Azure Backup charges a monthly fee per protected instance by the size band of the source, plus the backup storage held in the vault per GB and month in LRS, ZRS, GRS or RA-GRS and in the standard or archive tier, and Azure Site Recovery charges a monthly fee per replicated instance after its first 31 days plus replica storage, transactions and data transfer; Azure Backup pricing for a vault is therefore instances times fee plus storage times rate. Which of the two parts sets the bill depends on retention: with short retention the instance fees dominate, with long retention the storage does, because it grows with every recovery point kept.
Pricing dimensions
What backup and disaster recovery have in common across providers is covered under backup and disaster recovery; this page is about the Azure meters, in the terms of the pricing page and the Backup documentation.
| Dimension | Unit | What drives it | Optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protected instance (Azure Backup) | Instance per month, by size band: up to 50 GB, 50 to 500 GB, above that per started 500 GB | Number and used size of VMs, on-premises servers, SQL Server and SAP HANA instances in VMs, file shares, storage accounts with blobs, database servers and AKS clusters | No |
| Backup storage, standard tier | GB per month in LRS, ZRS, GRS or RA-GRS | Data size, daily change rate and retention per daily, weekly, monthly and yearly point | Redundancy selectable, only before the first backup |
| Backup storage, archive tier | GB per month in LRS or GRS, with 180 days minimum retention and retrieval per GB | Monthly and yearly points older than three months with at least six months of retention left (SQL and SAP HANA: full points from 45 days) | Yes |
| Instant restore snapshots | Billed as disk snapshots, not as vault storage | Retention of 1 to 5 days (standard policy) or up to 30 days (enhanced) | Yes |
| Cross-region restore | Upgrades GRS to RA-GRS | GRS vaults only; not from the archive tier | Yes |
| Protected instance (Site Recovery) | Instance per month, each instance free of the fee for its first 31 days | Number of replicated VMs or physical servers; one rate for the target Azure, another for a customer-owned target | No |
| Replication and failover (Site Recovery) | Replica disks, cache storage account, snapshots, transactions, outbound data transfer, VM hours only during failover and tests | Size and change rate of the source disks, retention of recovery points, number of drills | No |
| Purchase option | Reserved capacity for backup storage, one or three years, in 100 TB and 1 PB increments | Large vaults with stable occupancy; Azure reservations | Yes |
The instance fee follows the size of the source before compression and encryption: for a VM the used size of its disks excluding temporary storage, for files and SQL the configured data. Up to 50 GB a reduced flat fee applies, from 50 to 500 GB the full one, above that the full fee per started 500 GB; SQL Server with instance snapshot has its own bands up to 500 GB, up to 20 TB and beyond. Which source carries which fee shows in the meter names: VMs and on-premises servers share one rate; SQL Server and SAP HANA in VMs, file shares, blob storage accounts, PostgreSQL servers, AKS and Cosmos DB each have their own.
Backup storage comes on top and grows with every recovery point kept. After the first full backup the points are incremental; how much they occupy is set by change rate and retention, and Microsoft counts databases as high-churn sources. The vault's redundancy is GRS until it is changed to LRS or ZRS before the first backup; after that it is fixed, and a change means a new vault. Restoring from the standard tier is free, with no outbound data transfer charge.
The archive tier accepts only certain points: for VMs monthly and yearly points at least three months old in the standard tier, with at least six months of retention left and no unexpired daily or weekly points before the next monthly one; for SQL Server and SAP HANA full points from 45 days. Archived VM points become full points, so total storage can rise where the change rate is low, which is why Microsoft provides a recommendation list per VM. An archived point counts for 180 days; deleting earlier bills the remaining time pro rata, and every restore from the archive is charged a retrieval per GB. ZRS vaults do not support the archive tier.
Site Recovery is a licence fee per protected instance, a VM or a physical server, and every new instance is free of that fee for 31 days even when the vault has protected others for longer. Alongside it the Azure cost of replication runs from day one: replica disks in the target region mirroring the source disks, the cache storage account in the source region (premium block blob for high churn), snapshots of source and replica disks by consumed capacity, storage transactions, and outbound data transfer when replication leaves a region, compressed by up to 50 percent. Compute arises only when a failover or a drill creates VMs; the drill carries no fee, but its snapshots and VMs cost until cleaned up. Initial replication adds a temporary source disk, and a capacity reservation for the target region is a separate, optional expense.
How it appears in your billing data
In the cost export the Azure Backup lines carry MeterCategory Backup, the Site Recovery lines MeterCategory Azure Site Recovery; in both cases the resource is the vault (Microsoft.RecoveryServices/vaults, for Backup vaults Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults), not the protected VM. The VM's tags therefore do not reach these lines, so allocating backup cost per team needs a vault per team or a split by instance (virtual tags and allocation rules). The quantity of an instance fee is instances per month, pro rata by day, growing per started 500 GB above 500 GB. The Retail Prices API lists the same meters; its serviceName, productName and meterName are the export's MeterCategory, ProductName and MeterName.
