Real-time Pricing

MechCloud displays cost information directly in the plan output before any infrastructure changes are applied. This enables cost-aware infrastructure decisions during development rather than discovering costs after deployment.

Overview

When generating an execution plan, MechCloud calculates and displays comprehensive cost information for Azure resources that have associated costs.

Supported Billing Models

Model	How it appears in the plan	Examples
Usage-based (hourly)	Hourly rate + max monthly total (730 hours)	Virtual Machines, Load Balancers, Public IPs
Storage (GB-month)	Monthly rate + total when size is known	Managed Disks (Premium SSD, Standard SSD, Standard HDD)
Consumption-based	Rate only (actual usage unknown at plan time)	Data transfer, Storage transactions, Bandwidth

Usage-Based Charges (Price + Cost)

For resources with predictable usage patterns, MechCloud shows both price rates and calculated costs:

• Virtual Machine compute hours

• Public IP address hours

• Load Balancer hours

• Managed Disk storage (GB-Mo)

Example: A Standard_B1s VM shows price: $0.01040/Hrs, monthly: $7.59

Azure Spot Pricing: For all regular Virtual Machines, MechCloud displays both regular and spot pricing in the plan output. This helps users evaluate potential cost savings by using spot instances when suitable for their workloads.

Example: vm1 (action: create, price: $0.01040/Hrs, monthly: $7.59, spot-price: $0.00312/Hrs, spot-monthly: $2.28)

Consumption-Based Charges (Price Only)

For resources with variable consumption, MechCloud shows pricing rates but cannot calculate costs without actual usage data:

• Data transfer (GB)

• Storage transactions

• Bandwidth usage

• Application Gateway data processing

Example: Storage account transaction pricing shown as Price (Transactions - price: $0.0004/10K transactions)

Cost Change Tracking

MechCloud displays cost change percentages for all resource actions, helping you understand the financial impact of infrastructure changes.

Create Actions

When creating new resources, the cost change is +100% (from $0 to the new cost):

vm1 (action: create, price: $0.01040/Hrs, monthly: $7.59, change: +100%)

Update Actions

When modifying existing resources, the change percentage reflects the actual cost difference.

Example: Resizing a VM from Standard_B2s to Standard_B1s

vm1 (action: update, price: $0.01040/Hrs, monthly: $7.59, change: -50%)

The -50% change indicates a 50% cost reduction from the previous Standard_B2s configuration.

Example: Upgrading disk from Standard HDD to Premium SSD

data_disk (action: update, monthly: $19.71, change: +150%)

The +150% change shows the cost increase from Standard HDD to Premium SSD tier.

Delete Actions

When deleting resources, the cost change is -100% (from current cost to $0):

vm1 (action: delete, price: $0.00/Hrs, monthly: $0.00, change: -100%)

Plan Output Examples

Virtual Machine (Usage-Based Charges)

Virtual Machines have predictable usage patterns, so MechCloud calculates and displays actual hourly and monthly costs.

Creating a regular Virtual Machine:

resources:
  - type: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines
    name: vm1
    props:
      location: "eastus"
      hardware_profile:
        vm_size: "Standard_B1s"
      storage_profile:
        image_reference:
          publisher: "Canonical"
          offer: "0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy"
          sku: "22_04-lts-gen2"
          version: "latest"
        os_disk:
          create_option: "FromImage"
          managed_disk:
            storage_account_type: "Standard_LRS"
          disk_size_gb: 30
      os_profile:
        computer_name: "vm1"
        admin_username: "ubuntu"
        linux_configuration:
          disable_password_authentication: true
          ssh:
            public_keys:
              - path: "/home/ubuntu/.ssh/authorized_keys"
                key_data: "ssh-rsa AAAA..."
      network_profile:
        network_interfaces:
          - id: "ref:nic1"

Plan output:

vm1 (action: create, price: $0.01040/Hrs, monthly: $7.59, spot-price: $0.00312/Hrs, spot-monthly: $2.28, change: +100%)
=> Compute (price: $0.01040/Hrs, monthly: $7.59, spot-price: $0.00312/Hrs, spot-monthly: $2.28)
=> Storage (OS Disk - Standard HDD S4 32GB - monthly: $1.54)

The plan shows:

• Regular price: $0.01040/Hrs - calculated hourly cost for Standard_B1s VM

• Regular monthly: $7.59 - estimated monthly cost (hourly × 730 hours)

• Spot price: $0.00312/Hrs - spot instance hourly cost for comparison

• Spot monthly: $2.28 - estimated monthly spot cost

• OS Disk: $1.54/month - Standard HDD S4 tier (32GB)

• Change: +100% - new resource, going from $0 to $7.59/month

Key Feature: MechCloud displays spot pricing alongside regular pricing for all Virtual Machines. This encourages users to evaluate spot instances when suitable for their workloads, potentially saving up to 70-90% on compute costs.

