Azure Advisor (Cost)
CostLens ingests Azure Advisor's own cost recommendations — right-sizing, shutdown, and reservation opportunities with Microsoft-estimated savings.
CostLens ingests Azure Advisor cost recommendations directly from Microsoft. Advisor analyses your actual usage and is the authoritative source for Azure cost optimisation, so acting on these captures savings Microsoft has already validated.
How it works
Azure Advisor analyses usage
Microsoft continuously evaluates your resources and publishes cost recommendations (shut down / resize idle VMs, buy reservations, and more).
CostLens reads them read-only
Using the Cost Management Reader / Reader roles from Azure Accounts, CostLens pulls each cost recommendation and its Microsoft-estimated saving.
Severity and savings are assigned
Severity is derived from the estimated monthly saving reported by Advisor.
Explanation is generated
Aevi writes a plain-English summary of the recommendation and its impact.
What to do
- Open the recommendation to see the affected resource and Advisor's recommended action.
- For resize/shutdown actions, confirm the resource is genuinely idle or over-provisioned for your workload.
- Apply the change in Azure (or, where CostLens supports it, use Apply Fix after granting write access).
Severity levels
| Severity | Estimated monthly savings |
|---|---|
| critical | >$500 |
| high | $100–$500 |
| medium | $20–$100 |
| low | <$20 |
Required permissions
Read-only, included in the Azure Accounts setup:
Cost Management Reader # cost data + Advisor cost recommendations
Reader # enumerate the referenced resources
Limitations
- Advisor recommendations require a few days of usage data before they appear for a new subscription.
- Advisor is advisory: CostLens surfaces the recommendation, but applying resize/shutdown changes may require additional write permissions.