Updated search-sku-manage-costs.md

Author: haileytap

articles/search/search-sku-manage-costs.md

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: Plan and manage costs
+title: Plan and Manage Costs
 titleSuffix: Azure AI Search
 description: Learn about billable events, the billing model, and tips for cost control when running an Azure AI Search service.
 manager: nitinme
@@ -9,35 +9,41 @@ ms.service: azure-ai-search
 ms.custom:
   - ignite-2023
 ms.topic: how-to
-ms.date: 06/09/2025
+ms.date: 06/10/2025
 ---
 
 # Plan and manage costs of an Azure AI Search service
 
-This article explains how Azure AI Search is billed and provides tips for estimating, planning, monitoring, and minimizing costs. The cost of running a search service varies based on capacity and the features used. After you create a search service, optimize its capacity so that you only pay for what you need.
+This article explains how Azure AI Search is billed, including base and potential charges, and provides guidance for cost management.
+
+Before you create a search service, use the [Azure pricing calculator](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/calculator/) to estimate costs based on your planned [capacity](search-capacity-planning.md) and features. Another resource is a capacity-planning worksheet that models your expected index size, indexing throughput, and indexing costs.
+
+As your search workload evolves, follow our tips to minimize costs during both deployment and operation. You can also use built-in metrics to monitor query requests and [Cost Management](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/overview-cost-management) to create budgets, alerts, and data exports.
 
 > [!NOTE]
-> Higher-capacity partitions are available at the same billing rate on newer services created after April and May 2024. For more information about partition size upgrades, see [Service limits](search-limits-quotas-capacity.md#service-limits).
+> Higher-capacity partitions are available at the same billing rate on services created after April and May 2024. For more information about partition-size upgrades, see [Service limits](search-limits-quotas-capacity.md#service-limits).
 
 <a name="billable-events"></a>
 
 ## Understand the billing model
 
 Azure AI Search runs on Azure infrastructure that accrues costs when you deploy new resources. Other infrastructure costs might also accrue.
 
-### How you're charged for Azure AI Search
+Costs for Azure AI Search are only a portion of the monthly costs in your Azure bill. Although this article focuses on planning and managing Azure AI Search costs, you're billed for all Azure services and resources used in your Azure subscription, including non-Microsoft services.
+
+### Charges for Azure AI Search
 
 When you create or use search resources, you're charged for:
 
 + The [pricing tier](search-sku-tier.md) of your search service. This is a prorated hourly rate.
 
 + The number of [search units](search-capacity-planning.md) (SUs) allocated to your search service. SUs are units of capacity that equal the product of replicas and partitions (R × P = SU) used by your service.
 
-### How you're charged for premium features
+### Charges for premium features
 
-The following table lists premium features and their billing units. All of these features are optional, and you can choose to enable them as needed.
+Premium features are charged in addition to the base cost of your search service. The following table lists premium features and their billing units. All of these features are optional, so if you don't use them, you don't incur any charges.
 
-| Feature | Unit |
+| Feature | Billing unit |
 |-------|------|
 | Image extraction (AI enrichment) <sup>1</sup> | Per 1,000 images. See the [pricing page](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/search/#pricing). |
 | [Custom Entity Lookup skill](cognitive-search-skill-custom-entity-lookup.md) (AI enrichment) | Per 1,000 text records. See the [pricing page](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/search/#pricing) |
@@ -47,54 +53,40 @@ The following table lists premium features and their billing units. All of these
 
 <sup>1</sup> Refers to images extracted from a file within the indexer pipeline. Text extraction is free. Image extraction is billed when you [enable the `indexAction` parameter](cognitive-search-concept-image-scenarios.md#configure-indexers-for-image-processing) for document cracking or when you call the [Document Extraction skill](cognitive-search-skill-document-extraction.md).
 
-### How you're otherwise charged
+### Potential charges
 
-+ Data traffic might incur networking costs. See the [Bandwidth pricing](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/bandwidth/).
+Depending on your search configuration and usage, the following charges might apply:
+
++ Data traffic might incur networking costs. See the [bandwidth pricing](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/bandwidth/).
 
 + Several premium features, such as [knowledge store](knowledge-store-concept-intro.md), [debug sessions](cognitive-search-debug-session.md), and [enrichment cache](cognitive-search-incremental-indexing-conceptual.md), depend on Azure Storage and incur storage costs. Meters for using these features are included in the Azure Storage bill.
 
 + [Customer-managed keys](search-security-manage-encryption-keys.md), which provide double encryption of sensitive content, require a billable [Azure Key Vault](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/key-vault/).
 
