Softwr

Logging · head to head

Azure Monitor vs Baseten

Azure Monitor logo

Azure Monitor

Logging

Azure's Monitoring and Diagnostics Service

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Baseten logo

Baseten

Software Development

Inference is everything

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Azure Monitor billed per GB ingested across three separate log plans, Auxiliary, Basic and Analytics, so the plan chosen changes the rate as much as the volume does; Baseten pro and Enterprise pricing not published; requires contacting sales

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Azure Monitor and Baseten actually diverge.

Attributes where Azure Monitor and Baseten differ
AttributeAzure MonitorBaseten
PlatformsWeb, ApiWeb
CategoryLoggingSoftware Development
Founded2010Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (usage-based), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Azure Monitor

  • Log collection
  • Metrics collection
  • Alerts and notifications
  • Custom dashboards
  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support

Only in Baseten

Nothing recorded that Azure Monitor does not also cover.

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Azure Monitor

  • Collecting logs and metrics from Azure resourcesnot Baseten
  • Alerting on metric thresholds and log queriesnot Baseten
  • Application performance monitoring through Application Insightsnot Baseten
  • Long-term log retention for compliancenot Baseten
  • Querying operational data with KQLnot Baseten

Baseten

  • Custom model deploymentnot Azure Monitor
  • Fine-tuned LLM hostingnot Azure Monitor
  • Inference API scalingnot Azure Monitor

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Azure Monitor

  • Billed per GB ingested across three separate log plans, Auxiliary, Basic and Analytics, so the plan chosen changes the rate as much as the volume does
  • Only the first 5 GB a month of Analytics logs is free per billing account
  • Retention beyond the base period is charged per GB per month, up to 2 years interactive and 12 years long term
  • Log queries and search jobs are billed per GB scanned, so investigating an incident costs money
  • Alert rules are billed per time series for metrics and by execution frequency for logs
  • The pricing page shows placeholders rather than rates until a region and currency are chosen

Baseten

  • Pro and Enterprise pricing not published; requires contacting sales
  • Pricing varies significantly by compute type and model

Pricing, plan by plan

Azure Monitor

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Log collection
    • Metrics collection
    • Alerts and notifications

Baseten

Free
  • BasicFree
    • Pay-as-you-go deployments
    • Dedicated model APIs
    • SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance
  • Pro$null/month
    • Priority GPU access
    • Unlimited autoscaling
    • Volume discounts available
  • Enterprise$null/month
    • Self-hosted options
    • Custom SLAs
    • Data residency control

Which should you pick?

Choose Azure Monitor if

  • You need log collection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want metrics collection.
Azure Monitor review

Choose Baseten if

  • You want to start without paying.
Baseten review

Questions people ask

Is Azure Monitor or Baseten better?
Neither clearly leads. Azure Monitor starts at Free and Baseten at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Azure Monitor or Baseten?
Azure Monitor starts at Free and Baseten at Free.
Does Azure Monitor or Baseten run on more platforms?
Azure Monitor runs on Web, Api. Baseten runs on Web.
Can I use Azure Monitor for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Azure Monitor best used for?
Azure Monitor is most often used for collecting logs and metrics from azure resources, alerting on metric thresholds and log queries, application performance monitoring through application insights, long-term log retention for compliance. Of those, collecting logs and metrics from azure resources and alerting on metric thresholds and log queries are not what Baseten is typically brought in for.
What can Azure Monitor do that Baseten cannot?
Azure Monitor covers Log collection, Metrics collection, Alerts and notifications, Custom dashboards.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Azure Monitor: How does Azure Monitor billing work?

Billing is based on data volume ingested into Azure Monitor. Additional charges apply separately for alerts, notifications, web tests, and data export. Activity log and platform metrics are automatically collected with an Azure subscription.

Source
Baseten: Does Baseten have a free tier?

Yes, Baseten's Basic plan is free with a pay-as-you-go model for dedicated deployments and model APIs.

Source
Azure Monitor: What savings are available with Azure Monitor?

Capacity reservations offer up to 36% savings compared to standard pay-as-you-go pricing when you commit to reserved capacity upfront.

Source
Baseten: How are GPU instances priced on Baseten?

GPU instances are priced per minute: T4 at $0.01052/min, H100 at $0.10833/min, and B200 at $0.16633/min. CPU instances range from $0.00058 to $0.01382 per minute.

Source
Azure Monitor: Is there a free tier for Azure Monitor?

No dedicated free tier exists. Activity log and platform metrics are automatically collected with an Azure subscription, but detailed monitoring requires additional configuration and associated costs.

Source
Baseten: What are Model API costs on Baseten?

Model API pricing varies by model: DeepSeek V4 Flash costs $0.13 per million input tokens and $0.028 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3-Flash costs $0.15 and $0.03 respectively.

Source
Baseten: Does Baseten charge for idle compute time?

No, Baseten does not charge for idle time; billing only covers active compute usage on deployments.

Source
Share

Related pages

More on Azure Monitor

More on Baseten

Keep looking

Other head to heads