Understanding Combined Costs of VNET Peering and Bandwidth for Cross-Continent Data Transfer in Azure

Question

Hello community,

On the 'Virtual Network pricing' page, the Global VNET Peering section lists 'Inbound data transfer' and 'Outbound data transfer' for Zone 1 as "$0.035 per GB" each. It also mentions that "Ingress and egress traffic is charged at both ends of the peered networks," which would make the total cost "$0.07 per GB" when peering two virtual networks between two VMs located on different Zone 1 regions, such as North America and Europe.

On the other hand, the 'Bandwidth pricing' page states that 'Data Transfer In' is free, and 'Intra-continental data transfer' between Europe and North America is "$0.02 per GB."

My question is, if I peer the virtual networks of two VMs, one hosted in North America and the other in Europe, will the cost be $0.07 + $0.02 per GB to account for both VNET peering and bandwidth, or will it just be $0.07 per GB for VNET peering data transfer?

Answer 1

Hi KindCompute-6524,

Greetings!

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A Platform. Thank you for reaching out & I hope you are doing well.

When you peer virtual networks (VNETs) across different regions, such as North America and Europe, the cost structure includes both VNET peering charges and data transfer charges.

1. VNET Peering Charges: As you noted, when you have VNET peering between two networks in different regions (Zone 1), both inbound and outbound data transfer is charged at $0.035 per GB at each end. This means the total cost for the peering data transfer will be $0.07 per GB.
2. Bandwidth Pricing: The bandwidth pricing you mentioned indicates that 'Data Transfer In' is free, and 'Intra-continental data transfer' between Europe and North America is charged at $0.02 per GB.

However, it's important to clarify that these two pricing models are separate. The $0.07 per GB for VNET peering is specifically for the data transfer between the peered virtual networks, while the $0.02 per GB for intra-continental data transfer pertains to the general data transfer charges between regions.

NOTE: The total cost will not be a combined cost of $0.07 + $0.02 per GB. Instead, the $0.07 per GB covers the VNET peering data transfer (which is charged at both ends of the peering), and the $0.02 per GB applies for the cross-region data transfer between the continents (North America and Europe).

So, you’ll be charged $0.07 per GB for the VNET peering traffic between the two regions and separately charged $0.02 per GB for the intercontinental bandwidth transfer (if applicable, based on the specific regions).

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Hope this clarifies,Thanks

Ganesh

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