Azure Pricing Calculator
Estimate your monthly Microsoft Azure infrastructure costs
Estimated Monthly Total: $0.00
Understanding Azure Pricing Components
Managing cloud costs requires a deep understanding of how Microsoft Azure bills its services. This calculator helps you estimate the three most common drivers of Azure consumption: Compute, Storage, and Data Transfer.
1. Virtual Machines (Compute)
Compute costs are generally the largest part of an Azure bill. They are calculated based on the Instance Type (CPU and RAM configuration), the Number of Instances, and the Uptime. Our calculator uses a standard pay-as-you-go rate. For production workloads, you can often save up to 72% by using Azure Reserved Instances (RI).
2. Managed Disks (Storage)
Data stored on Azure Managed Disks is billed based on the size and type of the disk (HDD, SSD, or Premium SSD). Our calculator applies a standard rate of approximately $0.02 per GB for general estimation. Remember that even if a VM is deallocated (shut down), you continue to pay for the storage space the disk occupies.
3. Data Transfer (Bandwidth)
Inbound data transfer (data coming into Azure) is free. However, Outbound Data Transfer (Egress) is billed once you exceed the first 5GB per month. This calculator uses a global average of $0.08 per GB for outbound traffic to help you budget for user traffic and data exports.
Realistic Azure Cost Examples
| Scenario | Resources | Est. Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Small Web App | 1x B2s VM, 64GB SSD, 50GB Traffic | ~$75.36 |
| Dev/Test Environment | 2x D2s v3 VMs (half-time), 128GB Storage | ~$142.72 |
| Enterprise Cluster | 4x D4s v3 VMs, 512GB Storage, 500GB Traffic | ~$1,170.00 |
Top Tips to Optimize Azure Costs
- Right-sizing: Monitor your CPU and RAM usage. If your VM is consistently under 20% utilization, switch to a smaller, cheaper instance size.
- Auto-shutdown: Set up schedules for Dev/Test VMs to shut down during nights and weekends to save up to 60% on compute costs.
- Azure Hybrid Benefit: If you already own Windows Server or SQL Server licenses, you can apply them to Azure VMs to reduce the hourly rate significantly.
- Region Selection: Prices vary by region. For example, "East US" is often cheaper than "Brazil South" or "Switzerland North."