Azure Price Increase in 2027

For companies operating Azure resources in European regions, cloud costs may change significantly starting in February 2027. Microsoft has informed affected customers that, effective February 1, 2027, prices for certain Azure Virtual Machines and Azure Storage Services will increase in selected regions. In EU West (Amsterdam), the announced increase is 9 percent; in EU North (Dublin), it is 17 percent.

However, this does not mean that a company’s total Azure costs will increase by this percentage across the board. The actual impact of the adjustment depends on the regions, services, and SKUs used, as well as the specific pricing model and contractual terms. Companies should therefore assess early on which workloads are affected and how the change will impact their cloud costs.

• The announced price changes will take effect on February 1, 2027.
• This affects certain Azure Virtual Machines and Azure Storage services in seven regions.
• The regional increases range from 8 to 17 percent.
• Microsoft lists several VM series and storage services for which the regional adjustment does not apply.
• The Azure Service Health Advisory (Tracking ID: JGW1-KG0) is tailored to the specific scope. Therefore, testing with just any user account is not sufficient.
• Companies should consider the affected subscriptions, regions, services, and SKUs, as well as the applicable pricing and contract models, as a whole.

EU West and EU North, in particular, are relevant for many European Azure environments. However, the region alone is not the decisive factor. The specific service or SKU being used must also be affected by the adjustment.

The announced change does not apply across the board to all Azure Virtual Machines and Storage Services. In the notification, Microsoft lists the following VM series, among others, as exceptions:

• v1: Bv1, D, Ds, F, Fs, G, Gs, L, NP, HCS
• v2: Av2, Amv2, Dv2, Dsv2, Fsv2, Lsv2
• v7: Dsv7, Ddsv7, Dlsv7, Dldsv7, Esv7, Edsv7

Microsoft also lists exceptions for Azure Storage. These include, among others, Azure Container Storage, Azure Managed Lustre, Azure NetApp Files—Cross-Region Replication SKU, General Block Blob, Queues, Standard Page Blob, Tables, and Transaction-Optimized SKU.

The key question, therefore, is not just, “Do we use Azure in an affected region?” but rather, “Which of our resources are located in these regions, and which of them are actually subject to the adjustment based on the pricing information that applies to us?”

Microsoft notifies affected customers via a Health Advisory in the Azure Portal. The notification is tailored to affected subscriptions, services, and regions and may include information about these subscriptions and resources.

However, testing with just any user account is not sufficient. Which health advisories a user can view depends on their Azure scope and the permissions assigned to them. According to Microsoft, users with the Subscription Reader role or higher can view advisories that pertain to their subscription scope. Users with tenant administrator access can view advisories at the tenant level.

Companies should therefore ensure that all relevant subscriptions are included in the review and that the person conducting the review has sufficient permissions. The “Impacted Resources” tab can assist with the analysis. However, Microsoft notes that this view provides information on affected resources only for a subset of active services and features. It should therefore not be used as the sole basis for a comprehensive impact analysis.

The announced change is, first and foremost, a cost issue. At the same time, it can serve as a good opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review of your own Azure environment. After all, in addition to the question, “How will our costs change starting in February?” it’s also important to ask, “Are we using the right resources, the appropriate sizing, and a suitable cost model?”

A structured analysis therefore goes beyond immediate price adjustments. It provides transparency regarding relevant cost drivers and identifies areas where optimization makes economic and technical sense. The goal is not to question every resource. Rather, the goal is to make sound decisions based on actual usage, technical requirements, and applicable terms and conditions.

The Azure price increase effective February 1, 2027, does not affect every Azure customer or every workload equally. The region, service, SKU, and pricing model determine the actual extent of the impact. Therefore, the absence of a portal notification—or one that is not visible to an individual user—should not be interpreted as a blanket assurance that there is no impact.

The first step is to conduct a thorough inventory of all relevant subscriptions. Companies that identify affected resources early on can factor the financial impact into their budget and cloud planning while also assessing where there is room for optimization, regardless of the price change.

Take advantage of the Azure price increase to review your costs and identify opportunities for optimization. We'd be happy to help you with this.

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The primary source for the date, regions, percentages, and the exceptions mentioned is the customer-specific Azure Service Health Advisory titled “Action required: Prepare for specific Azure VM series and Azure Storage service price updates in seven Azure regions globally.” The advisory is an official Microsoft announcement, but it is not publicly available to every reader. When publishing this information, you should use a shared screenshot or a link to the advisory that is accessible to the target audience, if possible.

Publicly available Microsoft documentation

• Service Health Advisories - Azure Service Health
• Resources Affected by Azure Health Advisories
• Azure Retail Prices REST API overview
• Estimate costs with the Azure pricing calculator