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Cost Management + Billing frequently asked questions (FAQ)

General billing questions

How do I contact Azure billing support?

Create a support request in the Azure portal.

How do I pay my bill?

How long does it take for my payment to be posted?

How do I find my invoice?

Why am I getting charged? I have a Free Azure account.

Free services have limits. Most likely, you exceeded the free limits. See Avoid charges with your Azure free account.

How do I understand my bill and reconcile charges?

If you bought your Azure subscription through the Azure website, see the Review your individual Azure subscription bill tutorial. The tutorial explains how charges on your invoice relate to the services that you used.

How do I quickly see my charges?

I have unexpected charges. How do I understand them?

How do I change my billing information?

How do I cancel my Azure subscription?

When does Azure finalize or close the billing cycle of a closed month?

Azure finalizes or closes the current billing period up to the fifth day after a closed month. Changes might continue and change until the fifth day after a billing period ends as the billing system processes data.

Cost Management questions

How can I enable access to view costs?

What partner offers does Cost Management support?

Cost Management is available for partners whose customers that have an Azure Plan. Partners can enable the policy setting to allow their customers to view cost information. For more information, see Get started with Cost Management for partners. Classic Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) isn't support by Cost Management.

How can I see forecasted costs?

In the Azure portal, navigate to Cost Management + Billing > Cost Management > Cost analysis. In the default view, the top chart has the Actual/Amortized cost and forecasted cost sections. The solid color of the chart shows your Actual/Amortized cost. The shaded color shows the forecast cost.

How do I view a cost breakdown by Azure service?

In the Azure portal, navigate Cost Management + Billing > Cost Management > Cost analysis. Select Cost by service and then group by Service tier. Change the view to Table.

How do I see my invoice costs?

In the Azure portal, navigate to Cost analysis for the scope associated with the invoice that you're analyzing. Select the Invoice details view. Invoice details show you the charges as shown on your invoice.

How do I view costs for a tag?

In the Azure portal, navigate to Cost Management + Billing > Cost Management > Cost analysis. Select Group by for your tag. Tags aren't available for: purchases, tenant resources not associated with subscriptions, subscription resources not deployed to a resource group, or classic resources. Some services don't include tags in usage data. For more information, see Tag support for Azure resources.

How do I see costs for my EA enrollment?

In the Azure portal, navigate to Cost Management + Billing > Overview. Select the Breakdown link.

How can I view my Amazon Web Services (AWS) cost in Cost Management?

See Set up and configure AWS Cost and Usage report integration.

Note

The Connector for AWS in the Cost Management service retires on March 31, 2025. Users should consider alternative solutions for AWS cost management reporting. On March 31, 2024, Azure will disable the ability to add new Connectors for AWS for all customers. For more information, see Retire your Amazon Web Services (AWS) connector.

How do I create a budget?

See the Create and manage budgets tutorial.

How do I create a budget for a specific filter or tag?

In the Create budget window, choose the scope for the budget you want to create. Choose Add Filter to choose any filters or a tag that you want to add for this budget. For more information, see the Create and manage budgets tutorial.

How do I export cost management data?

How do I export cost management data as a partner if I don't have an Azure subscription in my tenant?

As a CSP partner, is Cost Management supported on Classic CSP offer in Azure Plan?

Given the plans to transition customers on Classic CSP to Azure Plan on the New Commerce experience, Cost Management + Billing is available only for the direct partners and indirect providers of customers who are on Azure Plan.

As a CSP partner (global admin), how can I enable the cost visibility policy at the subscription scope for my end customers and resellers on the Azure Plan?

See Enable Cost Management for Customer Tenant Subscriptions to enable the cost visibility policy for Azure consumed services at retail rates for Azure RBAC users of the subscription. As a global admin of a direct partner or an indirect provider, you can view the costs in the customer tenant regardless of the policy.

How can I charge back costs?

You can allocate costs in Cost Management to see the costs that you distribute to subscriptions, resource groups, or tags in cost analysis. For more information, see the Create and manage Azure cost allocation rules article.

Can I use Power BI to view costs?

What are the supported offer types in Cost Management?

How soon can I see my cost and usage data in Cost Management?

Are allocated costs factored into budgets and forecast views?

Yes. Allocated costs are factored into and supported by budgets and forecasts. Budget and forecast views show costs allocated to them, as configured by cost allocation rules.

If a cost allocation rule is deleted, what happens?

When a cost allocation rule is deleted, all open and current billing month costs being allocated to the targets are removed. If the cost allocation rule existed for several months, the historical previous months of allocation data remain as originally set by the allocation rule.

