Azure Advisor Savings Calculator

identified = idle VM spend × saving rate + orphaned resource spend + reservation-eligible spend × discount + Hybrid Benefit-eligible licence spend; realised = identified × adoption rate. Advisor reports a theoretical maximum that assumes every recommendation is applied, which never happens, so the useful number is the identified saving multiplied by a realistic adoption rate. The levers also differ in risk: deleting an unattached disk is free, resizing a VM needs a maintenance window, and a reservation trades flexibility for a discount over one or three years.

Presenting an unfiltered Advisor figure to a finance team creates a target nobody can hit, while an adoption-weighted number is a commitment you can defend; the orphaned-resource line is worth attacking first because it needs no approval and carries no performance risk.

This calculator takes 8 inputs: Total monthly Azure spend, Spend on idle or underused VMs, Saving available on those VMs, Spend on unattached disks, idle IPs and old snapshots, Steady-state spend eligible for reservations, Reservation discount available, Windows licence spend eligible for Hybrid Benefit, Share of recommendations you will actually implement. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.