Standard_A4vsStandard_A4_v2

Standard_A4_v2 is 60% cheaper than Standard_A4 on demand in East US, saving $210.97 a month. Per vCPU, Standard_A4_v2 costs 20% less.

At a glanceStandard_A4Standard_A4_v2
On-demand$0.48/hr$0.191/hr60% less
Lowest rate$0.432/hrSpot, can be interrupted$0.0382/hr91% lessSpot, can be interrupted
Size8 vCPUs, 14 GiB4 vCPUs, 8 GiB
Architecturex86_64x86_64

Prices in East US

“Off” is the discount against each type’s own on-demand price. Linux, USD per hour.

OptionStandard_A4Standard_A4_v2Standard_A4_v2 vs Standard_A4
On-demandPay by the hour$0.48$0.191▼ 60%
SpotCan be interrupted10% off$0.43280% off$0.0382▼ 91%
1-yr savings planHourly commitment—32% off$0.1291—
3-yr savings planHourly commitment—55% off$0.0861—

Key differences

The biggest lead each one has.

Where Standard_A4 leads
vCPUs8 vs 4
2× higher
Memory (GiB)14 vs 8
75% higher
Where Standard_A4_v2 leads
On-demand price$0.191 vs $0.48 per hour
60% cheaper

Specs

21 of 23 specs differ. Those are in bold.

Compute5 of 6 differStandard_A4Standard_A4_v2
vCPUs84
Physical cores–4
Threads per core–1
Architecturex86_64x86_64
Processor–Intel Xeon Platinum 8370C (Ice Lake), Intel Xeon Platinum 8272CL (Cascade Lake), Intel Xeon 8171M 2.1 GHz (Skylake), Intel Xeon E5-2673 v4 2.3 GHz (Broadwell), Intel Xeon E5-2673 v3 2.4 GHz (Haswell), Intel Xeon Platinum 8573C (Emerald Rapids)
ACU (compute units)–100
Memory1 of 1 differStandard_A4Standard_A4_v2
Memory (GiB)148
Networking3 of 3 differStandard_A4Standard_A4_v2
Network–1,000 Mbps
Accelerated networking–No
Max network interfaces–4
Storage7 of 7 differStandard_A4Standard_A4_v2
Storage605 GiB temp SSD40 GiB temp SSD
Temp disk–40 GiB
Max data disks–8
Premium SSD–No
Max disk IOPS (uncached)–6,400
Max disk throughput (uncached)–96 MB/s
Ephemeral OS disk–No
Instance details3 of 4 differStandard_A4Standard_A4_v2
FamilyAAv2
CategoryGeneral purposeGeneral purpose
VM generations–V1
Encryption at host–No
Other2 of 2 differStandard_A4Standard_A4_v2
Seriesav1-seriesav2-series
Specs sourceMicrosoft docsAzure Resource SKUs API

On-demand prices by region

Cheapest for Standard_A4 first. Linux, USD per hour.

RegionStandard_A4Standard_A4_v2Difference
West Central USwestcentralus$0.405$0.175▼ 57%
West US 2westus2$0.405$0.159▼ 61%
US Gov Arizonausgovarizona$0.44$0.194▼ 56%
US Gov Texasusgovtexas$0.44$0.194▼ 56%
US Gov Virginiausgovvirginia$0.44$0.194▼ 56%
Canada Centralcanadacentral$0.446$0.191▼ 57%
Canada Eastcanadaeast$0.446$0.191▼ 57%
South Indiasouthindia$0.472$0.206▼ 56%
Korea Southkoreasouth$0.475$0.193▼ 59%
Central UScentralus$0.48$0.191▼ 60%
East Asiaeastasia$0.48$0.222▼ 54%
East USUsed in summaryeastus$0.48$0.191▼ 60%
East US 2eastus2$0.48$0.191▼ 60%
North Central USnorthcentralus$0.48$0.191▼ 60%
North Europenortheurope$0.48$0.182▼ 62%
South Central USsouthcentralus$0.48$0.191▼ 60%
Southeast Asiasoutheastasia$0.48$0.198▼ 59%
West Europewesteurope$0.48$0.182▼ 62%
West USwestus$0.48$0.191▼ 60%
Central Indiacentralindia$0.524$0.206▼ 61%
West Indiawestindia$0.524$0.206▼ 61%
France Centralfrancecentral$0.528$0.222▼ 58%
Korea Centralkoreacentral$0.528$0.214▼ 59%
Poland Centralpolandcentral$0.528$0.182▼ 66%
Qatar Centralqatarcentral$0.528$0.191▼ 64%
UK Southuksouth$0.528$0.183▼ 65%
UK Westukwest$0.528$0.222▼ 58%
Australia Centralaustraliacentral$0.568$0.222▼ 61%
Australia Central 2australiacentral2$0.568$0.222▼ 61%
Australia Eastaustraliaeast$0.568$0.222▼ 61%
Australia Southeastaustraliasoutheast$0.568$0.222▼ 61%
Japan Westjapanwest$0.584$0.238▼ 59%
Brazil Southbrazilsouth$0.64$0.27▼ 58%
Japan Eastjapaneast$0.648$0.238▼ 63%
France Southfrancesouth$0.6864$0.2886▼ 58%

Keep exploring

Each type’s own page, and how it compares with others.

Standard_A4General purpose, A family
Standard_A4 prices and specsEvery size in the A family
Standard_A4_v2General purpose, Av2 family
Standard_A4_v2 prices and specsEvery size in the Av2 family

Compare Standard_A4_v2 with

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Azure VM Linux prices in USD. Monthly figures use 730 hours. Prices last updated 12 Nov 2026.