I created a "Web App + DB" in Azure and deployed my ASP.NET API to it. For the SQL database I selected the "Free plan".
Now, after some days of running the API (only a dozen datasets were written and ~30 API calls were made) Azure/Microsoft changed the pricing tier from "Free" to "S0" and for another API from "Free" to "Basic". And now the database produces costs for every day.
Why is this happen?
And how can I prevent Azure from doing this without asking me?
UPDATE:
Some screenshots to illustrate the availability of free plans for sql databases in Azure.
Currently I've 3 SQL Databases with a free plan (how long? nobody knows) and 2 databases in Basic, that were former free plan databases:
Azure SQL Database allows you to create one free Azure SQL Server database per region, it reverts to Standard after 365 days. That is what I know ever since you use PowerShell to create it (I don't know about using other methods).
New-AzureRmSqlDatabase -DatabaseName $DatabaseName -ServerName $sqlServer.ServerName
-ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup.ResourceGroupName -Edition 'Free'
-RequestedServiceObjectiveName 'Free'
This works only for the following regions, for now:
Location DisplayName
-------- -------------------
australiaeast Australia East
australiasoutheast Australia Southeast
centralindia Central India
eastasia East Asia
francecentral France Central
japaneast Japan East
japanwest Japan West
koreacentral Korea Central
koreasouth Korea South
northcentralus North Central US
northeurope North Europe
southeastasia Southeast Asia
southindia South India
uksouth UK South
ukwest UK West
westcentralus West Central US
westeurope West Europe
westindia West India
westus2 West US 2