Why is an enrollment admin or a billing account admin needed to create cost allocation rules?

Cost allocation rules are created at either the enrollment scope (Enterprise Agreement) or the Billing account scope (Microsoft Customer Agreement). Permissions to make changes at these scopes requires billing administrator privileges.

What can happen if cost allocation rules (sources/targets) overlap?

Rules that have either overlapping sources or overlapping targets aren't recommended. Cost Allocation rules apply in order by their creation date, so if any cost allocation rules overlap the allocation rule with the earliest creation date takes precedence.

Can I view New Commerce license and consumption products besides Azure in Cost Management?

Yes. Partners with an MCA agreement can buy New Commerce license and consumption products in the Partner Center. The products are invoiced along with your Azure products and you can view the charges in Cost Management. The "Provider" dimension helps to distinguish between Azure and license-based products like Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365.

Cost Management + Billing API questions

When are the EA Reporting APIs going to be deprecated?

All Azure Enterprise Reporting APIs are retired. You should Migrate to Microsoft Cost Management APIs as soon as possible.

How do I migrate off of the EA Reporting APIs and what new APIs should I call?

Why do I get Usage Details API timeouts?

The Usage Details dataset can often be large (multiple GBs or more). The larger the size of the dataset that you request, the longer the service takes to compile the data before sending it to you. Because of the delay, synchronous API solutions like the paginated JSON Usage Details API might time out before your data is provided. If your encounter timeouts or has processes that frequently need to pull a large number of usage details, see Retrieve large usage datasets recurringly with Exports.

How do I migrate from the EA Reporting APIs to the Microsoft Customer Agreement APIs?

Usage details questions

Why do I get Usage Details API timeouts?

The Usage Details dataset can often be large (multiple GBs or more). The larger the size of the dataset that you request, the longer the service takes to compile the data before sending it to you. Because of the delay, synchronous API solutions like the paginated JSON Usage Details API might time out before your data is provided. If you encounter timeouts or have processes that frequently need to pull a large number of usage details, see Retrieve large usage datasets recurringly with Exports.

What is the difference between legacy and modern usage details?

A legacy versus modern usage details record is identified with the kind field in the Usage Details API. The field is used to distinguish between data returned for different customer types. The call patterns to obtain legacy and modern usage details are essentially the same. The granularity of the data is the same. The main difference is the fields available in the usage details records themselves. If you’re an EA customer, you always get legacy usage details records. If you’re a Microsoft Customer Agreement customer, you always get modern usage details records.

How do I see my recurring charges?

Recurring charges are available in the Usage Details API when viewing Actual Cost.

Where can I see tax information in Usage Details?

Usage details data is all pretax. Tax related charges are only available on your invoice.

Why is PAYGPrice zero for some of the records in my usage details file?

If you’re an EA or MCA customer, PAYGPrice is populated only for first party Azure usage charges where PricingModel is OnDemand. PAYGprice isn't populated when PricingModel = Reservations, Spot, Marketplace, or SavingsPlan.

Does Usage Details have Reservation charges?

Yes it does. You can see those charges according to when the actual charges occurred (Actual Cost) or you can see the charges spread across the resources that consumed the Reservation (Amortized Cost). For more information, see Get amortized costs.

Am I charged for using the Usage Details APIs?

No the Usage Details APIs are free. Make sure to abide by the rate-limiting policies, however. For more information, see Data latency and rate limits.

Azure Reservations questions

How do I view reservation charges?

In the Azure portal, navigate to Cost Management + Billing > Cost Management > Cost analysis. Add a filter for Pricing Model: Reservation. Under Scope and next to the cost shown, select the down arrow symbol, and then select either Actual cost or Amortized cost metric.

How do I see reservation savings?

There are a couple of ways to view your savings.

How do I view reservation underutilization?

Sign in to the Azure portal. Then select All services > Reservations and note the Utilization (%) for a reservation. Select a reservation. Review the reservation use trend over time. For more information, see View reservation use in the Azure portal. You can also View unused reservation costs in cost analysis.

How can I find reservation costs to charge back?

See Charge back Azure Reservation costs for detailed information.

How can I view charges incurred for Spot VMs?

How do I get a reservation details report?

Read the API documentation to generate a reservation details report.

Azure Enterprise Agreement (EA) questions

How do I assign SPN permissions to my Enrollment?

How do I add a new EA administrator to my enrollment?

A new enterprise admin can be added by existing enterprise admins. If you're the EA administrator, sign in to the Azure portal > select Billing scope > navigate to Access control(IAM) > select + Add in the top-left corner to add a new EA administrator. Ensure that you have their email address and a preferred sign-in method, such as via work/school authentication or Microsoft Live ID, available.

