/azure-pricing

name: azure-pricing
description: 'Fetches real-time Azure retail pricing using the Azure Retail Prices API (prices.azure.com) and estimates Copilot Studio agent credit consumption. Use when the user asks about the cost of any Azure service, wants to compare SKU prices, needs pricing data for a cost estimate, mentions Azure pricing, Azure costs, Azure billing, or asks about Copilot Studio pricing, Copilot Credits, or agent usage estimation. Covers compute, storage, networking, databases, AI, Copilot Studio, and all other Azure service families.'
compatibility: Requires internet access to prices.azure.com and learn.microsoft.com. No authentication needed.
metadata:
  author: anthonychu
  version: "1.2"

Azure Pricing Skill

Use this skill to retrieve real-time Azure retail pricing data from the public Azure Retail Prices API. No authentication is required.

When to Use This Skill

• User asks about the cost of an Azure service (e.g., "How much does a D4s v5 VM cost?")
• User wants to compare pricing across regions or SKUs
• User needs a cost estimate for a workload or architecture
• User mentions Azure pricing, Azure costs, or Azure billing
• User asks about reserved instance vs. pay-as-you-go pricing
• User wants to know about savings plans or spot pricing

API Endpoint

GET https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices?api-version=2023-01-01-preview

Append `$filter` as a query parameter using OData filter syntax. Always use `api-version=2023-01-01-preview` to ensure savings plan data is included.

Step-by-step Instructions

If anything is unclear about the user's request, ask clarifying questions to identify the correct filter fields and values before calling the API.

1. **Identify filter fields** from the user's request (service name, region, SKU, price type). 2. **Resolve the region**: the API requires `armRegionName` values in lowercase with no spaces (e.g. "East US" → `eastus`, "West Europe" → `westeurope`, "Southeast Asia" → `southeastasia`). See [references/REGIONS.md](references/REGIONS.md) for a complete list. 3. **Build the filter string** using the fields below and fetch the URL. 4. **Parse the `Items` array** from the JSON response. Each item contains price and metadata. 5. **Follow pagination** via `NextPageLink` if you need more than the first 1000 results (rarely needed). 6. **Calculate cost estimates** using the formulas in [references/COST-ESTIMATOR.md](references/COST-ESTIMATOR.md) to produce monthly/annual estimates. 7. **Present results** in a clear summary table with service, SKU, region, unit price, and monthly/annual estimates.

Filterable Fields

| Field | Type | Example | |---|---|---| | `serviceName` | string (exact, case-sensitive) | `'Functions'`, `'Virtual Machines'`, `'Storage'` | | `serviceFamily` | string (exact, case-sensitive) | `'Compute'`, `'Storage'`, `'Databases'`, `'AI + Machine Learning'` | | `armRegionName` | string (exact, lowercase) | `'eastus'`, `'westeurope'`, `'southeastasia'` | | `armSkuName` | string (exact) | `'Standard_D4s_v5'`, `'Standard_LRS'` | | `skuName` | string (contains supported) | `'D4s v5'` | | `priceType` | string | `'Consumption'`, `'Reservation'`, `'DevTestConsumption'` | | `meterName` | string (contains supported) | `'Spot'` |

Use `eq` for equality, `and` to combine, and `contains(field, 'value')` for partial matches.

Example Filter Strings

# All consumption prices for Functions in East US
serviceName eq 'Functions' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

# D4s v5 VMs in West Europe (consumption only)
armSkuName eq 'Standard_D4s_v5' and armRegionName eq 'westeurope' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

# All storage prices in a region
serviceName eq 'Storage' and armRegionName eq 'eastus'

# Spot pricing for a specific SKU
armSkuName eq 'Standard_D4s_v5' and contains(meterName, 'Spot') and armRegionName eq 'eastus'

# 1-year reservation pricing
serviceName eq 'Virtual Machines' and priceType eq 'Reservation' and armRegionName eq 'eastus'

# Azure AI / OpenAI pricing (now under Foundry Models)
serviceName eq 'Foundry Models' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

# Azure Cosmos DB pricing
serviceName eq 'Azure Cosmos DB' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

Full Example Fetch URL

https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices?api-version=2023-01-01-preview&$filter=serviceName eq 'Functions' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

URL-encode spaces as `%20` and quotes as `%27` when constructing the URL.

Key Response Fields

{
  "Items": [
    {
      "retailPrice": 0.000016,
      "unitPrice": 0.000016,
      "currencyCode": "USD",
      "unitOfMeasure": "1 Execution",
      "serviceName": "Functions",
      "skuName": "Premium",
      "armRegionName": "eastus",
      "meterName": "vCPU Duration",
      "productName": "Functions",
      "priceType": "Consumption",
      "isPrimaryMeterRegion": true,
      "savingsPlan": [
        { "unitPrice": 0.000012, "term": "1 Year" },
        { "unitPrice": 0.000010, "term": "3 Years" }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "NextPageLink": null,
  "Count": 1
}

Only use items where `isPrimaryMeterRegion` is `true` unless the user specifically asks for non-primary meters.

Supported serviceFamily Values

`Analytics`, `Compute`, `Containers`, `Data`, `Databases`, `Developer Tools`, `Integration`, `Internet of Things`, `Management and Governance`, `Networking`, `Security`, `Storage`, `Web`, `AI + Machine Learning`

Tips

• `serviceName` values are case-sensitive. When unsure, filter by `serviceFamily` first to discover valid `serviceName` values in the results.
• If results are empty, try broadening the filter (e.g., remove `priceType` or region constraints first).
• Prices are always in USD unless `currencyCode` is specified in the request.
• For savings plan prices, look for the `savingsPlan` array on each item (only in `2023-01-01-preview`).
• See