How to accurately estimate the cost of your azure resources ?

anil kumar 1,641

Hello,

I get Azure credit through MSDN subscription - which are limited and expire/renewed every month. I am doing hands-on in Azure and keep an eye on cost analysis under cost management in Azure portal, still I think it doesn't update the cost of my Azure resources in real time.

"Forecast is based on usage from Feb 02 to Mar 01 and does not account for purchases. Changes in usage may take up to a week to be reflected." - It doesn't help me actually. I have had my subscription disabled two times because Azure resource cost exceed the Azure credit. Even Azure price calculator, setting budgets and cost per month when we create a resource in Azure are of limited help. When you have multiple resources, their usefulness is further limited.

My question is how to accurately estimate the cost of my all azure resources in real time ?

Appreciate your insightful response. Thank you.

KalyanChanumolu-MSFT 8,331 Reputation points

2021-02-13T04:17:09.327+00:00

@anil kumar Thank you for the feedback. We are continuously making enhancements to make the billing experience better for our customers. A week is the maximum time that it could take for forecasting costs.
However, it usually doesn't take that long.

As suggested by anonymous userChaudhari, you can set up alerts to notify you when you are exceeding the thresholds.
anil kumar 1,641 Reputation points

2021-02-15T04:30:23.337+00:00

Thank you @KalyanChanumolu-MSFT for your time.

Could you please help me understand how come it might take a week for cost reflection in Azure ? Pardon me for my lack of knowledge, whenever a resource is added, just add the cost of that resource into forecast cost - like when we create a Basic elastic pool, we already know how much it is going to cost us irrespective of number of databases in it, can we add the cost of Basic elastic pool within minutes into forecast costs ? As and when some more costs need to be added say for data in and data out - we can always revise the forecast cost. Actually I think forecast cost should be as real time as possible rather than being accurate, that's my humble submission.

I know it might not as easy as I thought, may be there are complex algorithms running in the background to update the cost, etc. Looking forward to hear from you.
KalyanChanumolu-MSFT 8,331 Reputation points

2021-02-15T05:48:42.147+00:00

@anil kumar Thank you for the comment.
Forecasting needs to rely on usage patterns, estimated use of storage, bandwidth costs for georedundant backups etc. to provide a reasonably accurate prediction.
Also, considering that every resource provider is billed differently, the logic to forecast costs is indeed complex.

However, your feedback to make it as real time as possible is valid. Please post it here
anil kumar 1,641 Reputation points

2021-02-15T07:08:08.207+00:00

Thank you @KalyanChanumolu-MSFT for prompt response.

"Forecasting needs to rely on usage patterns, estimated use of storage, bandwidth costs for georedundant backups etc. to provide a reasonably accurate prediction." - indeed, it sounds good. I was referring to adding cost for resources whose cost (minimal) is fixed like Azure DB cost a certain amount weather it is empty, same with elastic pool, etc.

Thanks again for your time - have an awesome day !!

Accepted answer

Vaibhav Chaudhari 38,736 Reputation points

2021-02-12T07:38:36.483+00:00

I don't have answer on accurately estimating the resources but I can tell you what I do to save the cost.

I have personal pay-as-you-go subscription and i never let the cost go beyond 500-1000 INR

Before creating any new Azure service I try to understand how much this will cost me. Resources like Azure storage, ADLS Gen2, ADF doesn't cost much. It cost more when you upload more files or trigger pipelines multiple time or use Dataflow in ADF

If I use ADB, I terminate the cluster as soon as work is done.

If any service is costing me more like Azure SQL DB or Azure Synapse SQL which are charged per month, I delete them as my work is done.

Monitor the cost by resources from Cost management. I set up alerts like send me email when total cost cross 200, 300, 400 INR.

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Please don't forget to Accept Answer and Up-vote if the response helped -- Vaibhav
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1 person found this answer helpful.
anil kumar 1,641 Reputation points

2021-02-15T04:47:11.317+00:00

Thank you anonymous userChaudhari for your time and valuable help !!

It is really commendable that you have a handle on your Azure cost. Actually we are learning Azure mostly database related stuff, so we don't delete the resources as we keep on coming back and explore a little more. I completely understand we need to be more cautious while creating and keeping the resources for the shortest possible period.

"Monitor the cost by resources from Cost management. I set up alerts like send me email when total cost cross 200, 300, 400 INR." - Are you talking about creating budgets and then setting up alerts ? If yes, could you please clarify if budget alert would be triggered only when Actual cost has reached that threshold ? If Azure is taking 3 days to calculate the actual cost - then only budget alert could come into picture? I am assuming we can't create budget for forecast cost - kindly correct me if I am wrong.

Looking forward to hear from you....

Vaibhav Chaudhari 38,736 Reputation points

2021-02-16T04:56:55.177+00:00

Yes, alerts are triggered when cost has reached the limit, at that point I get worried and delete or stop services and take necessary actions

anil kumar 1,641 Reputation points

2021-02-16T07:12:46.867+00:00

Thank you Vaibhav for your time and valuable help !!

Accepted your response as answer....
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