Azure SQL Database is a relational database as a service, built and hosted on Azure. It minimizes the cost of managing and provisioning databases. Using this model will reduce the responsibility for managing the virtual machines that host SQL Server, the operating system, and even the SQL Server software.

This model eliminates concerns regarding upgrades, backups, and even the high availability of databases, because they are not your responsibility anymore. Moreover, you can add databases as you wish, whenever you want. Taking this into account, you will pay less in credits because in this scenario you will not pay for a VM with SQL installed on it, plus the license credits; you will only pay for the database you are using.