1. Leaving Resources Running

Unused VMs, disks, and test environments running 24/7 = silent cost leak.

Stop, deallocate, or schedule shutdowns.

2. Overprovisioning

Using large VM sizes “just in case” wastes money.

Start small, monitor usage, then scale.

3. No Cost Visibility

If you don’t track it, you can’t control it.

Use Azure Cost Management for budgets and alerts.

4. Ignoring Storage Costs

Snapshots, backups, and logs grow silently over time.

Apply lifecycle policies and clean up regularly.

5. No Auto-Scaling

Fixed resources can’t adapt to real demand.

Enable auto-scale to match usage dynamically.

6. Paying Pay-As-You-Go for Everything

Long-running workloads on PAYG = expensive.

Use Reserved Instances or Savings Plans.

7. Unused Public IPs & Load Balancers

Even idle networking components can cost money.

Remove or consolidate unused resources.

8. Poor Tagging Strategy

No tags = no accountability or visibility.

Use tags for cost allocation and tracking.

9.…