specification: API Commons Plans
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/Plans
provider: Azure Virtual Machines
providerId: microsoft-azure-virtual-machines
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: '2026-05-05'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - Cloud Computing
  - Compute
  - IaaS
  - Infrastructure
  - Virtual Machines
description: Azure Virtual Machines is consumption-priced per second (1-minute minimum) with
  per-hour rate cards published per VM size, region, and OS (Linux, Windows, RHEL, SUSE). The
  Azure Resource Manager (ARM) management API itself is free. Three commercial commitments
  reduce cost dramatically — Reserved Instances (1- or 3-year, ~30–72% off pay-as-you-go),
  Azure Savings Plans for Compute (flexible hourly commit, ~11–65% off), and Spot VMs (up to
  ~90% off with eviction risk). Azure Hybrid Benefit lets customers bring Windows Server /
  SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance.
sources:
  - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/linux/
  - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/windows/
  - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/reserved-vm-instances/
  - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/spot-advisor/
  - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes
plans:
  - id: microsoft-azure-vm-arm-control-plane
    name: ARM Control Plane (Free)
    type: freemium
    description: Calling the Azure Resource Manager management API to create / read / update /
      delete VM resources is free. You pay only for the VM-hours and associated resources you
      provision (disks, network, IPs).
    entries:
      - label: Management API requests
        name: arm_management_requests
        type: metered
        metric: request
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: '0.00'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: All ARM CRUD operations on Microsoft.Compute resources
      - name: Subject to Compute throttling token buckets (see rate-limits/)
  - id: microsoft-azure-vm-payg-burstable
    name: Pay-As-You-Go — B-series (Burstable) Linux
    type: usage-based
    description: Cost-efficient burstable VMs that accumulate CPU credits when idle. Examples
      shown for East US Linux pricing.
    entries:
      - label: B1s (1 vCPU / 1 GiB)
        name: b1s_hour
        type: metered
        metric: hour
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: US
        unit: 1
        price: '$0.0104 per hour (~$7.59/month)'
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: B2s (2 vCPU / 4 GiB)
        name: b2s_hour
        type: metered
        metric: hour
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: US
        unit: 1
        price: '$0.0416 per hour (~$30.37/month)'
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: B4ms (4 vCPU / 16 GiB)
        name: b4ms_hour
        type: metered
        metric: hour
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: US
        unit: 1
        price: '$0.166 per hour (~$121.18/month)'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Per-second billing
      - name: Burstable CPU credits
  - id: microsoft-azure-vm-payg-general-purpose
    name: Pay-As-You-Go — D-series (General Purpose) Linux
    type: usage-based
    description: General-purpose VMs with balanced CPU/memory ratio.
    entries:
      - label: D2s_v5 (2 vCPU / 8 GiB)
        name: d2sv5_hour
        type: metered
        metric: hour
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: US
        unit: 1
        price: '$0.096 per hour'
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: D8s_v5 (8 vCPU / 32 GiB)
        name: d8sv5_hour
        type: metered
        metric: hour
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: US
        unit: 1
        price: '$0.384 per hour'
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: D32s_v5 (32 vCPU / 128 GiB)
        name: d32sv5_hour
        type: metered
        metric: hour
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: US
        unit: 1
        price: '$1.536 per hour'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Premium SSD support
      - name: Accelerated networking
  - id: microsoft-azure-vm-payg-compute-optimized
    name: Pay-As-You-Go — F-series (Compute Optimized) Linux
    type: usage-based
    description: High CPU-to-memory ratio for batch / analytics / web servers.
    entries:
      - label: F2s_v2 (2 vCPU / 4 GiB)
        name: f2sv2_hour
        type: metered
        metric: hour
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: US
        unit: 1
        price: '$0.0846 per hour'
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: F16s_v2 (16 vCPU / 32 GiB)
        name: f16sv2_hour
        type: metered
        metric: hour
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: US
        unit: 1
        price: '$0.677 per hour'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Higher CPU clock speed
      - name: Suitable for batch / web tier
  - id: microsoft-azure-vm-payg-windows
    name: Pay-As-You-Go — Windows Server premium
    type: usage-based
    description: Windows VMs add a per-vCPU Windows Server license premium on top of base
      compute. Azure Hybrid Benefit eliminates the premium if you bring your own license.