If you aren't the EA administrator, reach out to your EA administrators in your company to request that they add you to the enrollment. Once they add you to the enrollment, you receive an activation email.

However, if the EA administrators aren't able to assist you, we're able to add you on their behalf if you can provide us with:

  • The enrollment number.
  • The email address to be added and authentication type (work/school/MS).
  • The email approval from the EA administrator.

Once you have all the required information, submit a support request in the Azure portal.

My current EA admin is no longer with the company. What should I do?

An EA enrollment can have multiple EA administrators. You can reach out to another EA administrator to have new EA administrator/account owners/department admin added. However, if you aren't clear on who is the EA administrator in your company or there's no other available EA administrator on the enrollment, reach out to us with the following information:

  • The enrollment number
  • The email address to be added and authentication type (work/school/MS)
  • Provide information showing that the current EA admin is no longer with the company

If there are other EA administrators on the enrollment, we reach out to the EA administrators to request for approval on administrative changes on the enrollment.

My enrollment is showing in pending status. How do I activate my enrollment?

Enrollments are in pending status if the initial EA administrator didn't sign in to the enrollment. If you're an enterprise customer, sign in to Azure portal. On the billing scope page, select your billing account. When you're on the enrollment overview page, the status is updated from Pending to Active. Navigate to the Properties menu to view the update status.

Why is my account stuck in pending status?

When new Account Owners (AO) are added to the enrollment for the first time, they always show as "pending" under status. When the AO receives the activation welcome email, they can sign in to activate their account. Signing in updates the account status from "pending" to "active."

I forgot my password to Azure portal. What should I do?

If you forgot your Microsoft Live ID password, have it reset at https://account.live.com/password/reset.

If you forgot your work password, contact your company's IT administrator.

I have a valid work or school account. Why can't I add it to the Azure portal?

If you have a work or school account under a different tenant, change the authorization level under enrollment details page to "Work or School Account Cross Tenant" and you're able to add the account.

I accidentally associated my existing Azure account with Azure EA enrollment. As a result, I lost my monthly credit. Can I get my monthly credit back?

If you signed in as an Azure EA account owner with the same credentials as your Visual Studio subscription, you can recover your individual Visual Studio subscription Azure benefit by performing one of the following actions:

  • Remove or move associated Azure subscriptions and then remove your account ownership from your EA account in the Azure portal. Then, sign up for individual Visual Studio Azure benefits again.
  • Delete the Visual Studio subscriber from the administration site in VLSC, and reassign the subscription to an account with different credentials this time. Then, sign up for individual Visual Studio Azure benefits anew.

What type of subscription should I create?

Azure Enterprise customers have two types of subscription offers:

  • Microsoft Azure Enterprise, which is ideal for:
  • All production usage
  • Best prices based on infrastructure spend

For more information, contact Azure sales.

  • Enterprise Dev/Test, which is ideal for:
  • All team dev/test workloads
  • Medium-to-heavy individual dev/test workloads
  • Access to special MSDN images and preferential service rates

For more information, see Enterprise Dev/Test offer.

My subscription name is the same as the offer name. Should I change the subscription name to something meaningful to my organization?

When you create a subscription, the name defaults to the offer type you choose. We recommend that you change the subscription name to something that makes it easy for you to track the subscription.

To change the name:

  1. Sign in to https://account.windowsazure.com.
  2. Select the subscription list.
  3. Select the subscription you want to edit.
  4. Select the Manage Subscription icon.
  5. Edit subscription details.

How can I track costs incurred by a cost center?

To track cost by cost center, you need to define the cost center at one of the following levels:

  • Department
  • Account
  • Subscription

Based on your needs, you can use the same cost center to track usage and costs associated with a particular cost center.

For example, to track costs for a special project where multiple departments are involved, you might want to define the cost center at a subscription level to track the usage and costs.

You can't define a cost center at the service level. If you want to track usage at the service level, you can use the Tag feature available at the service level.

How do I track usage and spend by different departments in my organization?

You can create as many departments as you need under your Azure EA enrollment. In order to track the usage correctly, ensure that you're not sharing subscriptions across departments.

After you create departments and subscriptions, you can see data in the usage report. This information can help you track usage and manage cost and spend at the department level.

You can also access usage data via the reporting API.

Direct enterprise customers can view usage and spending at different department levels in the Azure portal. Navigate to the Department menu to view charges.

Can I set a spending quota and get alerts as I approach my limit?

