Unexpected Charge After Switching from Free to Pay-As-You-Go

Question

Has anyone experienced an unexpected charge after switching from a free to a pay-as-you-go plan on Microsoft Azure? I recently attempted to debit $50 from my card, but I couldn't find the reason for the charge in my billing profile. The only things I've provisioned on this new plan are resource groups and a virtual network.

Answer 1

@Daniel Makhoba Emmanuel A fixed hourly fee will be charged per a firewall deployment regardless of scale. In addition, data processing fee is billed per deployment for any data processed by your firewall.

So, the answer to your question is, IMO - Yes, it could be due to Azure Firewall. However, if you want to be sure about the cost and would like to know more about it, you can contact Azure billing team to help you with details by creating a support request that would help you avoid unnecessary cost in the future. The ticket enables you to work closely with the support engineers and get a quick resolution to your issue.

Here is the link - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-portal/supportability/how-to-create-azure-support-request to create support case.

FYI: Azure Billing and Subscription Management support is included in the Basic Support Plan without any charge.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/plans/

Answer 2

Break down charges by resource, resource group, service, and location. This will pinpoint the costliest items. Even deleted resources can sometimes incur costs for a short period. Review the timeframe in your cost analysis breakdown. Double-check the pricing page for every Azure service you're using. There might be hidden costs you weren't aware of. Look for things like data transfer charges, storage transaction charges, etc.