DevTest Labs

Azure DevTest Labs is a free service that can help teams organize and optimize the use of Azure VMs and other Azure resources for development and test purposes. The service could make Azure a cost- and time-saving alternative for teams using on-premises labs, and it could improve practices for teams that have already adopted Azure for development and test processes. However, VMs and other Azure resources used through and by DevTest Labs incur costs at their normal rates, although the Azure Dev/Test licensing option can reduce costs.

Service Overview and Benefits

DevTest Labs aims to give teams more control over the use of Azure VMs and other resources for development and test by providing tools to organize VM and resource creation and reduce the risk of incurring costs for unnecessary Azure usage.

A separate service called Azure Lab Services supports managed labs, such as for a classroom setting where an instructor provisions VMs to be used during training sessions. Managed labs consist of VMs provisioned in a temporary Microsoft-controlled Azure subscription, where the service provisions and manages the VMs needed for the lab scenario.