Case Study: OptIn achieves cost savings and scalability with Microsoft Azure

OptIn reduces costs with Microsoft Azure, BizSpark partnership

Optin, founded by Stanford student Grace Tang, is a small education startup that streamlines Optional Practical Training (OPT) applications for international students—what Tang calls “TurboTax for OPT.” Facing the need for an easy-to-use website, a reliable backend to store and track user data, and an extremely low-cost solution that fit a student budget, Optin sought a platform that could scale as demand grew.

Optin joined Microsoft BizSpark and migrated from Heroku to Microsoft Azure, using Azure Web Sites, Git/Bitbucket deployment, Linux VMs and a Django/Python stack with a free 20 MB MySQL instance. BizSpark provided $150/month in Azure credits for three years (about $5,400), free developer tools and technical support, and faster migration (completed in five coding sessions), enabling lower operating costs, easier maintenance, and the ability to scale and reach more users.

OptIn

Grace Tang

President