Azure Hybrid Benefit calculator
Pricing your VMs…
Licence term
Enter what you pay for a Windows Server Standard 2-core pack over the whole term.
Standard licences cover Standard and Datacenter VMs in Azure
(Microsoft licensing terms).
Cumulative Windows licence cost
Licence charge only. Compute, storage and networking cost the same either way.
| End of | Pay-as-you-go | Your licences | Saving |
|---|
Your Windows VMs
Export your VM list from the Azure portal
- Sign in to the Azure portal (portal.azure.com).
- Search for "Virtual machines" and open it.
- Choose the subscriptions you want to include.
- Make sure the NAME, LOCATION, SIZE, OPERATING SYSTEM and STATUS columns are shown.
- Select "Export to CSV" and download the file.
- Choose "Import portal CSV" above. Only running Windows VMs are imported.
Add VMs by hand
| VM | Size | vCPU | Licensed cores | 2-core packs | Hours running / month | Pay-as-you-go / month | Saving over 3 years | Status | Remove |
|---|
How the numbers are worked out
Every VM goes through the same steps. Select any row in the table to see them with that VM's figures.
- At least 8 cores per VM
- Each VM needs a minimum of 8 core licences (4 two-core packs), even if it has 2 or 4 vCPUs.
- Above 8, every vCPU is licensed
- A 16 vCPU VM needs 16 core licences, which is 8 two-core packs.
- Constrained sizes count the full size
- Sizes such as Standard_E8-4as_v5 expose fewer vCPUs but are licensed on the full count, 8 in this example.
- B-series is left out by default
- The hourly Windows charge on burstable sizes is low, so the 8-core minimum usually makes licences cost more. Tick a B-series VM to include it anyway.
- Pay-as-you-go charge
- The Windows licence part of the Azure retail hourly price for each size, multiplied by the hours the VM runs each month.
- Always on unless you say otherwise
- Every VM is assumed to run all month (730 hours). If some are shut down overnight or at weekends, change their hours in the table. Stopped and deallocated VMs don't pay the Windows charge, but licences cost the same either way, so those VMs save less. Select a VM to see the minimum hours it must run for licences to pay off.
- Break-even
- Total pack cost divided by the pay-as-you-go Windows charge you stop paying each month.