Cost control and financial management are important issues when using services on the Microsoft Azure platform. Azure Cost Management & Billing is a service designed to help organizations track, optimize, and manage cloud costs within budget.
What is Azure Cost Management & Billing?
This service performs two main functions:
Azure Cost Management – Provides tools to track, analyze, and optimize Azure costs.
Azure Billing – Used to manage payments for services used and track invoices.
Together, these services help predict costs, reduce unnecessary costs, and streamline financial management.
Azure Cost Management Key Features
- Cost Monitoring and Analysis
You can track real-time costs of Azure resources and view reports.
It allows you to analyze which services and which resource groups are responsible for costs. - Budgeting and Alerts
Users can set budget limits and receive automatic alerts when a certain threshold is reached.
Email notifications are sent and actions can be taken if the budget is exceeded. - Cost Optimization
It is possible to identify unused or underutilized resources and deactivate or reduce their size.
Recommendations are provided through Azure Advisor to reduce costs. - Multi-Cloud Management
Azure Cost Management allows you to track the costs of not only Azure but also AWS cloud services.
This feature is important for hybrid and multi-cloud environments. - Shared Cost Accounting
Organizations can divide costs by departments or projects.
It is possible to provide individual reports for different users and teams.
Key Features of Azure Billing - View Billing Details
You can check invoices and payment details for each month in the Azure Portal.
Billing reports are available in multiple currencies. - Plan and Subscription Management
Users can see which plans they are using and for which services they are paying.
Subscriptions can be changed or canceled. - Microsoft Enterprise Agreement and Pay-As-You-Go Plans
Organizations can manage their billing with Enterprise Agreement (EA) or Pay-As-You-Go (Pay-as-you-go) models.
How Does Azure Cost Management & Billing Work?
Cost tracking and reporting – Analyze how much different resources are costing you through the Azure Portal.
Budget and alerts are set – Users control costs by setting budget limits.
Take action to optimize costs – Unused or unnecessary resources are reduced or turned off.
Invoice review and payment management – Users track monthly and annual invoices and adjust their payments.
Benefits of Azure Cost Management & Billing
✔ Provides full control over costs – Organizations can track their cloud costs in real time.
✔ Provides financial optimization – Prevents additional costs by identifying unused resources.
✔ Simplifies management and compliance processes – Allows you to analyze costs across departments and projects.
✔ Increases cost transparency for organizations – Supports budget planning with accurate reports and analytical data.
Who is Azure Cost Management & Billing Suitable for?
Large and mid-sized organizations – Ideal for businesses that want to manage costs across departments and projects.
IT and finance teams – An effective tool for professionals who track and optimize cloud costs.
Companies with a multi-cloud strategy – Suitable for those who want to track AWS and Azure costs in one place.