On February 14, 2012  we announced significant price reductions and a new entry level database option to meet customer needs on both ends of the database spectrum.  Today we are passing along additional savings to compute and storage customers.  Here are the Details:

• Windows Azure Storage Pay-As-You-Go pricing has been reduced by 12% ($0.14 to $0.125)
• 6 Month Plans for Windows Azure Storage have been reduced across all tiers by up to 14%
• Windows Azure Extra Small Compute has been reduced by  50% ($.04 to .$02)

With these changes, a 24×7 Extra Small Compute instance with a 100MB SQL Azure DB costs less than $20 per month. The price of compute and storage continues to be consistent across all datacenters and Pay-As-You-Go customers will automatically see the reduced prices reflected (as of today) on their next bill; there is no action required. 

Customers tell us that cost savings is only part of the story.  While we are delighted to pass along savings (60% reduction in XSmall compute and 17% reduction in Storage in the last 6 months), we are just as focused on improving the developer experience and adding new capabilities to ensure the best overall value in the industry.  Storage is a great example.  While the reduced price of $.125/GB provides cost benefits, Geo-Replication differentiates Windows Azure Storage from other services in market. SQL Azure is another great example; $5.00/month for a 100 MB Database is great, but it’s much more appealing to developers when it comes with high availability, fault tolerance, self-management, elastic scale-out, on-premises connectivity, and a full Service Level Agreement.

A few additional details:

• Windows Azure 3 Month Free Trial and MSDN customers will receive twice as many extra small compute instances per month vs. previous allocations
• Additional details on pricing and pricing calculator can be found at:
  • Pricing page
  • Storage commitment offers
  • Pricing calculator

Steven Martin, General Manager, Windows Azure Business Strategy & Planning