We’re excited to announce a major resiliency enhancement for Azure Container Registry (ACR): Zone redundancy is now enabled by default for all ACR SKUs in regions that support Availability Zones. This means your ACR resources are now more resilient automatically and at no additional cost.  

What’s Changed? 

Previously, zone redundancy was only available for registries using the Premium SKU. With this update, all SKUs, including Basic and Standard, now benefit from zone redundancy in supported regions. This change has been applied automatically to all new and existing registries in regions that  support Availability Zones, with no action required from you. 

What Does This Mean for You? 

Zone redundancy ensures that your registry’s data is replicated across multiple physical zones within a region. This means: 

• Improved Resilience: Your container artifacts stored in Azure Container Registry are now protected against single-zone outages. 

• Zero Configuration Required: If your registry is in a supported region, it’s automatically zone redundant. 

• No Extra Cost: This enhancement is included at no additional charge for all ACR SKUs., regardless of your SKU. 

Current Experience 

At this time, the Azure portal and CLI may not reflect this change accurately. Specifically, the zone redundancy property in your registry’s configuration may still appear as false. However, zone redundancy is enabled for all registries in supported regions. 

We’re actively working to update the portal and API surfaces to reflect this new default behavior more transparently. Also, all enabled features before the migration will continue to work with this new update as expected. For a full list of regions with zone redundancy supported please see: Zone-Redundant Registry in Azure Container Registry - Azure Container Registry | Microsoft Learn  

FAQ 

Q: What’s the benefit for me? 

A: Your registry is now more resilient to single zone failures, improving resiliency and reliability, without any changes on your part. 

Q: How much does this cost? 

A: Nothing. This upgrade is included at no additional cost across all SKUs. 

Q: Do I need a specific SKU to benefit from this? 

A: No, in Availability Zone enabled regions, zone redundancy is now enabled by default on all SKUs . 

Q: Which regions support zone redundancy? 

A: You can find the full list of supported regions here: Zone-Redundant Registry in Azure Container Registry - Azure Container Registry | Microsoft Learn.