compute Engine–hosted services.

Product: Azure VM

Licensing: Azure VM

Near Term (2026-2027)

Changes to Azure reservation exchanges, due to take effect Feb. 2027, will prevent organizations from exchanging existing Azure VM reservations for a new reservation—cutting off a common source of flexibility and potential cost savings for Azure VMs when leveraging reserved VM instances. (See the Directions report “Most Azure Reservation Exchanges End in 2027.”)

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