Pick a size and region to see pay as you go, 1-year and 3-year reservation prices side by side, for one VM or a whole pool. Or start from an example:
Microsoft's public Azure Retail Prices API: USD list prices for the size, region and operating system you pick, fetched when you calculate and cached for a day. If the API does not answer, the weekly snapshot behind the Azure VM pricing pages is used.
Pay as you go is the hourly rate × hours per month × instances. A reservation is billed for every hour of its term whether the VM runs or not, so it is always counted at 730 hours a month. Per year is per month × 12.
Only when the VM runs more hours than the break-even point shown with each result. A 3-year term usually breaks even at well under half the month; a 1-year term needs closer to two thirds. For VMs that are stopped at night, pay as you go is often cheaper.
Managed disks, bandwidth, backups, public IPs, taxes, Azure Hybrid Benefit, Spot and negotiated discounts. Savings plan rates are listed per region on each VM size page.
A reservation is billed for all 730 hours of the month, whether the VM runs or not. It pays off when the VM runs more hours than the break-even point: reserved hourly rate × 730 ÷ pay-as-you-go hourly rate. With a 3-year reservation that is 60% cheaper, the break-even is 292 hours a month, 40% of the time. The calculator shows the exact break-even for each size and region.
A reservation fixes the VM size family and region and gives the biggest discount. A savings plan commits to an hourly spend that applies across sizes and regions, with a smaller discount. Choose a reservation for VMs that will not change, a savings plan when sizes or regions will move.
No. Reservations and savings plans cover compute only, so the Windows Server license is still billed at the pay-as-you-go rate, unless Azure Hybrid Benefit lets you bring your own license. The calculator adds the license to the commitment price for Windows.
730: Azure monthly prices use 365 days × 24 hours ÷ 12 months. A VM that runs only during working hours (about 220 hours a month) costs roughly 30% of the always-on price.
Managed disks, bandwidth, backup, public IPs, taxes, Spot pricing and negotiated discounts. The estimate covers the VM compute and, for Windows, the license.