Updated search-sku-manage-costs.md

Author: haileytap

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

@@ -8,17 +8,13 @@ ms.author: haileytapia
 ms.service: azure-ai-search
 ms.custom:
   - ignite-2023
-ms.topic: conceptual
-ms.date: 06/06/2025
+ms.topic: how-to
+ms.date: 06/09/2025
 ---
 
 # Plan and manage costs of an Azure AI Search service
 
-This article explains how Azure AI Search is billed and provides tips for planning, estimating, monitoring, and minimizing costs.
-
-As a first step, use the [Azure pricing calculator](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/calculator/) to estimate your baseline costs. 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.
-
-Through built-in cost management that cuts across service boundaries, Azure provides inclusive cost monitoring and the ability to set budgets and define alerts. The costs of running a search service vary depending on capacity and the features used. After you create a search service, optimize capacity to pay for only what you need.
+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.
 
 > [!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).
@@ -27,7 +23,7 @@ Through built-in cost management that cuts across service boundaries, Azure prov
 
 ## Understand the billing model
 
-Azure AI Search runs on Azure infrastructure that accrues costs when you deploy new resources. Note that other infrastructure costs might also accrue.
+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
 
@@ -43,10 +39,10 @@ The following table lists premium features and their billing units. All of these
 
 | Feature | Unit |
 |-------|------|
-| Image extraction (AI enrichment) <sup>1</sup> | Per 1000 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 1000 text records. See the [pricing page](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/search/#pricing) |
-| [Built-in skills](cognitive-search-predefined-skills.md)  (AI enrichment) | Number of transactions, billed at the same rate as calling Azure AI services directly. You can process 20 documents per indexer per day for free. Larger or more frequent workloads require an Azure AI services multi-service resource key. |
-| [Semantic ranker](semantic-search-overview.md) | Number of queries of `queryType=semantic`, billed at a progressive rate. See the [pricing page](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/search/#pricing). |
+| 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) |
+| [Built-in skills](cognitive-search-predefined-skills.md)  (AI enrichment) | Number of transactions. Billed at the same rate as calling Azure AI services directly. You can process 20 documents per indexer per day for free. Larger or more frequent workloads require an Azure AI services multi-service resource key. |
+| [Semantic ranker](semantic-search-overview.md) | Number of queries of `queryType=semantic`. Billed at a progressive rate. See the [pricing page](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/search/#pricing). |
 | [Shared private link](search-indexer-howto-access-private.md) | [Billed for bandwidth](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/private-link/) as long as the shared private link exists and is used. |
 
 <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).
@@ -59,40 +55,76 @@ The following table lists premium features and their billing units. All of these
 
 + [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), non-billable built-in utility skills, and custom skills. Non-billable 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 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.
 
 > [!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.
 
+## 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.
+
++ 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. -->
+
 ## Monitor costs
 
-Cost management is built into the Azure infrastructure. Review [Billing and cost management](/azure/cost-management-billing/cost-management-billing-overview) for more information about tracking costs, tools, and APIs.
+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:
+
++ [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.
+
++ [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.
+
++ [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.
 
 ## Minimize costs
 
-Follow these guidelines to minimize costs of an Azure AI Search solution.
+To minimize the costs of your Azure AI Search solution, use the following strategies across the service lifecycle.
+
+### Deployment and configuration
+
++ Create a search service in a [region with more storage per partition](search-limits-quotas-capacity.md#service-limits).
+
++ Create all related Azure resources in the same region (or as few regions as possible) to minimize or eliminate bandwidth charges.
+
++ Choose the lightest [pricing tier](search-sku-tier.md) that meets your needs. Basic and S1 offer full access to the modern API at the lowest hourly rate per SU.
+
++ Use [Azure Web App](/azure/app-service/overview) for your front-end application to keep requests and responses within the data center boundary.
 
-1. If possible, create a search service [in a region that has more storage per partition](search-limits-quotas-capacity.md#service-limits). If you're using multiple Azure resources in your solution, create them in the same region, or in as few regions as possible, to minimize or eliminate bandwidth charges.
+### Scaling
 
-1. [Scale up](search-capacity-planning.md) for resource-intensive operations like indexing, and then readjust downwards for regular query workloads. If there are predictable patterns to your workloads, you might be able to synchronize scale up to coincide with the expected volume (you would need to write code to automate this).
++ [Add partitions](search-capacity-planning.md#add-or-remove-partitions-and-replicas) only when the index size or ingestion throughput requires it.
 
-   When estimating the cost of a search solution, keep in mind that pricing and capacity aren't linear (doubling capacity more than doubles the cost on the same tier). Also, at some point, switching up to a higher tier can give you better and faster performance at roughly the same price point. For more information and an example, see [Switch to a Standard S2 tier](search-performance-tips.md#tip-switch-to-a-standard-s2-tier).
++ [Add replicas](search-capacity-planning.md#add-or-remove-partitions-and-replicas) only when your queries per second increase, when complex queries are throttling your service, or when high availability is required.
 
-1. Consider [Azure Web App](/azure/app-service/overview) for your front-end application so that requests and responses stay within the data center boundary.
++ Scale up for resource-intensive operations, such as indexing, and then readjust downwards for regular query workloads.
 
-1. If you're using [AI enrichment](cognitive-search-concept-intro.md), there's an extra charge for blob storage, but the cumulative cost goes down if you enable [enrichment caching](cognitive-search-incremental-indexing-conceptual.md).
++ Write code to automate scaling for predictable workload patterns.
 
-## Create budgets
++ Remember that capacity and pricing aren't linear. Doubling capacity more than doubles costs on the same tier. For better performance at a similar price, consider [switching to a higher tier](search-performance-tips.md#tip-switch-to-a-standard-s2-tier).
 
-You can create [budgets](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/tutorial-acm-create-budgets?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn) to manage costs and 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 and overspending risks. Alerts are based on spending compared to budget and cost thresholds. Budgets and alerts are created for Azure subscriptions and resource groups, so they're useful as part of an overall cost monitoring strategy. 
+### Indexing and enrichment
 
-Budgets can be created with filters for specific resources or services in Azure if you want more granularity present in your monitoring. Filters help ensure that you don't accidentally create new resources that cost you extra money. For more information about the filter options available when you create a budget, see [Group and filter options](/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/group-filter?WT.mc_id=costmanagementcontent_docsacmhorizontal_-inproduct-learn).
++ Use [incremental indexing](search-howto-reindex.md) to process only new or changed data.
 
-## Export cost 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.
 
-You can also [export your 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 need or others to do more data analysis for costs. 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 way to retrieve cost datasets.
++ 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).
 
 ## FAQ