Azure Price Calculator

Azure Monthly Cost Estimator

Estimate your monthly Azure costs for Virtual Machines, Managed Disks, and Data Egress. This calculator provides a simplified estimate based on common pricing models in the US East 2 region and does not include all possible Azure services or discounts.

function calculateAzureCost() { var vmHourlyRate = parseFloat(document.getElementById('vmType').value); var vmUptimeHours = parseFloat(document.getElementById('vmUptimeHours').value); var diskType = document.getElementById('diskType').value; var diskSize = parseFloat(document.getElementById('diskSize').value); var dataEgressGB = parseFloat(document.getElementById('dataEgressGB').value); var resultDiv = document.getElementById('result'); resultDiv.innerHTML = "; // Clear previous results // Input validation if (isNaN(vmHourlyRate) || vmHourlyRate < 0 || isNaN(vmUptimeHours) || vmUptimeHours 744 || isNaN(diskSize) || diskSize < 0 || isNaN(dataEgressGB) || dataEgressGB 0) { var freeTierGB = 5; if (remainingEgressGB > freeTierGB) { remainingEgressGB -= freeTierGB; // Next 9995 GB (up to 10 TB total) at $0.087/GB var tier1Rate = 0.087; var tier1Limit = 9995; // After free tier, so 5GB + 9995GB = 10TB total if (remainingEgressGB <= tier1Limit) { dataEgressCost += remainingEgressGB * tier1Rate; } else { dataEgressCost += tier1Limit * tier1Rate; remainingEgressGB -= tier1Limit; // For simplicity, we'll apply the same rate for anything beyond this tier // In reality, there are more tiers (e.g., $0.083/GB for next 40TB, then $0.050/GB) dataEgressCost += remainingEgressGB * tier1Rate; // Using tier1Rate for anything beyond for this simplified calc } } } var totalMonthlyCost = vmCost + diskMonthlyCost + dataEgressCost; resultDiv.innerHTML = '

Estimated Monthly Azure Cost:

' + 'Virtual Machine Cost: $' + vmCost.toFixed(2) + " + 'Managed Disk Cost: $' + diskMonthlyCost.toFixed(2) + " + 'Data Egress Cost: $' + dataEgressCost.toFixed(2) + " + 'Total Estimated Monthly Cost: $' + totalMonthlyCost.toFixed(2) + " + 'This is an estimate based on current US East 2 pricing for selected services and does not include all potential Azure costs, taxes, or discounts. Actual costs may vary.'; } .calculator-container { font-family: 'Segoe UI', Arial, sans-serif; background-color: #f9f9f9; padding: 25px; border-radius: 8px; box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); max-width: 600px; margin: 20px auto; border: 1px solid #e0e0e0; } .calculator-container h2 { color: #0056b3; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: 1.8em; } .calculator-container p { color: #555; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 15px; } .form-group { margin-bottom: 18px; } .form-group label { display: block; margin-bottom: 8px; font-weight: bold; color: #333; } .form-group input[type="number"], .form-group select { width: calc(100% – 22px); padding: 10px; border: 1px solid #ccc; border-radius: 5px; font-size: 1em; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: #fff; } .form-group input[type="number"]:focus, .form-group select:focus { border-color: #0078d4; outline: none; box-shadow: 0 0 0 2px rgba(0, 120, 212, 0.2); } .form-group small { display: block; margin-top: 5px; color: #666; font-size: 0.85em; } button { background-color: #0078d4; color: white; padding: 12px 25px; border: none; border-radius: 5px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 1.1em; display: block; width: 100%; margin-top: 25px; transition: background-color 0.3s ease; } button:hover { background-color: #0056b3; } .calculator-result { margin-top: 30px; padding: 20px; background-color: #e6f2ff; border: 1px solid #b3d9ff; border-radius: 8px; font-size: 1.1em; color: #333; } .calculator-result h3 { color: #0056b3; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 15px; font-size: 1.5em; } .calculator-result p { margin-bottom: 10px; color: #444; } .calculator-result .total-cost { font-size: 1.3em; font-weight: bold; color: #0056b3; border-top: 1px solid #b3d9ff; padding-top: 15px; margin-top: 15px; } .calculator-result .disclaimer { font-size: 0.85em; color: #777; margin-top: 20px; border-top: 1px dashed #cce0ff; padding-top: 10px; } .calculator-result .error { color: #d9534f; font-weight: bold; }

Understanding Azure Cloud Costs: A Comprehensive Guide

Azure, Microsoft's robust cloud computing platform, offers a vast array of services, from virtual machines and databases to AI and IoT solutions. While its flexibility and scalability are undeniable, understanding and predicting your Azure costs can be a complex task. This guide, along with our simplified Azure Monthly Cost Estimator, aims to demystify some of the core pricing components.

