Azure Virtual Machines · FinOps Profile

Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines Finops

FOCUS-aligned FinOps for Azure Virtual Machines — the largest single Azure spend category for most customers. Per-second metered with 1-minute minimum; multiple commitment paths (Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, Spot, Hybrid Benefit) drive 30–90% savings. Azure Advisor surfaces right-sizing opportunities; Cost Management exports are FOCUS-conformant.

Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines Finops is the FinOps profile for Azure Virtual Machines on the APIs.io network, aligned with the FinOps Foundation Framework.

It defines 7 billable meters, billed in USD (settlement varies), on a monthly cycle, and pricing category pay-as-you-go + committed use + spot.

The profile maps 10 FOCUS columns for cost-allocation reporting.

Tagged areas include Cloud Computing, Compute, IaaS, Infrastructure, and Virtual Machines.

Category: Cloud Compute / IaaS Pricing: Pay-As-You-Go + Committed Use + Spot Billing: Monthly FOCUS v1.3
Cloud ComputingComputeIaaSInfrastructureVirtual MachinesFinOpsFOCUS

Framework Alignment

Framework
FinOps Foundation Framework
Data Spec
FOCUS v1.3

Charge Categories

UsagePurchaseTaxAdjustmentRefundCredit

FOCUS Columns

BillingCurrency
USD
ChargeCategory
Usage
InvoiceIssuerName
Microsoft Corporation
PricingCategory
Usage-Based
PricingUnit
instance-hour
ProviderName
Microsoft Azure
PublisherName
Microsoft Corporation
RegionId
varies (eastus, westeurope, ...)
ServiceCategory
Compute
ServiceName
Azure Virtual Machines

Meters

vm_instance_hours
Unit: instance-hour
Pay-as-you-go VM compute hours by SKU and region.
vm_reserved_hours
Unit: instance-hour
VM-hours covered by Reserved Instance commitments.
savings_plan_commitment
Unit: hour-commit
Azure Savings Plan for Compute hourly $-commitment.
spot_instance_hours
Unit: instance-hour
Spot VM hours consumed.
managed_disk_gb_month
Unit: GB-month
Premium SSD / Standard SSD / Standard HDD storage attached to VMs.
data_egress
Unit: GB
VM outbound data transfer billed under Azure bandwidth meter.
license_premium
Unit: vcpu-hour
Windows Server / SQL Server / RHEL / SUSE license premium per vCPU-hour (excluded if using Azure Hybrid Benefit).

Sources