Azure Local — Formerly Azure Stack HCI

Stop Overpaying the Cloud. Bring It Back On-Prem.

Azure Local runs the same Azure services — AVD, AKS, SQL, and more — on hardware you own, managed through the Azure portal. Get cloud management with on-premises economics.

💰 Get a Cost Analysis See Savings Breakdown
💰 Cut Cloud Spend 50–70%
🏢 Azure Services On-Premises
Azure Arc Management
🖥 AVD On Your Hardware
🔐 Data Sovereignty
📊 No Egress Fees
🩺 AKS Hybrid
🗄 SQL Managed Instance
💰 Cut Cloud Spend 50–70%
🏢 Azure Services On-Premises
Azure Arc Management
🖥 AVD On Your Hardware
🔐 Data Sovereignty
📊 No Egress Fees
🩺 AKS Hybrid
🗄 SQL Managed Instance
What is Azure Local?

Azure Management. Your Hardware.

Azure Local is Microsoft's hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) solution — a cluster of commodity servers running the same software stack as Azure, fully managed through the Azure portal and Azure Arc. You get the familiar Azure experience, Azure Monitor, Azure Update Manager, and Defender for Cloud — all pointing at your own hardware.

This means workloads that were costing thousands per month in Azure can be moved back on-premises — onto a paid-off (or low-cost leased) HCI cluster — while still being managed, monitored, and secured exactly like a cloud resource.

☁️
Managed via Azure Portal & Arc
The same Azure console you use today — policies, monitoring, updates, and billing all in one place.
🖥
Run Azure Services Locally
AVD, AKS, SQL MI, Azure Virtual Machines — all running on your on-prem cluster.
💰
Eliminate Egress & Compute Overages
No more surprise cloud bills. Predictable CAPEX or OPEX hardware costs you control.
🛡
Security & Compliance
Defender for Cloud, Azure Policy, and update compliance enforced on-prem — same as Azure cloud.
📊 Azure Local vs. Pure Cloud
Pure Cloud
$$$
Pay-per-hour VM + storage + egress
Azure Local
$
Your hardware + Azure management
Azure Arc Management✓ Included
Azure Monitor & Insights✓ Included
Defender for Cloud✓ Included
Egress Fees$0 — None
Data Sovereignty✓ Your Facility
Run Azure VMs On-Prem✓ Full Support
Cost Analysis

Where Azure Local Saves the Most

Common workloads where on-prem repatriation delivers the biggest cost reduction. Actual savings vary by configuration and usage.

Workload
Cloud Monthly
Azure Local
Est. Savings
AVD — 50 users (pooled)
Windows 11 multi-session, M365 Apps
~$4,500/mo
~$800/mo*
~80%
SQL Server (4 vCores)
SQL MI or IaaS VM
~$2,200/mo
~$700/mo*
~68%
File Services / Storage
20TB usable, Azure Files equivalent
~$800/mo
~$150/mo*
~81%
General Compute (10 VMs)
App servers, IIS, print, etc.
~$3,000/mo
~$900/mo*
~70%
AKS / Kubernetes Cluster
3-node, moderate workload
~$1,800/mo
~$500/mo*
~72%
Data Egress (10TB/mo)
Outbound data transfer fees
~$900/mo
$0
~100%
* Azure Local hardware costs amortized over 3 years. Estimates only — contact us for a custom analysis based on your actual workloads.
When to Repatriate

Signs You Should Consider Azure Local

💸
Your Cloud Bill Is Unpredictable
Surprise compute, storage, or egress charges month after month are a signal that on-prem HCI could deliver more predictable costs.
🗄
Large, Stable Data Workloads
Databases, file servers, and archival workloads with consistent resource usage are poor fits for pay-per-hour cloud billing.
🛡
Compliance or Data Sovereignty
Regulated industries (legal, finance, healthcare) may require data to stay in a specific facility — Azure Local satisfies this while keeping Azure management.
📶
High Egress / Bandwidth Costs
Moving data between cloud regions or out to users generates massive egress fees. On-prem data stays local — no egress charges.
Low-Latency Requirements
Manufacturing, AV production, and real-time analytics often require sub-millisecond latency that cloud regions simply cannot guarantee.
💻
Existing Hardware to Leverage
Already have server hardware that's underutilized? Azure Local can run on certified HCI hardware — maximizing your existing investment.
Azure Services Available On-Premises

The Cloud Comes To You

Azure Local isn't just VMs — it supports a growing set of fully managed Azure services running on your own hardware.

🖥
Azure Virtual Machines
IaaS VMs managed like Azure cloud
🖥
Azure Virtual Desktop
AVD session hosts on your hardware
🩺
AKS on Azure Local
Kubernetes clusters, on-prem
🗄
SQL Managed Instance
Azure SQL, your data center
📡
Azure Arc
Unified control plane for all resources
📊
Azure Monitor
Full observability for on-prem resources
🛡
Defender for Cloud
Security posture management on-prem
🔄
Azure Update Manager
Centralized patch compliance
Migration Strategy

Azure Local as Your Migration Foundation

Azure Local isn't just a cost-cutting play — it's a powerful migration strategy. Use it as a bridge to move from legacy on-prem infrastructure to a modern, cloud-managed environment without the full cloud price tag.

The Cloud-Smart Migration Path

Not every workload belongs in the public cloud. We help you identify which workloads to move to Azure, which to keep on Azure Local, and which to decommission entirely — building the most cost-effective hybrid strategy.

1
Workload Classification
Classify every workload: cloud-native, cloud-optimized, or repatriation candidate.
2
Azure Local Design
Right-size HCI cluster for stable, high-cost workloads. Migrate or decommission legacy servers.
3
Azure Cloud for Burst & Dev
Use public Azure for dev/test, disaster recovery bursting, and cloud-native PaaS services.
4
Arc-Unified Management
Single Azure portal controls both cloud and on-prem — one team, one toolset, full visibility.
🗺 Workload Placement Decision
🏢 AZURE LOCAL
Stable VMs • Databases • File servers • AVD desktops • Latency-sensitive apps • Compliance data
☁️ PUBLIC AZURE
Dev/test • Burst compute • SaaS/PaaS services • DR failover • Global-scale workloads
🗑 DECOMMISSION
EOL servers • Redundant infrastructure • Aging SAN arrays • Unused VMs
View Full Migration Strategy → 💰 Get a Cost Analysis

Ready to Stop Overpaying the Cloud?

Let us run a free workload cost analysis — we'll show you exactly which workloads make sense for Azure Local and how much you could save.

💬 Get Free Cost Analysis Explore Microsoft AVD →