Azure VM Size Decoder

This decodes and validates Azure Virtual Machine size names only — the Standard_... strings used in ARM templates, the Azure CLI, and the portal's "Size" picker (e.g. Standard_E4bds_v5). It does not cover managed disk SKUs, App Service pricing tiers, storage account SKUs, or any other Azure resource's SKU naming — those follow different, unrelated conventions. Basic-tier names (e.g. Basic_A0) use an older, simpler scheme and aren't covered either.

It also works in one direction only: name in, meaning out. Give it a size name you already have — from a template, a bill, a colleague's message — and it tells you what that name says. It does not run the other way, from workload requirements to a recommended size: there's no "I need 16 vCPUs, 64 GiB, and a GPU under $X/month, what should I pick?" here. For that direction, Microsoft's VM sizes overview on Microsoft Learn is where to start narrowing down a family, and the Azure Pricing Calculator is where to price a specific configuration once you have candidates.

Pricing shows one number: the lowest listed Linux, pay-as-you-go hourly rate for the decoded size in the selected region, from Azure's public Retail Prices API. It is not a cost estimate — there's no monthly projection, no comparison across sizes, and no Reserved Instance/Savings Plan discount math (beyond the Compare view's own side-by-side pricing). Use the Azure Pricing Calculator for that.

Manifest validation checks the decoded name against a snapshot of real Azure VM SKUs, refreshed manually — see the source line under that section for the snapshot date. "Not found" doesn't necessarily mean the size doesn't exist: Azure ships new sizes between snapshots, and some sizes are limited to specific regions this snapshot doesn't distinguish between.