azurerm_site_recovery_replicated_vm cost estimation
A VM protected by Azure Site Recovery (DR replication), billed ~$25/protected instance/month plus the storage and egress the replica consumes.
An azurerm_site_recovery_replicated_vm enrolls a VM in Azure Site Recovery (ASR) for disaster recovery — continuously replicating it to a secondary region so it can be failed over. Cost is ~$25 per protected instance per month for the ASR license, plus the cost of the replicated data: storage in the target region for the replica disks, and the egress/transactions to keep it in sync.
The ~$25/instance fee is the headline, but for VMs with large disks the replica storage can exceed it — you're effectively keeping a second copy of the disks in the DR region. So the true per-VM DR cost is the instance fee plus replica storage plus the (modest) ongoing replication traffic.
The levers: protect only the VMs that genuinely need DR (not every VM), use the cheapest adequate storage tier for replica disks, and right-size source disks so the replicas are smaller. Azure Backup and ASR are different things — ASR is for failover/business-continuity, not point-in-time restore — so don't pay for both where one suffices.
c3x prices the protected VM from the ASR instance fee plus replica storage, so the per-VM DR cost is visible.
Terraform example
A minimal but realistic configuration that C3X can estimate.
resource "azurerm_site_recovery_replicated_vm" "app" {
name = "app-vm-replica"
resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.recovery.name
recovery_vault_name = azurerm_recovery_services_vault.main.name
source_recovery_fabric_name = azurerm_site_recovery_fabric.primary.name
source_vm_id = azurerm_virtual_machine.app.id
recovery_replication_policy_id = azurerm_site_recovery_replication_policy.main.id
source_recovery_protection_container_name = azurerm_site_recovery_protection_container.primary.name
# target fabric / container / resource group ...
}Pricing dimensions
What you actually pay for when you provision azurerm_site_recovery_replicated_vm.
| Dimension | Unit | What's being charged |
|---|---|---|
| Protected instance fee | per month | ASR license per protected instance. ~$25/protected VM/month |
| Replica storage | per GB-month | Storage in the DR region for the replica disks — can exceed the instance fee for large VMs. Usage-based. |
| Replication traffic | per GB | Ongoing egress/transactions to keep the replica in sync. Usually modest. |
Sample C3X output
One protected VM (instance fee; add replica storage):
azurerm_site_recovery_replicated_vm.app
└─ Protected instance fee 1 month $25.00
Monthly $25.00Optimization tips
Common ways to reduce azurerm_site_recovery_replicated_vm cost without changing the workload.
Protect only VMs that need DR
$25+/month per VM not protectedASR bills ~$25/instance plus replica storage. Reserve it for VMs whose loss-of-region would genuinely hurt — not every VM. Stateless tiers you can rebuild from IaC often don't need ASR at all.
Use cheaper storage for replica disks
Replica storage tier differenceReplica disks in the DR region can cost more than the instance fee. Use the cheapest adequate storage tier (Standard HDD/SSD) for replicas where failover-time performance allows.
Right-size source disks
Proportional to disk sizeReplica size tracks the source. Shrinking over-provisioned source disks reduces the DR-region storage you pay to keep in sync.
Don't double up ASR and Backup unnecessarily
Avoids duplicate protection costASR (failover/BC) and Azure Backup (point-in-time restore) solve different problems. Use the one the requirement actually needs rather than paying for both on the same VM by default.
FAQ
How is Azure Site Recovery billed?
About $25 per protected instance per month for the ASR license, plus storage in the DR region for the replica disks and the ongoing replication traffic. For large VMs, the replica storage can exceed the instance fee.
Is ASR the same as Azure Backup?
No — ASR replicates VMs for region failover/business continuity; Azure Backup provides point-in-time restore. They solve different problems and bill separately. Use the one your requirement needs rather than both by default.
How does c3x estimate the cost?
From the ASR per-instance fee plus replica storage. Replication traffic is usage-driven; the estimate shows the per-VM DR cost so you can decide which VMs to protect.
Related resources
Estimate this resource in your own Terraform
Free, open source, no API key. C3X parses your Terraform and shows line-item cost for every resource, including azurerm_site_recovery_replicated_vm.