When I started my job in June as a Microsoft Cloud Advocate for Python developers, one of my first goals was to port my old Google App Engine apps over to Azure. Those apps were doomed anyway, as they were using Python 2.7, so it was a great time to give them a make-over. I deploy most Azure samples to my corporate account, but I wanted to experience all the aspects of being an Azure developer, including the $$$, so I decided to host them on a personal Azure account instead. I also decided to deploy to a couple different hosting options, to see the differences.
The two apps:
- pamelafox.org: My personal homepage, a Flask website that pulls data from a Google Spreadsheet (it's like a database, I swear!). It was previously on App Engine with memcached to cache the data pulls, so I ported it to Azure Container Apps with a CDN in front of the views.
- translationtelephone.com: A game to translate a phrase between many languages. It was previously on App Engine with the default GAE database (BigTable-based), so I ported it to Azure App Service with a PostgreSQL Flexible Server.
Both of these are relatively low-traffic websites, so I would expect to pay very little for their hosting costs and for my traffic to be compatible with the cheaper SKUs of each Azure resource. Let's see how the costs have worked out for each of them.
Azure Container Apps + CDN
Here are the costs for January 2023, for all the resources involved in hosting pamelafox.org:
| Azure resource | SKU | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Container Registry | Basic | $5.15 |
| Azure Container Apps | (No SKUs) | $3.23 |
| Content Delivery Network | Microsoft CDN (Classic) | $0.00 |
Perhaps surprisingly, the most expensive part is the Container Registry pricing. The least expensive SKU has a per-day pricing that can host up to 10 GB. My registry is storing only a single container that's only 0.33 GB, so I'm not maximizing that resource. If I had a few (or 30!) more container apps, I could re-use the same registry and share the cost.
The actual host, Azure Container Apps, is only $3.23, and that's likely helped by the Azure CDN in front. Azure Container Apps are priced according to usage (memory/vCPU), and the CDN means less usage of the ACA. The CDN cost only $0, which is my kind of number!
Azure App Service + PostgreSQL
Here are the costs for January 2023, for all the resources involved in hosting pamelafox.org:
| Azure resource | SKU | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| App Service | Basic (B1) | $12.11 |
| DB for PostgreSQL Flexible Server | Basic (B1MS) | $0.00 (Free for now) |
My costs for this website are higher due to App Service pricing per hour, regardless of requests/memory/CPU usage. For my region and currency, at the B1 tier, that's always around $12 per month. There is also a Free tier, but it doesn't support custom domains, so it's not an option for this site.
The PostgreSQL server is currently free for me, as I'm taking advantage of the first 12 months free. That only applies to one managed PostgreSQL server, any additional ones will cost me. Past the first year and first server, the cost would be ~$13 for the SKU and region I'm using.
Takeaways
Given the way that Azure Container Apps is priced, it seems like a better fit for my low-traffic websites, especially in conjunction with an aggressive CDN. I may port Translation Telephone over to ACA instead, to halve the costs there. However, I've actually already ported pamelafox.org to Azure Static Web Apps, which should be entirely free, since I've realized it's a bit of a waste to run a Flask app for a webpage that changes so infrequently. That's another great option for hobbyist websites.
If you're figuring our potential pricing for your Python apps on Azure, definitely read through the pricing pages, try the Azure pricing calculator, and make sure to set up a budget alert in your Azure account to remind you to continually monitor how much you're paying.
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