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Guided AZ-900 Domain 3
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AZ-900 Study Guide

Domain 1: Describe Cloud Concepts

  • What is Cloud Computing? Free
  • Cloud Models: Public, Private, and Hybrid Free
  • Cloud Pricing: Consumption, Serverless, and Pay-as-You-Go Free
  • High Availability and Scalability Free
  • Reliability, Security, and Manageability Free
  • IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Explained Free
  • Choosing the Right Cloud Service Free

Domain 2: Describe Azure Architecture and Services

  • Azure Regions, Zones, and Datacenters
  • Resources, Resource Groups, and Subscriptions
  • Azure Virtual Machines
  • Azure Compute: Containers, Functions, and App Service
  • Azure Networking: VNets, Subnets, and Peering
  • Connecting to Azure: VPNs, ExpressRoute, and DNS
  • Azure Storage Services
  • Data Migration: Moving to Azure
  • Microsoft Entra ID: Your Identity Hub
  • Authentication and External Identities
  • Azure Security: RBAC, Zero Trust, and Defender

Domain 3: Describe Azure Management and Governance

  • What Affects Your Azure Bill
  • Pricing Calculators: TCO and Azure Pricing
  • Cost Management and Tags
  • Azure Governance: Purview, Policy, and Locks
  • The Azure Portal and Cloud Shell
  • Infrastructure as Code: ARM, Bicep, and Arc
  • Azure Advisor and Service Health
  • Azure Monitor: Logs, Alerts, and Insights

AZ-900 Study Guide

Domain 1: Describe Cloud Concepts

  • What is Cloud Computing? Free
  • Cloud Models: Public, Private, and Hybrid Free
  • Cloud Pricing: Consumption, Serverless, and Pay-as-You-Go Free
  • High Availability and Scalability Free
  • Reliability, Security, and Manageability Free
  • IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Explained Free
  • Choosing the Right Cloud Service Free

Domain 2: Describe Azure Architecture and Services

  • Azure Regions, Zones, and Datacenters
  • Resources, Resource Groups, and Subscriptions
  • Azure Virtual Machines
  • Azure Compute: Containers, Functions, and App Service
  • Azure Networking: VNets, Subnets, and Peering
  • Connecting to Azure: VPNs, ExpressRoute, and DNS
  • Azure Storage Services
  • Data Migration: Moving to Azure
  • Microsoft Entra ID: Your Identity Hub
  • Authentication and External Identities
  • Azure Security: RBAC, Zero Trust, and Defender

Domain 3: Describe Azure Management and Governance

  • What Affects Your Azure Bill
  • Pricing Calculators: TCO and Azure Pricing
  • Cost Management and Tags
  • Azure Governance: Purview, Policy, and Locks
  • The Azure Portal and Cloud Shell
  • Infrastructure as Code: ARM, Bicep, and Arc
  • Azure Advisor and Service Health
  • Azure Monitor: Logs, Alerts, and Insights
Domain 3: Describe Azure Management and Governance Premium ⏱ ~10 min read

What Affects Your Azure Bill

Azure billing isn't magic — specific factors drive your costs. Understanding them helps you estimate, predict, and control spending.

What drives your Azure costs?

☕ Simple explanation

Think of your electricity bill at home.

The bill depends on: what appliances you have (heater costs more than a lamp), how much you use them (running the dryer all day costs more than one cycle), and where you live (electricity prices vary by region).

Azure works the same way. Your bill depends on: what resources you use (a big VM costs more than a small one), how long they run, how much data moves in and out, and which region you deploy in.

Azure costs are determined by several factors:

Resource type: Each Azure service has its own pricing model (per-hour, per-GB, per-transaction). The specific configuration (VM size, storage tier, database DTUs) directly impacts cost.

Consumption: Pay-as-you-go means you’re charged for actual usage. More usage = higher cost. Reserved instances reduce per-unit cost through commitment.

Region: Azure pricing varies by region due to infrastructure costs, local taxes, and demand. US East is typically cheapest.

Network traffic: Inbound data is free. Outbound data (egress) is charged per GB. Data transfers between Azure regions incur additional charges.

Subscription type: Free trials, pay-as-you-go, and enterprise agreements have different pricing structures and potential discounts.

Key cost factors

1. Resource type and configuration

The same service can cost wildly different amounts depending on how you configure it:

VM SizevCPUsRAMApproximate Monthly Cost (Australia East)
B1s11 GB~$8
D2s v528 GB~$70
D8s v5832 GB~$280
E64s v564512 GB~$3,500

Same service (VM), 400x cost difference based on size.

2. Region

Prices vary between regions. The same D2s v5 VM can cost different amounts:

  • US regions tend to be among the least expensive
  • Australia, Brazil, and Japan regions tend to cost more
  • Difference can be 20-40% for the same resource

Cost optimisation tip: Deploy non-latency-sensitive workloads (batch processing, backups) in lower-cost regions when compliance allows.

3. Network traffic (egress)

Traffic DirectionCost
Inbound (upload to Azure)Free
Outbound (download from Azure)Charged per GB (some free allowance included)
Between regionsCharged per GB
Within the same regionFree (most cases)

Peak Roasters learned this when their website serving images generated $40/month in egress charges — something they hadn’t budgeted for.

4. Reserved vs pay-as-you-go

Pricing ModelDiscountCommitment
Pay-as-you-goNone (full price)None
1-year reserved~20-40% savings1-year commitment
3-year reserved~40-72% savings3-year commitment

5. Azure Marketplace

Third-party software from the Azure Marketplace adds licensing costs on top of Azure infrastructure costs. A firewall appliance, for example, has Azure VM costs plus the vendor’s software licence.

💡 Exam tip: Factors that DON'T affect cost

These are free in Azure:

  • Creating resource groups (no charge)
  • Creating virtual networks (no charge for the VNet itself)
  • Inbound data transfer (uploading TO Azure is free)
  • Azure Advisor recommendations (free tier)
  • Microsoft Entra ID basic features

The exam may try to trick you by implying these have a cost. They don’t.

🎬 Video walkthrough

🎬 Video coming soon

What Affects Your Azure Bill — AZ-900

What Affects Your Azure Bill — AZ-900

~8 min

Flashcards

Question

What are the main factors that affect Azure costs?

Click or press Enter to reveal answer

Answer

Resource type and configuration, consumption (how much you use), region (prices vary by geography), network traffic (egress charges), subscription type, and Azure Marketplace licences.

Click to flip back
Question

Is inbound data transfer to Azure free?

Click or press Enter to reveal answer

Answer

Yes — uploading data TO Azure is free. You only pay for outbound (egress) data — downloading FROM Azure to the internet or between Azure regions.

Click to flip back
Question

How much can reserved instances save compared to pay-as-you-go?

Click or press Enter to reveal answer

Answer

1-year reserved: 20-40% savings. 3-year reserved: 40-72% savings. The trade-off is committing to use the resource for the reservation period.

Click to flip back

Knowledge Check

Knowledge Check

Peak Roasters is surprised by a $40 charge on their Azure bill for network traffic. What is the MOST likely cause?
Knowledge Check

Summit Construction runs a production database 24/7 in Azure. Which pricing approach gives the LARGEST cost reduction?

Next up: Azure Pricing Tools — the Pricing Calculator and TCO Calculator.

← Previous

Azure Security: RBAC, Zero Trust, and Defender

Next →

Pricing Calculators: TCO and Azure Pricing

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