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The Azure Pricing Calculator is an essential tool for estimating the cost of various Azure services. Much like budgeting for a road trip—where you factor in fuel, food, lodging, and other expenses—this calculator allows you to forecast your cloud spending before deployment.

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Key Features of the Azure Pricing Calculator

  1. Customizable Estimates
    Tailor Azure services to your specific needs and generate personalized cost estimates, just as you would design a detailed travel itinerary.
  2. Wide Range of Services
    Covering everything from compute and storage to networking and more, the calculator ensures that all your cloud service expenses are considered.
  3. Scenario-Based Calculations
    Simulate different usage scenarios to see how changes affect the overall budget, similar to adjusting your travel plans to find the most cost-effective route.
The image highlights the key features of the Azure Pricing Calculator, including customizable estimates, a wide range of services, and scenario-based calculations.

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Benefits of Using the Azure Pricing Calculator

  • Budget Planning
    Plan and manage your cloud expenditure with clear insights into potential Azure costs, helping you avoid unexpected charges.
  • Transparency
    Gain detailed insights into each cost component, enabling you to make informed financial decisions.
  • Flexibility
    Modify parameters to explore different cost options. For instance, compare costs between locally redundant storage and non-redundant storage models.
The image highlights the benefits of the Azure Pricing Calculator, featuring budget planning, transparency, and flexibility.
The Azure Pricing Calculator is an excellent first step in any cloud migration strategy, providing a clear financial picture before commitments are made.

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Use Cases

The Azure Pricing Calculator serves a variety of scenarios, including:
  • Azure Migration Planning
    Estimate costs for resources before moving to the Azure cloud.
  • Cost Comparison
    Evaluate different Azure configurations to determine the most cost-efficient solution.
  • Solution Optimization
    Optimize current Azure deployments to ensure you achieve maximum value for your investment.
The image is a graphic titled "Azure Pricing Calculator – Use Cases," highlighting three use cases: Azure migration planning, cost comparison for Azure configurations, and optimization of existing Azure solutions.
With comprehensive cost insights, the Pricing Calculator gives you the confidence to strategically plan your cloud investments.

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Using the Pricing Calculator

Begin by navigating to azure.microsoft.com or searching for “Azure Pricing Calculator” on Google. While logging in is not required, signing in allows you to save your estimates and access them later. Once you access the tool, you will find a list of popular services—such as Virtual Machines, Storage Accounts, SQL Databases, and App Services. Use the search bar to find other Azure resources; for example, searching for “Container Instances” lets you add them directly to your estimate.
The image shows a Microsoft Azure pricing calculator webpage, where various container-related services like Azure Kubernetes Service and Azure Container Instances are listed for estimation.

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Customizing a Container Instance Estimate

In this example, the following parameters are adjusted:
  • Region: East US
  • Operating System: Linux
  • Container Group: 1
  • Duration: 60 seconds per run
  • Memory: 3 GB
  • vCPUs: 2
Additional options such as savings plans for upfront payments may be available. The displayed estimate uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model, currently showing an estimated monthly cost of $0.01.
The image shows a Microsoft Azure pricing calculator for container instances, detailing the cost estimate for running a Linux container in the East US region for 10 seconds. The estimated monthly cost is $0.01.

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Exporting and Sharing Your Estimate

You have the option to export your estimate to Excel for deeper analysis or to share with colleagues and the finance team. If you are logged in, you can also directly share the estimate with another user.
The image shows a Microsoft Azure pricing calculator webpage, displaying estimated costs with options for support and licensing programs. The estimated monthly cost is $0.01, with no upfront cost.

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Adding a Storage Account to the Estimate

For further customization, you can add a Storage Account with the following steps:
  • Search for “Storage Account” and add it to your estimate.
  • Configure parameters like the storage account name (e.g., “Production Storage Account”), account type, performance level, access tier, redundancy (e.g., GRS), and capacity.
  • The Pricing Calculator will automatically adjust the cost estimate based on these inputs.
The image shows a Microsoft Azure pricing calculator interface, detailing storage account options and costs. It includes selections for region, type, performance, and capacity, with a monthly cost estimate.
Once configured, the calculator displays all cost components, including:
  • Read and write operations
  • Data retrieval charges
  • Additional features such as SFTP, if enabled
The image shows a Microsoft Azure pricing calculator with various data transfer and storage options selected, displaying costs for index, operations, and geo-replication data transfer. The total monthly cost is calculated at $134.71.
Example scenarios are provided to help you optimally configure the services for your needs:
The image shows a Microsoft Azure pricing calculator webpage, featuring example scenarios for advanced analytics on big data, with a flowchart and a list of related Azure products.
Always double-check your configured parameters to ensure that the cost estimate accurately reflects your intended usage before committing to any service configuration.

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Additional Tools

In addition to the Pricing Calculator, Azure provides the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Calculator. This tool is especially helpful for organizations planning to migrate from an on-premises environment to Azure, as it assists in evaluating potential savings and overall financial benefits. By leveraging these powerful tools, you can plan and optimize your cloud investments with confidence, ensuring a clear understanding of expected costs prior to implementation. This guide offers a detailed overview of the Pricing Calculator and its features. Use this tool to effectively forecast cloud expenses, make informed decisions, and communicate cost guidelines with your team or finance department.

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