Pricing disclaimer: Monthly costs shown across module details are planning estimates only and vary by region, usage profile, sizing, and Microsoft pricing updates.
🤖 Azure OpenAI Service
Purpose: Managed access to OpenAI's GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo, embeddings, and DALL-E models with enterprise security and compliance.
Key Capabilities:
- Large language models (GPT-4, GPT-3.5-turbo)
- Text embeddings for semantic search
- Image generation with DALL-E 3
- Enterprise networking and authentication
- Quota management and billing controls
Common Use Cases: RAG systems, content generation, code completion, semantic search, chat applications
Typical Monthly Cost (S0): $1,100 - $3,000 depending on token usage
🔒 Azure AI Search
Purpose: Full-text and vector search engine for enterprise content. Supports hybrid search combining semantic and keyword matching.
Key Capabilities:
- Vector search with approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) indexing
- Full-text search with advanced tokenization
- Hybrid search combining vector + text matching
- Built-in integrations with Azure OpenAI for embeddings
- Semantic ranking using proprietary ranking model
Common Use Cases: RAG document retrieval, product catalogs, knowledge bases, enterprise search
Typical Monthly Cost (Basic): $73 - $250 depending on index size
⚙️ Azure AI Foundry
Purpose: Central hub for building, evaluating, and deploying AI applications with prompt engineering and quality measurement.
Key Capabilities:
- AI project workspace and team collaboration
- Prompt flow for visual workflow design
- Evaluation metrics for model quality
- Model catalog and asset management
- Integration with Azure OpenAI, Phi models, and custom models
Common Use Cases: Prompt engineering, RAG pipeline development, model evaluation, team-based AI development
Typical Monthly Cost: Included with resource usage (compute, storage, API calls)
🌐 API Management
Purpose: API gateway for routing, authentication, rate limiting, and caching of AI service calls with governance controls.
Key Capabilities:
- API versioning and routing policies
- Token-based rate limiting and quotas
- Response caching to reduce backend calls
- OAuth, API key, and certificate authentication
- Analytics and usage monitoring
Common Use Cases: GenAI API gateway, multi-tenant routing, backend rate limiting, cost control
Typical Monthly Cost: $150 - $500 depending on tier and API calls
🔒 Azure Key Vault
Purpose: Centralized secrets management for API keys, connection strings, certificates, and encryption keys with audit logging.
Key Capabilities:
- Secret storage with access control
- Certificate management and rotation
- Hardware security module (HSM) backing
- Managed identity integration
- Audit logging and compliance tracking
Common Use Cases: API credential storage, database connection strings, encryption keys, certificate management
Typical Monthly Cost (Standard): $0.60 per secret + API call charges (~$15-50/mo)
🌍 Azure Cosmos DB
Purpose: Globally distributed, multi-model NoSQL database with 99.99% SLA and automatic scaling.
Key Capabilities:
- Multi-model: documents (SQL), key-value, graph, time-series
- Global distribution with multi-region replication
- Automatic and manual scaling
- Built-in change feed for real-time processing
- Transactional consistency with configurable levels
Common Use Cases: User profiles, chat history, session storage, time-series data, graph relationships
Typical Monthly Cost: $50 - $500+ depending on RU throughput and storage
📊 Microsoft Fabric
Purpose: Unified analytics and data integration platform with OneLake lakehouse, Real-Time Intelligence, and AI/BI capabilities.
Key Capabilities:
- OneLake unified data lake with zero-copy sharing
- Real-Time Intelligence for streaming analytics
- Data warehouses with SQL querying
- Direct Lake mode for BI/analytics
- AI Skill integration for natural language queries
Common Use Cases: Enterprise data warehouse, real-time dashboards, data integration, AI-powered BI
Typical Monthly Cost: $0.40 per CU/hour + capacity pricing (~$500-5000/mo)
📦 Azure Container Registry
Purpose: Private Docker registry for storing and managing container images with security scanning and replication.
Key Capabilities:
- Private container image storage
- Geo-replication across regions
- Vulnerability scanning for images
- Webhook integration for CI/CD
- Artifact caching and pull-through proxy
Common Use Cases: Container image repository, CI/CD image storage, container security scanning
Typical Monthly Cost (Basic): $5 + storage costs (~$10-50/mo)
🌐 Azure Virtual Network
Purpose: Isolated network environment with hub-spoke topology, subnets, and network segmentation for security.