    entries:
      - label: D2s_v5 Windows (2 vCPU / 8 GiB)
        name: d2sv5_windows_hour
        type: metered
        metric: hour
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: US
        unit: 1
        price: '$0.188 per hour (Linux base + Windows license)'
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: Azure Hybrid Benefit (BYOL)
        name: ahb_byol
        type: subscription
        metric: vcore
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: 'no Windows premium (BYOL)'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Windows Server included by default
      - name: Bring Your Own License (BYOL) via Azure Hybrid Benefit
  - id: microsoft-azure-vm-spot
    name: Spot VMs
    type: usage-based
    description: Surplus capacity with up to 90% discount vs PAYG. Subject to eviction with
      30-second notice when Azure needs the capacity.
    entries:
      - label: Spot VM (representative discount)
        name: spot_discount
        type: metered
        metric: hour
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: usage
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: up to ~90% off PAYG; actual rate varies by region/SKU/time
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Up to 90% discount
      - name: Eviction with 30-sec notice
      - name: Best for fault-tolerant batch / dev
  - id: microsoft-azure-vm-reserved-1y
    name: Reserved Instance — 1 Year
    type: subscription
    description: Pre-commit to a specific VM size for 1 year for ~30–40% off PAYG. Single-region
      or Region Flexibility scope.
    entries:
      - label: Representative 1-year RI savings
        name: ri_1y
        type: subscription
        metric: contract
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: configurable
        unit: 1
        price: '~30–40% off PAYG (varies by SKU / region)'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: All up-front, partial up-front, or no up-front
      - name: Region/instance flexibility option
      - name: Convertible to other RIs in family
  - id: microsoft-azure-vm-reserved-3y
    name: Reserved Instance — 3 Year
    type: subscription
    description: Pre-commit for 3 years. Up to ~72% off PAYG for steady-state workloads.
    entries:
      - label: Representative 3-year RI savings
        name: ri_3y
        type: subscription
        metric: contract
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: configurable
        unit: 1
        price: up to ~72% off PAYG
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Maximum committed-use discount
      - name: Convertible across same VM family
  - id: microsoft-azure-vm-savings-plan
    name: Azure Savings Plan for Compute
    type: subscription
    description: Hourly $-commitment for 1- or 3-year. ~11–65% off PAYG. Flexible across VM
      family / region / OS / Container Instances / Functions Premium / App Service / Dedicated
      Host.
    entries:
      - label: 1-year savings plan
        name: savings_plan_1y
        type: subscription
        metric: hourly-commit
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: ~11–47% off PAYG
        userMultiplied: false
      - label: 3-year savings plan
        name: savings_plan_3y
        type: subscription
        metric: hourly-commit
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: up to ~65% off PAYG
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Flexible across compute services
      - name: Auto-applies to lowest-priced eligible VM-hour
  - id: microsoft-azure-vm-enterprise
    name: Enterprise Agreement / Microsoft Customer Agreement
    type: enterprise
    description: Negotiated rates with committed Azure consumption (MACC), volume tier
      discounts, and Software Assurance benefits.
    entries:
      - label: Negotiated rate
        name: ea_negotiated
        type: subscription
        metric: contract
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: custom
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC)
      - name: Software Assurance / Hybrid Benefit
      - name: Dedicated technical account management
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com
    url: https://azure.microsoft.com/services/virtual-machines/
x-canonical:
  generated: '2026-10-08'
  vocabulary: all/0-working/economics/plans-canonical.yml
  models:
  - metered
  - subscription
  units:
  - compute
  - negotiated
  - request
  plans:
  - name: ARM Control Plane (Free)
    access: freemium
    model: metered
    model_how: derived
    units:
    - request
    periods:
    - per-use
  - name: Pay-As-You-Go — B-series (Burstable) Linux
    access: other
    model: metered
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - compute
    periods:
    - per-use
  - name: Pay-As-You-Go — D-series (General Purpose) Linux
    access: other
    model: metered
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - compute
    periods:
    - per-use
  - name: Pay-As-You-Go — F-series (Compute Optimized) Linux
    access: other
    model: metered
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - compute
    periods:
    - per-use
  - name: Pay-As-You-Go — Windows Server premium
    access: other
    model: metered
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - compute
    - other
    periods:
    - month
    - per-use
  - name: Spot VMs
    access: other
    model: metered
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - compute
    periods:
    - per-use
  - name: Reserved Instance — 1 Year
    access: other
    model: subscription
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - negotiated
    periods:
    - month
  - name: Reserved Instance — 3 Year
    access: other
    model: subscription
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - negotiated
    periods:
    - month
  - name: Azure Savings Plan for Compute
    access: other
    model: subscription
    model_how: stated
    units:
    - other
    periods:
    - month
  - name: Enterprise Agreement / Microsoft Customer Agreement
    access: enterprise
    model: subscription
    model_how: derived
    units:
    - negotiated
    periods:
    - month