What is included in the Container Apps free tier?

Each Azure subscription receives 180,000 vCPU-seconds and 360,000 GiB-seconds per month at no cost on the Consumption workload profile. This is roughly equivalent to running a container with 0.25 vCPU and 0.5 GiB memory continuously for about 8 days, though actual usage depends on scaling patterns.

What is the difference between Consumption and Dedicated profiles?

Consumption profiles scale to zero and charge per-second for active replicas with no minimum. Dedicated profiles run on reserved compute (similar to App Service plans) with guaranteed capacity and predictable pricing. Choose Dedicated for latency-sensitive workloads that cannot tolerate cold starts.

Can Container Apps scale to zero?

Yes, on the Consumption profile, Container Apps can scale to zero replicas when there are no incoming requests or events, meaning you pay nothing during idle periods. This is a key advantage over App Service and AKS for intermittent workloads.

Azure Container Apps Cost Estimator

ComputeAzure

Estimate Azure Container Apps costs for Consumption and Dedicated profiles with free tier and App Service comparison.

Container Apps Configuration

Quick Presets

Plan Type

vCPU per Replica: 1

0.25124

Memory per Replica (GiB): 2

0.5248

Replica Count

Active Hours per Day: 24

0h8h16h24h

Requests per Month

First 2 million requests per month are free

About Azure Container Apps Pricing

Consumption vs Dedicated

Consumption plan charges per-second for vCPU and memory used by your replicas, with generous free monthly grants (180,000 vCPU-seconds and 360,000 GiB-seconds). Ideal for bursty, event-driven, or low-traffic workloads that can scale to zero.

Dedicated workload profiles provide reserved compute capacity at fixed hourly rates. Profiles run 24/7 with predictable pricing, similar to VMs. Best for steady-state production workloads requiring guaranteed resources.

Free Grants

Each Azure subscription receives monthly free grants: 180,000 vCPU-seconds (~50 vCPU-hours), 360,000 GiB-seconds (~100 GiB-hours), and the first 2 million HTTP requests. These apply only to the Consumption plan.

Scaling Behavior

Consumption apps can scale to zero when idle, paying nothing. They scale out automatically based on HTTP traffic, KEDA scalers, or custom rules. Dedicated profiles maintain minimum capacity but support higher density and GPU workloads.

Comparison with App Service and AKS

Container Apps sits between App Service (fully managed PaaS) and AKS (full Kubernetes). Choose App Service for simple web apps without container orchestration needs. Choose AKS for complex microservice architectures requiring full Kubernetes control. Container Apps offers a serverless container experience with built-in Dapr, KEDA, and Envoy without managing cluster infrastructure.

Raw JSON Output

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About This Tool

The Azure Container Apps Cost Estimator calculates monthly costs for the Container Apps serverless container platform. It covers both Consumption and Dedicated workload profiles, factors in the generous free tier grant (180,000 vCPU-seconds and 360,000 GiB-seconds per subscription per month), and compares costs against equivalent App Service configurations. The tool helps you understand the cost implications of request-driven scaling.

When to Use This Tool

•Estimating whether a microservice's traffic volume will stay within the Container Apps free tier.
•Comparing Consumption profile costs against Dedicated profile for predictable high-throughput workloads.
•Modeling scale-to-zero savings for event-driven workloads that have long idle periods.
•Evaluating Container Apps vs. App Service pricing for a containerized web application.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is included in the Container Apps free tier?: Each Azure subscription receives 180,000 vCPU-seconds and 360,000 GiB-seconds per month at no cost on the Consumption workload profile. This is roughly equivalent to running a container with 0.25 vCPU and 0.5 GiB memory continuously for about 8 days, though actual usage depends on scaling patterns.
What is the difference between Consumption and Dedicated profiles?: Consumption profiles scale to zero and charge per-second for active replicas with no minimum. Dedicated profiles run on reserved compute (similar to App Service plans) with guaranteed capacity and predictable pricing. Choose Dedicated for latency-sensitive workloads that cannot tolerate cold starts.
Can Container Apps scale to zero?: Yes, on the Consumption profile, Container Apps can scale to zero replicas when there are no incoming requests or events, meaning you pay nothing during idle periods. This is a key advantage over App Service and AKS for intermittent workloads.

Related Learning Guides

AKS vs App Service Decision24 min read
Cost Management Guide24 min read

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