What are the differences between Burstable, General Purpose, and Business Critical tiers?

Burstable (B-series) provides a baseline CPU with the ability to burst above it — ideal for workloads that do not need full CPU continuously, like dev/test or small applications. General Purpose (Dds_v4/Dds_v5) offers balanced compute and memory for most production workloads. Business Critical (Eds_v4/Eds_v5) provides the highest performance with memory-optimized VMs and local SSD storage for low-latency I/O. Only General Purpose and Business Critical tiers support zone-redundant HA and read replicas.

How does storage IOPS pricing work?

Flexible Server includes 360 free IOPS plus 3 IOPS per provisioned GB (up to 20,000 from storage size). If you need more IOPS, you can pre-provision additional IOPS above the free tier at a per-IOPS monthly cost. Alternatively, enable IOPS auto-scaling, which dynamically adjusts IOPS based on workload demand — you pay for the IOPS actually consumed. For predictable workloads, pre-provisioned IOPS are more cost-effective. For variable workloads, auto-scaling avoids over-provisioning.

Azure MySQL Flexible Cost Estimator

StorageAzure

Estimate Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server costs with HA and read replicas.

Azure MySQL Flexible Server Configuration

Compute Tier

Storage (GB)

$0.115/GB/month storage cost.

Backup Retention (Days)

Backup storage at $0.095/GB/month. Range: 1-35 days.

High Availability (Zone Redundant - doubles compute cost)

Raw Output

Output will appear here...

About This Tool

Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server is the recommended deployment option for MySQL workloads on Azure, offering granular compute and storage scaling, zone-redundant high availability, and a burstable tier for dev/test environments. Costs depend on the compute tier (Burstable, General Purpose, or Business Critical), vCores, memory, storage size, IOPS (pre-provisioned or auto-scale), backup retention, and high availability configuration. Additional costs include read replicas and network egress. This estimator helps you model monthly costs across all tiers with region-specific pricing for production planning.

When to Use This Tool

•Comparing costs between Burstable B1ms for development and General Purpose D4ds_v4 for production workloads
•Estimating the cost impact of enabling zone-redundant high availability for business-critical databases
•Calculating total costs including pre-provisioned IOPS, backup retention beyond 7 days, and read replicas

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the differences between Burstable, General Purpose, and Business Critical tiers?: Burstable (B-series) provides a baseline CPU with the ability to burst above it — ideal for workloads that do not need full CPU continuously, like dev/test or small applications. General Purpose (Dds_v4/Dds_v5) offers balanced compute and memory for most production workloads. Business Critical (Eds_v4/Eds_v5) provides the highest performance with memory-optimized VMs and local SSD storage for low-latency I/O. Only General Purpose and Business Critical tiers support zone-redundant HA and read replicas.
How does storage IOPS pricing work?: Flexible Server includes 360 free IOPS plus 3 IOPS per provisioned GB (up to 20,000 from storage size). If you need more IOPS, you can pre-provision additional IOPS above the free tier at a per-IOPS monthly cost. Alternatively, enable IOPS auto-scaling, which dynamically adjusts IOPS based on workload demand — you pay for the IOPS actually consumed. For predictable workloads, pre-provisioned IOPS are more cost-effective. For variable workloads, auto-scaling avoids over-provisioning.

Related Learning Guides

Cost Management Guide24 min read

Disclaimer: This tool runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to our servers. Always verify outputs before using them in production. AWS, Azure, and GCP are trademarks of their respective owners.