LearnGlossary

What is Azure MACC?

Updated 26 October 2026 · Published by Zoorik

Azure MACC, the Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment, is a contract to spend a set amount on Azure over a set period. An Azure MACC agreement is tied to a Microsoft Customer Agreement or Enterprise Agreement billing account. Eligible spend on each invoice reduces the balance.

An example from Microsoft

Contoso makes a $50,000 MACC in May. In June, it buys a $10,000 Azure prepayment, money paid ahead for Azure use. That purchase counts, so $40,000 is left.

Azure services the prepayment then pays for don’t count again.

A $10,000 prepayment counts once, leaving $40,000 of a $50,000 MACC Microsoft's Contoso example. Three bars on one scale from $0 to $50,000 of eligible spend counted toward the MACC. The first bar, May: Contoso makes the MACC, is all grey and reads $50,000 left. The second bar, June: a $10,000 Azure prepayment counts, has a violet segment from $0 to $10,000 and reads $40,000 left. The third bar, Later: services the prepayment pays for don't count again, has the same violet segment from $0 to $10,000 and reads still $40,000 left. A $10,000 prepayment counts once, leaving $40,000 of a $50,000 MACC May: Contoso makes the MACC$50,000 leftJune: a $10,000 Azure prepayment counts$40,000 leftLater: services the prepayment pays for don't count againstill $40,000 left$0$10,000$20,000$30,000$40,000$50,000eligible spend counted toward the $50,000 MACC
Microsoft’s Contoso example: the $10,000 prepayment counts toward the $50,000 MACC once, and the Azure services it later pays for leave the $40,000 balance where it was.

What counts toward it

Only Azure MACC-eligible spend counts.

  • Eligible Azure services count.
  • Microsoft Marketplace offers with the “Azure benefit eligible” badge count at 100% of the pretax price. Buy them in the Azure portal, not by credit card.
  • Use paid for by Azure credits or a prepayment doesn’t count.
  • A Marketplace license used even partly outside Azure doesn’t count.

Why it matters for your cloud cost

  • Miss the total by the end date, and you pay the remaining balance as a shortfall charge. It comes as an Azure prepayment credit.
  • So a saving that takes spend below the commitment may not reduce the invoice.
  • Some MACCs also have milestones, set amounts due by set dates. Missing one brings a shortfall charge too.
  • While a MACC isn’t met, billing account admins get emails 90, 60 and 30 days before it expires.
  • Reduce your spend before you sign a new MACC, so it matches real use.
  • The free assessment works out what your clusters and disks could save.

Read next: How to reduce cloud costs

Sources: Microsoft Learn, “Track your Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC)” (opens in a new tab); Microsoft Learn, “Azure Consumption Commitment benefit” (opens in a new tab).

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