SQL Azure just got a little cheaper

A few days ago Microsoft announced that SQL Azure Databases just got a little cheaper.  They have introduced a 100MB option at basically $5.00 USD/month ($4.995), and in addition to that they have changed the graduated pricing so that the more space you need the less per GB you pay.

It will be interesting to see if more hobbyists and shops jump on this 100 MB option.  Also, remember the pricing for the database is a monthly charge that is amortized daily.  So, this option is also nice for trying out some testing or doing demos.  If you have a demo to do for a client and can utilize the 100 MB option then you can bring up the database that day, run your demo, then drop the database by the end of the day.  You’d have a charge of roughly $0.17 USD (based on a 30 day month).  The billing is done this way for all of the database options, which makes having a test bed that is deployed and dropped when necessary cheaper than keeping a full test environment up all the time.

You can find the new pricing on the Windows Azure main web site under pricing.