Azure Pricing

Azure Pricing Skill

Use this skill to retrieve real-time Azure retail pricing data from the public Azure Retail Prices API. No authentication is required.

When to Use This Skill

• User asks about the cost of an Azure service (e.g., "How much does a D4s v5 VM cost?")
• User wants to compare pricing across regions or SKUs
• User needs a cost estimate for a workload or architecture
• User mentions Azure pricing, Azure costs, or Azure billing
• User asks about reserved instance vs. pay-as-you-go pricing
• User wants to know about savings plans or spot pricing

API Endpoint

GET https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices?api-version=2023-01-01-preview

Append $filter as a query parameter using OData filter syntax. Always use api-version=2023-01-01-preview to ensure savings plan data is included.

Step-by-step Instructions

If anything is unclear about the user's request, ask clarifying questions to identify the correct filter fields and values before calling the API.

1. Identify filter fields from the user's request (service name, region, SKU, price type). 2. Resolve the region: the API requires armRegionName values in lowercase with no spaces (e.g. "East US" → eastus, "West Europe" → westeurope, "Southeast Asia" → southeastasia). See references/REGIONS.md for a complete list. 3. Build the filter string using the fields below and fetch the URL. 4. Parse the `Items` array from the JSON response. Each item contains price and metadata. 5. Follow pagination via NextPageLink if you need more than the first 1000 results (rarely needed). 6. Calculate cost estimates using the formulas in references/COST-ESTIMATOR.md to produce monthly/annual estimates. 7. Present results in a clear summary table with service, SKU, region, unit price, and monthly/annual estimates.

Filterable Fields

Use eq for equality, and to combine, and contains(field, 'value') for partial matches.

Example Filter Strings

# All consumption prices for Functions in East US
serviceName eq 'Functions' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

# D4s v5 VMs in West Europe (consumption only)
armSkuName eq 'Standard_D4s_v5' and armRegionName eq 'westeurope' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

# All storage prices in a region
serviceName eq 'Storage' and armRegionName eq 'eastus'

# Spot pricing for a specific SKU
armSkuName eq 'Standard_D4s_v5' and contains(meterName, 'Spot') and armRegionName eq 'eastus'

# 1-year reservation pricing
serviceName eq 'Virtual Machines' and priceType eq 'Reservation' and armRegionName eq 'eastus'

# Azure AI / OpenAI pricing (now under Foundry Models)
serviceName eq 'Foundry Models' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

# Azure Cosmos DB pricing
serviceName eq 'Azure Cosmos DB' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

Full Example Fetch URL

https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices?api-version=2023-01-01-preview&$filter=serviceName eq 'Functions' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

URL-encode spaces as %20 and quotes as %27 when constructing the URL.

Key Response Fields

{
  "Items": [
    {
      "retailPrice": 0.000016,
      "unitPrice": 0.000016,
      "currencyCode": "USD",
      "unitOfMeasure": "1 Execution",
      "serviceName": "Functions",
      "skuName": "Premium",
      "armRegionName": "eastus",
      "meterName": "vCPU Duration",
      "productName": "Functions",
      "priceType": "Consumption",
      "isPrimaryMeterRegion": true,
      "savingsPlan": [
        { "unitPrice": 0.000012, "term": "1 Year" },
        { "unitPrice": 0.000010, "term": "3 Years" }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "NextPageLink": null,
  "Count": 1
}

Only use items where isPrimaryMeterRegion is true unless the user specifically asks for non-primary meters.

Supported serviceFamily Values

Analytics, Compute, Containers, Data, Databases, Developer Tools, Integration, Internet of Things, Management and Governance, Networking, Security, Storage, Web, AI + Machine Learning

Tips

• serviceName values are case-sensitive. When unsure, filter by serviceFamily first to discover valid serviceName values in the results.
• If results are empty, try broadening the filter (e.g., remove priceType or region constraints first).
• Prices are always in USD unless currencyCode is specified in the request.
• For savings plan prices, look for the savingsPlan array on each item (only in 2023-01-01-preview).
• See references/SERVICE-NAMES.md for a catalog of common service names and their correct casing.
• See references/COST-ESTIMATOR.md for cost estimation formulas and patterns.
• See references/COPILOT-STUDIO-RATES.md for Copilot Studio billing rates and estimation formulas.

Troubleshooting

---

Copilot Studio Agent Usage Estimation

Use this section when the user asks about Copilot Studio pricing, Copilot Credits, or agent usage costs.

