Azure ยท Free tool
AVD sizing and cost calculator
Plug in your user count, concurrency assumption, and workload profile. The calculator picks a Microsoft-recommended VM SKU, sizes the host pool, and gives you a run-rate plus cost per user. Defaults assume West Europe list pricing and standard Windows 11 multi-session.
Result
Adjust the inputs on the left to see the recommended pool size.
Concurrent users at peak
0
Recommended VM SKU
D8s v5
Session hosts needed
0
Users per host
0
Compute run-rate (monthly)
$0
Storage + profiles (monthly)
$0
Total monthly run-rate
$0
Cost per user per month
$0
How the math works
Concurrent users equals total users times concurrency ratio. The calculator picks a SKU based on the profile and GPU flag, then divides concurrent users by per-host density to size the pool. Personal pools assign one VM per concurrent user regardless of density.
Monthly compute is hosts times the SKU hourly rate times hours per month. Storage adds $4 per user for FSLogix profile containers on Azure Files Premium (typical 30 GB profile mix). License costs (Microsoft 365, Windows E3/E5) are not included.
Per-user cost is total run-rate divided by total user count, not by concurrent users. This matches how AVD budgets are usually quoted to finance.
Pool size looks reasonable. The next question is whether your existing AVD environment matches the projection: zombie hosts, mis-assigned scaling plans, FSLogix profile sprawl, or scale-out policies that never scale back. Cloud Horizon scans for all of it inside the free 14-day audit, no card.
Frequently asked
Pooled or Personal?
Pooled is the default and the cheapest, with multiple users sharing each host based on profile density. Personal assigns one VM per user, required only for some power-user, regulated, or GPU-bound workloads. Personal costs roughly 4 to 8 times more per user. Default to Pooled unless a specific group has a hard isolation or always-on requirement.
How accurate are the density numbers?
The defaults follow Microsoft AVD sizing guidance for Windows 11 multi-session: roughly 6 to 8 light users, 4 to 6 knowledge users, or 2 to 3 power users per D8s v5. Always validate with a pilot. Real density depends on application mix, anti-virus agents, and login storm patterns the calculator does not model.
Are FSLogix profile costs included?
Yes. Cost-per-user includes a flat $4 per user per month for FSLogix profile containers on Azure Files Premium (typical 30 GB profile). Larger profiles or NetApp-backed storage push this higher.
What about Windows licensing?
License costs (Microsoft 365 E3/E5 or Windows VDA) are not included. They run roughly $7 to $57 per user per month depending on the SKU. Add them to the per-user line manually. Cloud Horizon's audit reports both the consumption-based and license-based totals separately.
If a calculator does its job
It tells you the answer. Then it gets out of the way.
Calculators model the pool in isolation. The real environment has zombie hosts, scaling plans that never scale back, and stranded Reservations. Cloud Horizon scans for all of it.