Digital transformation starts with how organizations approach modern technology platforms. As these solutions become a dominant force in business, cloud solutions like Microsoft Azure DevOps stand out with their capabilities a total platform for the entire software development lifecycle.
Before diving into Microsoft Azure DevOps pricing and licensing, a look at what this platform is all about provides a strategic advantage to readers.
Microsoft Azure DevOps is a complete, cloud-based platform engineered to streamline how software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) teams collaborate. By serving as a centralized hub, it allows teams to securely build, test, and deploy high-quality software at an accelerated pace.
Microsoft Azure DevOps is supported by core services for end-to-end development, which include:
- Azure Boards: Track, plan, and discuss work across software teams.
- Azure Repos: Manage source code using cloud-hosted Git repositories.
- Azure Pipelines: Automate building, testing, and deploying software to on-premises servers or the cloud.
- Azure Test Plans: Support planned, manual, and exploratory software testing.
- Azure Artifacts: Create, host, and share package feeds within your organization.
A development team can use these core services together or individually based on the team’s specific workflow. When used together, these services share data with each other, helping teams get deep visibility across the entire development lifecycle.
Going through Microsoft Azure DevOps pricing and licensing can be a challenge for growing businesses. A clear-cut understanding of which services business need—and how many users require access to them is essential for figuring out an accurate budget.
Understanding Azure DevOps Licensing
One of the essential thing businesses should evaluate is the licensing options. More importantly, you must evaluate who needs access to Azure DevOps and for what purpose.
Various licensing options can be chosen based on user role requirements. This understanding ensures that your total cost of ownership won’t come with unexpected surprises.
Map User Access Levels
Azure DevOps licenses users based on their active roles in the organization. Understanding this help business avoid overpaying for unnecessary roles.
Azure DevOps Plans
Stakeholder(free)
The Stakeholder plan is a free tier designed for business managers, product owners, or customers who just need to monitor a project.
Since they are not involved in developing or deploying the software, this free level of access permits them to view project dashboards, check work items, tasks, and bugs, and manage backlogs. However, stakeholders cannot modify code or run pipelines.
Basic Plan
The Basic Plan is the standard license for core delivery teams, including software developers and IT professionals. It provides comprehensive access to Microsoft Azure DevOps services for the entire development lifecycle. Users on this tier have full access to Azure Boards, Azure Repos, and basic Azure Pipelines features.
The first 5 users can access these core services completely free. For each additional user added after the fifth user, organizations pay a monthly fee of $6 per user.
Basic + Azure Test Plans
This plan is designed for dedicated QA professionals. It includes everything covered in the Basic Plan, plus full access to Azure Test Plans. This means that apart from standard capabilities, testers can verify code quality with manual and exploratory testing.
Exploratory testing is an approach where the tester interacts with the application freely to uncover hidden bugs. It goes beyond rigid workflows, helping teams identify defects that traditional testing misses.
Ultimately, this license tier gives QA teams complete control over manual testing, exploratory sessions, and end-to-end test management. This plan is priced at $52 per user per, monthly.
Visual Studio Subscribers
Users with an active Visual Studio Professional or Visual Studio Enterprise subscription get complimentary access to a matching Azure DevOps license. Organizations can avoid paying separate Azure DevOps licensing fees for users with a Visual Studio subscription.
This lets users access core services, repositories, and advanced tools, as their access level is determined by their existing subscription tier.
Audit Concurrent Jobs in Azure Pipelines
Azure Pipelines support the CI/CD process, meaning they automatically build, test, and deploy applications. When evaluating infrastructure costs, enterprises must determine how many pipelines need to execute at the exact same time—a metric known as concurrent jobs.
For one concurrent job (build and deployment), the price is lower, and for multiple concurrent jobs, the price increases.
Microsoft-Hosted CI/CD
Microsoft provides the entire cloud infrastructure (servers, virtual machines, and OS) needed to build, test, and deploy software code. This means that when you run an Azure Pipeline, you can skip purchasing or configuring your own servers.
Free Tier: The Free Tier allows you to run one pipeline at a time. You can use it for up to 30 hours each month for free.
Paid Tier: If you need more pipeline capacity so that teams won’t wait in a queue, you can pay $40/month for additional parallel jobs. The benefit is that you get unlimited time for pipeline tasks.
Self-Hosted CI/CD
In self-hosted CI/CD, you have to purchase and manage servers. These are then used by Azure DevOps to build, test, and deploy applications.
Free Tier: The Free Tier allows you to run one pipeline at a time. There is no limit on the number of hours that job can run each month.
Paid Tier: If you need more pipeline capacity so that teams won’t wait in a queue, you can pay $15/month per additional parallel job.
Self-hosted CI/CD is the best option if you have your own servers or virtual machines. The Free Tier is an excellent fit for running a parallel job with unlimited monthly runtime.
Assess Advanced Testing and package Hosting
On planning your budget, you should also consider for advanced testing and package storage. This means apart from considering licensing fees and pipeline costs, you should consider Azure Test Plans and Azure Artifacts.
Azure Test Plans
Azure Test Plans is priced at $52 per user per month. It is a costly deal isn’t it.
So before buying
Check how many users have visual studio subscriptions. These users will have access to Azure DevOps services, including Azure Test Plans. There is no need to buy Azure DevOps license for these users.
You can use the 30-day free trial to see how many QA teams regularly use Azure Test Plans. This helps prevent buying licenses for user who don’t use them.
Azure Artifacts
This service stores and shares software packages used by development teams. It supports different types of packages, including NuGet, npm, Maven, and Python packages.
Storage
Free Tier: It provides 2 GiB of storage per organization.
Paid Tier: You will be charged based on the amount of additional storage you use if your package storage exceeds 2 GiB.
So before purchasing Azure DevOps, check whether you need Azure Test Plans for testing and how much package storage is required.
Important Checklist Before Purchasing Azure DevOps
You can evaluate various things before buying Azure DevOps to maximize your ROI:
- Count how many Visual Studio subscribers are currently in your organization.
- Determine exactly how many users need active Azure DevOps access.
- Identify what features each user needs to accomplish their specific tasks.
- Calculate your expected pipeline execution minutes, artifact storage, and testing requirements.
- Decide whether Microsoft-Hosted CI/CD or Self-Hosted CI/CD is appropriate for your workflow.
Though this guide gives a clear picture of Azure DevOps deployment, it makes sense to utilize Azure DevOps consulting services. Their consultants provide a detailed assessment which helps you avoid unnecessary licenses and ensures that users have the exact capabilities required to execute operations.
Furthermore, Azure DevOps consulting services give you a clear picture of how your pricing might change over time before the final deployment of the platform.
Organizations looking to modernize their development workflows can consult with IAX Services for suitable, custom-tailored plans. Their consultants provide a clear roadmap and understanding based entirely on your specific software development requirements.
FAQ Section
What is Microsoft Azure DevOps?
It is a cloud platform that brings developers (Dev) and IT teams (Ops) together in one place. It provides tools to track project tasks, store code securely, run automated tests, and safely deploy software to any platform.
Is Azure DevOps free for small teams?
Yes. The Basic Plan is provided free of cost for your first 5 users. It includes full access to Azure Boards, Azure Repos, and basic Azure Pipelines.
Do I need to buy an Azure DevOps license if I already have a Visual Studio subscription?
No. Users with active Visual Studio Professional or Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions do not need license to use DevOps Services.