When to Use This Section

• User asks about Copilot Studio pricing or costs
• User asks about Copilot Credits or agent credit consumption
• User wants to estimate monthly costs for a Copilot Studio agent
• User mentions agent usage estimation or the Copilot Studio estimator
• User asks how much an agent will cost to run

Key Facts

• 1 Copilot Credit = $0.01 USD
• Credits are pooled across the entire tenant
• Employee-facing agents with M365 Copilot licensed users get classic answers, generative answers, and tenant graph grounding at zero cost
• Overage enforcement triggers at 125% of prepaid capacity

Step-by-step Estimation

1. Gather inputs from the user: agent type (employee/customer), number of users, interactions/month, knowledge %, tenant graph %, tool usage per session. 2. Fetch live billing rates — use the built-in web fetch tool to download the latest rates from the source URLs listed below. This ensures the estimate always uses the most current Microsoft pricing. 3. Parse the fetched content to extract the current billing rates table (credits per feature type). 4. Calculate the estimate using the rates and formulas from the fetched content:

• total_sessions = users × interactions_per_month
• Knowledge credits: apply tenant graph grounding rate, generative answer rate, and classic answer rate
• Agent tools credits: apply agent action rate per tool call
• Agent flow credits: apply flow rate per 100 actions
• Prompt modifier credits: apply basic/standard/premium rates per 10 responses

5. Present results in a clear table with breakdown by category, total credits, and estimated USD cost.

Source URLs to Fetch

When answering Copilot Studio pricing questions, fetch the latest content from these URLs to use as context:

Fetch at least the first URL (billing rates) before calculating. The second URL provides supplementary context for licensing questions.

See references/COPILOT-STUDIO-RATES.md for a cached snapshot of rates, formulas, and billing examples (use as fallback if web fetch is unavailable).

Copilot Studio — Billing Rates & Estimation

Source: Billing rates and management

Estimator: Microsoft agent usage estimator

Licensing Guide: Copilot Studio Licensing Guide

Copilot Credit Rate

1 Copilot Credit = $0.01 USD

Billing Rates (cached snapshot — last updated March 2026)

IMPORTANT: Always prefer fetching live rates from the source URLs below. Use this table only as a fallback if web fetch is unavailable.

Notes

• Classic answers: Predefined, manually authored responses. Static — don't change unless updated by the maker.
• Generative answers: Dynamically generated using AI models (GPTs). Adapt based on context and knowledge sources.
• Tenant graph grounding: RAG over tenant-wide Microsoft Graph, including external data via connectors. Optional per agent.
• Agent actions: Steps like triggers, deep reasoning, topic transitions visible in the activity map. Includes Computer-Using Agents.
• Text & gen AI tools: Prompt tools embedded in agents. Three tiers (basic/standard/premium) based on the underlying language model.
• Agent flow actions: Predefined flow action sequences executed without agent reasoning/orchestration at each step.

Reasoning Model Billing

When using a reasoning-capable model:

Total cost = feature rate for operation + text & gen AI tools (premium) per 10 responses

Example: A generative answer using a reasoning model costs 2 credits (generative answer) + 10 credits (premium per response, prorated from 100/10).

Estimation Formula

Inputs

Calculation

total_sessions = users × interactions_per_month

── Knowledge Credits ──
tenant_graph_credits    = total_sessions × (knowledge_pct/100) × (tenant_graph_pct/100) × 10
generative_answer_credits = total_sessions × (knowledge_pct/100) × (1 - tenant_graph_pct/100) × 2
classic_answer_credits  = total_sessions × (1 - knowledge_pct/100) × 1

── Agent Tools Credits ──
tool_calls = total_sessions × (prompt + computer_use + custom_connector + mcp + rest_api)
tool_credits = tool_calls × 5

── Agent Flow Credits ──
flow_calls = total_sessions × tool_agent_flow
flow_credits = ceil(flow_calls / 100) × 13

── Prompt Modifier Credits ──
basic_credits    = ceil(total_sessions × prompts_basic / 10) × 1
standard_credits = ceil(total_sessions × prompts_standard / 10) × 15
premium_credits  = ceil(total_sessions × prompts_premium / 10) × 100

── Total ──
total_credits = knowledge + tools + flows + prompts
cost_usd = total_credits × 0.01

Billing Examples (from Microsoft Docs)

Customer Support Agent

• 4 classic answers + 2 generative answers per session
• 900 customers/day
• Daily: [(4×1) + (2×2)] × 900 = 7,200 credits
• Monthly (30d): ~216,000 credits = ~$2,160

Sales Performance Agent (Tenant Graph Grounded)

• 4 generative answers + 4 tenant graph grounded responses per session
• 100 unlicensed users
• Daily: [(4×2) + (4×10)] × 100 = 4,800 credits
• Monthly (30d): ~144,000 credits = ~$1,440

Order Processing Agent

• 4 action calls per trigger (autonomous)
• Per trigger: 4 × 5 = 20 credits

Employee vs Customer Agent Types

Overage Enforcement

• Triggered at 125% of prepaid capacity
• Custom agents are disabled (ongoing conversations continue)
• Email notification sent to tenant admin
• Resolution: reallocate capacity, purchase more, or enable pay-as-you-go

Live Source URLs

For the latest rates, fetch content from these pages:

• Billing rates and management
• Copilot Studio licensing
• Copilot Studio Licensing Guide (PDF)

Cost Estimator Reference

Formulas and patterns for converting Azure unit prices into monthly and annual cost estimates.

