Azure environments grow quickly, especially in organisations that moved Microsoft workloads to the cloud in a hurry. Subscriptions multiply, test VMs never get deleted and premium disks get attached to workloads that do not need them.
This Azure cost optimization checklist gives you 15 practical steps, grouped by visibility, waste, pricing and governance.
Subscriptions multiply, test VMs never get deleted and premium disks get attached to workloads that do not need them.
How do I see where my Azure money is going?
Open Azure Cost Management + Billing and use Cost Analysis. Group by resource group, service name and tag, and compare the last three months. Use management groups to view costs across many subscriptions at once.
Azure Cost Management cost analysis view
Illustration in progress
Visibility checklist
- Organise with management groups and subscriptions. Separate production and non-production, and align subscriptions to business units.
- Enforce tags with Azure Policy. Require owner, environment and cost-centre tags, and use the "inherit tag from resource group" policy. See our tagging strategy guide.
- Set budgets per subscription or resource group with alerts at 80% and 100%.
- Enable anomaly alerts in Cost Management so spikes are flagged early.
Waste-removal checklist
- Review Azure Advisor cost recommendations weekly. Advisor flags underused VMs, idle resources and reservation opportunities for free.
- Delete unattached managed disks and old snapshots. Disks stay billed after a VM is deleted.
- Rightsize VMs and databases. Move from oversized SKUs based on actual CPU and memory metrics.
- Auto-shutdown non-production VMs. Use auto-shutdown or Azure Automation start/stop schedules for dev and test.
- Clean up idle resources. Unused public IPs, empty App Service plans, idle Application Gateways and old Log Analytics data.
Pricing checklist
- Apply Azure Hybrid Benefit. If you have Windows Server or SQL Server licences with Software Assurance, you can apply them to Azure VMs and SQL to reduce licensing costs.
- Buy Azure Reservations for stable workloads. VMs, SQL Database, Cosmos DB and others support 1- or 3-year reservations.
- Use the Azure savings plan for compute for flexible compute commitments across VM families and Regions.
- Use Spot VMs for interruptible work. Batch, rendering and CI runners can run at a deep discount on spare capacity.
Governance checklist
- Restrict expensive SKUs with Azure Policy. Allow only approved VM sizes and Regions in non-production subscriptions.
- Review monthly with owners. Track allocation percentage, reservation utilisation and top movers.
Which Azure services usually cost the most?
In most enterprise Azure estates the biggest lines are Virtual Machines, managed disks, SQL Database or SQL Managed Instance, App Service, Log Analytics and data transfer. Log Analytics deserves special attention: high ingestion and long retention can grow faster than compute. Use commitment tiers, basic logs for verbose tables and sensible retention.
Quick reference: Azure pricing levers
Azure Reservations, savings plan, Hybrid Benefit and Spot compared
Illustration in progress
| Lever | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Azure Hybrid Benefit | Existing Windows/SQL licences | Licence compliance tracking |
| Reservations | Stable VMs, databases | Commit after rightsizing |
| Savings plan for compute | Flexible compute | Hourly commitment is fixed |
| Spot VMs | Interruptible workloads | Can be evicted at short notice |
| Dev/Test pricing | Non-production subscriptions | Eligible subscriptions only |
How Crozaint approaches Azure cost optimisation
Crozaint is a Microsoft AI Cloud Partner, and Azure is a large share of the estates we run. Our FinOps Starter Package brings Azure billing into one view alongside AWS and Google Cloud, applies cost allocation, and uses the AI Cost Optimization Agent to watch for anomalies and rightsizing opportunities continuously.
Because many of our clients also use our Digital Workplace and Security services, we often look at Microsoft licensing and Azure consumption together, which is where options like Azure Hybrid Benefit are frequently missed. Average outcome across FinOps engagements: 27% reduction in cloud spend.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Not applying Azure Hybrid Benefit to eligible licences
- Buying reservations before rightsizing
- Leaving Log Analytics on default retention and pricing tier
- Treating Azure Advisor recommendations as optional reading
- No tag policy, so costs cannot be attributed
Conclusion
Azure costs respond well to a structured approach: see it, clean it, price it smartly and govern it. Work through this checklist once, then build the review habit.
Want an expert review of your Azure estate? Book a 30-minute discovery call with Crozaint.
