Estimating cloud costs on Azure can be tricky because there are so many interdependencies to consider. Prices vary depending on the exact services you use, how much you use them, where they’re hosted, and whether you’ve committed to long-term plans or are paying as you go.
Aspects like scaling, storage, and data transfers can add unexpected costs if you’re not paying close attention. Plus, Azure has many pricing options and configurations, so without a solid understanding of your usage patterns, costs can easily get out of hand.
The Azure Pricing Calculator was designed to be a handy tool for this. Let’s explore this tool and learn how to use it to make accurate estimates of your cloud costs.
What is the Azure Pricing Calculator?
The Azure Pricing Calculator converts predicted service consumption into an estimated cost, making it easier to plan and budget for your requirements. If you have any pricing negotiations or discounts in place, the calculator can adjust the cost estimate to account for them.
The Azure Pricing Calculator displays per-unit pricing information based on data from the Azure Retail Prices API. Here’s a quick primer on how the tool works:
- Azure Retail Pricing API – You can use it to get pricing information programmatically or for more detailed pricing data. The API offers comprehensive retail price information for all Azure services in various countries and currencies.
- Product configuration – The calculator retrieves per-unit pricing for each product from the Azure Retail Pricing API based on user-specified product criteria such as region, size, operating system, tier, and other special features.
- Consumption estimation – The calculator then uses the quantities you enter, such as hours, units, and so on, to estimate consumption and calculate expected expenses.
- Pricing plans – Each product offers a variety of pricing plans and savings alternatives. These include pay-as-you-go, one- or three-year Reserved Instances, and Savings Plans with lower rates. The pricing changes when you select a new plan.
Where can you find the Azure Pricing Calculator?
There are two ways to access the calculator:
Go to https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/calculator/.
Alternatively, you can go to the Azure website and look for the Pricing Calculator option in the navigation menu.
When do teams use the Azure Pricing Calculator?
Teams can use the Azure Price Calculator for several use cases:
- Scaling your workload – You can use the Azure Pricing Calculator to determine the cost of scaling up your infrastructure. You can generate an estimate for additional VMs, storage, and networking while experimenting with various pricing models to find what works best for your workload.
- Optimizing costs – Another common use case is optimizing Azure costs. You can estimate your current workload and test various pricing structures, such as Reserved Instances or pay-as-you-go, to find what works best.
- Migrating to the cloud – If you plan to move from your on-premises infrastructure to Azure, you can also use the Azure Pricing Calculator to estimate the cost of a lift-and-shift migration. Create an estimate for your virtual machines, storage, and networking, then experiment with different pricing models to determine what works best for your workload.
How to navigate the Azure cost calculator
The Pricing Calculator has three main elements:
The product selector
This area displays all Azure services for which the calculator can estimate expenses. It also includes a search box, Azure service categories, and product cards. You can log in for extra features.
Estimate and product configuration
The price calculator allows you to create estimates, which are collections of Azure products. The field will remain empty until you add products to your estimate. When you include a product in your estimate, the field will be populated.
Estimation summary
The estimation summary appears underneath the product configuration. As you add more services to your estimate, additional product configuration sections are created, one for each service.
Below your estimate, you can find links to the next steps. There is also a feedback option to help enhance your Azure pricing calculator experience.
Using the Azure cost calculator
Here’s an example of a cost estimation process in the Azure Pricing Calculator:
What to consider while using the Azure Pricing Calculator
Using the calculator can be overwhelming because there is so much to consider. There is simply so much to choose from, and once you’ve gone through everything, you’ll know what you need to put in an architecture. Teams often end up overlooking critical security elements such as VPN gateways, Microsoft Entra External IDs, and so on.
Furthermore, it is often difficult to determine how many resources you require, and you may become lost in the maze of Azure’s pricing estimation tool. You may overestimate or underestimate, resulting in increased expenses or underprovisioned systems.
You can save your estimates and resume the process later, so you don’t have to do it all at once. It’s best to take your time and go over all of the details one by one.
Finally, use the pricing estimate as a guideline, but remember to experiment with modest proof-of-concept projects or trials to get a sense of how much Azure will cost. Remember to be as specific as possible when estimating costs with the tool, as each metric affects the pricing. Always consider your use case (context, goals, and needs).
Wrap up
Use the Azure Pricing Calculator to make informed decisions about your Azure spending. This way, you’ll make the most of your cloud investment. Experiment with alternative setups and use the calculator to budget your Azure resources. Instead of rushing, take your time and complete each step slowly.
Exploring all the different configurations and their impact on the pricing of the resources you need takes a lot of time. For compute, consider using an automation solution that does the selection and provisioning for you based on real-time demand.
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