 + A skillset can include [billable built-in skills](cognitive-search-predefined-skills.md), nonbillable built-in utility skills, and custom skills. Nonbillable utility skills include [Conditional](cognitive-search-skill-conditional.md), [Shaper](cognitive-search-skill-shaper.md), [Text Merge](cognitive-search-skill-textmerger.md), and [Text Split](cognitive-search-skill-textsplit.md). They don't have an API key requirement or 20-document limit.
 
-+ A custom skill is functionality you provide. Custom skills are only billable if they call other billable services. They don't have an API key requirement or 20-document limit.
++ A custom skill is functionality you provide. Custom skills are billable only if they call other billable services. They don't have an API key requirement or 20-document limit.
 
 > [!NOTE]
-> You aren't billed for the number of full-text or vector queries, query responses, or documents ingested, but [service limits](search-limits-quotas-capacity.md) apply to each pricing tier.
+> You aren't billed for the number of full-text or vector queries, query responses, or documents ingested. However, [service limits](search-limits-quotas-capacity.md) apply to each pricing tier.
 
 ## Estimate and plan costs
 
-Effective cost planning starts before you create an Azure AI Search service. Use the [pricing calculator](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/calculator/) to estimate your baseline costs. You can also compare the features and costs of each tier on the [Select a pricing tier](search-create-service-portal.md#choose-a-tier) page during service creation.
-
-For initial testing, we reccomend that you index 1–5% of your representative content. Include any OCR, embeddings, or enrichment skills you plan to use. Measure the resulting index size, throughput, and costs, and then extrapolate them to estimate full-scale requirements. This approach helps you understand the index-to-source ratio and the impact of enrichment or vector features on both [capacity](search-capacity-planning.md) and cost.
-
-<!-- If you're using [skillsets](cognitive-search-working-with-skillsets.md) with AI enrichment, computer vision, embedding requests, custom skills, or any other transformation or external service, each skill runs on a separate meter and has its own pricing. Review the pricing for each skill you plan to use. Enable incremental enrichment so unchanged skills are skipped after the first run, when applicable.
-
-When planning, consider:
-
-+ Indexing and enrichment volume. Estimate the frequency and volume of data ingestion and enrichment, as these drive both compute and potential AI service charges.
-
-+ Data transfer and storage. Account for networking and storage costs, especially if your solution spans multiple regions or uses additional Azure resources.
-
-+ Service limits. Review [service limits](search-limits-quotas-capacity.md) for your chosen tier to avoid unplanned scale-ups or throttling.
+Use the [Azure pricing calculator](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/calculator/) to estimate your baseline costs for Azure AI Search. You can also  find estimated costs and tier comparisons on the [Select a pricing tier](search-create-service-portal.md#choose-a-tier) page during service creation.
 
-+ Skillset and enrichment metering. If you are using AI enrichment, image extraction, computer vision, embedding requests, custom skills, or any other transformation or external service, be aware that each skill runs on a separate meter and may have its own pricing. Review the pricing for each skill you plan to use. Enable incremental enrichment so unchanged skills are skipped after the first run, when applicable. -->
+For initial testing, we recommend that you create a capacity-planning worksheet. The worksheet helps you understand the index-to-source ratio and the effect of enrichment or vector features on both capacity and cost.
 
-## Monitor costs
-
-At the Azure AI Search level, you can [monitor built-in metrics](search-monitor-queries.md) for queries per second (QPS), search latency, throttled queries, and index size. You can then [create an Azure Monitor dashboard](/azure-monitor/visualize/tutorial-logs-dashboards) that overlays QPS, latency, and cost data to determine when to add or remove replicas.
-
-At the subscription or resource group level, [Cost Management](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/overview-cost-management) provides tools to track, analyze, and control your costs. You can use Cost Management to:
+To create a capacity-planning worksheet:
 
-+ [Create budgets](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/tutorial-acm-create-budgets) that define and track progress against spending limits. For more granular monitoring, customize your budgets using [filters](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/group-filter) for specific Azure resources or services. Filters prevent you from accidentally creating resources that incur extra costs.
+1. Index a small sample (1–5%) of your data. Include any [OCR](cognitive-search-skill-ocr.md), enrichment, or embedding skills you plan to use.
 
-+ [Create alerts](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/cost-mgt-alerts-monitor-usage-spending) that automatically notify stakeholders of spending anomalies or overspending risks. Alerts are based on spending compared to budget and cost thresholds. Both budgets and alerts are created for subscriptions and resource groups, making them useful for monitoring overall costs.
+1. Measure the index size, indexing throughput, and indexing costs.
 