Standard Time-Based Calculations

Hours per Month

Azure uses 730 hours/month as the standard billing period (365 days × 24 hours / 12 months).

Monthly Cost = Unit Price per Hour × 730
Annual Cost  = Monthly Cost × 12

Common Multipliers

Service-Specific Formulas

Virtual Machines (Compute)

Monthly Cost = hourly price × 730

For VMs that run only business hours (8h/day, 22 days/month):

Monthly Cost = hourly price × 176

Azure Functions

Execution Cost = price per execution × number of executions
Compute Cost   = price per GB-s × (memory in GB × execution time in seconds × number of executions)
Total Monthly  = Execution Cost + Compute Cost

Free grant: 1M executions and 400,000 GB-s per month.

Azure Blob Storage

Storage Cost   = price per GB × storage in GB
Transaction Cost = price per 10,000 ops × (operations / 10,000)
Egress Cost    = price per GB × egress in GB
Total Monthly  = Storage Cost + Transaction Cost + Egress Cost

Azure Cosmos DB

Provisioned Throughput

Monthly Cost = (RU/s / 100) × price per 100 RU/s × 730

Serverless

Monthly Cost = (total RUs consumed / 1,000,000) × price per 1M RUs

Azure SQL Database

DTU Model

Monthly Cost = price per DTU × DTUs × 730

vCore Model

Monthly Cost = vCore price × vCores × 730  +  storage price per GB × storage GB

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Monthly Cost = node VM price × 730 × number of nodes

Control plane is free for standard tier.

Azure App Service

Monthly Cost = plan price × 730 (for hourly-priced plans)

Or flat monthly price for fixed-tier plans.

Azure OpenAI

Monthly Cost = (input tokens / 1000) × input price per 1K tokens
             + (output tokens / 1000) × output price per 1K tokens

Reservation vs. Pay-As-You-Go Comparison

When presenting pricing options, always show the comparison:

| Pricing Model | Monthly Cost | Annual Cost | Savings vs. PAYG |
|---------------|-------------|-------------|------------------|
| Pay-As-You-Go | $X | $Y | — |
| 1-Year Reserved | $A | $B | Z% |
| 3-Year Reserved | $C | $D | W% |
| Savings Plan (1yr) | $E | $F | V% |
| Savings Plan (3yr) | $G | $H | U% |
| Spot (if available) | $I | N/A | T% |

Savings percentage formula:

Savings % = ((PAYG Price - Reserved Price) / PAYG Price) × 100

Cost Summary Table Template

Always present results in this format:

| Service | SKU | Region | Unit Price | Unit | Monthly Est. | Annual Est. |
|---------|-----|--------|-----------|------|-------------|-------------|
| Virtual Machines | Standard_D4s_v5 | East US | $0.192/hr | 1 Hour | $140.16 | $1,681.92 |

Tips

• Always clarify the usage pattern before estimating (24/7 vs. business hours vs. sporadic).
• For storage, ask about expected data volume and access patterns.
• For databases, ask about throughput requirements (RU/s, DTUs, or vCores).
• For serverless services, ask about expected invocation count and duration.
• Round to 2 decimal places for display.
• Note that prices are in USD unless otherwise specified.

Azure Region Names Reference

The Azure Retail Prices API requires armRegionName values in lowercase with no spaces. Use this table to map common region names to their API values.

Region Mapping

Conversion Rules

1. Remove all spaces 2. Convert to lowercase 3. Examples:

• "East US" → eastus
• "West Europe" → westeurope
• "Southeast Asia" → southeastasia
• "South Central US" → southcentralus

Common Aliases

Users may refer to regions informally. Map these to the correct armRegionName:

Azure Service Names Reference

The serviceName field in the Azure Retail Prices API is case-sensitive. Use this reference to find the exact service name to use in filters.

Compute

Storage

Note: Blob Storage, Files, Disk Storage, and Data Lake Storage are all under the single Storage service name. Use meterName or productName to distinguish between them (e.g., contains(meterName, 'Blob')).

Databases

AI + Machine Learning

Note: Azure OpenAI pricing is now under Foundry Models. Use contains(productName, 'OpenAI') or contains(meterName, 'GPT') to filter for OpenAI-specific models.

Networking

Analytics

Integration

Management & Monitoring

Web

Tips

• If you're unsure about a service name, filter by `serviceFamily` first to discover valid serviceName values in the response.
• Example: serviceFamily eq 'Databases' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' will return all database service names.
• Some services have multiple serviceName entries for different tiers or generations.