Azure Resource Manager MCP Adds Cost Tools to AI Workflows

Azure Resource Manager MCP now provides cost query and pricing tools by default, with optional capabilities for forecasting, budgets, alerts, reservations, Savings Plans, and Advisor recommendations.

The integration lets artificial intelligence agents analyze spend, estimate deployment costs, identify idle Azure Kubernetes Service capacity, and surface optimization opportunities directly in Azure workflows.

Foundry Outlines Four Ways to Lower Agent Costs

Microsoft’s guidance on the economics of agent optimization highlights cost controls in Foundry, including model routing, Batch deployments, prompt and semantic caching, prompt and agent optimization, observability, evaluation, budgets, alerts, and cost tagging.

The guidance emphasizes measuring cost per successful outcome rather than cost per request. Microsoft also identifies Batch deployments as offering up to 50% lower costs for suitable asynchronous workloads.

Microsoft Marketplace Adds Purchase Order Mapping

Microsoft Marketplace now supports purchase order mapping for Marketplace purchases and Microsoft invoices.

The capability improves allocation and reconciliation of cloud and artificial intelligence spend against organizational accounting structures. Mapping purchases to purchase orders can help teams connect Marketplace charges with the accounting information used by their organizations.

Azure Monitor Auxiliary Logs Adds Table Support and Plan Switching

Azure Monitor Auxiliary Logs now supports Azure tables and switching existing tables between plans.

The Auxiliary plan is designed for cost-effective ingestion and retention of high-volume logs that are kept for compliance or auditing but queried infrequently. The ability to switch existing tables between plans gives teams more flexibility as telemetry requirements change.