Microsoft Azure Pricing — Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Blob Storage, Azure Database & Egress Costs (2026)
Microsoft Azure competes on enterprise fit more than on headline rate: the on-demand VM price is close to AWS and Google Cloud, but Azure Hybrid Benefit and free AKS cluster management change the arithmetic for teams with the right licenses. Every figure below is computed from Azure list rates by the same engine as the live estimator.
- Azure Hybrid Benefit cuts up to 40% on Windows & SQL Server licenses.
- Free AKS cluster management on baseline tier.
What a Azure architecture costs
Four reference architectures, priced for Microsoft Azure alone by the same engine that powers the live estimator — list prices in USD, us-east-1 baseline, on-demand unless noted.
SaaS Starter MVP
Ideal for early-stage startups and production web apps with up to 25k monthly active users.
- Virtual Machines / Compute
- $125.56/mo
- Object & Block Storage
- $10.75/mo
- Managed Relational Database
- $111.51/mo
- Networking & Data Egress
- $151.67/mo
High-Traffic E-Commerce
Engineered for high concurrent checkouts, product catalogs, and intensive flash sales.
- Virtual Machines / Compute
- $452.02/mo
- Object & Block Storage
- $43.70/mo
- Managed Relational Database
- $375.03/mo
- Networking & Data Egress
- $738.34/mo
Enterprise Microservices (K8s)
Multi-service containerized architecture with managed Kubernetes clusters and service mesh.
- Object & Block Storage
- $109.20/mo
- Managed Relational Database
- $750.05/mo
- Networking & Data Egress
- $1092.20/mo
- Managed Kubernetes
- $1004.48/mo
AI / ML Inference & Pipeline
Compute and memory-optimized instances designed for low-latency LLM serving and vector retrieval.
- Virtual Machines / Compute
- $1205.38/mo
- Object & Block Storage
- $174.40/mo
- Managed Relational Database
- $635.05/mo
- Networking & Data Egress
- $1305.93/mo
Azure Virtual Machines instance pricing
Every published shape in the catalog, priced at 730 hours/month in USD list rates.
| Instance | Shape | On-demand | 1-year reserved | 3-year reserved | Spot / preemptible |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard_D8as_v5 General Purpose (B/D-series) | 8 vCPU / 32 GB | $251.12/mo | $150.67/mo | $100.45/mo | $50.22/mo |
Standard_D2as_v5 General Purpose (B/D-series) | 2 vCPU / 8 GB | $62.78/mo | $37.67/mo | $25.11/mo | $12.56/mo |
Standard_D4as_v5 General Purpose (B/D-series) | 4 vCPU / 16 GB | $125.56/mo | $75.34/mo | $50.22/mo | $25.11/mo |
Standard_D16as_v5 General Purpose (B/D-series) | 16 vCPU / 64 GB | $502.24/mo | $301.34/mo | $200.90/mo | $100.45/mo |
Azure Blob Storage storage tiers
| Hot / standard | $0.0208/GB-mo $20.80 per TB-month · $0.0040/10k reads · $0.0500/10k writes |
|---|---|
| Cool / infrequent | $0.0152/GB-mo $15.20 per TB-month · $0.0100/10k reads · $0.1000/10k writes |
| Cold | $0.0036/GB-mo $3.60 per TB-month · $0.1000/10k reads · $0.1800/10k writes |
| Archive | $0.0010/GB-mo $0.99 per TB-month · $5.0000/10k reads · $0.1000/10k writes |
Azure Database pricing
| Flexible Server D2ds_v5 (2 vCPU / 8 GB) | PostgreSQL $100.01/mo · MySQL $100.01/mo · SQL Server $217.54/mo Storage $0.1150/GB-mo · multi-AZ multiplies the instance rate by 2× |
|---|---|
| Flexible Server D4ds_v5 (4 vCPU / 16 GB) | PostgreSQL $200.02/mo · MySQL $200.02/mo · SQL Server $435.08/mo Storage $0.1150/GB-mo · multi-AZ multiplies the instance rate by 2× |
| Flexible Server D8ds_v5 (8 vCPU / 32 GB) | PostgreSQL $400.04/mo · MySQL $400.04/mo · SQL Server $870.16/mo Storage $0.1150/GB-mo · multi-AZ multiplies the instance rate by 2× |
| Flexible Server E8ds_v5 (8 vCPU / 64 GB) | PostgreSQL $554.80/mo · MySQL $554.80/mo · SQL Server $1024.92/mo Storage $0.1150/GB-mo · multi-AZ multiplies the instance rate by 2× |
Networking & egress
| Internet egress | $0.0870/GB (first 10 TB) Then $0.0783/GB up to 40 TB. No standing free allowance. |
|---|---|
| Load balancer | $18.25/mo |
| Static IPv4 address | $2.92/mo |
Azure AKS
| Control plane (first cluster) | Free Billed at $0.000/hr; the first cluster is waived. |
|---|
Where Azure ranks
- Entry-level compute: #10 of 10 ($62.78/mo (Standard_D2as_v5))
- Egress at 20 TB/month: #7 of 10 ($1692.67/mo)
Full ranked tables live in the cost guides.
Lowering a Azure bill
Azure Hybrid Benefit
If your organization owns on-premises Windows Server or SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance, apply them to Azure VMs for up to 40% savings.
AKS standard tier also waives cluster management fees.
- AKS Standard Tier includes free cluster management, providing instant base savings.
- Route traffic via Azure CDN to cut egress costs by 30-50%.
Compare Azure with other providers
Cost guides featuring Azure
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Microsoft Azure pricing — frequently asked questions
Is Azure cheaper than AWS or Google Cloud?
For plain on-demand Linux virtual machines the three hyperscalers are closely priced, and the reference workload totals below show the gap in dollars rather than in adjectives. Azure pulls ahead when you already own Windows Server or SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance — Azure Hybrid Benefit is worth up to 40% on those workloads — and when you count Kubernetes control planes, because free cluster management on the standard tier is a saving AWS and Google Cloud do not match on the first cluster.
What is the cheapest way to run a workload on Azure?
Apply Azure Hybrid Benefit first if your organization holds eligible Windows Server or SQL Server licenses — it is the largest and least disruptive saving available, and it applies to existing deployments. Then cover steady-state capacity with reserved VM instances, and keep clusters on the free standard tier unless you specifically need the uptime SLA. Route outbound traffic through Azure CDN or Front Door, since internet egress is metered from the first gigabyte.
Who is Azure the right choice for?
Organizations already standardized on Microsoft: Active Directory and Microsoft 365 estates, Windows Server and SQL Server workloads, and enterprises with Enterprise Agreements that carry Azure commitments. Azure is also the strongest fit in this comparison for hybrid estates that need consistent identity and policy across on-premises and cloud.
What does the cheapest comparable instance cost on Azure?
For a 4 vCPU / 16 GB Linux instance at 730 hours a month on demand, the engine matches Azure Virtual Machines to Standard_D4as_v5 at $125.56/month. Instance shapes differ between providers, so the matched shape matters as much as the price — the compute table below lists every published shape with its reserved and spot rates.
How does Azure charge for data transfer?
Internet egress is metered from the first gigabyte — there is no standing free transfer allowance. Load balancers bill at $18.25/month and static IPv4 addresses at $2.92/month in this catalog, both metered hourly.
What storage tiers and managed database engines does Azure offer?
Object storage is available in 4 tiers (hot, cool, cold, archive) — see the storage table for per-GB rates. Managed databases cover POSTGRES, MYSQL, SQL SERVER. The managed Kubernetes control plane is free on the first cluster.
Provenance for every figure on this page is listed on the methodology page.