A simpler way to buy Azure DevOps
We are constantly working to improve our experience end-to-end, including how our products are purchased. In response to feedback from our customers, we are pleased to announce some changes that will simplify how some Azure DevOps services are purchased. We’ll be rolling out the Azure Artifacts changes today (May 6, 2019) and the other licensing changes will reflect on your bill from June 1, 2019 on.
Azure Artifacts is switching to a per-GB consumption model
For cloud-hosted Azure Artifacts, users will no longer need an Azure Artifacts extension license. Instead, users will only pay for what they store in Azure Artifacts. The first 2 GB are free, then prices range from $2 to $0.25 per GB per month, depending on the storage consumed.
Basic will be $6 flat, with the first 5 users free
Previously, the licensing model had several tiers depending on how many licenses were purchased. With the new structure, we are removing all price tiers. Basic licenses will be $6 per user per month flat. Example: if you have 10 users, your monthly bill will be $30 – 5 free licenses and 5 paid at $6; 100 licenses would be $570 – 5 free licenses and 95 at $6. This will apply for licenses you purchase for both cloud-hosted services use and on-premises use with Azure DevOps Server 2019.
On-premises Azure Artifacts now included with Basic license
Users with a Basic license will now be able to use Azure Artifacts on-premises without needing to purchase an Azure Artifacts extension. This means with Azure DevOps Server 2019 (formerly Team Foundation Server), users with a Basic License can create and consume Azure Artifacts on-premises if they have a Basic license assigned. Please note that for previous versions of our server product, an Azure Artifacts extension is still needed to access this functionality.
Introducing Basic + Test Plans license
For our hosted services and Azure DevOps Server 2019, we are introducing a new license that includes both a Basic license and an Azure Test Plans license for $52 per user per month. Previously, a Basic license purchase was required in addition to the Azure Test Plans extension purchase. With the new license, you’ll only need to purchase a Basic + Test Plans license. If you have a hosted user assigned an Azure Test Plan extension, they will automatically be updated to have this new license on June 1, 2019. If you are using Azure DevOps Server 2019, you can assign this new license to users as well. Please note that for previous versions of our server product, an Azure Test Plans extension in addition to Basic is still needed to access Azure Test Plans functionality.
One license works across multiple organizations
Starting in late June, users will only need one license per Azure subscription, even if they are part of multiple Azure DevOps organizations. This means that regardless of how many organizations a user is a part of in a given Azure subscription, they will only need and only pay for one Basic or one Basic + Test Plans license.
Licenses will be purchased at assignment time
Also starting in late June, you will no longer need to pre-purchase additional Azure DevOps user licenses. After selecting an Azure subscription for billing, you will be able to purchase additional user licenses by simply adding the user to the organization and assigning them a license. You’ll still be able to purchase on-premises licenses on the Billing tab as needed.
3rd Party Paid Extensions will now be sold directly by 3rd Parties
Finally, if you need to purchase an extension like 7Pace’s Timetracker, and were previously purchasing it from the Marketplace, you will now need to purchase it from the 3rd Party directly. You will be able to start this purchase process from the Marketplace and from currently installed extensions. Since each extension has a different effective date, we’ll be reaching out directly to those that need to make this switch in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition and no loss of functionality.
We are excited for these changes as we believe it will be a welcome simplification on all fronts. If you’d like to estimate your bill for Azure DevOps and related services, please check out the Azure Pricing Calculator. We always want to do better, so if you have any questions or thoughts, please let us know in the comments!
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21 comments
This wasn’t clear in what I have read so far. If the 1800 minutes are not consumed, are additional updates still free within the same month under the 1800 minutes threshold?
Hi Marc –
For Pipelines, you get 1800 free minutes a month. You can use them whenever you want in the month and they don’t have to be all used on the same build. So, you can use 100 minutes one day on build 1, and then 200 minutes the next on build 2. If you use more than 1800 free minutes in the month, you’ll need to purchase a pipeline.
Thanks!
Todd
How does OnPrem validate the licenses? Is it still basically an honesty policy/audit activity or is there a way to ensure users have the right licenses?
Hi Sam –
For Azure DevOps Server 2019, on-prem license assignment works in the same way they did with previous versions of the on-prem product. Just assign the needed license to the user. The change is that there is that there are only 2 licenses to buy now for on-prem users – Basic or Basic + Test Plans. No need to buy a license + extensions.
