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Azure Cost Management vs BMC Helix Continuous Optimization comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 7, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure Cost Management
Ranking in Cloud Cost Management
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
BMC Helix Continuous Optimi...
Ranking in Cloud Cost Management
35th
Average Rating
10.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Infrastructure Capacity Planning (1st), IT Operations Analytics (27th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Cloud Cost Management category, the mindshare of Azure Cost Management is 3.5%, down from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of BMC Helix Continuous Optimization is 1.3%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Cost Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Azure Cost Management3.5%
BMC Helix Continuous Optimization1.3%
Other95.2%
Cloud Cost Management
 

Featured Reviews

Joy Maitra - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Technical Architect at Hexaware Technologies Limited
Continuous monitoring and predictive analytics help provide insights into utilization
Continuous monitoring helps me detect anomalies in the pipeline, preplan resource scalability, and assist with cost management by offering good visibility into resource utilization. It also offers predictive analytics and some existing features, including dashboards. The AI prediction feature helps forecast based on current utilization trends and suggests improvements like the GenAI feature for interactive inquiries.
Appperf677 - PeerSpot reviewer
Application Performance Mnagement Specialist at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Enables us to right-size systems to free up resources, and identify performance problems down to the process level
Since I already have a sneak peek into the next releases, I'm very happy about what's going to be included. I would like to see continued support for the legacy parts of the tool, the old, seasoned parts that are very valuable to me. That is a message I continue to give to BMC: All the new stuff's great, but don't take away this really important stuff. That's my biggest fear, that I might lose some of my old functionality that is still extremely valuable. I want to make sure we don't lose any functionality, and that they just still keep delivering on what they're doing. I don't have anything more to ask than what they're offering.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The tool helps with budgeting and reporting. It notifies us whenever we cross the threshold."
"We use Azure DevOps, and the product helps us understand the cost with the help of the Azure DevOps center."
"It encompasses a multitude of specialized services, each with its associated costs and considerations."
"The most valuable feature is that our customers can see their consumption in real time. Even though we have a couple of analytics provided by our company, those are not in real time."
"The most valuable feature of Azure Cost Management is cost optimization."
"Continuous monitoring helps me detect anomalies in the pipeline, preplan resource scalability, and assist with cost management by offering good visibility into resource utilization."
"The interface is good, and it's easy to manage."
"It is a fully scalable product with the potential to enhance our application and increase our servers. All cloud-based solutions are fully scalable."
"The most interesting feature is certainly the simulation of the load using different servers or different KPI parameters of the business."
"We ingest a ton of business data. We are an insurance company and we have business data, like how many quotes are done an hour, and how many policies are sold per hour. The correlation engine in the new TrueSight Capacity Optimization components are wonderful. We can do correlation analysis over months of data, and then we run models to tell our business: 'If you do 1,000 more quotes an hour, we're going to have to upgrade, and we're going to need this much more hardware.'"
"Workload characterization is super important because it lets us figure things out. Many people know, for example, that with Microsoft Word, Word.exe is the executable. Everybody knows their executable, but they don't always know what it does. It also launches other things. This tool has the ability and insight to track those things, and to know: "Oh, you wanted this executable, but this one started this, so you must want this, too." And it tells you what it had to add, what it was using or was spawning."
 

Cons

"The tool's pricing should be made cheaper."
"The forecasting model can improve Azure Cost Management."
"There are significant issues with Power BI integration at the moment, particularly with built-in applications for course management. Multiple features don't allow for efficient report generation. This is one primary concern. The second issue relates to reporting, even when using Power BI templates for course management. There are problems with data import that require manual entry. So, these are the two main challenges I'm currently facing. Another matter to consider is the removal of the markup option for partners. I'm not sure if it will be added back, but it used to allow marking up Azure usage for enterprise customers. I'm uncertain if there's an alternative way to achieve the same function. Partners need to mark up services when selling to customers, and it's currently unavailable for some products or services."
"If it worked better with other cloud providers it would be better."
"I would like the developers to add more features about migration, like how much it would cost to migrate from, let's say, AWS to Azure."
"Stability is an area in the solution that lacks in certain areas. So, it needs to be improved."
"The response time of customer support can be improved."
"It would be beneficial if Azure Cost Management could automatically generate budget rules using AI insights, eliminating the need for manual configuration."
"The memory management of Java application servers should be implemented to be able to size GC and footprint."
"Some of the data management is painful. Some of the new features haven't been implemented in quite the way I would like to get to levels of detail. For example, Visualizer parser doesn't take everything it should out of the Visualizer files. We've had to put in a work-around, but the work-around is not as accurate as what's in the file."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's licensing costs are monthly."
"I think the solution was free initially."
"The subscription fees are primarily tailored to larger enterprises, potentially leaving smaller and medium-sized customers with limited options."
"I rate the price of Azure Cost Management an eight out of ten."
"I rate the tool's pricing a six out of ten - the price could be lower."
"We are using pay-as-you-go licenses mostly for our customers."
"I rate the tool's pricing a seven out of ten."
"Based on the transitional cost we charge, it's not expensive, but could be better."
"Right now, the licensing structure is by server. Everybody is licensed somewhat differently, depending on how big they are, how many licenses they have."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Performing Arts
7%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Energy/Utilities Company
12%
Computer Software Company
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise32
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Azure Cost Management?
Gives visibility into the cost of cloud-based solutions.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Cost Management?
The pricing part could be improved. I would rate it as six out of ten. It depends on the solution. We mostly pay for our licenses.
What needs improvement with Azure Cost Management?
There are areas in Azure Cost Management that could be improved; sometimes, as a start user or junior developer, if I try to understand which service consumed how much cost and look at different ch...
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Also Known As

Microsoft Azure Cost Management, Cloudyn
BMC Capacity Optimization, TrueSight Capacity Optimization, BMC Helix Optimize, BMC Helix Continuous Optimization
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Quixey, Infomedia, Panaya, Wix.com, Mirabeau, Mi9, GetTaxi, Outsmart Studios, Bownty, BlazeMeter: The Load Testing Cloud, Irdeto, Effective Measure, Totango, Nextdoor, BranchOut, The BioTeam, Evolven, Netotiate, ClickSoftware
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Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Cost Management vs. BMC Helix Continuous Optimization and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,853 professionals have used our research since 2012.