Azure Load Testing: Price Drop and Usage Limits to Supercharge Your Testing

Azure Load Testing is a fully managed service that allows you to simulate high traffic loads on your applications and websites to ensure they can handle real-world conditions. It helps you identify potential performance bottlenecks, improve scalability, and guarantee a seamless user experience.

Whether you're scaling up your tests or simply looking for a way to manage costs, we've got you covered with two exciting updates.

🎉 Price Drop for Azure Load Testing

We know how important it is to manage costs while scaling your load testing efforts, and we're here to make it easier. We are excited to announce a price reduction for Azure Load Testing effective March 1, 2025. This new pricing is designed to provide you with the most value for your investment, enabling you to load test at a more affordable price.

• Say goodbye to monthly resource fees: No more minimum monthly charges for the Azure Load Testing resource. Now, you only pay for the service when you actually use it, i.e. for the Virtual User Hours (VUH) you use.
• Lower price for high-volume usage: The price for consumption beyond 10,000 Virtual User Hours (VUH) has dropped from $0.075 per VUH to $0.06 per VUH. That means the more you use, the less you pay per unit. It's perfect for testing at scale while keeping costs in check.

🔒 Usage Limits: Stay in control of your spending

We heard our customers feedback loud and clear - you want cost predictability and ability to set limits that match your budget. Unexpected high usage and charges can be frustrating, especially when you are running large-scale tests. To help you deal with this, we have added to ability for administrators to configure resource level usage limits, allowing you to have complete control over your costs.  

With this new feature, you can set a monthly Virtual User Hours (VUH) limit for your resource. Once you hit that limit, Azure Load Testing automatically halts any in-progress tests, ensuring you don't overspend. Think of it as a safety net that lets you enjoy the flexibility of consumption-based pricing without the risk of going over budget.

Usage limits also give you predictability over your spending—no more guessing how much you'll end up spending at the end of the month.

How to set usage limits?

Getting started with usage limits is super easy. Here’s how to set them up:

1. In the Azure portal, search for Azure Load Testing and select it.
2. Choose your Azure Load Testing resource.
3. In the Overview page, click on Usage limits.
4. Select Enable usage limits.
5. Set your desired Monthly Virtual User Hours (VUH) limit.
6. Click Apply—and you’re done!

Once set, your tests will automatically stop when you reach the limit, providing full control over your consumption. You won't be able to run additional tests until the next month or until the limits are increased.

Benefits of the pricing model

What makes this all even better? Azure Load Testing follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which means:

• You pay only for what you use: No upfront costs or long-term commitments. Just pay for the Virtual User Hours you consume.
• Predictability: With the usage limits feature, you can test without worrying about exceeding your budget.

The combination of flexible pricing and the ability to set usage limits gives you the best of both worlds: the power to scale your tests while keeping everything within a budget you’re comfortable with.

Conclusion

With these updates, Azure Load Testing is now more powerful, predictable, and cost-effective than ever. Set your usage limits today and start testing worry-free.

Refer to the pricing page for Azure Load Testing and pricing calculator to estimate your load testing costs. For more information on how to set up usage limits, check out the documentation on Managing Usage Limits in Azure Load Testing.

Have questions or feedback? Drop a comment below or share your feedback with us in the Azure Load Testing community!

Happy load testing...!