News

Microsoft Announces Another Round of Azure Price Cuts

Microsoft reduced the prices of about 61 Azure cloud services on Thursday.

The price cuts apply to organizations that order those services through Microsoft's Web site, according to Microsoft's announcement, which added that Azure customers with Enterprise Agreements will see even lower prices.

The new price reductions are listed here. While the price cuts are billed by Microsoft as being in effect now, the list page states that the prices will go down on Oct. 1, 2014.

Azure prices are supposed to decrease as Microsoft expands its datacenter capacity and its customer base in a commodification kind of strategy. Another motivation for price cuts is competition with Amazon Web Services, which prompted Microsoft to scale back Azure prices in April.

In August, a GigaOM story noted that Microsoft had quietly ended discounts for new Azure customers that ranged from 20 percent to 32 percent, based on commitments of six months or 12 months. The discounts apparently ended after July 16, but no notice or explanation was given by Microsoft, according to GigaOM.

Microsoft now offers Open licensing for its Azure services, an option that started in August, according to a Microsoft spokesperson, via e-mail.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.

Featured

  • Microsoft Offers Support Extensions for Exchange 2016 and 2019

    Microsoft has introduced a paid Extended Security Update (ESU) program for on-premises Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, offering a crucial safety cushion as both versions near their Oct. 14, 2025 end-of-support date.

  • An image of planes flying around a globe

    2025 Microsoft Conference Calendar: For Partners, IT Pros and Developers

    Here's your guide to all the IT training sessions, partner meet-ups and annual Microsoft conferences you won't want to miss.

  • Notebook

    Microsoft Centers AI, Security and Partner Dogfooding at MCAPS

    Microsoft's second annual MCAPS for Partners event took place Tuesday, delivering a volley of updates and directives for its partners for fiscal 2026.

  • Microsoft Layoffs: AI Is the Obvious Elephant in the Room

    As Microsoft doubles down on an $80 billion bet on AI this fiscal year, its workforce reductions are drawing scrutiny over whether AI's ascent is quietly reshaping its human capital strategy, even as official messaging avoids drawing a direct line.

Most   Popular