MeterCategory | MeterName | What it is |
|---|---|---|
Backup | Azure VM Protected Instance, On Premises Server Protected Instance | Instance fee for VMs and on-premises servers, per month |
Backup | SQL Server in Azure VM Protected Instance, SAP HANA on Azure VM Protected Instance | Instance fee for databases in VMs |
Backup | Azure Files Protected Instance, Azure Files Vaulted Protected Instance, Azure Blob Protected Instance, PostgreSQL Protected Instance, Azure Kubernetes Protected Instance, Cosmos DB Protected Instance | Instance fee per source type |
Backup | Standard LRS Data Stored, Standard ZRS Data Stored, Standard GRS Data Stored, Standard RA-GRS Data Stored | Vault storage in the standard tier, GB per month |
Backup | Archive LRS Data Stored, Archive GRS Data Stored, Archive LRS Early Delete, Archive GRS Early Delete | Archive tier and early deletion |
Backup | Azure Blob LRS Write Operations, ADLS Gen2 Vaulted GRS Write Operations | Write operations per 10,000 for blob and data lake backup |
Azure Site Recovery | VM Replicated to Azure, VM Replicated to System Center | Licence fee per replicated instance and month |
Much lands elsewhere by design: instant restore snapshots sit as disk snapshots under MeterCategory Storage with the VM (Azure managed disks pricing), file share snapshots in the share's storage account on the Files meters (Azure Files and NetApp Files pricing), and operational blob backup occupies the source account (Azure Blob Storage pricing). For Site Recovery the replica disks, cache account and snapshots sit under Storage, the transfer between regions under Bandwidth (Azure bandwidth and networking pricing) and the VMs of a failover under Virtual Machines (Azure Virtual Machines pricing); the Site Recovery meter itself carries only the licence. In the FOCUS export the rows carry ServiceName Backup or Azure Site Recovery and ChargeCategory Usage; a reservation for backup storage is a row with ChargeCategory Purchase. The export is explained under Azure cost exports, the columns under FOCUS columns and the providers' mapping.
Levers
Configuration:
- Set retention per point type. Daily points for weeks, weekly for months, monthly and yearly for years: every extension is storage per GB and month, and the policy applies retroactively to all points. The patterns are under storage optimisation.
- Choose redundancy before the first backup. GRS is the default and twice LRS; for development and test environments Microsoft recommends LRS. After the first backup the change is a new vault.
- Archive the recommended points. For VMs only the points on the recommendation list, for SQL Server and SAP HANA all eligible ones; plan for 180 days minimum retention and retrieval cost. How tiers work for object storage is under storage tiers and lifecycle.
- Exclude disks. The instance fee follows the used size; excluding a data disk that holds scratch data lowers it and the storage.
Purchase option:
- Reserved backup storage from 100 TB. One or three years on vault storage, in 100 TB and 1 PB increments; instance fees stay at list price. Commitment strategy says when a commitment on storage pays.
Architecture:
- Do not confuse Backup and Site Recovery. Backup restores data, Site Recovery fails over whole machines with continuous replication; a VM in both pays both fees and two copies of storage. Which machines need a failover target belongs in architecture choices and cost.
- Clean up protection of retired resources. A deleted VM whose backup continues with retained data pays storage until its points expire; idle and orphaned resources describes how to find it.
- Clean up test failovers and keep replication in region. Every drill leaves snapshots and VMs behind until deleted, and replication across regions pays data transfer; data transfer optimisation covers that line.
Where it goes wrong
- Storage grows although nothing was added. Symptom: the
Standard GRS Data Storedline rises month after month. Cause: every retained recovery point holds its changes, and yearly points expire only after years. - The instance fee jumps. Symptom: a VM suddenly costs twice the fee. Cause: its used size crossed 500 GB, and from there every started 500 GB counts; an attached data disk is enough.
- Archiving raised the storage. Symptom: total backup storage rises after moving points to the archive tier. Cause: archived VM points become full points; at a low change rate that eats the price advantage.
- Early deletion from the archive. Symptom: an
Archive GRS Early Deleteline. Cause: a policy change or stopping protection deleted points that had not spent 180 days in the archive; the remaining time is billed pro rata. - Site Recovery costs from day one. Symptom: replication cost before the 31 days are over. Cause: only the licence is free; replica disks, cache account, transactions and data transfer run immediately.
- The test failover keeps running. Symptom: VM hours and snapshots in the target region without a failover. Cause: a test failover was not cleaned up; its VMs and snapshots cost until deleted.
Example
Germany West Central, list prices in EUR from the Azure Retail Prices API, read on 2026-10-21. Azure Backup: protected Azure VM EUR 8.7997 per instance and month, on-premises server EUR 8.7997, SQL Server in a VM EUR 28.5991, SAP HANA EUR 91.5171, PostgreSQL server EUR 6.5998, file share EUR 4.2503, blob storage account EUR 11.4396, AKS EUR 10.5597; standard tier EUR 0.0264 per GB and month in LRS, EUR 0.0528 in GRS, EUR 0.0246 in ZRS and EUR 0.0501 in RA-GRS; archive tier EUR 0.0021 and 0.0026 (LRS) and EUR 0.0033 and 0.004 (GRS), the API lists two meters of each name; early deletion EUR 0.0021 (LRS) and EUR 0.0033 (GRS) per GB. Azure Site Recovery: EUR 21.9993 per VM replicated to Azure and month, in West Europe also EUR 14.0795 per VM replicated to System Center. A VM with 200 GB used pays the full instance fee of EUR 8.7997, and every 100 GB of vault storage adds EUR 2.64 (LRS) or EUR 5.28 (GRS) a month, while an archived GB in GRS sits more than ten times below the standard tier rate; the newer ZRS and RA-GRS meters list below LRS and GRS on the read date.
Sources
Read on 2026-10-21. Microsoft: Azure Backup pricing, Azure Backup pricing explained, What is Azure Backup, Archive tier overview, Create and configure Recovery Services vaults, Azure Site Recovery pricing, Understanding Azure Site Recovery charges, Site Recovery FAQ. Billing data: Understand cost details fields, FOCUS cost and usage details file schema, Azure Retail Prices REST API. Prices: Retail Prices query for Backup in Germany West Central in EUR, Retail Prices query for Azure Site Recovery in Germany West Central in EUR, Retail Prices query for Azure Site Recovery in West Europe in EUR.