app service plans.md
App Service Plans
Azure App Service Plans — commitment brief
Data sourced: March 2026. Verify current figures at the Azure Pricing Calculator.
Coverage summary
Azure App Service supports reservations on Premium v3 (Pv3), Premium v4 (Pv4), and Isolated v2 (ASEv3) tiers only. These tiers are also covered by the Azure Compute Savings Plan. All other tiers — Free, Shared, Basic, Standard, and Premium v2 — are not eligible for any commitment instrument. For Isolated v2, the per-instance compute cost and the flat ASE Stamp Fee are reservable separately; both must be purchased independently to cover the full hosting cost.
What is covered: Compute instance hourly rate for eligible plan instances (Pv3, Pv4, Iv2). For Isolated v2, both worker instance compute and the Isolated Stamp Fee can each be reserved.
What is not covered: Storage, bandwidth/egress, the Isolated Stamp Fee if not separately reserved, Azure Key Vault, domain/certificate costs, SSL bindings, Log Analytics charges. Azure Hybrid Benefit does not apply to App Service (PaaS — no customer-managed OS license).
Azure Hybrid Benefit
Not applicable. App Service is a PaaS offering — Microsoft manages the underlying OS. Customers cannot bring their own Windows Server licenses.
SKU / tier coverage
| SKU / Tier | Reservation | Savings Plan | 1-yr discount | 3-yr discount | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premium v3 (P0v3–P3v3) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ~35% (Linux) / ~25% (Windows) | ~55% (Linux) / ~40% (Windows) | Windows carries built-in OS license cost in PAYG rate |
| Premium v4 (P1v4–P3v4, Pmv4) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | varies by SKU | varies by SKU | Available in select regions |
| Isolated v2 — Worker Compute (I1v2–I6v2) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | varies by SKU | up to ~40% | Purchase separately from Stamp Fee reservation |
| Isolated v2 — Stamp Fee (per ASE) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | varies | up to ~40% | Flat per-ASE charge; must be reserved independently |
| Compute Savings Plan (Pv3 / Iv2 only) | ❌ N/A | ✅ Yes | up to ~35% | up to ~65% | Flexible across regions and instance sizes |
| Premium v2 (P1v2–P3v2) | ❌ No | ❌ No | — | — | Older generation; no commitment instruments available |
| Standard (S1–S3) | ❌ No | ❌ No | — | — | |
| Basic (B1–B3) | ❌ No | ❌ No | — | — | |
| Free / Shared | ❌ No | ❌ No | — | — | Shared compute; no reservation support |
Reservation vs. Compute Savings Plan
Reservation: Scoped to a specific plan SKU, OS type, and region. Delivers the highest discount for stable Pv3/Iv2 deployments that won't change region or tier. 1-yr and 3-yr terms. Reservation discounts apply before savings plan discounts.
Compute Savings Plan: Hourly spend commitment flexible across Pv3/Iv2 instances, VMs, Container Instances, Dedicated Host, and Azure Functions Premium. Up to ~65% at 3-yr. Best for dynamic workloads spanning multiple regions or instance sizes.
Regional availability
Reservations and the Compute Savings Plan are available in all commercial Azure regions for Premium v3 and Isolated v2 tiers. Premium v4 (Pv4) is available in select regions only — Microsoft is adding regions on a rolling basis; verify current Pv4 availability using the Azure CLI or the reservation purchase blade in the Azure portal.
Notable exclusions: Azure Government and Azure China regions are not supported for App Service reservations. Premium v4 SKUs are not yet available in all commercial regions.
⚠️ Availability varies by SKU and region. Always verify in the Azure portal or via the Azure Retail Pricing API before purchasing.
Archera
Azure App Service (Premium v3 and Isolated v2 tiers) is within Archera's commitment management scope. Archera can automate reservation purchase, monitor utilization across App Service plans, and wrap commitments in a GRI/GSP — eliminating downside risk on over-committed plan capacity.
Sources
- Save costs with Azure App Service reserved instances
- How reservation discounts apply to Azure App Service
- Azure App Service plan overview
- Azure Savings Plan for Compute overview
⚠️ Discount percentages vary by region, OS, and SKU. Always verify with the Azure Pricing Calculator.