Azure Retail Price API – Dotnet Indie Stack

Official Microsoft API providing programmatic access to retail prices for all Azure services. Essential for cost estimation, budgeting, and building pricing calculators.

Features

Price Data

Comprehensive Coverage: Prices for all Azure services and SKUs
Current Pricing: Up-to-date retail pricing information
Regional Pricing: Prices across all Azure regions
Currency Support: Prices in multiple currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, etc.)
Meter Details: Detailed information about pricing meters
SKU Information: Complete SKU metadata

Filtering & Querying

Service Filter: Query by specific Azure service
Region Filter: Get prices for specific regions
SKU Filter: Find specific SKU pricing
Meter Name: Search by meter name
Currency: Get prices in preferred currency
OData Support: Advanced filtering with OData query syntax

API Usage

Basic Request

GET https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices

Filtered Request

GET https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices?$filter=
  serviceName eq 'Virtual Machines'
  and armRegionName eq 'eastus'
  and priceType eq 'Consumption'

Response Example

{
  "BillingCurrency": "USD",
  "CustomerEntityId": "Default",
  "CustomerEntityType": "Retail",
  "Items": [
    {
      "currencyCode": "USD",
      "tierMinimumUnits": 0.0,
      "retailPrice": 0.096,
      "unitPrice": 0.096,
      "armRegionName": "eastus",
      "location": "US East",
      "effectiveStartDate": "2020-01-01T00:00:00Z",
      "meterId": "...",
      "meterName": "D2s v3",
      "productId": "...",
      "skuId": "...",
      "productName": "Virtual Machines Dsv3 Series",
      "skuName": "D2s v3",
      "serviceName": "Virtual Machines",
      "serviceId": "...",
      "serviceFamily": "Compute",
      "unitOfMeasure": "1 Hour",
      "type": "Consumption"
    }
  ],
  "NextPageLink": "..."
}

Use Cases

Cost Estimation

Build custom pricing calculators
Estimate infrastructure costs before deployment
Compare pricing across regions
Calculate TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)

Budget Planning

Create budget forecasts
Track pricing changes over time
Plan capacity with cost awareness
Optimize resource allocation

Tooling & Automation

Integrate pricing into IaC tools
Build cost optimization tools
Create internal cost dashboards
Automate cost reporting

Analysis

Compare Azure prices with competitors
Identify cost-saving opportunities
Analyze regional price differences
Track price trends over time

Common Filters

By Service

$filter=serviceName eq 'Azure App Service'

By Region

$filter=armRegionName eq 'westus2'

By Price Type

$filter=priceType eq 'Consumption'

Combined Filters

$filter=serviceName eq 'Storage'
  and armRegionName eq 'eastus'
  and priceType eq 'Consumption'

Key Fields

retailPrice: The price per unit
unitOfMeasure: Billing unit (1 Hour, 1 GB/Month, etc.)
armRegionName: Azure region identifier
serviceName: Azure service name
skuName: Specific SKU identifier
currencyCode: Price currency
effectiveStartDate: When this price became effective

Best Practices

Cache Results: Prices don't change frequently, cache appropriately
Pagination: Handle NextPageLink for large result sets
Filter Early: Use OData filters to reduce response size
Rate Limiting: Implement retry logic for rate limits
Currency: Always specify currency for consistency
Regional Awareness: Prices vary significantly by region

Pricing

Free: No cost to use the API
No Authentication: Public API, no auth required
Rate Limited: Reasonable rate limits apply

Best For

FinOps Teams: Cost optimization and analysis
Developers: Building cost-aware applications
DevOps: Infrastructure cost estimation
Finance Teams: Budget planning and forecasting
Tool Builders: Creating pricing calculators
Consultants: Client cost assessments

Integration Examples

PowerShell

$uri = "https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices?`$filter=serviceName eq 'Virtual Machines'"
$response = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $uri

.NET/C#

var client = new HttpClient();
var response = await client.GetAsync(
    "https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices?$filter=serviceName eq 'Storage'"
);
var prices = await response.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync<PriceResponse>();

The Azure Retail Price API is essential for anyone building cost-aware Azure solutions, enabling accurate pricing information without manual price sheet maintenance.