Microsoft Azure gives organisations a huge amount of flexibility. You can choose from different Azure subscription types, services, pricing models and plans depending on how your infrastructure, applications and users need to work.
That flexibility is useful, but it can also make cost management more difficult. The subscription structure you choose, the resources you deploy and the way those resources are configured can all affect your monthly Azure spend.
This article explains the key Azure terminology, Azure subscription strategy and practical ways to optimise cloud costs without compromising performance, security or scalability.
At I-Finity, our Azure specialists help organisations review their cloud costs, identify unnecessary spend and make sure their Azure subscriptions are configured around real business needs.
Key terminology explained
Microsoft provides a wide variety of products, services and billing structures. Before choosing between Azure subscription types or Azure plans, it helps to understand the key terminology.
Organisation: The business or entity using Microsoft Cloud services. This is normally associated with a Domain Name System, or DNS, domain name.
Tenant: A dedicated instance of Microsoft Entra ID used to manage identities, users, groups and access.
Subscription: An agreement with Microsoft to use one or more cloud platforms or services. These services can range from free to paid, and different subscriptions or Azure plans may give you access to different billing arrangements, support options and service capabilities.
Resource: An individual service or component within Azure, such as a virtual machine, database, storage account, app service or network gateway.
Resource group: A container used to manage related Azure resources together.
Licence: A user-based agreement that gives someone access to a Microsoft product or service, such as Microsoft 365 or other licensed cloud services.
Understanding these terms helps you see how your cloud services are structured, managed and billed. This is an important first step in identifying where costs can be controlled or reduced.
Azure subscription types and Azure plans
Different Azure subscription types and Azure plans are available depending on how your organisation buys, manages and uses Microsoft Cloud services.
Common options include:
Pay-as-you-go: Flexible subscriptions where you pay for the Azure services you use.
Microsoft Customer Agreement subscriptions: A modern purchasing agreement used by many organisations buying directly from Microsoft.
Enterprise Agreement subscriptions: Often used by larger organisations with wider Microsoft commitments.
Cloud Solution Provider subscriptions: Azure services purchased and managed through a Microsoft partner.
Free or trial subscriptions: Useful for testing, but not designed for long-term production environments.
The right Azure subscription type will depend on your organisation’s size, procurement model, governance needs, support requirements and expected cloud usage.
However, choosing the right subscription is only one part of Azure cost optimisation. The way your resources are configured and managed can have an even bigger impact on your ongoing cloud spend.
Azure subscription strategy
There are three key strategies that you can use when deciding which subscription fits your needs:
Functional strategy: Organises subscriptions by function, such as finance, sales, development, production or IT support.
Business unit strategy: Groups subscriptions by department, profit and loss category, division, or similar business structure.
Geographic strategy: Groups subscriptions by region, which can be useful for organisations operating in multiple geographic regions.
Often, there isn't one simple answer. A hybrid approach can be the most practical and cost-effective way to manage access, reporting, ownership and cost control.
Achieving Azure cost optimisation
I‑Finity were tasked with reducing Azure subscription costs for a financial services customer without compromising scale and performance.
The steps taken included:
Performing an initial audit of the existing Azure implementation
Working with the customer to ensure every process was understood and required
Strengthening the disaster recovery plan with comprehensive backups
Reconfiguring the Azure subscription to achieve the required scale
Combining, moving and deploying resources to deliver cost optimisation
This type of review can help identify resources that are oversized, duplicated, underused or no longer needed.
Azure cost optimisation in practice
Another customer example is Les Cinéma Ciné Entreprise, which needed increased network capacity while still keeping Azure costs under control.
The customer had initially been advised by a third party to scale up the entire system, but this approach presented two problems. It did not achieve the required scaled-up functionality when tested, and it would also have increased costs unnecessarily.
I Finity undertook further technical analysis and recommended a more targeted solution.
This included:
Identifying cases of port exhaustion, where a node runs out of available ports
Implementing a NAT Gateway to provide a more scalable access point
Increasing the number of ports so the system could function as required
Keeping other resources the same where they did not need to be scaled up
By increasing only the resource area that needed attention, I-Finity delivered a more cost-effective Azure solution.
Azure cost-saving tips
There are several practical ways to reduce Azure costs while keeping systems secure and reliable:
Review unused or underused resources: Identify services, storage, databases or test environments that are no longer needed.
Right-size resources: Make sure resources are not larger or more powerful than they need to be.
Use budgets and alerts: Track spend before it becomes a problem and avoid unexpected bills.
Apply tags: Understand which teams, projects or environments are driving costs.
Consider reservations or savings plans: These can help reduce costs for predictable workloads.
Review architecture regularly: Azure environments change over time, so regular reviews can identify new savings opportunities.
Tools you can use
Azure includes several tools to help organisations monitor and control cloud costs.
Microsoft Cost Management can help you review spending patterns, monitor usage and understand where costs are coming from across subscriptions, resource groups and services.
Azure Advisor provides recommendations that can highlight potential cost savings, such as idle or underused resources.
Azure Policy can also be used to set cost controls and guardrails, helping ensure new Azure services are created in line with predefined rules.
Together, these tools can give your organisation better visibility and help keep Azure costs under control.
Summary
To keep Azure costs optimised, your organisation should:
Choose the right Azure subscription type, Azure plan and strategy
Structure subscriptions in a way that supports visibility and governance
Review unused, oversized or duplicated resources
Use budgets, alerts, tagging and cost controls
Consider Reservations or Savings Plans where workloads are predictable
Review your Azure environment regularly
Azure cost optimisation is not a one-off exercise. It works best as an ongoing process of monitoring, reviewing and refining your cloud environment.