Key Factors Influencing Azure Costs

Azure pricing is dynamic and depends on several factors. Unlike a fixed monthly subscription, you typically pay only for what you use, which can lead to significant cost variations. Here are the primary elements that drive your Azure bill:

1. Service Type: Azure offers hundreds of services, each with its own pricing model. A Virtual Machine (VM) will be priced differently than a database (e.g., Azure SQL Database), a storage account, or a serverless function (Azure Functions).
2. Resource Configuration: For services like Virtual Machines, the size (number of vCPUs, RAM), operating system (Windows vs. Linux), and generation (e.g., v3, v4) significantly impact the hourly rate. Similarly, for storage, the type (Standard HDD, Standard SSD, Premium SSD, Ultra Disk) and capacity are crucial.
3. Region: Azure operates data centers globally. Pricing can vary considerably between regions due to local infrastructure costs, energy prices, and market dynamics. For instance, compute in a US region might be cheaper than in a European or Asian region.
4. Data Transfer (Egress): While data ingress (data coming into Azure) is generally free, data egress (data leaving Azure, e.g., to the internet or another region) is typically charged per gigabyte (GB). These charges are often tiered, meaning the cost per GB decreases as your data transfer volume increases.
5. Licensing: For Windows VMs or SQL Server, you can often bring your own license (BYOL) to save costs, or pay for the license directly through Azure.
6. Support Plans: Azure offers various support plans (Basic, Developer, Standard, Professional Direct, Premier) with different features and costs, usually a percentage of your monthly Azure spend.
7. Reserved Instances & Savings Plans: For predictable workloads, committing to a 1-year or 3-year Azure Reserved Instance or Azure Savings Plan can provide significant discounts (up to 72% off pay-as-you-go prices).
8. Consumption vs. Provisioned: Some services are consumption-based (you pay per execution, per GB processed, etc.), while others are provisioned (you pay for the resource whether it's actively used or not, like a VM running 24/7).

How Our Azure Monthly Cost Estimator Works

Our calculator focuses on three fundamental and commonly used Azure services to provide a basic cost estimate:

• Virtual Machines (VMs): We allow you to select a common Linux VM type (Standard_B2s, Standard_D2s_v3, Standard_E2s_v3) and specify its monthly uptime in hours. The cost is calculated based on the VM's hourly rate multiplied by the uptime.
• Managed Disks: You can choose between Standard HDD, Standard SSD, and Premium SSD, along with common disk sizes (128 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB). The calculator uses simplified monthly rates for these disk types and sizes, reflecting typical pricing for the US East 2 region.
• Data Egress: Input the estimated amount of data (in GB) that will be transferred out of Azure to the internet each month. The calculator applies a tiered pricing model, where the first 5 GB are free, and subsequent data is charged at a per-GB rate.

Example Calculation

Let's walk through an example using the calculator:

• VM Type: Standard_D2s_v3 ($0.096/hr)
• VM Uptime: 730 hours/month (running 24/7)
• Managed Disk Type: Premium SSD
• Managed Disk Size: 128 GB (P10)
• Data Egress: 100 GB/month

Based on these inputs, the estimated costs would be:

• VM Cost: $0.096/hr * 730 hours = $70.08
• Managed Disk Cost (Premium SSD P10): $19.00
• Data Egress Cost: (100 GB – 5 GB free) * $0.087/GB = 95 GB * $0.087/GB = $8.27
• Total Estimated Monthly Cost: $70.08 + $19.00 + $8.27 = $97.35

Important Considerations

It's crucial to remember that this calculator provides a simplified estimate. Real-world Azure costs can be influenced by many other factors not included here, such as:

• Other Azure services (databases, networking components like Load Balancers/VPN Gateways, monitoring, security services, etc.)
• Specific discounts (e.g., Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server/SQL Server licenses)
• Reserved Instances or Azure Savings Plans
• Taxes and currency exchange rates
• Actual usage patterns (e.g., burstable VMs, auto-scaling)

For a precise and comprehensive cost analysis, always refer to the official Azure Pricing Calculator and consult Azure's detailed pricing pages for each service.