Azure SQL Managed Instance Cost Calculator
UK South pricing · General Purpose & Business Critical · Azure Hybrid Benefit · Reserved Instances
Prices from Azure Retail Prices API · UK South · GBP · Not affiliated with Microsoft
Instance configuration
General Purpose is compute-optimised for most workloads. Business Critical adds local SSD, read replicas, and higher IOPS.
Each vCore includes 32 GB of storage at no extra charge.
Storage & backup
256 GB included with 8 vCores. Extra storage charged at £0.0995/GB/month.
LRS backup storage at £0.0865/GB/month. Some backup is included — enter only the amount above your database size.
Licensing & commitment
Reserved Instances apply to compute only. RI and AHB discounts stack multiplicatively.
SQL Managed Instance vs SQL Database
| Feature | Managed Instance | SQL Database |
|---|---|---|
| Migration effort | Near-zero (100% SQL Server compat) | May require code changes |
| SQL Server Agent | Yes | No |
| Cross-database queries | Yes | Limited |
| Minimum cost | ~£836/month (GP 8 vCore PAYG) | ~£4/month (Basic) |
| Serverless option | No | Yes (GP Serverless) |
| Max database size | 16 TB | 4 TB (GP) / 1 TB (BC) |
| SLA | 99.99% | 99.99% |
warningSQL MI billing traps
Minimum 4 vCores
The minimum viable SQL MI is 4 vCores GP at ~£418/month PAYG. There is no serverless or Basic tier — it is always enterprise-grade.
Storage is per-instance, not per-GB
Storage is provisioned in blocks. Each vCore includes 32 GB. You pay for provisioned capacity, not consumed capacity.
RI applies to compute only
A 3-year RI does not reduce storage or backup costs. For a storage-heavy workload, RI savings may be less impactful than expected.
Business Critical minimum is high
BC tier starts at 4 vCores (~£836/month PAYG). AHB + 3yr RI can reduce this ~65%, but the baseline commitment is significant.