Azure database monthly costs for basic database

Question

Azure database monthly costs for basic database

Kiet Ho 20

Hi i have created database azure for the first time just to share with the other fella in vs code, i use student plan with 100$ credit and i accidentally chose the provision instead of serverless, it quicky ran out the entire credit after 4 -5 days. I deleted that accidental database (it was empty) and create new one (serverless) with 4.78usd/ month . Will I be charge any extra costs beside 4.78USD monthly? I don't use any other extra services just a plain shared database for my small shop how do i confirm i will be charged only 4.78 monthly? Thanks all

John Torrey 0 Reputation points

2025-08-20T21:49:34.7866667+00:00

I'm in a similar boat to all of you (I found 6 or 7 questions all sounding a lot like mine). My impression on all of this leads me to wonder why we're using Azure at all! It's not that hard to find Windows hosting with free databases for less than $10 per month and seemingly generous bandwidth. If nothing else, it seems like those would be a great alternative for development work. I've been idle for 3 days, and will be idle for 10 more days until the end of the month because I went over some quota. I can't even access the database to get a copy and continue development locally in SQLExpress! Where's the justification for using Azure?

Answer accepted by question author

Saraswathi Devadula 16,025 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello Kiet Ho

I completely understand your concern. Please be informed that 4.78USD per month will be the estimated cost. If your database is idle most of the time and auto-pauses, compute charges stay low. But if it’s constantly online—even without heavy usage—you might get more cost than expected.

Serverless is a compute tier for single databases in Azure SQL Database that automatically scales compute based on workload demand and bills for the amount of compute used per second. The serverless compute tier also automatically pauses databases during inactive periods when only storage is billed and automatically resumes databases when activity returns.

The cost for a serverless database is the summation of the compute cost and storage cost. The storage cost is determined in the same way as in the provisioned compute tier.

When compute usage is between the minimum and maximum limits configured, the compute cost is based on vCore and memory used.
When compute usage is below the minimum limits configured, the compute cost is based on the minimum vCores and minimum memory configured.
When the database is paused, the compute cost is zero and only storage costs are incurred.

The Azure SQL Database pricing calculator for serverless can be used to determine the minimum memory configurable based on the number of maximum and minimum vCores configured. As a rule, if the minimum vCores configured is greater than 0.5 vCores, then the minimum compute bill is independent of the minimum memory configured and based only on the number of minimum vCores configured.

Kindly please refer the below document for your reference,
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/serverless-tier-overview?view=azuresql&tabs=general-purpose#billing

Saraswathi Devadula 16,025 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-11T03:27:16.7533333+00:00

Hello Kiet Ho

Just following up to check if the answer shared is helpful.

If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.
Kiet Ho 20 Reputation points

2025-07-12T01:26:30.45+00:00

Thanks for your reply, i just switch to the basic plan with 2 gb, my purpose is just to use for small shop database that i shared with my fellas, is the 4.78 monthly correct for this subscription model?
Saraswathi Devadula 16,025 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-14T04:15:51.6166667+00:00

Hello Kiet Ho

In the DTU purchasing model (like basic, standard and premium), an initial set of storage for data and backups is provided at no additional cost. The size of the storage depends on the service tier selected. Extra data storage can be purchased in the standard and premium tiers.
You can verify that using the azure database pricing calculator, https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/azure-sql-database/

If your Azure subscription has a spending limit, Azure prevents you from spending over your credit amount. As you create and use Azure resources, your credits are used. When you reach your credit limit, the resources that you deployed are disabled for the rest of that billing period. You can't change your credit limit, but you can remove it.

You can see the estimated costs during configuration of the compute tier.

To access this screen, select the database you configured and go to compute+storage tab. The information and pricing in the following image are for example purposes only:

Also, you can monitor the cost using the below steps,
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/cost-management?view=azuresql#monitor-costs

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John Torrey 0 Reputation points

2025-08-20T21:49:34.7866667+00:00

I'm in a similar boat to all of you (I found 6 or 7 questions all sounding a lot like mine). My impression on all of this leads me to wonder why we're using Azure at all! It's not that hard to find Windows hosting with free databases for less than $10 per month and seemingly generous bandwidth. If nothing else, it seems like those would be a great alternative for development work. I've been idle for 3 days, and will be idle for 10 more days until the end of the month because I went over some quota. I can't even access the database to get a copy and continue development locally in SQLExpress! Where's the justification for using Azure?
Saraswathi Devadula 16,025 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-11T03:27:16.7533333+00:00

Hello Kiet Ho

Just following up to check if the answer shared is helpful.

If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.
Kiet Ho 20 Reputation points

2025-07-12T01:26:30.45+00:00

Thanks for your reply, i just switch to the basic plan with 2 gb, my purpose is just to use for small shop database that i shared with my fellas, is the 4.78 monthly correct for this subscription model?
Saraswathi Devadula 16,025 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-14T04:15:51.6166667+00:00

Hello Kiet Ho

In the DTU purchasing model (like basic, standard and premium), an initial set of storage for data and backups is provided at no additional cost. The size of the storage depends on the service tier selected. Extra data storage can be purchased in the standard and premium tiers.
You can verify that using the azure database pricing calculator, https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/azure-sql-database/

If your Azure subscription has a spending limit, Azure prevents you from spending over your credit amount. As you create and use Azure resources, your credits are used. When you reach your credit limit, the resources that you deployed are disabled for the rest of that billing period. You can't change your credit limit, but you can remove it.

You can see the estimated costs during configuration of the compute tier.

To access this screen, select the database you configured and go to compute+storage tab. The information and pricing in the following image are for example purposes only:

Also, you can monitor the cost using the below steps,
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/cost-management?view=azuresql#monitor-costs

Answer 1

In addition to what Saraswathi says, there was a question similar to yours just recently. I recommend that you read TP's answer to this question: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/4371383/sql-database-compute.

My own take of this is that Serverless can be a budget saver, but you need to have control over that the database remains paused most of the time. Else it can be more expensive than provisioned General Purpose.

TP's suggestion of using a DTU-based database, Basic, S0 or S1 is a good one. This gives a much more predictable cost.

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Azure database monthly costs for basic database

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