Microsoft Cost Management updates—July & August 2025
It’s essential to track your spending, know where your cash is going, and plan for future expenses. Surprise bills are never welcome, and that’s where Microsoft Cost Management plays a crucial role.
Whether you’re a fresh-faced student, an ambitious startup, or managing a large corporation, financial limitations are a reality for everyone. Understanding your spending habits, knowing where your funds are allocated, and making future investments is vital. No one enjoys unexpected charges—and that’s exactly why Microsoft Cost Management exists. We’re committed to understanding your unique challenges and helping you achieve more with less.
Check out some of the latest updates and improvements (July 2025):
Let’s dive into the specifics.
Service Principal Support for Partner Admin Reader Role (EA Indirect Partners)
We’re thrilled to share that Azure now allows the Partner Admin Reader role to be assigned to Service Principals. This upgrade enables Enterprise Agreement (EA) indirect partners (CSPs handling customer Azure expenses) to access cost data systematically across their customers’ accounts linked to their Partner Customer Number (PCN) via Azure Active Directory applications—without needing interactive user accounts.
Why is this important?
Managing cloud expenses across diverse clients can be intricate and often prone to errors if you’re relying on manual data exports or shared logins. Partners require secure, scalable, and automated access to cost information to seamlessly integrate insights into their tools and refine spending in real-time.
With these updates, partners can now:
- Safely automate cost data retrieval through Azure Active Directory service principals (eliminating the need for shared user credentials).
- Incorporate Cost Management data into their billing tools, dashboards, or workflows using APIs.
- Ensure robust governance and control over access to billing scopes using Azure Role-Based Access Control.
- Facilitate near real-time monitoring, invoice reconciliation, and proactive cost optimisation across several customers.
To get started, click here to learn how to assign Enterprise Agreement roles to service principals.
Azure Pricing Calculator: Tip of the Month
When estimating costs in the Azure Pricing Calculator, particularly with multiple services, the amount of information can be daunting. To make your experience smoother, click the collapse button on your estimate. This action shrinks all the detailed configurations for the services, leaving just the summary line visible.
Why this is helpful:
- Minimises unnecessary scrolling when managing extensive estimates.
- Simplifies the focus on the services you wish to review or modify.
- Keeps your workspace tidy, especially when sharing estimates with team members.
Give the collapsing feature a try the next time you’re creating a complex estimate. It’s a simple trick that can greatly improve your navigation through pricing scenarios!
Discover New Ways to Save with Microsoft Cloud
Here are some recent and updated offers for cost-saving and optimisation that you might find useful from July and August 2025:
- Public Preview: Azure Storage Mover – Now you can migrate data securely from Amazon Web Services S3 to Azure Blob Storage at no extra cost using Azure Storage Mover. This fully managed service makes multi-cloud or complete migrations straightforward, cutting down on complexity and costs associated with third-party tools.
New Videos and Learning Opportunities
We’ve rolled out various new videos tailored for your viewing pleasure. Whether you’re just starting with Cost Management or need a quick refresher, these resources will be extremely helpful:
Updates to Documentation
The Cost Management and Billing documentation continues to grow. Here are some of our newly updated documents from July and August:
- Pay Your Microsoft Customer Agreement or Microsoft Online Subscription Program Bill: Updated on July 2 to include partial payment options and payment methods specific to India.
- Manage Azure Reservations: Revised on July 8 to clarify recent scope changes, how to split reservations, and limitations on changes to billing subscriptions.
- Charge Back Azure Saving Plan Costs: Published on July 9 to explain chargeback/showback for savings plans utilizing amortised cost and API queries.
- Calculate EA Savings Plan Cost Savings: Released on July 9 to guide EA customers in calculating the benefits of savings plans using amortised usage data.
- Manage Azure Costs with Automation: Updated on July 10 to include best practices for Cost Details API, automation workflows, and handling large datasets.
- Understand and Work with Cost Management Scopes: Adjusted on July 25 for clarity on Role-Based Access Control versus billing scopes and role requirements for cost visibility.
- Manage a Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment Resource: Published on August 14 to elaborate on MACC resources, movement between subscriptions, and deletion rules.
- Set Up Your Billing Account for a Microsoft Customer Agreement: Updated on August 14 to provide details on EA to MCA transition steps, prerequisites, and common migration issues.
- Manage a Microsoft Azure Credit Resource Under a Subscription: Published on August 19 to introduce Azure Credit resources for MCA accounts and explain moving or deleting these resources.
- Permissions to View and Manage Azure Reservations: Revised on August 21 to expand guidance on Role-Based Access Control roles, billing roles, and delegation for reservation access.
Want to keep tabs on all documentation updates? Check the change history for the Cost Management and Billing documentation in the Azure Docs repository on GitHub. If you notice anything missing, simply select Edit at the top of the document and submit a quick pull request. Your contributions are always welcome and appreciated!
What’s Next for Cost Management
These updates are just a glimpse of the past couple of months. Don’t forget to explore previous Microsoft Cost Management updates for even more tips and features. We’re always open to your feedback—so please keep it coming!
Stay connected, share your ideas, and get involved:
Keep an eye out for more in next month’s update.
