Public IP address settings are available through NSG settings or by selecting Public IP address from the resources in the Resource group blade.

Settings for public IP addresses are similar to private IP addresses. By default, they are Dynamic, so the IP can change in the case of a restart or shutdown, but we can change this setting to Static. Static will keep the reservation of our IP but there is a difference between public and private IP addresses in this case. Private IP reservation is free of charge as this is an internal IP, so you can choose the range and even set an IP address from that range to be reserved for a specific VM. Public IP addresses are assigned and there isn't the option to choose which IP address you want. The other difference is that public IP address reservation is not free; the first five public IP address reservations are free per subscription, but every reservation over that number is charged. The price of a reservation over the initial five public IP addresses is not much (around $3 per month), but it's good to know what you're paying for.

A public IP address can be removed from your NIC if you want to restrict access (private IP addresses can't be removed). If you choose to use a public IP address, you'll probably need it either to connect to your VM remotely or to use it for applications. If you don't want to create a reservation, there is another option, to use a DNS name label. This option will assign a DNS name to your NIC and you can use it to access your VM. Any change of public IP address, which may happen as result of a restart or shutdown of your VM, will be handled by Azure DNS. Options for public IP address configuration are shown in the following screenshot: