Azure is not a ML platform. I am not sure where you get the idea that it’s dedicated to ML, or are we talking about complete different Azure?

As for why aren’t they free. That’s their business model. Software with the complexity of Kubernetes used to be premium software, but google figured out a way to make it completely free and yet still afford to pay the developers handsome salaries. So yea technically speaking you can make similar products that are free, as long as you can figure out a viable business model to support it in the long run