You can set a spending quota at department level and the system automatically notifies you as your spending limits meet 50%, 75%, 90%, and 100% of the quota you define.

To define your spending quota, select a department and then select the edit icon. After you edit the spending limit details, select Save.

I used resource groups to implement Azure RBAC and track usage. How can I view the associated usage details?

If you use resource groups and tags, this information is tracked at service level, and you can access it in the detailed usage download (CSV) file.

You can also access usage via API.

Note

You can only apply tags to resources that support Azure Resource Manager operations. If you created a virtual machine, virtual network, or storage through the classic deployment model (such as through the classic portal), you can't apply a tag to that resource. You must redeploy these resources through the Resource Manager to support tagging. All other resources support tagging.

Can I perform analyses using Power BI?

Yes, you can use the Cost Management connector for Power BI Desktop to create powerful, customized visualizations and reports that help you better understand your Azure spend. If you are on an Enterprise Agreement (EA), you can also utilize the Cost Management template app. The Cost Management template app comes with premade reports to assist you with monitor costs, service usage trends, and identifying cost optimization options to reduce your expenditures. Power BI reporting is available for Azure EA direct, partner, and indirect customers who are able to view billing information.

Can I associate my existing Azure account to Azure EA enrollment?

Yes. All Azure subscriptions for which you're the account owner are converted to your Enterprise Agreement. Included are subscriptions that use monthly credit such as Visual Studio, AzurePass, Microsoft Cloud Partner Program, and more. You lose monthly credit when converting such subscriptions.

How many Azure account owners can you have per subscription?

Only one account owner is permitted per subscription. More roles can be added using Role-Based Access or (Access Control (IAM)) in the subscription tab in the upper left corner of the page of the Azure portal.

Is it possible to transfer subscription ownership to another account?

Yes, you can transfer subscription ownership to different account. For example, if an Account A has three subscriptions, the enterprise administrator is able to transfer one subscription to Account B, one to Account C, and one to Account D. Or they can transfer all subscriptions to Account E.

Enterprise customers can transfer their subscription ownership to another account in the Azure portal. Navigate to the Account or Subscription menu to transfer ownership.

Can an Azure account owner be listed under more than one department?

No, an account owner can only be associated to a single department. The policy helps ensure accurate monitoring and apportioning of costs and spending associated to the department that it aligns with under the EA enrollment.

Can an Azure account owner be listed as a security group?

No, a subscription owner must be a unique Microsoft account (MSA) or Microsoft Entra authentication. To account for succession within your organization, you should consider creating generic accounts and using Microsoft Entra ID to manage subscription access.

Can an individual user own multiple subscriptions?

An Azure account owner can create and manage an unlimited number of subscriptions.

How can I access/view all my organization's subscriptions?

Today, policy does it; meaning you would need to require that for every subscription created, your account is added to a subscription role using role-based access.

Where do I go to create a subscription?

Before you can create an enterprise Azure (EA) offer subscription, your account must be added to the role of account owner by your EA enrollment's administrator in the Azure portal. Or, you must be an Enterprise Administrator. You need to sign in to the Azure portal to obtain your entitlement to create EA offer type subscriptions. We recommend that your first EA subscription is created from the + Add Subscription link in Azure portal. However, once your account is entitled it might be easier to create subscriptions in portal.azure.com in the subscription tab in the upper left corner of the page, where you can both create and rename your subscription in a single step.

Who can create a subscription?

To create an enterprise Azure offer type subscription, you must be entitled in the role of account owner or enterprise administrator in the Azure portal.

Why does my cost show as $0?

Enterprise administrators can provide account owners and department administrators with access to cost and pricing information in the Azure portal. Navigate to the Policies menu to change settings.

Note

If you're an account owner or department administrator, contact your enterprise administrator to enable the pricing feature.

For indirect enrollment customers, contact your partner to check that they enabled the pricing feature for you. Only the partner does it. After you're enabled, you can view the cost and pricing on your enrollment as an enterprise administrator.

Partners, if you want to enable the view charges feature for an account owner or a department administrator, follow the steps under direct enrollment.

Why is there no SKU information on my usage detail report?

The usage detail report doesn't contain SKU information. The report does, however, contain usage information so you can download the price sheet report to obtain the SKU information.

Why doesn't the total amount on Azure Marketplace match the reports for usage summary and detail?

The Azure Marketplace charges report shows only the usage-based charges. One-time fees aren't shown. See the usage summary page for the most up-to-date usage-based charges and one-time fees.

Why isn't my Power BI report working?

For issues with Power BI, log a ticket with the Power BI support team.

Why don't my resource tags show on my reports?

