Azure Databricks Usage Cost

Question

Hi Team,

We have an Azure Databricks subscription with reservations, and multiple workspaces for different projects. We want to monitor our cost usage in the best way possible. I've explored two options:

1. Creating a consumption dashboard in the Account Admin Console (Usage > Consumption tab).
2. Running a query against the System.Billing table.

My main question is: Do either of these approaches incur any additional cost? I’ve heard that querying or using dashboards with system tables doesn't incur any extra charges—can you confirm that?

We plan to interact with this dashboard or run queries at least twice a week for all workspaces. I want to understand if there will be any significant cost, especially with multiple admin users checking regularly.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Answer 1

Hello Mukesh Thakor,

Thanks for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Both approaches you've mentioned for monitoring Azure Databricks cost usage are effective and do not incur additional charges.

These methods are designed for cost monitoring and analysis, and Databricks encourages their use for effective cost management. You can safely have multiple admin users checking these dashboards or running queries regularly without worrying about incurring significant additional costs.

To optimize your cost monitoring strategy:

• Use tags for granular cost attribution across workspaces and projects
• Leverage Azure Cost Management for a comprehensive view of both Databricks and underlying infrastructure costs
• Consider setting up automated reporting using system tables to track usage trends over time

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Answer 2

@Mukesh Thakor

Thanks for the question and using MS Q&A platform.

Let's address your main question:

1. Consumption Dashboard in the Account Admin Console: Using the Consumption tax to create dashboards does not incur additional costs. This feature is designed to help you monitor and manage your usage without extra charges.
2. Querying the System.Billing Table: Running queries against the System.Billing table also does not incur additional costs. This table is provided to help users monitor their usage and costs efficiently

Both methods are cost-effective and should not result in significant additional expenses, even with multiple admin users checking regularly. However, it's always a good idea to keep an eye on your overall usage and ensure that your queries and dashboard interactions are optimized to avoid any unexpected costs.

Monitor the cost of serverless compute - Azure Databricks

Hope this helps. Do let us know if you any further queries.

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