Azure Billing 101: Everything You Need to Know

Azure billing can be complex, but understanding the basics is key to managing your costs effectively. You're charged for the resources you use, including virtual machines, storage, and databases.

Your Azure bill is generated at the end of each month, and you can access it online through the Azure portal. You can also set up notifications to receive alerts when your bill is ready.

To get started with Azure billing, you'll need to create a subscription, which is essentially an agreement to use Azure services. This is a one-time step that will give you access to the Azure portal and allow you to start using Azure services.

With your subscription in place, you can start using Azure services and tracking your costs.

To understand your bill, start by reviewing the individual Azure subscription bill tutorial, which explains how charges relate to the services you used.

You can find your invoice by navigating to View and download your Microsoft Azure invoice.

To see your invoice costs, navigate to Cost analysis in the Azure portal and select the Invoice details view, which shows charges as they appear on your invoice.

If you want a cost breakdown by Azure service, group your costs by Service tier in the Cost by service view, and change the view to Table for a clear display.

Azure billing follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where you only pay for the service volume you consume.

If you're trying to make sense of your Azure bill, start by reviewing your individual subscription bill through the Azure website. This tutorial will help you understand how charges on your invoice relate to the services you used.

You can find your invoice by navigating to View and download your Microsoft Azure invoice. This will give you a clear picture of your charges.

To see your invoice costs, head to the Azure portal and navigate to Cost analysis for the scope associated with the invoice you're analyzing. Select the Invoice details view to see the charges as they appear on your invoice.

If you want to see a cost breakdown by Azure service, go to the Azure portal and navigate to Cost Management + Billing > Cost Management > Cost analysis. Here, you can select Cost by service and group by Service tier, then change the view to Table to see a clear breakdown of your costs.

Azure follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where you only pay for the service volume you consume. This makes it a very economical option for businesses of all sizes.

The cost of each service is fixed by the service provider, so you can budget accordingly. You'll only be charged for what you use, which helps keep costs down.

Microsoft Azure supports different types of billing accounts, but we won't dive into those details here.

Managing Your Account is a crucial aspect of Azure Billing. You can access your account information and billing details in the Azure portal.

To view your account details, go to the Azure portal and sign in with your credentials. You can then click on the "Account" tab to view your account information.

You can also manage your account settings, such as adding or removing users, and updating your account information.

To enable access to view costs, you can assign the Cost Management data access. This can be done by following the instructions in the Assign access to Cost Management data article.

To enable Azure billing export to Cloudaware, you'll need to log in to your Azure EA account. Access to the EA portal is granted to one individual from your organization during the enrollment process.

Select Reports → Download Usage → API Access Key, copy the Primary Key, and save it for later use. The key is valid for 6 months and will need to be generated again when it expires.

You'll also need to select Manage → Enrollment, copy the Enrollment number, and save it for later use. This information will be necessary for setting up Azure billing export.

To enable Export for Billing account, you'll need to assign the Billing account reader role to your Cloudaware app. This can be done by logging in to your Microsoft Azure Portal and navigating to the Cost Management + Billing section.

Select a billing account from the list, select Billing account reader (View-only access) as a Role for assignment, and insert the app name. Please allow around 24 hours for the status of the billing integration to be updated in Cloudaware CMDB.

To view the costs for your EA enrollment, navigate to the Azure portal and select Cost Management + Billing > Overview. From there, click on the Breakdown link to see the costs.

The Azure portal is where you'll find all the necessary tools to manage your account. You can access it from any device with an internet connection.

To see the breakdown of costs, select the Breakdown link in the Cost Management + Billing > Overview section. This will give you a detailed view of your expenses.

This process is straightforward and takes only a few clicks.

To export your Azure cost data, you can configure exports at the billing account level or subscription level. This is done through the Azure portal.

You can choose from various export types, including one-time, daily, weekly, or monthly exports. You can also select the Azure subscription for your storage account and specify the resource group.

To create an export, you'll need to select the scope from the Azure portal, which can be a management group, subscription, resource group, or resource. You can then choose Cost Analysis from the menu and click on Configure to select Exports.

Here are the export details you'll need to enter:

Once you've entered the details, review them and click on Create to enable your export. It may take 12-24 hours for the export process to begin, and longer for the data to get reflected in the exported files.

Note that a successful cost export requires Microsoft.CostManagementExports to be registered in your subscription.