| title | description | services | documentationcenter | author | manager | editor | tags | ms.assetid | ms.service | ms.devlang | ms.topic | ms.tgt_pltfrm | ms.workload | ms.date | ms.author |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Understand your bill for Azure |
Learn how to read and understand your usage and bill for your Azure subscription |
tonguyen10 |
tonguyen |
billing |
32eea268-161c-4b93-8774-bc435d78a8c9 |
billing |
na |
article |
na |
na |
08/31/2017 |
tonguyen |
To understand your Azure bill, compare your invoice with the detailed daily usage file and the cost management reports in the Azure portal.
Note
This article does not apply to Enterprise Agreement (EA) customers. If you’re an EA customer, you can find invoice documentation on the Enterprise Portal.
To obtain a PDF of your invoice and a copy of your detailed daily usage file CSV download, see Get your Azure billing invoice and daily usage data.
For detailed terms and descriptions of your invoice and detailed daily usage file, see Understand terms on your Microsoft Azure invoice and Understand terms on your Microsoft Azure detailed usage.
For details on the cost management reports, see Azure portal cost management.
If there is a charge on your invoice that you want more details on, there are a couple of options.
The detailed usage CSV file shows your charges by billing period and daily usage. To get your detailed usage CSV file, see Get your Azure billing invoice and daily usage data.
Your usage charges are displayed at the meter level. The following terms mean the same thing in both the invoice and the detailed usage file. For example, the billing cycle on the invoice is equivalent to the billing period shown in the detailed usage file.
| Invoice (PDF) | Detailed usage (CSV) |
|---|---|
| Billing cycle | Billing Period |
| Name | Meter Category |
| Type | Meter Subcategory |
| Resource | Meter Name |
| Region | Meter Region |
| Consumed | Consumed Quantity |
| Included | Included Quantity |
| Billable | Overage Quantity |
The Usage Charges section of your invoice has the total value for each meter that was consumed during your billing period. For example, the following screenshot shows a usage charge for the Azure Scheduler service.
The Statement section of your detailed usage CSV shows the same charge. Both the Consumed amount and Value match the invoice.
To see a breakdown of this charge on a daily basis, go to the Daily Usage section of the CSV. Filter for "Scheduler" under Meter Category and you can see which days the meter was used and how much was consumed. The Resource and Resource group information is also listed for comparison. The Consumed values should add up to what's shown on the invoice.
To get the cost per day, multiply the Consumed amounts with the Rate value from the Statement section.
To learn more about the invoice, see Understand your Azure invoice.
To learn about each of the columns in the CSV, see Understand your Azure detailed usage.
The Azure portal can also help you verify your charges.The Azure portal provides cost management charts for a quick overview of your usage and the charges on your invoice.
To continue with the example from above, visit the Subscriptions page, select your subscription, and then choose Cost analysis. From there, you can specify the time-span and see usage charge for the Azure Scheduler service.
To see the daily cost breakdown in Cost history, click the row.
To learn more, see Prevent unexpected costs with Azure billing and cost management.
External services (also known as Azure Marketplace orders) are provided by independent service vendors and are billed separately. The charges don't show up on your Azure invoice. To learn more, see Understand your Azure external service charges.
If you set up a credit card or a debit card as your payment method, the payment is charged automatically within 10 days after the billing period ends. On your credit card statement, the line item would say MSFT Azure.
If you pay by invoicing, send your payment to the location listed at the bottom of your invoice. For more help, contact support.
Create a support ticket to ask for the status of your payment.
- Estimate costs by using the pricing calculator and total cost of ownership calculator, and get the detailed pricing information for each service.
- Set up billing alerts.
- Review your usage and costs regularly in the Azure portal.
If you still need help, contact support to get your issue resolved quickly.