Creating a spot Virtual Machine:

resources:
  - type: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines
    name: spot_vm1
    props:
      location: "eastus"
      priority: "Spot"
      eviction_policy: "Deallocate"
      billing_profile:
        max_price: -1  # Pay up to regular price
      hardware_profile:
        vm_size: "Standard_B1s"
      storage_profile:
        image_reference:
          publisher: "Canonical"
          offer: "0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy"
          sku: "22_04-lts-gen2"
          version: "latest"
        os_disk:
          create_option: "FromImage"
          managed_disk:
            storage_account_type: "Standard_LRS"
          disk_size_gb: 30
      os_profile:
        computer_name: "spotvm1"
        admin_username: "ubuntu"
        linux_configuration:
          disable_password_authentication: true
          ssh:
            public_keys:
              - path: "/home/ubuntu/.ssh/authorized_keys"
                key_data: "ssh-rsa AAAA..."
      network_profile:
        network_interfaces:
          - id: "ref:nic1"

Plan output:

spot_vm1 (action: create, spot-price: $0.00312/Hrs, spot-monthly: $2.28, change: +100%)
=> Compute (spot-price: $0.00312/Hrs, spot-monthly: $2.28)
=> Storage (OS Disk - Standard HDD S4 32GB - monthly: $1.54)

For spot instances, only spot pricing is shown since the VM will use spot capacity. The +100% change indicates a new resource.

Managed Disk (Storage-Based Charges)

Managed Disks demonstrate storage-based pricing where costs are calculated based on the provisioned tier size.

Creating a Premium SSD Managed Disk:

resources:
  - type: Microsoft.Compute/disks
    name: data_disk
    props:
      location: "eastus"
      sku:
        name: "Premium_LRS"
      disk_size_gb: 128
      creation_data:
        create_option: "Empty"

Plan output:

data_disk (action: create, monthly: $19.71, change: +100%)
=> Storage (Premium SSD P10 128GB - monthly: $19.71)

The plan shows:

• Monthly cost: $19.71 - Premium SSD P10 tier (128GB capacity)

• Tier: P10 - Azure automatically maps 128GB to P10 tier

• Change: +100% - new resource

Azure Disk Tier Mapping: Azure Managed Disks use fixed-size tiers. When you specify disk_size_gb: 128, Azure provisions a P10 disk (128GB capacity) and charges the P10 tier rate, not a per-GB rate.

Creating a Standard SSD Managed Disk:

resources:
  - type: Microsoft.Compute/disks
    name: standard_disk
    props:
      location: "eastus"
      sku:
        name: "StandardSSD_LRS"
      disk_size_gb: 256
      creation_data:
        create_option: "Empty"

Plan output:

standard_disk (action: create, monthly: $19.20, change: +100%)
=> Storage (Standard SSD E15 256GB - monthly: $19.20)

The Standard SSD E15 tier (256GB) costs $19.20/month, significantly less than Premium SSD for workloads that don't require premium performance.

Public IP Address (Usage-Based Charges)

Public IP addresses have hourly charges based on SKU type.

Creating a Basic Public IP:

resources:
  - type: Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses
    name: public_ip1
    props:
      location: "eastus"
      sku:
        name: "Basic"
      public_ip_allocation_method: "Dynamic"

Plan output:

public_ip1 (action: create, price: $0.00400/Hrs, monthly: $2.92, change: +100%)

Creating a Standard Public IP:

resources:
  - type: Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses
    name: public_ip2
    props:
      location: "eastus"
      sku:
        name: "Standard"
      public_ip_allocation_method: "Static"

Plan output:

public_ip2 (action: create, price: $0.00500/Hrs, monthly: $3.65, change: +100%)

Standard SKU costs more but provides additional features like zone redundancy and static allocation.

Load Balancer (Usage-Based Charges)

Load Balancers have hourly charges based on SKU type.

Creating a Basic Load Balancer:

resources:
  - type: Microsoft.Network/loadBalancers
    name: lb1
    props:
      location: "eastus"
      sku:
        name: "Basic"
      frontend_ip_configurations:
        - name: "frontend1"
          public_ip_address:
            id: "ref:public_ip1"

Plan output:

lb1 (action: create, price: $0.02500/Hrs, monthly: $18.25, change: +100%)

Creating a Standard Load Balancer:

resources:
  - type: Microsoft.Network/loadBalancers
    name: lb2
    props:
      location: "eastus"
      sku:
        name: "Standard"
      frontend_ip_configurations:
        - name: "frontend1"
          public_ip_address:
            id: "ref:public_ip2"

Plan output:

lb2 (action: create, price: $0.02500/Hrs, monthly: $18.25, change: +100%)

Supported Resources

MechCloud provides real-time pricing for a comprehensive set of Azure resource types including compute, storage, networking, and other services.

