AKS sould be free so why am I charged for it?

Martin Müller 41 Reputation points
2022-04-28T17:55:43.913+00:00

I have created AKS cluster using 2 Standard_D2as_v4 nodes. There are other resources like Load Balancer and Public IPs too. Anyway, the MS documentation says:
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a free container service ... Paying for only the virtual machines, and associated storage and networking resources consumed ...

But I see this in my Cost Management:
197476-image.png
Seems like I have to pay for AKS almost as much as for the Virtual Machines running my nodes. Can you explain, please?

Azure Cost Management
Azure Cost Management
A Microsoft offering that enables tracking of cloud usage and expenditures for Azure and other cloud providers.
2,005 questions
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
An Azure service that provides serverless Kubernetes, an integrated continuous integration and continuous delivery experience, and enterprise-grade security and governance.
1,847 questions
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  1. kobulloc-MSFT 23,181 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2022-05-06T23:11:47.027+00:00

    Hello, @Martin Müller !

    Thank you so much for the update!

    I see, so Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is free however there is a charge for Uptime SLA which will show up as an "Azure Kubernetes Service" charge that is enabled by default when creating an AKS resource. To make AKS free, you need to check the 99.5%/Optimize for cost option for API server availability. Thank you so much for following up on this!

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  1. Martin Müller 41 Reputation points
    2022-05-06T10:35:53.753+00:00

    So I have created a support request and after a few itrerations of email communication I know what is wrong now. MS documentation of AKS says:
    199625-image.png

    And by default 99.95 % availability is selected when you are creating a new cluster. So you have to switch it to 99.5 % to make AKS really free:
    199575-image.png

    After the change our billing looks fine:
    199557-image.png

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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