specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
schema: https://www.finops.org/framework/
provider: Microsoft Azure API Management
providerId: microsoft-azure-api-management
created: '2026-05-04'
# Provenance stamped 2026-08-11: this artifact was written by the API Evangelist
# bulk sweep dated 2026-05-04, not harvested from the provider. See roadmap#35.
method: generated
modified: '2026-05-22'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - FinOps
  - FOCUS
  - API Management
  - Microsoft Azure
description: 'FOCUS-aligned FinOps for Azure API Management: hourly per-scale-unit billing on classic
  and v2 tiers, plus per-million-call metering on the Consumption tier.'
sources:
  - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/api-management/
  - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/plan-manage-costs
alignedWith:
  framework: FinOps Foundation Framework
  frameworkUrl: https://www.finops.org/framework/
  dataSpec: FOCUS
  dataSpecVersion: '1.3'
  dataSpecUrl: https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
publisherName: Microsoft Corporation
serviceCategory: Integration / API Gateway
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: Pay-As-You-Go + Committed Use
  billingFrequency: Monthly
  billingCurrency: USD
  chargeCategories:
    - Usage
    - Purchase
    - Tax
    - Adjustment
    - Credit
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: Azure API Management
  ServiceCategory: Integration / API Gateway
  ProviderName: Microsoft
  PublisherName: Microsoft Corporation
  InvoiceIssuerName: Microsoft Corporation
  BillingCurrency: USD
  ChargeCategory: Usage
meters:
  - name: scale_unit_hours
    unit: instance-hour
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - tier
      - region
      - resource
  - name: consumption_calls
    unit: call
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - region
      - api
  - name: v2_included_requests
    unit: million-requests
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - tier
      - region
    notes: Basic v2 includes 10M requests/unit/month and Standard v2 includes 50M; overage is metered
      per 1M.
  - name: cache_storage
    unit: GB
    aggregation: max
    dimensions:
      - tier
  - name: data_transfer
    unit: GB
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - region
      - direction
  - name: ai_token_usage
    unit: token
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - api
      - deployment
      - subscription
    notes: Surfaced via llm-emit-token-metric policy into Application Insights; not a direct API
      Management charge but drives Azure OpenAI/Foundry/Bedrock backend cost.
principles:
  - name: Visibility
    description: Use Azure Cost Management cost analysis filtered on resource type 'Microsoft.ApiManagement/service'
      and the service's diagnostic logs to break down per-API and per-product call volume.
  - name: Allocation
    description: Tag API Management instances with cost-center and product tags; group APIs into
      Products with subscription keys per consumer team for chargeback.
  - name: Optimization
    description: Right-size scale units; use Consumption tier for spiky workloads; consolidate dev/test
      onto Developer tier; use Premium multi-region only where required; apply caching policies to
      reduce backend cost.
  - name: Accountability
    description: Assign API product owners as cost owners; alert on scale-unit count drift; review
      autoscale settings on v2 tiers to avoid runaway scale-out.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com