For the complete list of supported resources with pricing examples, see Examples (Resources With Cost).

Regional Pricing

Costs vary by Azure region. MechCloud automatically applies region-specific pricing.

Example - Standard_B1s pricing:

# eastus
vm_size: "Standard_B1s"  # $0.01040/Hr, $7.59/month

# westeurope
vm_size: "Standard_B1s"  # $0.01144/Hr, $8.35/month

Using Pricing Data

Compare Configurations

# Option A - Burstable series
vm_size: "Standard_B2s"  # $0.0416/Hr, $30.37/month

# Option B - General purpose
vm_size: "Standard_D2s_v3"  # $0.096/Hr, $70.08/month

Compare Disk Types

# Option A - Standard HDD (S10 tier)
sku:
  name: "Standard_LRS"
disk_size_gb: 128  # $5.89/month

# Option B - Premium SSD (P10 tier)
sku:
  name: "Premium_LRS"
disk_size_gb: 128  # $19.71/month

Track Environment Costs

When generating plans for different Resource Contexts:

Development environment (context: app-dev)
Monthly cost: $125.43

Production environment (context: app-prod)
Monthly cost: $892.15

Document Cost Decisions

resources:
  - type: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines
    name: api-server
    props:
      # Standard_D2s_v3 for consistent CPU performance
      # Cost: +$39.71/month vs Standard_B2s
      # Justified by API latency requirements
      hardware_profile:
        vm_size: "Standard_D2s_v3"

Example Workflow

This example demonstrates how real-time pricing helps optimize infrastructure costs during development.

Initial Configuration

resources:
  - type: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines
    name: web-server
    props:
      hardware_profile:
        vm_size: "Standard_D2s_v3"
      storage_profile:
        os_disk:
          managed_disk:
            storage_account_type: "Premium_LRS"
          disk_size_gb: 128

When you generate a plan, MechCloud shows costs for each resource. You can then adjust VM sizes and disk types to optimize costs before deploying.

Cost Optimization

By reviewing the pricing information in the plan:

1. Resize compute: Change Standard_D2s_v3 to Standard_B2s to reduce VM costs

2. Adjust disk type: Change from Premium SSD to Standard SSD if performance allows

3. Consider spot: Evaluate spot instances for non-critical workloads

Each configuration change generates a new plan showing updated costs, enabling iterative optimization before any resources are created.

Best Practices

Include cost justification in code comments - Document why specific VM sizes or disk types were chosen.

Compare costs during code review - Review cost deltas alongside configuration changes.

Track cost trends over time - Save plan outputs to monitor infrastructure cost evolution.

Use Resource Context for cost isolation - Separate cost tracking by environment (dev, staging, prod).

Monitor actual vs estimated costs - Compare MechCloud estimates against actual Azure bills to refine understanding.

Understand disk tier pricing - Azure charges by tier (P10, E15, S20), not exact GB size.

Evaluate spot instances - Review spot pricing for workloads that can tolerate interruptions.

Azure-Specific Considerations

Disk Tier Pricing

Unlike per-GB pricing, Azure Managed Disks use fixed-size tiers:

Premium SSD Tiers:

• P4 (32GB) - $6.40/month

• P6 (64GB) - $12.29/month

• P10 (128GB) - $19.71/month

• P15 (256GB) - $38.40/month

• P20 (512GB) - $75.78/month

Standard SSD Tiers:

• E4 (32GB) - $2.40/month

• E6 (64GB) - $4.80/month

• E10 (128GB) - $9.60/month

• E15 (256GB) - $19.20/month

• E20 (512GB) - $38.40/month

Standard HDD Tiers:

• S4 (32GB) - $1.54/month

• S6 (64GB) - $3.01/month

• S10 (128GB) - $5.89/month

• S15 (256GB) - $11.52/month

• S20 (512GB) - $22.53/month

When you specify disk_size_gb: 100, Azure provisions the next tier up (e.g., P10 for 128GB) and charges the tier rate.

VM Spot Pricing

Azure Spot VMs can save up to 90% compared to regular pricing, but can be evicted when Azure needs capacity. Best for:

• Batch processing jobs

• Development/test environments

• Stateless workloads

• Interruptible computations

Regional Price Variations

Azure pricing varies significantly by region. Examples for Standard_B1s:

• East US: $0.01040/Hr

• West Europe: $0.01144/Hr

• Southeast Asia: $0.01248/Hr

Always check pricing for your target region during planning.

Integration with Stateless IaC

Real-time pricing works seamlessly with MechCloud's stateless architecture:

Fresh pricing every plan - No stale data from state files

Accurate cost deltas - Costs compared against actual current state

Environment isolation - Resource Context enables per-environment cost tracking

Next Steps

• Examples (Resources With Cost)

• Authoring Desired State