Azure · ExpressRouteUpdated 2026-04

Azure ExpressRoute pricing and breakeven

ExpressRoute offers two billing models: Metered (port fee plus outbound data) or Unlimited (flat port fee, no per-GB egress). The math for choosing flips around 30 percent port utilisation.

Source: Azure ExpressRoute pricing →

Metered Standard pricing (Zone 1 example)

Port speed	Port fee / month	Outbound data / GB
50 Mbps	$55	$0.025
100 Mbps	$100	$0.025
200 Mbps	$200	$0.025
500 Mbps	$300	$0.025
1 Gbps	$300	$0.025
2 Gbps	$575	$0.025
5 Gbps	$1,400	$0.025
10 Gbps	$2,800	$0.025

Zone 2 (APAC) and Zone 3 (BR / ZA / UAE) charge higher port fees and higher per-GB rates. Premium SKU adds ~67% to the port fee but enables global reach and increased route limits.

Unlimited vs Metered: switch around 30% utilisation

Unlimited port fees are roughly 5x the Metered port fee but include all egress. For a 1 Gbps port, Unlimited is about $1,500/month versus $300 port + per-GB on Metered. Breakeven volume: ~48 TB / month outbound. Above that, Unlimited wins.

Monthly outbound

Metered cost

Unlimited cost

10 TB

$556 ($300 + $256)

$1,500 (port only)

30 TB

$1,068 ($300 + $768)

$1,500

50 TB

$1,580 ($300 + $1,280)

$1,500

100 TB

$2,860 ($300 + $2,560)

$1,500

300 TB

$7,980 ($300 + $7,680)

$1,500

Example uses 1 Gbps Standard SKU pricing in Zone 1. Inbound is always free on both billing models.

Standard vs Premium SKU

Standard SKU restricts BGP to your home Azure geography (e.g. US to US, EU to EU). Premium SKU enables Global Reach (connect your on-premises network to Azure regions worldwide), increases route limits from 4000 to 10000, and supports connectivity to Microsoft 365 services. Premium adds approximately 65 to 67 percent to the port fee.

For most enterprises, Premium is required if you have multi-region Azure deployments or want to reach Microsoft 365 over the private circuit. Standard is sufficient for single-region private connectivity to Azure VNets.