Resource tags are managed on the Azure portal. You can contact the Azure subscription team in the Azure portal. Follow the steps in the How to create an Azure support request article.

Why does my resource rate change every day?

The resource rate shown in the detailed usage report is a calculated value. It represents the average monthly rate that was charged for the service. The resource rate is calculated from the average of your monthly commitment and your monthly overage charges for a unit of service. The portion of usage charged against your commitment and overage rates change to the day the month closes. Thus, the listed resource rate also changes during the month. The resource rate locks on the fifth day following the end of the month.

What changed with Azure Marketplace services and Azure EA Prepayment?

As of March 1, 2018, some third-party reseller services consume Azure EA Prepayment. Except for Azure reserved VM instances (RIs), services were previously billed outside Azure EA Prepayment and were invoiced separately.

We expanded the use of Azure Prepayment to include some of the third-party published Azure Marketplace services that are purchased most frequently. Azure EA Prepayment for these services in Azure Marketplace helps simplify your purchase and payment management.

The change was made because customers wanted other ways to use the upfront Azure Prepayment. This change was frequently requested by customers, and it impacted a large portion of Azure Marketplace customers.

How do I benefit from Azure prepayment for Azure Marketplace purchases with my EA agreement?

You get a simpler billing experience and are better able to spend your Azure EA Prepayment. Because the services are included in your Azure Prepayment, your Azure EA Prepayment becomes more valuable.

What Azure Marketplace services use Azure EA Prepayment, and how do I know?

When you purchase a service that uses Azure Prepayment, Azure Marketplace presents a disclaimer. Some supported services are published by Red Hat, SUSE, Autodesk, and Oracle. Currently, similarly named services published by other parties don't deduct from Azure Prepayment. See third-party services that use Azure Prepayment for a complete list of products participating in the program.

What if my Azure EA Prepayment runs out for Azure Marketplace purchases?

If you consume all your Azure Prepayment and go into overage, charges related to these services appear on your next overage invoice along with any other consumption services. Before the March 1, 2018 change, these charges were invoiced with other Azure Marketplace services.

Why don't all Azure Marketplaces consume Azure EA Prepayment?

We frequently work to deliver the best customer experience related to Azure EA Prepayment. The latest changes to Azure EA prepayment addressed a large number of customers and a significant portion of the total spend in Azure Marketplace. Other services might be added in the future.

How do Azure Marketplace services and Azure EA Prepayment changes affect indirect enrollment and partners?

There's no effect to our indirect enrollment customers or partners. These services are subject to the same partner markup capabilities as other consumption services. The only change is that the charges appear on a different invoice, and the payment of the charges comes out of the customer's Azure EA Prepayment.

Where can I see the Azure Marketplace services that consume Azure EA Prepayment?

Specific Azure Marketplace offers can use Azure Prepayment funds. See third-party services that use Azure Prepayment for a complete list of products participating in the program.

Partner questions

Any user from the partner organization who works on a customer's Power Apps resources can link the partner ID to the account. Ideally, the association in PAL should be done at the beginning of the project. However, it can be performed whenever you have access in the customer's directory.

Can a partner ID be changed after it gets linked?

Yes. A linked partner ID can be changed, added, or removed. One example for this situation might be when an employee from your company leaves your organization. Another example might be when a project or contract with the customer ends.

What if a user has an account in more than one customer tenant?

The link between the partner ID and the account is done for each customer tenant. Link the partner ID in each customer tenant.

The link is associated at the user account level. Only you can edit or remove the link to the partner ID. The customer and other partners can't change the link to the partner ID.

Which Partner ID should I use if my company has multiple?

Be sure to use the Associated Partner ID shown in your partner profile. It's usually the local account ID association with your organization.

How do I explain PAL to my customer?

PAL enables Microsoft to identify and recognize those partners who are helping customers achieve business goals and realize value in the cloud. Customers must first provide a partner access to their Power Apps resource. Once access is granted, the partner's Partner ID is associated. This association helps Microsoft understand service providers and to refine the tools and programs needed to best support customers.

What data does PAL collect?

The PAL association to existing credentials provides no new customer data to Microsoft. It provides the information to Microsoft where a partner is actively involved in a customer's Power Apps environments. Microsoft can attribute usage and influence from customer environment to partner organization based on the account's permissions (Power Apps role) and scope (tenant, Resource Group, Resource) provided to the partner by customer.

Does PAL association affect the security of a customer's Power Apps environment?

PAL association only adds the partner's Partner ID to the credential already provisioned. It doesn't alter any permissions (Power Apps role) or provide extra Power Apps service data to the partner or Microsoft.