Azure SQL Cost Calculator

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

Inputs

Purchasing model

DTUs provisionedDTU

Price per DTUUSD/DTU-month

An S4 elastic 200-DTU database lists near $300 per month.

vCores provisionedvCores

General Purpose vCore rateUSD/vCore-hour

vCore service tier

Billed hours per monthhours

Database sizeGB

Data storage price per GBUSD/GB-month

Point-in-time retentiondays

Backup storage price per GBUSD/GB-month

Monthly Cost

$3,287.94

Compute Charge

$3,153.60

Data Storage Charge

$126.50

Backup Storage Charge

$7.84

Replicas Included

Billed Backup Storage

350GB

Annual Cost

$39,455.28

Step by step

Values used
Purchasing model = vCore (General Purpose / Business Critical / Hyperscale); DTUs provisioned = 200 DTU; Price per DTU = 1.50 USD/DTU-month; vCores provisioned = 8 vCores; General Purpose vCore rate = 0.2000 USD/vCore-hour; vCore service tier = Business Critical (3 secondary replicas); Billed hours per month = 730 hours; Database size = 500 GB; Data storage price per GB = 0.1150 USD/GB-month; Point-in-time retention = 14 days; Backup storage price per GB = 0.0224 USD/GB-month
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.
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

How it works

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

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.

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