Azure Arc pricing

Explore pricing options

Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes

Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes enables customers to connect and configure Kubernetes clusters across customer datacenters, edge locations, and multi-cloud.

Any number of Kubernetes clusters can be connected and organized in the Azure Portal at no additional cost. Like Arc enabled servers, add-on Azure management services, like Kubernetes Configuration, are charged when enabled.

Kubernetes Configuration

Kubernetes Configuration delivers configuration management and application deployment using GitOps. With this capability, cluster admins can declare their cluster configuration and applications in Git. The development teams can then use pull requests and the tools they are familiar with (existing DevOps pipelines, Git, Kubernetes manifests, Helm charts) to easily deploy applications onto Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes clusters and make updates in production. The GitOps agents listen to changes and facilitate automated rollbacks if these changes result in system divergence from the source of truth. Billing is based on the number of vCPUs/hour in the cluster and is charged monthly. Clusters incur a single charge for configuration management no matter how many repositories are connected.

Clusters can function without a constant connection to Azure. When disconnected, each cluster’s charge will be determined based on the last known number of vCPUs that were registered with Azure Arc. If your cluster will be disconnected from Azure and you don’t want to be charged for Kubernetes Configuration, you can delete the configurations. The vCPU count is updated every 5 minutes when connected. The first 6 vCPUs are included at no cost.

Other management services such as Azure Policy for Kubernetes, Azure Monitor for Containers and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are in preview so there is no cost to use the service at this time. However, for Azure Policy for Kubernetes and Azure Monitor for Containers, any data retained by those services may incur charges as per the pricing for that service.

Azure Arc-enabled servers

Add-on Azure management services, such as Azure Update Manager, Azure Policy guest configuration, Azure Monitor, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and Microsoft Sentinel, are charged for Azure Arc-enabled servers when enabled. The total monthly price of Azure Arc-enabled servers depends on the number of Azure management and security services you run on each server and the plan or SKU purchased.

With Microsoft Defender for Cloud Plan 2, Azure Policy guest configuration and Azure Update Manager are included at no additional cost. With Microsoft Defender for Cloud Plan 1, these two additional services are not included and can be purchased separately.

Read below for a full explanation of which policies are included.

Extended Security Updates enabled by Azure Arc

Microsoft provides Extended Security Updates enabled by Azure Arc for Windows Server 2012/R2 and SQL Server 2012/2014. With Azure Arc, organizations will be able to purchase and seamlessly deploy Extended Security Updates in on-premises or multicloud environments, right from the Azure portal. Extended Security Updates enabled by Azure Arc also gives more flexibility with a pay-as-you-go subscription model.

For Windows Server 2012/R2

For SQL Server 2012

For SQL Server 2014

Azure Arc-enabled SQL Server

If you have an existing SQL Server license, you can also unlock Azure manageability and security with Azure Arc. See the complete set of features^* available for customers with existing SQL Server licenses including different SQL Server licenses set billing options.
Manage SQL Server license and billing options - Azure Arc-enabled SQL Server | Microsoft Learn

^*Some features may require SA.

For customers without an active SQL Server license:

For organizations who want to leverage a consumption-based model we now offer pay-as-you-go licensing for SQL Server, enabled by Azure Arc for versions 2012 and up. Pay by the hour for spikes and ad-hoc usage and eliminate the need for full upfront licensing costs.

Pricing calculator for pay-as-you-go Azure Arc-enabled SQL Server available: here. View traditional SQL Server licensing options here.

Feature breakdown and licensing details for Azure Arc-enabled SQL Server available here.

For all Azure Arc-enabled SQL Server customers:

Additional services including, Microsoft Defender for Cloud^*, Microsoft Purview and Azure Log Analytics are available for additional costs. These additional services are available for customers with existing SQL Server licenses who activate Azure Arc or for customers who leverage the pay-as-you-go licensing option for SQL Server.

^*Customers can benefit from discounted pricing for Microsoft Defender when consumed through Azure Arc.

Questions? Check out some Frequently Asked Questions around getting started with Azure Arc-enabled SQL Server: here.

Azure Update Manager

Azure Update Manager is a unified service to help manage and govern updates for all your machines. Monitor Windows and Linux update compliance across your deployments in Azure, on-premises, and on other cloud platforms from a single dashboard. For more information refer to the documentation.

• Azure Update Manager is available at no extra charge for managing Azure VMs and Arc-enabled Azure Stack HCI VMs. For Arc-enabled servers, it is charged at a daily prorated value which amounts to $5/server/month (assuming 31 days of connected usage). Learn more

Guest configuration feature of Azure Policy

Azure Policy's guest configuration feature provides compliance and configuration management of operating systems. Guest configuration can be used as a standalone platform or at-scale orchestrated by Azure Policy. Examples of compliance and configuration management include password policies, encryption protocols, administrative access, or validation of operational standards such as certificate expiration and network connectivity.

For more information about configuration assignments view the following docs page: https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/governance/policy/concepts/guest-configuration-assignments

Billing is based on the number of servers registered with the service that have one or more guest configurations assigned to them. Billing is pro-rated hourly. Offline machines, such as machines that are disconnected or powered-off for the entire hour, are not billed.

Azure Arc resources managed by guest configuration are excluded from billing in the following scenarios.

Azure Automation

• Guest configuration assignments are not billed if the machine is already managed by the state configuration or change tracking features offered by Azure Automation.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

• Azure Policy assignment of the Azure Security Benchmark initiative creates configuration assignment.
• Azure Policy assignment of a built-in policy initiative in the "Regulatory Compliance" category creates configuration assignment.
• Azure Policy assignment of a custom policy initiative created in Microsoft Defender for Cloud creates configuration assignment.