Azure Savings Plan for Compute is a new pricing model where eligible customers commit to spend an hourly amount of money on select Azure compute services in exchange for lower prices.
The plan provides a convenient and flexible way to save up to 65% on the cost of compute services compared to pay-as-you-go prices. The plan can apply over a one-year or three-year period, depending on your choice. You can also pay the total commitment amount upfront or monthly at no extra cost.
Unlike Azure Reservations, you can scope the savings plan commitment across multiple Azure regions.
The following compute services participate in the savings plan: (please note only a few eligible Azure services are listed.)
If you have consistent compute spending across multiple regions, buying a savings plan allows you to reduce your costs. For example, when you continuously run instances of a service without the savings plan, you're charged the pay-as-you-go rates. When you buy a savings plan, your compute usage is immediately eligible for the savings plan discount. Your discounted rates add up to the total commitment amount on the contract.
Both options provide long-term savings for customers' compute usage, and it is best to align the offer to the workload pattern. Reserved instance provides the most significant cost savings for stable, predictable workloads with no planned changes, and Azure Savings Plan for Compute is better suited for workloads that are dynamic and in need of greater flexibility.
It allows customers to commit to a set hourly spend on selected Azure compute services, while Azure Reserved Instances require a specific commitment to a particular virtual machine.
You can save up to 65% savings compared to pay-as-you-go prices, which can result in significant cost savings for eligible customers.
Pay the total commitment amount upfront or monthly at no extra cost, which provides customers with more payment flexibility.
Your commitments can be scoped across multiple Azure regions, making it easier for customers to manage their costs across a multi-region deployment. You can only apply Azure Reserved Instances to a specific region.
Azure Reserved Instances commit to a specific virtual machine, allowing customers to control and predict costs.
Azure Reserved Instances provide a predictable and stable cost model, which can benefit customers with predictable workloads.
Azure Reserved Instances offer the option to pay upfront for the total commitment, which can result in significant cost savings for customers with longer-term needs.
Azure Reserved Instances can help customers with capacity planning as they provide a guaranteed capacity for a specific virtual machine, making it easier to manage resource utilization.
Customers can review their personalized recommendations in the Azure portal based on their recent usage. It's essential that they also consider future needs 1 or 3 years out when setting the hourly commitment amount.
You should evaluate the optimal hourly commitment after savings are applied using lower saving plan prices vs. pay-as-you-go.
Savings plans cannot be modified or canceled once you have committed spending. If their usage needs have grown beyond the current savings plan, customers may add another savings plan to cover the additional usage.
At the time of purchase, customers can pay for the savings plan in a single upfront payment or divided into equal monthly US dollar payments at no extra cost.
For more information, please visit the Azure Savings Plan for Compute documentation homepage: Azure Savings Plan Documentation View Blog