3Gi Blog

Microsoft Azure: Cost management and billing updates for April 2021

Written by Jonathan Collins | May 10, 2021 11:58:46 AM

Whether a new student, a thriving start-up, or the largest enterprise you will inevitably have financial constraints. As well as tracking current spend you will also need to plan for the future. This is where Azure Cost Management and Billing comes in, allowing complete ownership over your bills and preventing surprise costs.

 

Microsoft is always looking for ways to learn more about your challenges and how Azure Cost Management and Billing can help you better understand where you accrue costs within the cloud. By helping you identify and prevent bad spending patterns whilst optimising costs empowers you to do more, with less.

 

We have listed some of the latest improvements and updates Microsoft has made in regards to cost management and billing

 

New date picker in the cost analysis preview

 

Understanding your cost patterns over time and investigating specific charges often requires selecting specific dates.

This month, you'll find a new option to select a custom date range in the cost analysis preview. You can pick a single month, a range of months, or start and end dates for a range of days, making it easier than ever to fine-tune your reporting to the dates you need.

 

Numerous Changes in Cost management labs

With Cost Management Labs, you get a sneak peek at what’s coming in Azure Cost Management. Here are a few features you can see in Cost Management Labs:

 

  • New cost analysis views for resources and reservations
    These are improved cost visualisations that break costs down by resource, resource group, subscription, and reservation, with additional insights into your top cost drivers and an improved date picker and download experience.

 

  • View cost for your resources
    The cost for your resources is one click away from the resource overview in the preview portal. Just click View cost to quickly jump to the cost of that particular resource.

 

  • Remember last-used scope
    Azure Cost Management now remembers the last scope you used, making it easier than ever to pick up where you left off. You can see the preview in Cost Management Labs.

 

  • Streamlined Cost Management menu
    Only show settings in Configuration. Remove Cloudyn, Exports, and Connectors for AWS from the Cost Management menu.

 

Every change in Azure Cost Management is available in Cost Management Labs a week before it’s in the full Azure portal.