LearnGlossary

What is Azure Hybrid Benefit?

Updated 26 October 2026 · Published by Zoorik

Azure Hybrid Benefit is an Azure offer that lets you use licenses you own on Azure. It covers Windows Server and SQL Server licenses with active Software Assurance or a qualifying subscription license. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) subscriptions count too.

An example on a Linux VM

Say you run a RHEL VM from a pay-as-you-go image. Its cost has two parts: an infrastructure fee and a software fee.

You bring your own RHEL subscription and turn on Azure Hybrid Benefit. You don’t redeploy the VM, and Azure now charges only the infrastructure fee.

With your own RHEL subscription, Azure charges only the infrastructure fee Illustration with no amounts, not to scale. Two bars on one shared scale show what Azure charges for one RHEL VM. The first bar, "Pay-as-you-go RHEL image", "both fees charged by Azure", holds a grey "infrastructure fee" segment and an amber "software fee" segment. The second bar, "Same VM, Azure Hybrid Benefit on", "infrastructure fee only", holds a grey "same infrastructure fee" segment at the same length, and a dashed empty outline where the software fee was, labelled "software: your own RHEL subscription". With your own RHEL subscription, Azure charges only the infrastructure fee Pay-as-you-go RHEL imageboth fees charged by Azureinfrastructure feesoftware feeSame VM, Azure Hybrid Benefit oninfrastructure fee onlysame infrastructure feesoftware: your own RHEL subscription
Illustration with no amounts, not to scale: turning on Azure Hybrid Benefit with your own RHEL subscription leaves the infrastructure fee as it was and takes the software fee off your Azure charges.

Windows Server, Linux and AKS

  • Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server needs at least 8 core licenses per VM, even on a 4-core VM.
  • Turning it on for a Windows VM doesn’t restart it.
  • Azure Hybrid Benefit for Linux converts a pay-as-you-go VM only if Red Hat or SUSE published its image.
  • For RHEL, your Azure account must be in Red Hat Cloud Access.
  • Azure Hybrid Benefit for AKS is turned on per cluster, for its Windows nodes.

Why it matters for your cloud cost

  • Without it, a pay-as-you-go VM’s rate includes the software: the RHEL or SLES fee, or the Windows Server cost.
  • While you migrate, you can use Windows Server and SQL Server licenses on-premises and in Azure for 180 days.
  • When your Software Assurance or subscription ends, renew or turn the benefit off.
  • On AKS, it reduces the Windows nodes’ part of the cluster cost.
  • The free assessment works out what your clusters and disks could save.

Read next: AKS vs EKS cost

Sources: Microsoft Learn, “Explore Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows VMs” (opens in a new tab); Microsoft Learn, “Explore Azure Hybrid Benefit for Linux VMs” (opens in a new tab); Microsoft Learn, “Use Azure Hybrid Benefit (Azure Kubernetes Service)” (opens in a new tab); Microsoft Azure, “Azure Hybrid Benefit Pricing” (opens in a new tab).

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