Posted by: Mike Isaacs
04 August 2025
If your Umbraco platform runs fast but the bill runs faster, the problem isn’t the CMS – it’s the hosting choices. Use the models below to keep performance high while bringing spend under control.
At a glance
- Decision-first: when to choose Azure, Umbraco Cloud or a hybrid
- The cost levers that actually move the needle
- TTV, TCO and ROI mini‑model with two worked scenarios
- SLAs and compliance that finance and risk will sign off
- What to watch next quarter so today’s answer stays right
Recommendation – and the tie‑breaker logic
Start on Umbraco Cloud if you want a fixed monthly cost and a fully managed stack with predictable traffic. Pick Microsoft Azure if you need elastic scaling and granular control of regions, networking and security. Blend both in a hybrid model when you have one or two traffic‑spiky, integration‑heavy apps alongside a portfolio of steady sites that benefit from Cloud’s simplicity.
Tie‑breaker: if your 90th percentile traffic spikes exceed 3× of baseline for more than 8 hours per month, Azure’s autoscale and savings instruments usually win on cost; if not, Umbraco Cloud’s subscription wins on predictability.
Azure Umbraco hosting vs Umbraco Cloud – decision table (as of August 2025)
| Criteria | Azure Umbraco hosting | Umbraco Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Budgeting model | Pay‑as‑you‑go with optional 1–3 year commitments (Reservations or Savings Plan) | Fixed subscription per plan tier (Starter, Standard, Professional, Enterprise) (Source: Umbraco) |
| Elasticity under load | Native autoscale keeps performance during campaigns without permanent overprovisioning | Scale by moving plan tier; simple but less granular |
| Long‑term discounting | Savings Plan up to 65% off PAYG for eligible compute; Reservations historically up to 72% in examples (services vary) (Source: Microsoft Learn; Microsoft Azure) | |
| Ops overhead | Needs DevOps or a managed partner for patching, scaling and observability | Fully managed platform with CI/CD (Deploy), backups and SLA options included (Source: Umbraco) |
| Performance & uptime SLA | App Service up to 99.95%; with multi‑AZ plans, SLA improves. Azure SQL Database 99.99%–99.995% depending on tier/AZ (Source: Azure SLA – App Service; Azure SQL SLA) | |
| Security & compliance | Inherits Azure certifications (ISO 27001, SOC) (Source: Microsoft Learn; Microsoft Learn) | Runs on Azure; Umbraco states GDPR alignment and is working toward ISO 27001 by end of 2025 (Source: Umbraco Compliance FAQ; GDPR & Umbraco) |
| Cost visibility | Detailed resource‑level analytics via Cost Management; needs tagging/FinOps discipline | One bill per project; fewer knobs to misconfigure |
| Fit by workload | High‑variance traffic, strict networking, data residency, complex SSO | Multi‑site portfolios, steady traffic, small teams wanting fewer moving parts |
What could change next quarter
- Azure pricing or discount rules for Savings Plans/Reservations
- Umbraco Cloud plan inclusions or SLA tiers
- Regional availability of App Service zone‑redundant plans
Signals to revisit this decision
- Traffic profile shifts to spiky or campaign‑driven
- Compliance posture changes (ISO, SOC, sector rules)
- Your monthly variance vs budget exceeds ±15%
Why cost optimisation matters for Umbraco hosting
- Overprovisioned CPU and RAM lock in waste. Self‑reported cloud waste remains about 27% of IaaS/PaaS spend even after FinOps improvements (Source: CIO Dive; Flexera Press).
- Finance needs predictability. Subscriptions and commitments stabilise TCO; autoscale aligns spend to demand.
- Uptime still rules. 99.95–99.995% SLAs require the right service tiers and architecture, not just bigger servers (Source: Azure SQL SLA; Reliability – App Service).
- Azure Savings Plan is current and offers up to 65% off eligible compute with 1–3 year commitments (Source: Microsoft Learn).
- Umbraco Cloud pricing and features are published in EUR with tiered inclusions (Source: Umbraco pricing).
Cost levers that move the needle
Azure hosting – pragmatic levers
- Autoscale policies: Scale out by requests/second, CPU, or queue length; cap max instances to control spend while protecting page response times.
- Right‑sizing: Size App Service plan and Azure SQL tier on 4‑week utilisation profiles, not peak day. Re‑check after major content or campaign changes.
- Savings instruments: Use a Savings Plan for dynamic estates or Reservations for stable, always‑on capacity. Savings Plans show up to 65% off PAYG pricing for eligible compute; individual workloads vary (Source: Microsoft Learn).
- Zone‑redundant architecture: Multi‑AZ App Service plans lift SLA; Azure SQL Business Critical with AZs targets 99.995% (Source: Reliability – App Service; Azure SQL SLA).
Umbraco Cloud – simple, managed levers
- Plan‑to‑workload fit: Match plan tier to actual traffic, media and environments. Don’t over‑tier to chase an occasional spike.
- Built‑in platform features: Umbraco Deploy, backups and managed SQL reduce DevOps effort and third‑party tooling (Source: Umbraco Cloud).
- Portfolio effect: For many smaller sites, a single predictable subscription per site beats piecemeal Azure resources.
What could change next quarter
- Reservation exchange rules and Savings Plan coverage updates
- New Umbraco Cloud inclusions for database performance priorities
- SLA adjustments tied to zone‑redundant services
Signals to revisit
- Sustained 70%+ CPU at peak or 95th percentile response time > 300 ms
- Environment sprawl increasing monthly cost without traffic growth
- Finance requests fixed vs variable mix for the next budget cycle
Impact & cost mini‑model
Use these lightweight assumptions to compare options. Replace inputs in bold with your numbers.
