To meet evolving customer needs across both ends of the database size spectrum, we are lowering the price of SQL Azure and introducing a 100MB database option.

Customers will realize 48% to 75% savings for databases larger than 1GB.  The 100MB DB option enables customers to get started using SQL Azure at half of the previous price, while still providing the full range of features including: high availability, fault tolerance, self-management, elastic scale-out, on-premises connectivity, and full Service Level Agreement.  Full details on our new pricing can be found here. 

Today’s price reductions and new entry-level database option are the result of both customer feedback and evolving usage patterns.  Specifically, two usage patterns have emerged in the last 18 months.  First, many projects start small but need to quickly grow in size.  To promote this pattern, we are passing along better economies of scale and options for larger deployments.  As your database grows, the price per GB will decline significantly.  Second, many cloud adopters and customers with smaller workloads want an inexpensive option for modest usage. Just as we made a 150GB option available for customers with large database needs, we are providing the same level of choice at the other end of the spectrum with the 100MB option for smaller database needs.  Today’s announcement is another step in our ongoing journey to help customers with a variety of scenarios embrace Cloud Computing. 

The chart below provides a side by side comparison of the cost savings as cloud deployments grow and database sizes increase.  Be sure to check out our pricing calculator and pricing page for additional details. 

*Previous prices 50GB and larger reflect price cap of $499.95 announced December 12, 2011.     

Steven Martin, General Manager, Windows Azure Business Planning