Key Capabilities:
- Custom IP address space (RFC 1918)
- Subnets for workload segmentation
- Network security groups for traffic rules
- Virtual network peering and hub-spoke design
- Service endpoints and private endpoints
Common Use Cases: Foundational network infrastructure, multi-tier application isolation, compliance segmentation
Typical Monthly Cost: ~$0.05 per VNet + peering charges (minimal)
🔑 Azure Private Link
Purpose: Private connectivity to Azure PaaS services without exposing to the public internet.
Key Capabilities:
- Private endpoints for service access
- Private DNS zones for name resolution
- No data traversal through internet
- Compatible with major Azure services
- Firewall and DDoS protection not required for private access
Common Use Cases: Secure database access, private OpenAI connections, compliance-required isolation
Typical Monthly Cost: ~$0.01 per private endpoint hour (~$7/month per endpoint)
🛡️ Azure Firewall
Purpose: Centralized network firewall for hub-spoke architectures with application and network-layer filtering.
Key Capabilities:
- Application layer (L7) filtering with URL/FQDN rules
- Network layer (L4) rules for IP/port control
- Threat intelligence for malware detection
- Integrated with Azure Monitor and Log Analytics
- Forced tunneling for all traffic inspection
Common Use Cases: Centralized egress control, compliance-driven traffic inspection, hub-spoke architecture
Typical Monthly Cost (Standard): ~$1.25/hour + rule processing + logging (~$450-800/mo)
👤 Microsoft Entra ID
Purpose: Identity and access management for Azure resources, applications, and on-premises integration.
Key Capabilities:
- User and group management
- Multifactor authentication (MFA)
- Azure role-based access control (RBAC)
- Conditional access policies
- Hybrid identity with on-premises sync
Common Use Cases: User authentication, resource access control, team-based RBAC, managed identities for apps
Typical Monthly Cost (Premium P1): $4 per user (~$200+ for team)
✅ Azure Container Apps
Purpose: Serverless container hosting with automatic scaling and built-in networking without Kubernetes complexity.
Key Capabilities:
- Managed container orchestration
- Automatic scaling based on HTTP traffic or message queues
- Built-in networking with ingress rules
- Secrets management integration
- Dapr integration for distributed patterns
Common Use Cases: Microservices, API backends, background jobs, lightweight AI apps
Typical Monthly Cost: ~$0.005 per vCPU-hour + memory (~$50-300/mo)
⚡ Azure Functions
Purpose: Serverless event-driven computing for lightweight workloads with automatic scaling and pay-per-execution pricing.
Key Capabilities:
- Event-driven execution (timers, HTTP, queues, storage events)
- Multiple language support (C#, Python, JavaScript, Java)
- Consumption plan with true serverless pricing
- Premium plan with VNet integration
- Durable Functions for orchestration
Common Use Cases: API endpoints, scheduled jobs, message processing, webhooks, event handlers
Typical Monthly Cost (Consumption): ~$0.20 per 1M executions + storage (~$10-100/mo)
📈 Azure Monitor
Purpose: Comprehensive monitoring and logging platform for metrics, logs, and alerting across all Azure resources.
Key Capabilities:
- Metrics collection and analytics
- Log Analytics with KQL query language
- Application Insights for app performance monitoring
- Alert rules with webhooks and action groups
- Log retention and workbook visualization
Common Use Cases: Performance monitoring, troubleshooting, audit logging, compliance tracking, alerting
Typical Monthly Cost: ~$2.00 per GB ingested + queries (~$100-500/mo)
📬 Azure Event Grid
Purpose: Serverless event routing service for asynchronous communication between applications and services.
Key Capabilities:
- Event publishing and subscription
- Multiple endpoint types (webhooks, Functions, Service Bus, Event Hubs)
- Custom topic support for application events
- Event filtering and routing rules
- Dead-lettering for failed deliveries
Common Use Cases: File upload processing, workflow triggers, notification distribution, event-driven architectures
Typical Monthly Cost: ~$0.50 per million operations (~$20-100/mo)
🗄️ Azure SQL Managed Instance
Purpose: Fully managed SQL Server instance with 99%+ compatibility, minimal migration effort, and enterprise features.
