Microsoft is shedding light on the Visual Studio Dev/Test benefit—a powerful yet often overlooked advantage for subscribers. This benefit provides discounted Azure rates for development and testing environments, helping teams experiment, build, and innovate without the heavy cost of production pricing. It’s designed to make cloud development more accessible and budget-friendly for every developer.

Here’s what you need to know:

Cost Savings
Run Windows and SQL Server VMs in Azure at the same base rates as Linux VMs. Microsoft licensing costs are waived for development and testing — you only pay for compute while it’s running. Perfect for use cases like accounting integration, API modernization, mobile development, and quality assurance.
Simplified Cloud Provisioning
Easily replicate your entire production environment in Azure using Dev/Test rates. No licensing complexities, no approval bottlenecks — just straightforward provisioning and clear cost transparency.
Why Developers Love It
Developers enjoy the freedom to quickly prototype, test, and validate ideas in environments that mirror production — without the production-level costs.
How to Get Started
Access Azure Dev/Test pricing through your Visual Studio subscription via Enterprise Dev/Test, Pay-As-You-Go Dev/Test, or the Azure Plan for Dev/Test.

See the impact of cloud transformation in action—explore our Fiji Higher Education case study and let’s talk about what’s next for your organisation.