Cost management tools

Understanding Microsoft Azure Management and Governance

Maarten Van den Broeck

Senior Content Developer at DataCamp

Cost management tools overview

Tool Use
Pricing Calculator Estimate costs of a specific resource configuration in Azure
TCO Calculator Compare the total cost of on-premises infrastructure with the same configuration in Azure Cloud
Cost Management Provides users with insights and controls to monitor, analyze, and optimize costs
Understanding Microsoft Azure Management and Governance

Pricing Calculator

Used to estimate costs of a specific resource configuration in Azure

  • Freely available
  • Estimates costs of individual resources or services or a specific combination
  • Template scenarios: e.g., big data analytics set-up

Pricing Calculator

Understanding Microsoft Azure Management and Governance

TCO calculator

Compare the total cost of on-premises infrastructure with the same configuration in Azure Cloud

  • TCO = total cost of ownership including hidden costs like operating costs
  • Freely available
  • Used to support migration to Azure

TCO Calculator

Understanding Microsoft Azure Management and Governance

Cost Management

Central hub in Azure for all things cost-related

  • Set up budgets and cost alerts
  • Manage billing options and invoices
  • API for exporting cost details to external systems
  • Analyze costs with Cost Analysis tool

Cost Management in Azure

Understanding Microsoft Azure Management and Governance

Cost Management: Cost Analysis tool

  • Tool for ad-hoc cost exploration
  • Custom visualization and filters
  • Cost forecasts
  • For more advanced analysis: connect to Power BI

Cost Analysis tool in Azure

Understanding Microsoft Azure Management and Governance

Example use case: costs of a virtual machine (cont.)

For your data project, you create a new VM in Azure, balancing the requirements for the project with budget limits

  • Pricing calculator: estimate VM and other resource costs beforehand
  • Cost per month is given when creating the VM and choosing its size
  • Monitor costs and usage in Cost Management

GIF of calculating costs of a VM in the Pricing Calculator

Understanding Microsoft Azure Management and Governance

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Understanding Microsoft Azure Management and Governance

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