Key Capabilities:
- SQL Server 2019/2022 compatibility (99%+)
- Built-in high availability and failover
- Advanced Data Security and encryption features
- Instance pools for cost optimization
- Private VNet deployment with no public IP required
- Automated backups with long-term retention
- Polybase, Machine Learning Services, Graph Database
Common Use Cases: SQL Server migration, enterprise applications, data warehouse, regulated workloads
Typical Monthly Cost (General Purpose): $700 - $2,400 depending on vCores
🔒 Azure Bastion
Purpose: Secure remote access to VMs via RDP/SSH through HTML5 browser without exposing public IPs.
Key Capabilities:
- Browser-based secure access to VMs
- No public IP required on VMs
- RDP/SSH support for Windows and Linux
- SSL/TLS encrypted connections
- Azure RBAC integration for access control
- Session recording and audit logging
- Zone-redundant deployment for high availability
- Multiple concurrent sessions support
Common Use Cases: Secure VM management, compliance-required access, enterprise administration, remote troubleshooting
Typical Monthly Cost (Standard): $10/day + $0.25/hour when in use (~$300-500/mo)
🖥️ Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)
Purpose: Deliver secure, scalable Windows desktops and remote apps from Azure with centralized management and identity controls.
Key Capabilities:
- Pooled and personal desktop host pools
- RemoteApp publishing for individual applications
- Autoscale with start/stop for cost control
- Microsoft Entra ID integration and Conditional Access
- FSLogix profile containers for roaming user profiles
- Session host hardening with Defender and Intune policies
- Private network deployment with Bastion-supported administration
- Monitoring through Log Analytics and Azure Monitor workbooks
Common Use Cases: Secure contractor access, call-center desktops, regulated workloads, legacy app virtualization, developer workstations
Typical Monthly Cost: $120 - $450 per active user (depends on VM sizing, concurrency, and session schedule)
☸️ Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
Purpose: Managed Kubernetes platform for containerized AI and enterprise applications with built-in scaling, upgrades, and security controls.
Key Capabilities:
- Managed control plane with automatic patching
- Cluster autoscaler and node pool scaling
- Microsoft Entra integration and Azure RBAC
- Private cluster and network policy support
- Ingress with App Gateway or NGINX
- Workload identity for secretless service access
Common Use Cases: LLM inference APIs, microservices platforms, event-driven workers, internal platform engineering
Typical Monthly Cost: $300 - $3,500+ (node VM size and scale dependent)
🌐 Azure App Service
Purpose: Fully managed PaaS for hosting web apps and APIs with autoscaling, deployment slots, and enterprise authentication.
Key Capabilities:
- Managed runtime for .NET, Node.js, Python, Java, and PHP
- Autoscale and zone redundancy options
- Deployment slots for blue/green releases
- VNet integration and private endpoints
- Managed identity and Key Vault references
- Built-in TLS, custom domains, and WAF fronting
Common Use Cases: API gateways, internal portals, operational dashboards, business web applications
Typical Monthly Cost: $70 - $800+ (tier and instance count dependent)
🚀 Azure Data Factory
Purpose: Cloud ETL/ELT orchestration service for moving and transforming data across SaaS, databases, and data lakes.
Key Capabilities:
- Visual pipeline orchestration with scheduling and triggers
- 200+ connectors for cloud and on-prem sources
- Mapping Data Flows for low-code transformations
- Self-hosted integration runtime for hybrid connectivity
- Parameterized pipelines and reusable templates
- Monitoring, retry policies, and operational lineage
Common Use Cases: Batch ingestion, ERP/CRM integration, lakehouse loading, data quality preprocessing for AI
Typical Monthly Cost: $80 - $2,000+ (activity runs, data movement, and integration runtime dependent)
🚀 Azure Service Bus
Purpose: Enterprise message broker for reliable asynchronous communication between distributed services.
Key Capabilities:
- Queues and topics/subscriptions for pub-sub patterns
- Dead-letter queues and poison message handling
- Duplicate detection and message sessions
- Scheduled delivery and transaction support
- Private networking and RBAC-based access
- Geo-disaster recovery namespace pairing
Common Use Cases: Order workflows, integration backbones, event buffering, command processing, AI job orchestration
Typical Monthly Cost: $10 - $700+ (tier, throughput, and advanced feature usage dependent)