Formulas
- Time to value (TTV) = days to provision + days to migrate + days to stabilise
- 12‑month TCO = hosting fees + managed services + engineering time + commitments amortised − savings credits
- ROI (12 months) = (avoided costs + incremental revenue attributable to performance) − TCO, then divide by TCO
Default assumptions
- Azure App Service + Azure SQL: baseline £X/day, autoscale adds +20% during peak hours for Y days; Savings Plan discount D% applied to eligible compute
- Umbraco Cloud Standard: fixed £Z/month including hosting SLA and deployments
- Managed service: £M/day during migration, then £m/month to run
Worked example A – conservative
- Traffic mostly steady; two small campaigns
- Azure with right‑sizing, no commitments: TTV 15 days, TCO12 £36k; ROI breakeven if avoided waste ≥ £36k
- Umbraco Cloud Standard for one site: TTV 7 days, TCO12 £28k; ROI positive if avoided DevOps/time ≥ £8k over 12 months
Worked example B – aggressive
- Seasonal spikes 4× baseline for 6 weeks; Savings Plan 40% discount on compute
- Azure with autoscale + Savings Plan: TTV 20 days (extra testing), TCO12 £42k minus £14k discounts = £28k; performance uplift drives +£10k revenue, avoided waste £12k → ROI ≈ (£22k/£28k) = 79%
- Umbraco Cloud Professional: TCO12 £36k; if spikes push you to edge of plan limits, additional cost or perf risk erodes ROI
Inputs you can change
- Commit term (1 vs 3 years) and hourly commitment level
- Autoscale caps and schedules
- Plan tier on Umbraco Cloud, number of environments
Real‑world scenarios you can model quickly
Campaign‑heavy B2C site
Symptom: weekly peaks 3–5× baseline for hours.
Move: Azure autoscale for App Service; cap max instances and use scheduled scale for launches. Consider Savings Plan once patterns stabilise – Microsoft documents up to 65% off PAYG for eligible compute (Source: Microsoft Learn).
Result: stable response times without paying for peak all month.
Corporate intranet with steady load
Symptom: flat utilisation, strict uptime.
Move: Azure SQL Business Critical with zone redundancy for 99.995% target; Reserved or Savings commitment for always‑on cores (Source: Azure SQL SLA).
Result: higher availability and predictable cost.
Multi‑site portfolio for a marketing team
Symptom: dozens of small sites, light traffic, limited DevOps capacity.
Move: Umbraco Cloud Standard/Professional to bundle hosting, deployments and support with a fixed price per site (Source: Umbraco pricing).
Result: fewer moving parts, one invoice per site.
Do not choose this if…
- Azure only: you lack capacity or appetite for cost governance and observability
- Umbraco Cloud only: you need deep VNet integration, bespoke networking or granular autoscale
SLAs, security and compliance that matter
- Azure App Service uptime SLA is 99.95% for non‑AZ deployments, with improved SLA when using zone‑redundant plans; Azure SQL Database provides 99.99% baseline and 99.995% with Business Critical in AZs (Source: App Service SLA; Reliability – App Service; Azure SQL SLA).
- Azure carries ISO 27001 and SOC attestations you can reference in audits (Source: Microsoft Learn – ISO 27001; Microsoft Learn – SOC 2).
- Umbraco Cloud runs on Azure and states GDPR compliance; Umbraco is working toward ISO 27001 certification by end of 2025 (Source: Umbraco Compliance FAQ; GDPR & Umbraco).
Watchlist
- Changes to App Service zone‑redundant availability by region
- Umbraco Cloud progress on ISO 27001, expanded SLA tiers
- New Azure savings instruments affecting eligibility and discounts
How Growcreate tackles cost without hurting speed
- Cost and performance audit in 2 weeks: find right‑size opportunities, missing tags, idle resources, noisy dependencies. We use what we know works – simple graphs, clear actions, measurable gains.
- Managed scaling on Azure: set and tune autoscale rules, plan commitments, and keep performance budgets visible to teams.
- Hybrid models: run spiky, integration‑heavy sites on Azure; host steady marketing sites on Umbraco Cloud. Build things that grow with you.
- Transparent reporting: monthly cost and SLA reporting your finance and tech teams can both read.
Book a quick call to see how cost‑optimised Umbraco hosting can deliver enterprise performance without overspending.
FAQs
If traffic is steady and you value a single monthly fee, Cloud is often cheaper. If traffic is spiky or you need advanced networking and scaling, Azure with Savings Plan can drop eligible compute costs by up to 65% vs PAYG (Source: Microsoft Learn).
Right‑size baselines quarterly, cap autoscale, adopt Savings Plan or Reservations for stable loads, and trim idle resources. Industry data still shows roughly 27% waste in cloud IaaS/PaaS – reclaim it (Source: CIO Dive).
Yes, when peaks are short‑lived and your max instance cap is set sensibly. You avoid paying for peak 24/7 while keeping SLAs intact. Savings depend on your pattern; Savings Plans and Reservations influence the final result (Source: Microsoft Learn).
Yes. We tune scaling thresholds, right‑size tiers and use zone‑redundant services where SLAs demand it – for example, Azure SQL 99.995% with Business Critical in AZs (Source: Azure SQL SLA).