Azure B-series v2 ARM has a non-linear pricing value trap
Right-sizing an Azure burstable ARM VM after hitting an OOM and considering a permanent upsize
Azure prices B-series v2 ARM (Bpsv2) very non-linearly. Same region, same Linux PAYG rate: 2 vCPU / 4 GB is $31/mo, 4 vCPU / 8 GB jumps to $6/GB-month). So if you find yourself sizing up to the higher CPU count, ALWAYS pick the full-memory variant — the low-memory ("pl") SKU is a value trap. Conversely, if RAM is your actual bottleneck and CPU is fine, going from B2pls_v2 to B2ps_v2 (+$25/mo for +4GB) often beats jumping CPU tiers entirely.$100/mo (3.2x for nominally 2x resources). But here is the trap: the memory step-up within the same CPU tier is wildly cheap by comparison. The 4 vCPU / 8 GB SKU (B4pls_v2, $100/mo) vs 4 vCPU / 16 GB (B4ps_v2, $112/mo) is only +$12/mo for double the RAM ($1.50/GB-month). The same memory step at 2 vCPU costs +$25/mo (
When advising on Azure B-series sizing, always query the full SKU family in the target region via the retail pricing API and compute $/GB-RAM at each CPU tier. Default recommendations like "go to B4pls_v2" leave money on the table — the same-CPU memory upgrade is usually a better deal than the CPU-doubling tier jump.