Azure FinOps Essentials

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Hi there, and welcome to this week’s edition of Azure FinOps Essentials.

This time, I’m exploring something every cloud architect and developer faces eventually: how to choose the right Azure service when there are multiple ways to solve the same problem.

Should you pick a fully managed platform service or a flexible VM setup? Is Azure Functions the right choice or is an App Service a better fit? These decisions go far beyond technical capabilities. They also shape your cost, scalability, and operational complexity.

In this edition, I’ll walk through some common trade-offs, how they relate to FinOps principles, and why the cheapest option is not always the most cost-effective in the long run.

Let’s take a step back and make smarter choices that align with both engineering needs and business value.

Cheers, Michiel

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Too Many Ways to Do the Same Thing

One of the greatest strengths of Azure, and its greatest risks, is the sheer number of services you can choose from to solve a single problem.

Need to host a web application? You could use App Service, Azure Container Apps, AKS, or run it on a VM.

Want to expose it to the internet? Front Door, Application Gateway, Azure CDN, and maybe even Traffic Manager.

Want to store structured data? SQL Database, SQL Managed Instance, Cosmos DB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, or just a file in blob storage.

Technically, all of them work. But cost, operational complexity, and maintainability vary wildly.

And here’s the problem: the more powerful or general-purpose a service is, the more likely it is to be overkill for your actual needs. The moment you choose the wrong building block, you start paying for capabilities you don’t use, and probably won’t.

I’ve seen many teams reach for AKS when Container Apps would have sufficed. Or default to SQL Managed Instance “just in case” they need more control, while barely using any features beyond basic CRUD. And the result? Overhead. Lock-in. Burned budget.

In this edition, I’ll show how to compare similar Azure services through a FinOps lens. Not just to save money, but to pick the right foundation that scales with your real needs, without overengineering your cloud estate.

Which Azure Service? It Depends…

Picking the right Azure service isn’t always easy. Azure gives you ten ways to do the same thing, each with very different cost profiles. If you’ve ever wondered “Should I use App Service, Container Apps, or AKS?”, you’re not alone.

Here’s a FinOps-friendly way to approach it:

• Start simple.

  If you’re deploying a web app and App Service fits your needs, use it. It’s affordable, scales well, and doesn’t need a full operations team. Container Apps are a great next step if you need containers and scale-to-zero behavior. AKS makes sense only when you truly need Kubernetes.

• Recognize when flexibility adds cost.

  SQL Managed Instance gives you full SQL Server compatibility. But if you’re not using all those features, a serverless Azure SQL Database might cut your bill in half. The same goes for Cosmos DB. It’s powerful, but expensive when overprovisioned.

• Be cautious when combining services.

  Stacking Azure Front Door with Application Gateway sounds appealing. But do you really need global routing and per-path logic? Often, just one of the two will do the job.

• Replace always-on with event-driven when possible.

  Azure Data Factory is great for ETL, but if your job only runs hourly, Durable Functions or Logic Apps may offer the same result at a much lower cost.

The point isn’t to pick the “best” service. It’s to choose the one that fits your actual workload and revisit that decision as your application evolves.

FinOps Is About Fit, Not Flash

In a cloud environment full of options, it’s easy to default to the most flexible or powerful service. But FinOps reminds us that the best choice is the one that fits the need.

That does not always mean the lowest cost. It means making trade-offs deliberately. Do you need global reach or just regional presence? Does your app require constant compute or can it sleep between events? Is high availability essential or just a nice-to-have?

These are not just technical questions. They are financial ones too. Each decision affects your cost profile, your scalability, and how much operational effort is needed.

So when choosing a service, consider more than the features. Ask what your workload actually needs, what your team can support, and what brings the most business value.

Because in the end, FinOps is not about spending less. It is about spending where it counts.

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Want more FinOps news, then have a look at FinOps Weekly by Victor Garcia