Vertica CE Edition...Trying to Install Locally on Linux

You can use one of the following:
the local adapter IPv4 is recommended if available and the address won't change while the service is running
if there is no other static address, then use localhost (127.0.0.1)

Yes, I tried the 127 option but it said "can't use local IP"
Is there an option on Azure or a co-hosting option. The Azure version said it's $2,300 infrastructure setup.
I am a single developer trying to do a proof-of-concept on a Python/Vertica project, nothing will be in production

install_vertica should allow use of "localhost" or 127.0.0.1, with the warning that doing so limits you to a single node. Can you share the exact output?
On Azure and other cloud/colocation, you should only be charged for actual instance run time and storage usage, license is separate (and no cost for CE even on cloud). The infra cost is monthly for the selected instance type - for Management Console, you can use a single D4_v4 type (should be max US$0.22/hour). You can then deploy a 1-3 node cluster using smallest size and stop/start as needed for testing. Alternately, you can install from RPM (or DEB) on Azure instance(s) configured with CentOS/RHEL or Ubuntu/Debian.