Azure for Students ($100 credit plus always-free services, no credit card)

Full-time university students sign up with a school email, no credit card, and get $100 in Azure credit (usable within 12 months) plus monthly free amounts of 65+ always-free services; renewable every year while you remain a student

Official Microsoft Azure for Students page: "Use your school email to sign up and renew yearly while you're a student." "Azure for Students: Available only to full-time university students; No credit card required; Free monthly amounts of 20+ popular services for 12 months (new Azure customers only); Free monthly amounts of 65+ always-free services; Access to full catalog of services up to free amounts and $100 credit; Gain access to industry-leading technology like Azure OpenAI" "$100 credit to use on Azure services within 12 months". FAQ: when the credit is used up you get an email and can choose to move to pay as you go; if you do not, the subscription and products are disabled; the $100 credit cannot be applied to Azure Marketplace offers. The page also lists Azure for Students Starter for younger students (also no credit card); see that page for its terms.

⚠️Only for full-time university students and needs school-email verification (the exact verification flow was not checked by going through sign-up); the countries and regions limited by the page footnote and the list of eligible schools are not spelled out in the page body, so check the sign-up page. The monthly free amounts apply to new Azure customers only. Availability of Azure OpenAI models and the application requirements are shown in the Azure portal; once credit runs out or expires the products are disabled, so set a budget in the console before moving to pay as you go. Access to the global Azure site from mainland China may need a stable overseas network (not tested).