Comparison
Cerberus Cloud vs Azure Cost Management
Azure Cost Management is where every MSP starts with Azure spend. Here is what it gives a CSP partner, where it stops for a multi-client optimisation service, and how Cerberus Cloud builds on it.
Short answer
Azure Cost Management is free and the right place to see and control Azure spend. For CSPs on the Azure plan it shows invoiced costs in the partner tenant and retail costs to customers. Cerberus Cloud builds on its data for MSPs selling optimisation: findings ranked across every client, figures adjusted to match your CSP invoice, and a savings history per client.
Side by side
| Area | Cerberus Cloud | Azure Cost Management |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | MSPs running Azure cost optimisation as a service across many clients. | Seeing and controlling Azure spend, with partner features for CSPs whose customers are on the Azure plan. [1] [4] |
| Partner pricing | Add or subtract adjustments per category, such as a discount on commitments or an uplift on licences, so figures match your CSP invoice 1:1. | Partners see invoiced prices in the partner tenant. Customers see pay-as-you-go retail prices, without the discounts or credits the partner receives. [1] |
| Which customers | Every client tenant you connect, in one portfolio view. | Partner features cover customers on the Azure plan under a Microsoft Customer Agreement. Classic CSP offers are listed as unsupported. [1] [6] |
| Optimisation | 275+ automated finders across 15 Azure service families, ranked by impact, effort and risk. | Brings in Azure Advisor cost recommendations with an impact rating and potential yearly savings. Microsoft notes actual savings may be lower. [5] |
| Tracking | Finding and savings history per client, for account reviews and renewals. | Budgets, anomaly alerts and scheduled alerts on spend. [4] |
| Customer view | A savings history your account teams can share with each client. | Customers see costs in their own tenant only if the partner turns on the cost visibility policy, which is off by default. [1] |
| Automation | Read-only collection across tenants, with remediation scripts for your engineers to review. | Cost analysis, budgets and recurring exports, all available through REST APIs. [1] |
| Price | Flat monthly bands by managed Azure spend, with no seat limits. | Free for Azure. [3] |
When Cost Management is enough
For tracking spend, setting budgets and catching anomalies, Cost Management does the job and costs nothing extra. If a CSP needs invoiced costs by customer, the partner tenant gives exactly that for customers on the Azure plan.
Where MSPs hit its limits
Cost Management tells you what each client spends. It doesn't turn that into a delivery plan for your engineers.
Its optimisation view is Azure Advisor's recommendations, whose savings estimates use retail rates (see Cerberus Cloud vs Azure Advisor). And the figures a customer sees in their own tenant are retail prices without your discounts or uplifts, so they rarely match the invoice you send.
How they fit together
Cerberus Cloud pulls cost and usage data from Azure Cost Management, so it builds on it rather than replacing it. On top, it adds per-category adjustments so figures match your CSP invoice, 275+ automated finders across 15 Azure service families ranked across every client tenant, and the savings history your account teams take to client reviews.
Sources
Last checked . Product details change; tell us if something here is out of date.
- Microsoft Learn: Get started with Cost Management for partners
- Microsoft Learn: Cross-tenant management experiences with Azure Lighthouse
- Microsoft Azure: Cost Management pricing
- Microsoft Learn: What is Microsoft Cost Management?
- Microsoft Learn: Optimise costs from recommendations
- Microsoft Learn: Understand Cost Management data (supported offers)
Frequently asked questions
- Is Azure Cost Management free?
- Yes. Microsoft lists Cost Management as free for Azure, for customers and for the partners who manage them.
- Why don't my customers' Azure costs match my CSP invoice?
- In the customer tenant, Cost Management shows pay-as-you-go retail prices and leaves out the discounts and credits the partner receives, so any markup or discount you apply on top won't appear either. Cerberus Cloud lets you add or subtract adjustments per category so its figures match your invoice.
- Can customers see costs in their own Azure portal?
- Only if the partner turns on the cost visibility policy for that customer, which is off by default, and the user has Azure RBAC access to the subscription.
- Does Cerberus Cloud replace Azure Cost Management?
- No. Cerberus Cloud reads cost and usage data from Azure Cost Management and builds the multi-tenant optimisation workflow on top of it.
See invoice-matched savings on a sample portfolio
A 15-minute walkthrough: tenant connection, prioritised findings, remediation scripts and savings history.