By David,
An Azure region pair is two regions, usually in the same geography, that Microsoft links for a small number of services: geo-redundant storage (GRS) replicates to the paired region, planned platform updates are staggered across the pair, and one region in each pair is prioritized for recovery in a geography-wide outage. You can't choose your own pairs, and many newer regions have none. Microsoft is explicit that deploying into a pair "doesn't automatically make them more resilient, nor does it provide automatic high availability, disaster recovery capabilities, or failover." Below is every public Azure region pair, the nonpaired regions, and what pairing does and doesn't do for you.
The short version: Pairs matter mostly for GRS and GZRS storage, Azure Backup's cross-region restore, Key Vault's Microsoft-managed failover and SQL Database's automated backups, which all replicate to the paired region. Almost everything else, Azure Site Recovery included, can replicate to a region you choose. For Azure Virtual Desktop, Microsoft says pairs are "a best practice" but that AVD's continuity tooling doesn't require them.
The tables come from the same dated data as our Azure regions directory, transcribed from Microsoft Learn and last checked on 2026-11-08.
What a region pair gives you
From Microsoft's region pairs page:
- Recovery prioritization. "In the unlikely event of a geography-wide outage, one region in every region pair is prioritized for recovery."
- Sequential updates. "Azure strives to stagger any planned system updates across region pairs."
- Data residency. "Almost all regions reside within the same geography as their pair." Brazil South is the notable exception (see below).
- A replication target for some services. Geo-redundant storage "can automatically replicate data to a paired region."
What it doesn't give you
- No automatic resilience. "Deploying resources to a region in a pair doesn't automatically make them more resilient, nor does it provide automatic high availability, disaster recovery capabilities, or failover."
- No dependable failover by Microsoft. Microsoft says not to rely on Microsoft-managed failover between pairs as your primary disaster recovery approach: failover of GRS-enabled storage accounts "is only performed in catastrophic situations and after repeated failed recovery attempts."
- No restriction on where you deploy. "You can host your services in any region that satisfies your business needs."
Every Azure region pair
Each pair appears once. Mutual means each region lists the other as its pair. One-way means the region on the left pairs with the one on the right, but that region's own pair is different: Microsoft's asymmetric pairs.
| Region | Paired region | Geography | Pairing |
|---|---|---|---|
| East US | West US | United States | Mutual |
| East US 2 | Central US | United States | Mutual |
| North Central US | South Central US | United States | Mutual |
| West Central US | West US 2 | United States | Mutual |
| West US 3 | East US | United States | One-way: East US pairs with West US |
| Canada Central | Canada East | Canada | Mutual |
| Brazil South | South Central US | Brazil | One-way: South Central US pairs with North Central US |
| Brazil Southeast (restricted) | Brazil South | Brazil | One-way: Brazil South pairs with South Central US |
| North Europe | West Europe | Europe | Mutual |
| UK South | UK West | United Kingdom | Mutual |
| France Central | France South (restricted) | France | Mutual |
| Germany West Central | Germany North (restricted) | Germany | Mutual |
| Switzerland North | Switzerland West (restricted) | Switzerland | Mutual |
| Norway East | Norway West (restricted) | Norway | Mutual |
| Sweden Central | Sweden South (restricted) | Sweden | Partner is a restricted region Microsoft doesn't list on its own |
| UAE North | UAE Central (restricted) | UAE | Mutual |
| South Africa North | South Africa West (restricted) | South Africa | Mutual |
| East Asia | Southeast Asia | Asia Pacific | Mutual |
| Japan East | Japan West | Japan | Mutual |
| Korea Central | Korea South | Korea | Mutual |
| Central India | South India | India | Mutual |
| West India | South India | India | One-way: South India pairs with Central India |
| India South Central | Central India | India | One-way: Central India pairs with South India |
| Southeast Asia 3 (preview) | Malaysia West | Malaysia | One-way: Malaysia West is itself nonpaired |
| Taiwan North (preview) | Taiwan Northwest (restricted) | Taiwan | Partner is a restricted region Microsoft doesn't list on its own |
| Australia East | Australia Southeast | Australia | Mutual |
| Australia Central | Australia Central 2 (restricted) | Australia | Mutual |
The asymmetric pairs, in Microsoft's words (region pairs): "Brazil South is paired with South Central US, which is outside of the Brazil geography. South Central US isn't paired with Brazil South." West India pairs with South India, but South India pairs with Central India, and India South Central pairs with Central India, which pairs with South India. "West US 3 is paired in one direction with East US."
