Microsoft Azure Pricing 2026
Complete pricing guide with plans, hidden costs, and negotiation tips
Microsoft Azure pricing varies by team size and features, ranging from $1 to $12 per month in 2026. Your actual cost depends on the tier you choose, contract length, and negotiated discounts.
Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.
- Free tier: Yes
- Billing: Monthly and annual (save 15-20%)
- Hidden costs: Add ~35% for implementation, support, and training
Microsoft Azure offers 5 pricing tiers: Free Tier, Pay-As-You-Go (B1s), Pay-As-You-Go (D2s v3), Azure Savings Plan (1-Year), Reserved Instances (3-Year). Standard paid plans include Free Tier at $0/month, Pay-As-You-Go (B1s) at $7.59/month, Pay-As-You-Go (D2s v3) at $70.08/month. The Pay-As-You-Go (B1s) plan is lightweight workloads, development servers, and testing environments.
Compared to other cloud infrastructure software, Microsoft Azure is positioned at the budget-friendly price point.
Microsoft Azure is the second-largest cloud infrastructure provider with approximately 25% global market share. Azure offers over 200 products and services including virtual machines, databases, AI services, and DevOps tools. Its deep integration with the Microsoft ecosystem (Windows Server, SQL Server, Active Directory, Microsoft 365) makes it a natural choice for enterprise organizations.
Azure pricing follows a pay-as-you-go model starting at $7.59/month for a B1s burstable VM. Production workloads on D-series VMs typically cost $70-300/month per instance. Azure Savings Plans offer up to 65% off, Reserved Instances save up to 72%, and Azure Hybrid Benefit provides additional 40% savings for organizations with existing Microsoft licenses.
All Microsoft Azure Plans & Pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Free | Free 0 | Developers and startups exploring Azure or building initial prototypes |
| Pay-As-You-Go (B1s) | $7.59 /month | $91.08 /month | Lightweight workloads, development servers, and testing environments |
| Pay-As-You-Go (D2s v3) | $70.08 /month | $840.96 /month | Production web servers, small databases, and general-purpose applications |
| Azure Savings Plan (1-Year) | Contact | Contact | Organizations with predictable Azure spend seeking long-term discounts |
| Reserved Instances (3-Year) | Contact | Contact | Enterprise workloads with stable, predictable VM usage over multiple years |
View all features by plan
Free Tier
- $200 credit for first 30 days
- 750 hours/month B1s, B2pts v2, and B2ats v2 VMs (12 months)
- 5 GB Blob Storage (12 months)
- 250 GB SQL Database (12 months)
- 15 GB outbound data transfer/month
- 55+ always-free services including Functions and Cosmos DB
- Azure DevOps with 5 users free
- Azure Active Directory free tier
Pay-As-You-Go (B1s)
- 1 vCPU, 1 GiB memory
- Burstable CPU performance
- Per-second billing
- No upfront commitment
- Linux or Windows OS options
- Available in 60+ regions worldwide
- Integrated with Azure Monitor
Pay-As-You-Go (D2s v3)
- 2 vCPUs, 8 GiB memory
- Dedicated compute performance
- Premium SSD support
- Accelerated networking
- Per-second billing
- Availability zone support
- Azure Hybrid Benefit eligible
Azure Savings Plan (1-Year)
- Up to 65% off Pay-As-You-Go rates
- Flexible across VM sizes, regions, and OS
- 1-year or 3-year commitment
- Applies to VMs, App Service, Functions, and Container Instances
- Hourly commitment model
- Automatic discount application
- Combinable with Azure Hybrid Benefit
Reserved Instances (3-Year)
- Up to 72% off Pay-As-You-Go rates
- Instance-specific discounts
- Priority capacity allocation
- 3-year commitment for maximum savings
- All Upfront, Monthly, or No Upfront payment options
- Exchangeable for different VM sizes within same family
- Stackable with Azure Hybrid Benefit for additional 40% off Windows
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Frequently Asked Questions
01 How much does Microsoft Azure cost?
Azure uses pay-as-you-go pricing. A B1s VM costs $7.59/month, a D2s v3 costs $70.08/month, and production environments typically range $200-$5,000+/month. New accounts receive $200 in free credits plus 12 months of free popular services.
02 Does Azure have a free tier?
Yes, Azure offers a generous free tier: $200 credit for the first 30 days, 750 hours/month of B1s VMs free for 12 months, and 55+ always-free services including Azure Functions (1M requests/month), Cosmos DB (1,000 RU/s), and Azure DevOps (5 users).
03 What hidden costs should I expect with Azure?
Key hidden costs include data egress ($0.087/GB), managed disk storage ($0.075/GB/month for Premium SSD), Load Balancer fees, Azure Monitor log ingestion ($2.76/GB), and static IP charges. Support plans add $100-$1,000/month depending on the tier.
04 How can I save money on Azure?
Use Azure Savings Plans for up to 65% off or Reserved Instances for up to 72% off. Azure Hybrid Benefit saves up to 40% on Windows VMs with existing licenses. Spot VMs offer up to 90% discounts for interruptible workloads. Use Azure Advisor for cost optimization recommendations.
05 Is Azure cheaper than AWS?
Azure and AWS have comparable pricing for similar instance types. Azure offers advantages with Hybrid Benefit for existing Windows/SQL Server licenses (saving up to 40%), while AWS has broader Savings Plans flexibility. Azure is often cheaper for Microsoft-centric organizations.