Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Azure Pricing Lookup agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The azure-pricing skill is a set of instructions and reference files that teaches an AI agent to look up public Azure list prices from Microsoft's Azure Retail Prices API and turn them into monthly and annual cost estimates. This guide is for engineers, architects and teams who want the agent to answer Azure cost questions with live numbers. By the end you will know how to install the skill, how to phrase requests so it triggers, and what its results can and cannot be trusted for.
Azure Pricing Lookupgithub/awesome-copilot · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Get the azure-pricing ZIP from this skill's page in the directory.
- 2Unzip into a skills folder. Place the azure-pricing folder in ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder.
- 3Or upload in the Claude apps. Go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the ZIP.
- 4Ask a pricing question. Describe the service, region and SKU in plain language, for example the cost of a D4s v5 VM in West Europe.
- 5Answer clarifying questions. If the agent asks about region, SKU or price type, answer so it can build the correct filter.
- 6Check the estimate. Compare the returned unit prices with the Azure pricing pages before committing to a budget.
What an agent skill is and what this one does
An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file and optional reference files. When a request matches the skill's description, the agent loads those instructions and follows them. This skill is named azure-pricing.
Once installed, the agent can query Microsoft's public Azure Retail Prices API at prices.azure.com to fetch current list prices for Azure services, filtered by region, SKU and price type. It then converts unit prices into monthly and annual estimates and presents comparison tables. No Azure account or login is needed for these lookups.
- Looks up prices for services such as virtual machines, storage, Functions and AI models
- Filters by region, SKU, service name and price type such as Consumption or Reservation
- Checks savings plan prices where the API returns them
- Includes reference notes for estimating Copilot Studio agent credit usage
Install the azure-pricing skill
Download the ZIP for the skill from the skill's page in this directory, then choose one of the following methods.
For a personal install, unzip the folder into ~/.claude/skills/ so that the azure-pricing folder, containing SKILL.md, sits inside it. For a single project, unzip it into the project's .claude/skills/ folder instead.
In the Claude apps you can instead upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- Personal: ~/.claude/skills/azure-pricing/
- Project only: .claude/skills/azure-pricing/ inside your project folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP
Ask for Azure prices in plain language
You do not need to name the skill. The skill is meant to trigger when you ask about the cost of an Azure service, compare SKU prices, request pricing data for an estimate, or mention Azure pricing, costs or billing. It also covers questions about Copilot Studio pricing, Copilot Credits and agent usage estimation.
If your request is unclear, the skill tells the agent to ask clarifying questions to identify the right service, region, SKU and price type before calling the API.
- How much does a D4s v5 VM cost in West Europe?
- Compare pay-as-you-go and 1-year reservation prices for Standard_D4s_v5 in East US.
- Estimate the monthly cost of an Azure Functions app running in East US.
- What is the spot price for D4s v5 in eastus?
- How many Copilot Credits will my employee agent use per month?
What the agent does behind the scenes
The skill tells the agent to identify filter fields from your request, convert the region to its API form (for example East US becomes eastus), build an OData filter, and fetch the result. It then parses the Items array, follows NextPageLink only if more than the first 1000 results are needed, applies the formulas in the cost estimator reference, and returns a summary table with service, SKU, region, unit price and monthly and annual estimates.
The API call uses api-version=2023-01-01-preview, which the skill uses so that savings plan data is included. Only items where isPrimaryMeterRegion is true are used unless you specifically ask for non-primary meters.
https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices?api-version=2023-01-01-preview&$filter=serviceName eq 'Functions' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'Estimate Copilot Studio agent costs
The skill includes a section for Copilot Studio. It states that 1 Copilot Credit equals $0.01 USD and that credits are pooled across the tenant. Your agent will gather inputs such as agent type, number of users, interactions per month, knowledge percentage, tenant graph percentage and tool usage per session.
The skill instructs the agent to fetch the latest billing rates from the Microsoft source pages listed in the reference file. The reference file also holds a cached rate table, which the skill says to use only if web fetching is unavailable.
- Copilot Studio rates: references/COPILOT-STUDIO-RATES.md
- Microsoft's billing rates page and an agent usage estimator are linked from that file
Safety notes: network access and scripts
The skill makes network requests. It needs internet access to prices.azure.com and learn.microsoft.com. It needs no API key, no authentication and no account. It does not run scripts. Its files are Markdown instructions and reference tables.
Because the agent fetches live pages and API responses, review what your agent is allowed to access in your environment before use.
- Requires: internet access to prices.azure.com and learn.microsoft.com
- No API key or account needed
- Runs scripts: no
- Uses network: yes
What people use it for
- Comparing the hourly price of a VM SKU across several regions before choosing where to deploy
- Estimating monthly cost of a Functions app from per-execution and per-GB-second prices
- Comparing pay-as-you-go, reservation and savings plan prices for a steady workload
- Estimating Copilot Studio Copilot Credit consumption for a planned employee or customer agent
Frequently asked questions
Is the azure-pricing skill free?
The skill is published under the MIT licence on the github/awesome-copilot repository. The Azure Retail Prices API it calls needs no API key or account, so lookups do not require a paid Azure subscription.
What do I need to use the azure-pricing skill?
You need an agent that supports skills and internet access to prices.azure.com and learn.microsoft.com. No Azure login, API key or account is required.
Where do I install the azure-pricing skill?
Unzip the ZIP into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Are the prices my actual Azure bill?
No. The skill uses public Azure retail list prices. It does not know your negotiated rates, discounts or invoices, so treat results as estimates.
Why does the agent return empty results?
The skill's troubleshooting advice is to broaden the filter by removing priceType or armRegionName first. Also check that serviceName matches the exact, case-sensitive name, and use the serviceFamily filter to discover valid names.
Can I use this instead of the Azure Pricing Calculator?
The skill is a conversational way to query the same kind of public list price data and produce quick estimates. For a formal, shareable estimate, Microsoft's official calculator or your own billing data are better suited, and the skill's own notes say its formulas may lag Microsoft's published pricing.
New agent skills, repos and AI tools — every week
The best new skills and open-source projects, the fastest-growing repos, and one free prompt. Five minutes to read. Unsubscribe anytime.
Our verdict
Use this skill if you want an agent to pull current Azure list prices and build quick monthly or annual estimates, including region and reservation comparisons. Pick something else if you need exact billing for your account or figures you will commit money against, since the skill uses public list prices and its reference tables may lag behind Microsoft's pricing.
Download the skill