Azure pricing
Microsoft Azure mirrors AWS in catalogue breadth and is the default for organisations already standardised on Microsoft tooling (AD, M365, Hybrid Benefit). Burstable B-series, Dsv5/Dasv5 general purpose, and the Ampere-based Dpsv5 cover most production workloads.
- ▸Microsoft licence portability (Hybrid Benefit, AD integration)
- ▸Best for Windows Server / SQL Server workloads
- ▸Reserved Instance discounts up to 72%
- ▸Portal UX is dense and slow vs AWS/GCP
- ▸Egress fees comparable to AWS, region pricing varies more
- ▸Burstable B-series credit accounting can surprise
Microsoft Azure pricing table
| Provider | Family / instance | vCPU | CPU type | RAM GB | Storage | Net Gbps | Best for | Hourly $ | Monthly $ | Annual $ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
$ |
vCPU
RAM
$
|
$ | Buy | |||||||
| No instances match the current filters. Try widening the vCPU or RAM range. | ||||||||||||
Azure pricing — frequently asked
What is the cheapest Azure server?
The cheapest Azure instance we track is Standard_B1ls at about $0.0052/hour, and the lowest monthly list price is roughly $3.80/month. Spot/preemptible and committed-use pricing can lower this further.
How is Azure pricing calculated?
Prices shown are USD on-demand list prices for Linux instances, normalised to hourly, monthly (730-hour), and 1-year reserved equivalents so you can compare Azure against other providers at matching vCPU and RAM. We track 40 Azure instances across 5 families.
Is Azure cheaper than AWS?
It depends on the workload. Compare Azure head-to-head against AWS, GCP, Azure, Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode at the same vCPU/RAM tier using the comparison links on this page. Lean providers usually win on flat price/performance; hyperscalers win on regions, managed services, and compliance.