Azure, GCP, AWS Free Tiers or Something Else

I was looking to spin up a small Ubuntu VM and tried to use Azure's free tier with free credit and found it painful to spin up what is a basic VM's due to contradictions in what MS said was available and what the menu selection process actually allowed me to select.

How do others find Azure, is it the best environment with good value free tier or have you found the same as I have that it sounds good but reality is different. I'm using AWS now which was genuinely straightforward.

I'll look to learn Azure and read all the instructions of course given I assumed it would be easy (that's on me) but if you prefer GCP or AWS or have any other suggestions let me know your pro's and con's.