Azure Cost Comparison - Quick Reference
💰 At a Glance
Full Production: $1,360/month ████████████████████████████████ 100%
Optimized: $675/month ████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 50% ⭐ RECOMMENDED
Budget: $200/month ████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 15%
Free: $0-50/month ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 4%
🎯 Which Tier Is Right for You?
Choose Optimized ($675/month) if:
- ✅ You want production-quality deployment
- ✅ You need all features working
- ✅ You want excellent performance
- ✅ You have a reasonable budget
- ✅ You want 50% cost savings immediately
Choose Budget ($200/month) if:
- ✅ You’re in development/testing phase
- ✅ You can update data weekly vs. real-time
- ✅ You’re okay with client-side search
- ✅ You have budget constraints
- ✅ You want 85% cost savings
Choose Free ($0-50/month) if: ⭐ SELECTED
- ✅ This is a personal/community project
- ✅ You can work with static site
- ✅ You don’t need real-time AI processing
- ✅ You want maximum cost savings
- ✅ You’re comfortable with technical setup
📖 Setup Guide: See FREE_TIER_SETUP.md for complete instructions
📊 Feature Comparison
| Feature |
Full |
Optimized |
Budget |
Free |
| Web Interface |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
| Search UI |
✅ Advanced |
✅ Advanced |
✅ Basic |
✅ Basic |
| Document Management |
✅ Real-time |
✅ Real-time |
⚠️ Batch |
⚠️ Static |
| Image Management |
✅ Real-time |
✅ Real-time |
⚠️ Batch |
⚠️ Static |
| AI Analysis |
✅ GPT-4 |
✅ GPT-3.5 |
⚠️ Minimal |
❌ Pre-computed |
| PDF Upload |
✅ Instant |
✅ Instant |
⚠️ Queue |
❌ Manual |
| Search Engines |
✅ All |
✅ All |
⚠️ Limited |
❌ Client-side |
| Performance |
⚡ Excellent |
⚡ Very Good |
⚡ Good |
⚡ Adequate |
| Scalability |
✅ High |
✅ High |
⚠️ Medium |
⚠️ Limited |
💡 How to Save 50% (Optimized Tier)
Simple Changes = Big Savings
- GitHub Pages instead of App Service
- Was: $55/month → Now: FREE
- Same features, faster CDN delivery
- GPT-3.5-turbo instead of GPT-4
- Was: $500/month → Now: $150/month
- Still excellent results, 10x cheaper
- Basic Search instead of Standard
- Was: $250/month → Now: $75/month
- Still handles 30K docs + 20K images
- Consumption Functions instead of Premium
- Was: $200/month → Now: $50/month
- Pay only for actual usage
- Smart Caching + Storage Lifecycle
- Saves: $130/month
- Simple configuration changes
Total: $1,360 → $675 (50% savings)
🚀 Implementation Difficulty
Optimized Tier (50% off)
Difficulty: ⭐⭐☆☆☆ (Easy)
Time: 2 hours
Steps:
- Run Azure CLI commands to downgrade services
- Update bot code to use GPT-3.5
- Enable GitHub Pages
- Configure caching
Budget Tier (85% off)
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (Medium)
Time: 4 hours
Steps:
- Set up client-side search (Lunr.js)
- Pre-compute data weekly
- Minimize Azure services
- Deploy to GitHub Pages
Free Tier (96% off)
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (Advanced)
Time: 8 hours
Steps:
- Convert to static site architecture
- Set up Algolia or client search
- Configure Cloudflare
- Manual data updates
💰 Annual Cost Comparison
| Tier |
Monthly |
Annual |
3-Year Total |
| Full |
$1,360 |
$16,320 |
$48,960 |
| Optimized |
$675 |
$8,100 |
$24,300 |
| Budget |
$200 |
$2,400 |
$7,200 |
| Free |
$25 |
$300 |
$900 |
3-Year Savings:
- Optimized: Save $24,660 💰
- Budget: Save $41,760 💰💰
- Free: Save $48,060 💰💰💰
🎓 Real-World Examples
- GitHub Pages: FREE
- Cloudflare CDN: FREE
- 10K searches/month: FREE
- Light API usage: $20/month
- Total: $20/month
Example 2: Research Project (Budget Tier)
- Basic storage: $20/month
- Minimal AI processing: $100/month
- Light Functions: $50/month
- GitHub Pages: FREE
- Total: $170/month
Example 3: Production Site (Optimized Tier)
- All features active
- Real-time processing
- Excellent performance
- Total: $675/month
📋 Quick Decision Tree
Do you need real-time AI processing?
├─ YES → Do you need GPT-4 level quality?
│ ├─ YES → Full Production ($1,360)
│ └─ NO → Optimized ($675) ⭐
└─ NO → Do you need any AI processing?
├─ YES → Budget ($200)
└─ NO → Free ($0-50)
🔗 Next Steps
- Review full guide: Azure-Cost-Reduction.md
- Choose your tier based on needs and budget
- Follow implementation guide for your tier
- Monitor costs with Azure Cost Management
- Optimize further as you learn usage patterns
⚡ Quick Start: Optimized Tier
Want to save 50% immediately? Run these commands:
# Downgrade search to Basic
az search service update --name epstein-files-search --sku basic
# Switch Functions to Consumption
az functionapp create --name epstein-files-functions --consumption-plan-location eastus
# Enable GitHub Pages (in repo settings)
# Update bot code: model="gpt-3.5-turbo" instead of "gpt-4"
# Configure storage lifecycle (see full guide)
Done! You’re now at $675/month instead of $1,360.
📞 Questions?
See the complete guide: Azure-Cost-Reduction.md
It includes:
- Detailed cost breakdowns
- Code examples
- Configuration files
- Troubleshooting
- FAQ section
Remember: You can always start with Free/Budget tier and scale up later. There’s no penalty for starting small!