Thanks!
Todd
I like the simplified pricing and licensing! One question, in the post you say “This will apply for licenses you purchase for both cloud-hosted services use and on-premises use with Azure DevOps Server 2019.” If we have developers who do work both on Azure DevOps Server on-prem, and Azure DevOps in the cloud, do they need one license for each, or does one license cover both for each developer?
Glad you like it! We are optimistic that this is easier to understand.
In the scenario you describe, if you are purchasing a user license via the cloud (i.e. Azure DevOps Services), then you can use it on-prem as well. Check out our billing docs for more information.
Thanks!
Todd
Perfect! Thanks Todd!
I’m happy about most of these simplifications but I do really need more detailed info about the changed pricing model for Azure Artifacts BEFORE you roll out the change. As well as a way for me to get insight into the amount of storage currently used by the different feeds. And also, does this include all package types (even Universal Packages which was once marketed by saying the package size could be up to 2 Tb)? And do cached upstream sources count to the usage?
Hi Jeroen –
Thanks for the feedback! As John mentioned above, since we wanted to cause as little disruption as possible for our current customers, customers that stored artifacts with us before 5/6 get a free year of usage.
We are also working on a more detailed view of the storage used and by what package in your different feeds. Stay tuned for more info about this feature and the timeline.
Finally, it does include all package types. Please note that we don’t expect every Universal Package to be 2TB, that is just the maximum size of the Universal Package we can handle.
Thanks,
Todd
Does this apply to just packages stored in feeds or also artifacts that are the result of Build pipelines?
Hi Richard –
Build artifacts are excluded.
Thanks!
Todd
Is there a way to see the Azure Artifacts consumption from somewhere? Or are build artifacts excluded from this, since I can’t see those anywhere.
Try going to dev.azure.com/org/_setting/billing. It is not mentioned here but only organisations created before May 6 get 2GB free for 12 months.
Build artifacts look to be excluded, I have 1GB+ build artifacts and only a handful of Nuget packages and it is reporting 0GB used
The correct url is “settings”, but thanks and yes, looks like they are excluded because mine says 0 GB.
Hi Toni –
Build artifacts are indeed excluded.
Thanks!
Todd
Hi all- Based on some questions I see here and on Twitter, I thought I would clarify a few things for the Artifacts pricing:
1. There is no longer a need to purchase or assign per-user licenses. The consumption based pricing replaces this.
2. Organizations created before May 6, 2019 receive free storage for 12 months.​
3. The consumption currently only captures Symbols and Packages you see in your feeds. Build Artifacts and Pipeline Artifacts do not count toward this sum.
4. You can see your current consumption sum at https://dev.azure.com/*org*/_settings/billing
Best,
@johnterickson
Do upstream packages from public package registries, such as npmjs.org, count toward the consumption cost?
I think public packages should be included as part of the subscription cost or at least charged at a much lower rate than private packages.
Clearly there will be a lot package duplication between organisations and I guess MS have a complete mirror the public NPMJS registry anyway. I assume you do a lot of deduplication to save on storage costs.
I’m following Microsoft’s best practice recommendation of having only one feed for the project. This means my project pulls in a lot of public NPM packages which get stored in the private feed.
Thanks
Allen
So in order to use a license accross multiple organizations all the organizations need to be under the same Azure subscription? Would have been great it was just the same aad tenant…So instead of giving every business unit their own subscription we now need to centralize everything under just one subscription and doing a complicated cost management.
Hi there,
With the Basic + Test plans 30-day free trial, does this give all users in the DevOps tenant access to these features, or just the users with a Basic license?
Thanks Aaron
We’re a development agency that work with a number of clients, across a number of subscriptions and tenants – mostly ones we provision, but sometimes within our client’s control. While our QA teams don’t often need VS Test as they don’t write their tests in C#, they are starting to see more benefits from using Test Plans and Steps within DevOps, and some of our clients are indeed mandating that we use this within their Organisations. As such it would be great for us to be able to provide a single Test Manager license (or Basic + Test Plans now) that can “follow” their account around as they work in differnt Organisations in a similar way to the developers VS Pro/Enterprise subscriptions.