Reduce costs with lower auto-pause delay for serverless compute in Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Database Serverless automatically scales compute based on workload demand and compute consumed per second rates. In the General Purpose tier, Serverless also offers the option to automatically pause databases during periods of idle usage, with storage-related charges only. The database automatically resumes when workload activity returns.

Customers wishing to enable automatic pausing can specify: Auto-pause delay As part of a serverless configuration. The autopause delay is the amount of time the database must be idle before autopause. The lower the autopause delay and the more frequently autopause occurs, the greater the potential compute cost savings.

We are pleased to announce that the minimum configurable auto-pause delay has been reduced from 1 hour to 15 minutes. It presents a much greater opportunity for price optimization for serverless databases. You can configure automatic pause delays for new or existing databases using the Azure portal or through APIs, including PowerShell and Azure CLI. For more information, see: Azure SQL Database Serverless.