Restricted regions are held back for specific scenarios, usually as the pair of another region, and you request access before deploying there.
Nonpaired regions
"Many of the newer regions provide multiple availability zones for higher resiliency and don't have a region pair." The public regions Microsoft lists as nonpaired:
- Mexico Central (
mexicocentral), Mexico - Chile Central (
chilecentral), Chile - Denmark East (
denmarkeast), Denmark - Poland Central (
polandcentral), Poland - Austria East (
austriaeast), Austria - Belgium Central (
belgiumcentral), Belgium - Italy North (
italynorth), Italy - Spain Central (
spaincentral), Spain - Qatar Central (
qatarcentral), Qatar - Israel Central (
israelcentral), Israel - Indonesia Central (
indonesiacentral), Indonesia - Malaysia West (
malaysiawest), Malaysia - New Zealand North (
newzealandnorth), New Zealand
Disaster recovery without a pair. "Many Azure services support geo-replication and geo-redundancy between any arbitrary set of regions and don't rely on region pairs. Others might require that you design and implement your own multiregion approaches." For example, Blob object replication can copy to an account "in a different region" (region pairs, business continuity).
Which Azure services use region pairs
From Microsoft's multi-region support list:
| Service | Uses the pair for | Works across any regions? |
|---|---|---|
| Azure Storage GRS and GZRS (Blob, Files, Queue, Data Lake Gen2) | Asynchronous replication with customer- or Microsoft-managed failover | No, paired region only |
| Azure Backup | Geo-redundant storage and cross-region restore | No, paired region only |
| Azure Key Vault | Microsoft-managed failover | No; in nonpaired regions, design your own multiregion approach |
| Azure SQL Database | Copies of automated backups, in geo-redundant storage | No, paired region only |
| Azure Site Recovery | Asynchronous VM replication to a secondary region | Yes, paired or not |
Two storage details worth knowing (storage redundancy): the GRS secondary "is determined based on the primary region, and can't be changed", and GZRS needs a region that has both availability zones and a pair. Data in the secondary isn't readable "unless there's a failover", unless you choose RA-GRS or RA-GZRS.
Region pairs and Azure Virtual Desktop
Microsoft's multi-region AVD architecture says: "Using paired regions is a best practice, but Azure Virtual Desktop and the technology that supports BCDR don't require Azure regions to be paired" (multi-region BCDR). In practice:
- Session hosts can be rebuilt in any region where your image, network and quota exist. Pairing doesn't move them.
- FSLogix profiles on Azure Files SSD (premium) shares can't use GRS, so cross-region profile resilience comes from FSLogix Cloud Cache rather than storage pairing. See choosing FSLogix storage.
- Within a region, spread session hosts across availability zones first; zones protect against a datacenter failure, pairs only matter for a regional one.
When you pick a secondary region, Microsoft's criteria are physical isolation, latency and data residency, and it recommends a secondary "inside the same data residency boundary as the primary region" (regions overview, business continuity).
How Atlas AVD helps
Atlas AVD manages host pools in any region your subscription can use, from one console, and Smart Connect recommends each user the desktop that suits them best, measuring latency from their device to each region where their desktops run. Disaster recovery is still your design: Atlas runs the desktops you place in each region; it doesn't replicate them for you.
FAQ
What is an Azure region pair?
Two regions, usually in the same geography, that Microsoft links for a few services: geo-redundant storage replicates to the pair, planned updates are staggered across it, and one region of each pair is prioritized for recovery in a geography-wide outage.
What is East US paired with?
West US. West US 3 also pairs one way with East US.
Which Azure regions don't have a pair?
Mexico Central, Chile Central, Denmark East, Poland Central, Austria East, Belgium Central, Italy North, Spain Central, Qatar Central, Israel Central, Indonesia Central, Malaysia West, New Zealand North, as of 2026-11-08.
Can I choose my own Azure region pair?
No. Microsoft sets the pairs. You can still replicate most services to any region you choose; only a few, such as GRS storage, are tied to the pair.
Does a region pair give me disaster recovery?
No. Microsoft says deploying into a pair doesn't provide automatic high availability, disaster recovery or failover. You design and test your own.
Region pairs are from Microsoft's list of Azure regions and region pairs pages, last checked on 2026-11-08. Service behavior is from multi-region support, storage redundancy, business continuity and the multi-region AVD architecture, as of November 2026.