Azure Cloud Cost Optimization News & Updates
Welcome the Azure FinOps & Cloud Cost Optimization updates.
Every week, we’ll update this page with all the news that can help you do cloud cost optimization in Azure.
August 24th, 2025
Better Cost Views for Your Kubernetes Clusters are Here
Great news for Kubernetes users. The detailed cost analysis view for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is now generally available.
This feature, which was in preview, gives you a much clearer breakdown of your AKS costs, letting you see spending by cluster and even by namespace.
This is a huge step forward for accurately tracking and allocating your container costs back to the right teams.
Microsoft Named a Leader in Cloud-Native Platforms
Microsoft is celebrating another win. Gartner has named Microsoft a Leader in their 2025 Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Native Application Platforms (CNAPP).
This recognizes their strength in providing a complete platform for building and running modern, cloud-native apps.
For FinOps, a mature and well-integrated platform is a good sign, as it usually leads to better and more unified tools for cost management and optimization.
August 17th, 2025
Microsoft Named a Leader in Container Management
Microsoft is celebrating a big win. The analyst firm Gartner has named Microsoft a Leader in their 2025 Magic Quadrant for Container Management.
This recognizes their strong offerings for running and managing containerized applications, especially with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
For FinOps folks, this is a good sign of a mature platform, which usually means better tools for things like cost visibility and optimization for your container workloads.
Microsoft Update Its Prices Globally
Heads up for global companies. Microsoft has announced an update to create more pricing consistency for its online services.
The main idea is that prices in local currencies will be updated more regularly to better align with US dollar exchange rates.
For FinOps, this means more predictable and consistent pricing across different regions, which simplifies global budget planning and forecasting.
Review the full update to avoid any surprises, it’s been a hot topic in the Microsoft Licensing Community.
August 10th, 2025
Your FinOps Hubs Just Got More Stable
This is a great update for reliability! Microsoft is introducing non-breaking “breaking” changes in FinOps hubs 1.2.
The main idea is that when Microsoft updates their cost and usage data formats, they’ll do it in a way that doesn’t break your existing reports and dashboards.
It’s a smart change that means you can trust your FinOps data to be consistent, even as the platform evolves.
New Tools in the FinOps Toolkit
For all the FinOps pros out there, the open-source FinOps Toolkit has been updated to version 1.2.
This new version is packed with improvements to help you analyze your costs and find savings.
It’s always a good idea to check out the latest release for new Power BI dashboards, data connectors, and other goodies to level up your Azure FinOps practice.
Get a Better View of Your AKS Costs
Great news for Kubernetes users on Azure! A new cost analysis view for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is now available.
This gives you a much more detailed breakdown of your AKS costs, letting you see spending by cluster or even by namespace.
This is a huge help for understanding exactly what’s driving your Kubernetes spend and for allocating costs back to the right teams.
August 3rd, 2025
Making Sense of Marketplace and FinOps
For those managing third-party software, Microsoft held a great “Office Hours” session on FinOps and the Microsoft Marketplace.
The key takeaway is how using the Marketplace can really help your FinOps practice. It simplifies things by centralizing your billing for third-party tools right onto your main Azure invoice.
This makes it much easier to track your total cloud spend, manage budgets, and handle procurement, all from one place.
25th of July, 2025
Better Savings Plan Recommendations in Azure
Great news for Azure users! Savings plan recommendations can now be based on your last 7, 30, or 60 days of usage.
This gives you more flexibility to get recommendations that truly match your usage patterns, whether you’re looking at a short-term project or long-term trends.
More accurate recommendations mean you can commit with more confidence and maximize your savings.
Find Idle MySQL Servers in Azure
Time to hunt for more savings! Azure Advisor will now give you cost recommendations for idle Azure Database for MySQL – Flexible Servers.
This is a super helpful, direct way to find databases that are running and costing you money but aren’t actually being used.
Getting these alerts from Advisor makes it easy to find and shut down waste without having to dig through metrics yourself.
Older Updates
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