When deploying resources in Azure, you'll encounter two types of Public IP addresses: Basic and Standard. The core difference lies in their features, capabilities, and supported scenarios.

Azure will automatically use Standard SKU Public IP when:

• You're deploying a Standard Load Balancer
• You explicitly select Standard SKU during resource creation
• Your VM is part of an availability zone configuration

You can specify the SKU type either during creation or via ARM templates:

// ARM template snippet for Standard Public IP
{
  "apiVersion": "2021-05-01",
  "type": "Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses",
  "name": "myStandardPublicIP",
  "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
  "sku": {
    "name": "Standard"
  },
  "properties": {
    "publicIPAllocationMethod": "Static"
  }
}

Here's how to create a Standard SKU Public IP using Azure CLI:

az network public-ip create \
    --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
    --name MyStandardPublicIP \
    --sku Standard \
    --allocation-method Static \
    --zone 1 2 3

The Basic SKU is often the default because:

1. It's compatible with more legacy services
2. It's the fallback option when no SKU is specified
3. It has lower costs for simple scenarios

To upgrade from Basic to Standard:

# First, delete the Basic IP (after reassigning dependencies)
az network public-ip delete --name MyBasicPublicIP --resource-group MyResourceGroup

# Then create Standard IP
az network public-ip create --name MyStandardPublicIP --resource-group MyResourceGroup --sku Standard

Azure offers two distinct SKUs for public IP addresses with fundamentally different architectures:

The portal defaults to Basic SKU when:

• Creating standalone VMs without associated load balancers
• Using older ARM templates that don't specify SKU
• The region doesn't support Standard SKU features

To force Standard SKU usage, you must explicitly declare it in your deployment:

// ARM Template example
{
  "apiVersion": "2020-11-01",
  "type": "Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses",
  "name": "myStandardIP",
  "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
  "sku": {
    "name": "Standard"
  },
  "properties": {
    "publicIPAllocationMethod": "Static"
  }
}

When to choose Basic:

• Dev/test environments
• Temporary workloads
• Non-critical applications

When Standard is mandatory:

• Production workloads requiring zone redundancy
• Applications needing DDoS protection tier
• Global load balancing scenarios

Use Azure CLI to verify your quotas:

az vm list-usage --location eastus --output table

To increase Standard SKU quota, you'll need to submit a support request through the Azure portal.