-+ [Export cost data](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/tutorial-export-acm-data) to an Azure Storage account. This is helpful when you or others need to perform additional cost analysis. For example, a finance team can analyze the data using Excel or Power BI. You can export your costs on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule and set a custom date range. Exporting cost data is the recommended method for retrieving cost datasets.
+1. Extrapolate the results to estimate the full-scale requirements for your data.
 
 ## Minimize costs
 
-To minimize the costs of your Azure AI Search solution, use the following strategies across the service lifecycle.
+To minimize the costs of your Azure AI Search solution, use the following strategies:
 
 ### Deployment and configuration
 
@@ -122,25 +114,35 @@ To minimize the costs of your Azure AI Search solution, use the following strate
 
 + Use [incremental indexing](search-howto-reindex.md) to process only new or changed data.
 
-+ Enable [enrichment caching](cognitive-search-incremental-indexing-conceptual.md) to reduce [AI enrichment](cognitive-search-concept-intro.md) costs. Although caching incurs a charge for Azure Blob Storage, it lowers the cumulative enrichment cost because storage is cheaper than image extraction and AI processing.
++ Use [enrichment caching](cognitive-search-incremental-indexing-conceptual.md) and a [knowledge store](knowledge-store-concept-intro.md) to reuse previously enriched content. Although caching incurs a storage charge, it lowers the cumulative cost of [AI enrichment](cognitive-search-concept-intro.md).
 
 + Keep vector payloads compact. For vector search, see the [vector  compression best practices](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azure-ai-services-blog/azure-ai-search-cut-vector-costs-up-to-92-5-with-new-compression-techniques/4404866).
 
+## Monitor costs
+
+At the service level, you can [monitor built-in metrics](search-monitor-queries.md) for your queries per second (QPS), search latency, throttled queries, and index size. You can then [create an Azure Monitor dashboard](/azure/azure-monitor/visualize/tutorial-logs-dashboards) that overlays QPS, latency, and cost data to determine when to add or remove replicas.
+
+At the subscription or resource group level, [Cost Management](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/overview-cost-management) provides tools to track, analyze, and control costs. You can use Cost Management to:
+
++ [Create budgets](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/tutorial-acm-create-budgets?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn) that define and track progress against spending limits. For more granular monitoring, customize your budgets using [filters](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/group-filter?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn) for specific Azure resources or services. Filters prevent you from accidentally creating resources that incur extra costs.
+
++ [Create alerts](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/cost-mgt-alerts-monitor-usage-spending?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn) that automatically notify stakeholders of spending anomalies or overspending risks. Alerts are based on spending compared to budget and cost thresholds. Both budgets and alerts are created for subscriptions and resource groups, making them useful for monitoring overall costs.
+
++ [Export cost data](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/tutorial-export-acm-data?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn) to a storage account. This is helpful when you or others need to perform more cost analysis. For example, a finance team can analyze the data using Excel or Power BI. You can export your costs on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule and set a custom date range. Exporting cost data is the recommended method for retrieving cost datasets.
+
 ## FAQ
 
 **Can I temporarily shut down a search service to save on costs?**
 
-Search runs as a continuous service. Dedicated resources are always operational, allocated for your exclusive use for the lifetime of your service. To stop billing entirely, you must delete the service. Deleting a service is permanent and also deletes its associated data.
+Search runs as a continuous service. Dedicated resources are always operational and allocated for your exclusive use for the lifetime of your service. To stop billing entirely, you must delete the service. Deleting a service is permanent and also deletes its associated data.
 
 **Can I change the billing rate (tier) of an existing search service?**
 
 Existing services can be switched between Basic and Standard (S1, S2, and S3) tiers. Currently, you can only switch from a lower tier to a higher tier, such as going from Basic to S1. For more information, see [Change your pricing tier](search-capacity-planning.md#change-your-pricing-tier).
 
-## Next steps
+## Related content
 
-+ Learn more on how pricing works with Azure AI Search. See [Azure AI Search pricing page](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/search/).
-+ Learn more about [replicas and partitions](search-sku-tier.md).
-+ Learn [how to optimize your cloud investment with Cost Management](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/cost-mgt-best-practices?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn).
-+ Learn more about managing costs with [cost analysis](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/quick-acm-cost-analysis?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn).
-+ Learn about how to [prevent unexpected costs](/azure/cost-management-billing/cost-management-billing-overview?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn).
-+ Take the [Cost Management](/training/paths/control-spending-manage-bills?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn) guided learning course.
++ [Azure AI Search pricing](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/search/)
++ [Choose a service tier for Azure AI Search](search-sku-tier.md)
++ [Optimize your cloud investment with Cost Management](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/cost-mgt-best-practices?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn)
++ [Quickstart: Start using Cost analysis](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/quick-acm-cost-analysis?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn)