For migrating data with minimal cost and an infrequent access pattern to Azure SQL Database, which service tier is appropriate?

The vCore-based General Purpose tier is designed to handle workloads that require balanced compute and storage options while optimizing costs for users. When migrating data that is not frequently accessed, the General Purpose tier becomes particularly advantageous as it provides sufficient performance for occasional queries without incurring the higher costs associated with more premium tiers.

This tier supports a broader range of capabilities and scaling options that can effectively accommodate infrequent access patterns. It also typically offers a good cost-to-performance balance, making it suitable for situations where you want to minimize expenses while ensuring adequate performance for your database needs.

While the other tiers provide varying degrees of performance and features, they can come with higher costs or are optimized for different use cases—such as DTU-based Standard or Basic, which may not provide the necessary scalability or performance for more complex queries. Similarly, the vCore-based Business Critical tier focuses on high availability, low latency, and performance robustness, making it less cost-effective for scenarios where data access is infrequent. Therefore, selecting the vCore-based General Purpose tier aligns with the goal of achieving cost efficiency while still meeting the performance needs for occasional access.