Will it make any cost if I just create an Azure storage account but don't use it? No data will be stored in it and no service will call it. The replication setting would be standard LRS and RA-GRS.

Gong, Robin Welcome to Microsoft Q&A, thank you for posting your here!! When you create or use Blob Storage resources, you'll be charged for the following meters: Applies only if you enable the feature. At the end of your billing cycle, the charges for each meter are summed. Your bill or invoice shows a section for all Azure Blob Storage costs. There's a separate line item for each meter. Data storage and metadata are billed per GB on a monthly basis. For data and metadata stored for less than a month, you can estimate the impact on your monthly bill by calculating the cost of each GB per day. You can use a similar approach to estimating the cost of encryption scopes that are in use for less than a month. The number of days in any given month varies. Therefore, to obtain the best approximation of your costs in a given month, make sure to divide the monthly cost by the number of days that occur in that month. Reference Link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-plan-manage-costs#how-youre-charged-for-azure-blob-storage Pricing calculator: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/pricing/calculator/ FAQ: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/storage-blob-faq#managing-costs Hope this helps! Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue. Please do not forget to "Accept the answer” and “up-vote” wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.

I think there are small costs associated with account maintenance. This includes metadata storage and some background processes.

Will it make any cost if just create a Azure storage account but don't use

Accepted answer

Ramya Harinarthini_MSFT 5,346 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2023-09-26T11:10:11.2066667+00:00

Gong, Robin Welcome to Microsoft Q&A, thank you for posting your here!!

When you create or use Blob Storage resources, you'll be charged for the following meters:

Applies only if you enable the feature.

At the end of your billing cycle, the charges for each meter are summed. Your bill or invoice shows a section for all Azure Blob Storage costs. There's a separate line item for each meter.

Data storage and metadata are billed per GB on a monthly basis. For data and metadata stored for less than a month, you can estimate the impact on your monthly bill by calculating the cost of each GB per day. You can use a similar approach to estimating the cost of encryption scopes that are in use for less than a month. The number of days in any given month varies. Therefore, to obtain the best approximation of your costs in a given month, make sure to divide the monthly cost by the number of days that occur in that month.

Reference Link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-plan-manage-costs#how-youre-charged-for-azure-blob-storage

Pricing calculator: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/pricing/calculator/

FAQ: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/storage-blob-faq#managing-costs

Hope this helps!
Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

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2 people found this answer helpful.
Gong, Robin 20 Reputation points

2023-09-27T06:54:11.3966667+00:00

Hi, thanks for your answer, we are going to set these storage accounts to be Standard general-purpose v2 storage, and it can be either blob storage, queue storage, or anything else that the storage account could support. However we will not enable any specific type or create a blob store when creating them, we just create them and put them there. I noticed the links you mentioned are most related to blob storage, not sure if this applies to this kind of general-purpose storage without specifying the type. Also, I wonder if there will be any predefined metadata in the storage that leads to cost?

Ramya Harinarthini_MSFT 5,346 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2023-09-27T07:50:08.4433333+00:00

Gong, Robin

When you create a general-purpose V2 storage account in Azure, it is indeed a multi-service storage account that can support various Azure Storage services, including Blob storage, Queue storage, Table storage, and Azure Files. The storage account itself is not tied to a specific service, so you can use it for a variety of purposes.

Regarding your concern about predefined metadata in the storage that leads to cost, it's essential to clarify a few points:

Storage Account Cost: The primary cost associated with a general-purpose V2 storage account is based on the type and amount of data you store, as well as any data transfer and transaction costs. The type of data stored can be blobs, files, tables, or queues. There isn't an additional cost associated with merely creating a storage account that supports multiple services. You are billed based on your usage of the various services within that storage account.

Metadata: When you store data in Azure Storage, you can associate metadata with your objects. Metadata is a set of name-value pairs that you can use to store additional information about the stored items. Adding metadata itself does not incur additional storage costs. However, be aware that metadata, like the data itself, is subject to the limitations and pricing of the specific storage service you are using. For example, in Blob storage, metadata is included in the cost of the blob.

Data Usage: The primary driver of cost in Azure Storage is the amount of data you store, the number of transactions (e.g., read and write operations), and data egress (data transferred out of Azure). The type of data (blobs, queues, etc.) and any associated metadata are generally not a significant cost driver on their own.

In summary, when you create a general-purpose v2 storage account in Azure, you are not charged for the account's mere existence. Costs are incurred based on your actual usage of storage services within that account. While metadata is an important part of managing your data, it is typically not a significant cost factor on its own; the primary cost factors are data storage, transactions, and data transfer. Be sure to monitor your usage and refer to Azure's pricing documentation for detailed information on pricing for specific storage services and associated costs.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/pricing/calculator/

you can estimate the cost by select the file, table, queue services from the drop down as shown in the below screenshot.

Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

Please do not forget to "Accept the answer” and “up-vote” wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.

Gong, Robin 20 Reputation points

2023-09-27T08:03:11.27+00:00

Thank you for such a detailed answer!
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Will it make any cost if just create a Azure storage account but don't use

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