Azure SQL Cost Calculator

Compare Azure SQL Database DTU and vCore purchasing models including Business Critical replicas and backup storage.

About Azure SQL Cost Calculator

The DTU model sells one opaque blended unit, while the vCore model prices compute, storage and replicas separately, which is why Business Critical costs roughly 2.7× General Purpose — it is provisioning three extra replicas and local SSD storage. Backup storage is free up to 100% of the database size, so only the incremental point-in-time history is billed. The DTU-to-vCore migration is a common cost surprise, and Business Critical is frequently bought for a workload that only needed General Purpose with a zone-redundant configuration; confirm the current DTU and vCore rates for your region in the Azure pricing calculator before signing off a design.

Formula

Azure SQL Cost

vCore compute = vCores × rate × 730 × tier factor (Business Critical bundles 3 secondary replicas); DTU compute = DTUs × per-DTU price; backup billing starts above 100% of the database size.

tier factor: Business Critical and Hyperscale rates relative to General Purpose
DTU: Blended compute, memory and I/O unit of the older purchasing model
billed backup: Point-in-time backup footprint beyond the free allowance equal to the database size

Worked example

With the default values below, Azure SQL Cost Calculator returns Monthly Cost of $3,287.94. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Purchasing modelone of DTU (Basic / Standard / Premium), vCore (General Purpose / Business Critical / Hyperscale): vCore (General Purpose / Business Critical / Hyperscale)
DTUs provisionedaccepts 5–4,000 DTU: 200 DTU
Price per DTUaccepts 0–100 USD/DTU-month: 1.5 USD/DTU-month
vCores provisionedaccepts 1–128 vCores: 8 vCores
General Purpose vCore rateaccepts 0–20 USD/vCore-hour: 0.2 USD/vCore-hour
vCore service tierone of General Purpose (1 replica), Business Critical (3 secondary replicas), Hyperscale (1 high-availability replica): Business Critical (3 secondary replicas)
Billed hours per monthaccepts 1–744 hours: 730 hours
Database sizeaccepts 1–100,000 GB: 500 GB
Data storage price per GBaccepts 0–10 USD/GB-month: 0.115 USD/GB-month
Point-in-time retentionaccepts 1–35 days: 14 days
Backup storage price per GBaccepts 0–5 USD/GB-month: 0.0224 USD/GB-month

Results

Monthly Cost: $3,287.94
Compute Charge: $3,153.60
Data Storage Charge: $126.50
Backup Storage Charge: $7.84
Replicas Included: 4
Billed Backup Storage: 350 GB
Annual Cost: $39,455.28

Step by step

1Values used
2Azure SQL Cost
3Monthly Cost= 3,287.94
4Compute Charge= 3,153.60
5Data Storage Charge= 126.50
6Backup Storage Charge= 7.84
7Replicas Included= 4
8Billed Backup Storage= 350 GB

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 11 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Azure SQL Cost calculated?

vCore compute = vCores × rate × 730 × tier factor (Business Critical bundles 3 secondary replicas); DTU compute = DTUs × per-DTU price; backup billing starts above 100% of the database size. The DTU model sells one opaque blended unit, while the vCore model prices compute, storage and replicas separately, which is why Business Critical costs roughly 2.7× General Purpose — it is provisioning three extra replicas and local SSD storage. Backup storage is free up to 100% of the database size, so only the incremental point-in-time history is billed.

Why does Azure SQL Cost matter?

The DTU-to-vCore migration is a common cost surprise, and Business Critical is frequently bought for a workload that only needed General Purpose with a zone-redundant configuration; confirm the current DTU and vCore rates for your region in the Azure pricing calculator before signing off a design.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 11 inputs: Purchasing model, DTUs provisioned, Price per DTU, vCores provisioned, General Purpose vCore rate, vCore service tier, Billed hours per month, Database size, Data storage price per GB, Point-in-time retention, Backup storage price per GB. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.