Comparison
Cerberus Cloud vs Azure Advisor
Azure Advisor is usually the first place an MSP looks for Azure savings. Here is where it fits, where it stops for a multi-client cost optimisation service, and how Cerberus Cloud fills the gap.
Short answer
Azure Advisor is free, built into the Azure portal and good at per-resource recommendations. Cerberus Cloud is built for MSPs that sell Azure cost optimisation as a service: one view across every client tenant, findings tied to real billing data, and a ranked backlog your engineers can deliver from. Many MSPs will use both.
Side by side
| Area | Cerberus Cloud | Azure Advisor |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | MSPs delivering Azure cost optimisation as a service to many clients. | Anyone with Owner, Contributor or Reader access to a subscription, inside the Azure portal. [1] |
| Scope | One portfolio view across every connected client tenant. | Recommendations for the subscriptions you can access, filtered by subscription and resource type. [1] |
| Savings estimates | Findings tied to real Azure billing data for each client. | Based on retail rates, without discounts, reservations or savings plans, so listed savings can be higher than what's actually possible. [2] |
| Prioritisation | A ranked backlog by impact, effort and risk across the whole portfolio. | Recommendations grouped into five categories: reliability, security, performance, cost and operational excellence. [1] |
| Making changes | Read-only. Evidence, implementation guidance and remediation scripts for your engineers to review and apply. | Recommended actions can be implemented from the Advisor interface, given the right permissions. [1] |
| Tracking | Finding and savings history per client, for account reviews and renewals. | Recommendations can be marked postponed, dismissed or completed. [1] |
| Coverage | 275+ automated finders across 15 Azure service families. | Microsoft's recommendations for a published list of Azure services, plus Microsoft Defender for Cloud recommendations. [1] |
| Price | Flat monthly bands by managed Azure spend, with no seat limits. | Available at no additional cost. Some recommendations can incur costs when remediated. [3] |
When Azure Advisor is enough
For a single organisation with a handful of subscriptions, Advisor is a sensible starting point. It costs nothing extra, it is already in the Azure portal, and its cost recommendations cover common wins such as shutting down or resizing under-used virtual machines.
If your team reviews costs occasionally and no client is paying for the outcome, Advisor's recommendation list may be all you need.
Where MSPs outgrow it
Once cost optimisation becomes a service you sell, the questions change. Which client should an engineer work on next? How much of an estimated saving is real once reservations and negotiated discounts are counted? What did the service deliver for this client last quarter?
Advisor isn't designed to answer those. Microsoft notes that its savings figures use retail rates and ignore reservations and savings plans, so they can overstate what a client will actually save. Its recommendations are grouped by category rather than ranked by the effort and risk of doing the work, and its postpone, dismiss and complete states aren't a per-client record of savings delivered.
Using both
Cerberus Cloud doesn't ask you to stop using Advisor. It stays useful for reliability, security and performance recommendations inside each subscription.
Cerberus Cloud handles the cost side of the service: read-only collection across every client tenant, findings tied to billing data, a ranked delivery backlog and the savings history your account teams need.
Sources
Last checked . Product details change; tell us if something here is out of date.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Cerberus Cloud replace Azure Advisor?
- No. Advisor remains useful for reliability, security and performance recommendations. Cerberus Cloud focuses on running cost optimisation as a repeatable service across many client tenants, with findings tied to real billing data and ranked by impact, effort and risk.
- Why don't Azure Advisor's savings estimates match the bill?
- Microsoft documents that Advisor's cost recommendations are based on retail rates and don't take into account discounts, reserved instances or savings plans. As a result, the listed savings can be higher than what is actually possible.
- Is Azure Advisor free?
- Yes. Microsoft states that Azure Advisor is available at no additional cost, although some recommendations can incur costs when you act on them.
- How is Cerberus Cloud priced?
- In flat monthly bands based on the Azure spend you manage for clients, with no percentage-of-spend charge and no seat limits. See pricing
See what Cerberus Cloud finds in a sample Azure portfolio
A 15-minute walkthrough: tenant connection, prioritised findings, remediation scripts and savings history.