Running Copilot for Security without breaking the bank
We have all been waiting until the moment that Microsoft Copilot for Security (C4S) would be General Available, and on the April 1st it really happened.
I count myself lucky to have been part of the Early Access Program. Getting to play with its features and settings ahead of time was such a thrill! But you know what’s been on everyone’s minds since Microsoft Secure made the big announcement? Yep, you guessed it — pricing details.
Even during the MVP summit in Redmond back in March, when us MVPs gathered, it was still a mystery. We were all scratching our heads, wondering what the deal would be.
Debunked
So, here’s the scoop folks: there’s been quite a buzz about the cost of C4S lately, with some saying it’ll set you back about $35,000 a year. Now, where does this number come from? Well, it’s all tied to the price of the Security Compute Unit (SCU), which is set at $4 per hour.
Let’s talk numbers, shall we? Say you’re rocking 1 SCU for 3 hours every day. Crunch the numbers, and you’re looking at around $12 a day. Not too shabby, right? Now, multiply that by the working days in a year, and you’re looking at roughly $3120 annually.
Price per user / per device
Let’s bust another myth that’s been floating around. You might have heard that the price of C4S is determined by the number of users or devices. But guess what? That’s not the case at all! It seems like someone just made that assumption based on how the other Microsoft Copilot is priced.
Here’s the real deal: the pricing for C4S is actually based on your tenant. What does that mean? Well, it means that once C4S is enabled within your Microsoft tenant, every user can access it without any additional charges. So, no need to worry about counting users or devices.
1 SCU per year is the minimum
You know what’s funny? It’s a bit of a “uuuuh, nope!” moment followed by a “yes, well… no.” Let me explain. So, here’s the deal: to scale up or down, you gotta have at least one SCU. Totally makes sense, right? Because if you had just one or none, it wouldn’t really be “scaling out,” would it?
So, technically, yeah, to run C4S, you need that minimum of one SCU. But remember how the pricing works? It’s all based on an hourly rate of $4. So, if you’re not using it, you can just kick that SCU to the curb, no problemo.
Pierre Thoor, who’s a fellow Security MVP, whipped up some sweet automation to handle the deployment and destruction of those C4S instances. If you wanna check it out, here’s the [link].
Automation risk
There’s this assumed catch floating around, though it’s not set in stone just yet. Whenever we roll out a fresh SCU a charge is clocking in at $4 per hour. Now, imagine setting up automated tests to create and tear down SCUs using a pipeline, it’s possible those costs could spiral out of control faster than we expect. Let’s keep our eyes peeled for updates on this front!
Billing is per month
Technically, yeah, but hear me out — it’s not as steep as you might think. They charge $4 per hour, not some crazy $2880 per month, unless you’re letting it run non-stop, 24/7. So, it’s kind of like paying for what you use, which seems fair, right? Just wanted to clear that up in case anyone was worried about breaking the bank.
Summary
I get it — the price tag might have initially made you hesitate, but trust me, diving into Copilot for Security is worth it. There’s a whole world of possibilities waiting for you, and who knows, it might just be worth every penny!
So, don’t let the numbers scare you off, embrace the future of security with Microsoft Copilot for Security!
