--- title: "Hybrid benefits" slug: "hybrid-benefits" updated: 2026-10-29T12:51:01Z published: 2026-10-29T12:51:01Z canonical: "docs.turbo360.com/hybrid-benefits" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.turbo360.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Hybrid benefits ## Overview **Azure Hybrid Benefit (AHB)** is a cost-saving feature provided by Microsoft Azure that allows you to apply your existing on-premises Windows Server or SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance to workloads running in Azure, reducing overall cloud costs. The **Hybrid benefits** feature in Cost Analyzer extends this to virtual machines (VMs) and virtual machine scale sets (VMSS), giving you visibility into resources that already have a license applied and resources that are eligible but haven't applied one yet, helping you optimize license usage and manage costs efficiently. From either grid, you can run **Explain with AI** on a row to get an AI-generated Hybrid Benefit analysis for that resource. You can access Hybrid benefits by navigating to a cost management group and selecting **Optimization > Hybrid benefits**. ### Business value Hybrid benefits surfaces both realized and unclaimed Azure Hybrid Benefit savings in one place, so you can confirm existing license usage and act on missed opportunities without manually cross-referencing Azure Advisor or the Azure portal. ## Prerequisites ### Required permissions | Role | Permission level | Access | | --- | --- | --- | | Account owner, Owner, Contributor | - | Full access to Hybrid benefits | | Custom role | Optimization enabled + Hybrid benefits: Read | View Hybrid benefits | | Custom role | Optimization enabled + Hybrid benefits: Manage | Full access to Hybrid benefits, including ignoring potential resources | | Custom role | Optimization enabled + Hybrid benefits: Read or Manage + AI Agents: Enable | Use Explain with AI on resource rows, in addition to the access above | To view or manage Hybrid benefits, a role needs **Optimization** tab permission enabled, and the **Hybrid benefits** toggle enabled with **Read** or **Manage** checked. Roles are created under **Cost Analyzer > User management > Roles > Add role**. To use **Explain with AI**, the role also needs the **AI Agents** toggle enabled under **Specify feature permissions**. Without it, the ✦ icon is hidden. ### Explain with AI requirements Explain with AI uses Azure OpenAI, so it needs the following in addition to access to Hybrid benefits. - **AI agents setting:** the Account owner has enabled AI agents for the account. When it is disabled, the ✦ icon is hidden for every user. On SaaS, the setting is under **Settings > General settings**. On Private Hosting, it is under **Settings > OpenAI connection**. - **OpenAI connection:** on SaaS, Turbo360 manages the connection and you do not need to set it up. On Private Hosting, you configure an Azure OpenAI connection first. See [OpenAI setup in Turbo360](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/openai-setup-in-turbo360). If the connection is missing, the modal shows "OpenAI connection is not configured. Please configure the OpenAI connection in settings." - **Service principal:** the resource's subscription must belong to a service principal that is mapped to the cost management group. ## How it works ### Resources with benefits applied The **Resources with benefits applied** tab provides a consolidated view of all VMs and VMSS leveraging Azure Hybrid Benefit. Listed resources are linked to eligible existing Windows Server or SQL Server licenses, applied either at deployment or subsequently. Each row shows: Resource name, Subscription, Resource group, Resource type, Computer name, VM size, Number of cores, OS type, Location, Cost in billing currency, and Cost in USD, giving you a complete picture of the resource and its current cost impact with the benefit applied. In the **Resource name** cell, the ✦ **Explain with AI** icon appears before the **View in Azure portal** and **View resource details** icons. It opens an AI-generated Hybrid Benefit analysis for that resource. For the full procedure, see **Run Explain with AI on a resource** under Steps. The full dataset can be downloaded using the download icon at the top right of the tab, or via **Actions > Download as Excel**, for offline analysis, reporting, and compliance reviews. ### Potential resources The **Potential resources** tab lists VMs and VMSS that are not currently using Azure Hybrid Benefit but may be eligible to leverage existing Windows Server or SQL Server licenses to reduce costs. Each row shows: Resource name, Subscription, Resource group, Resource type, Computer name, VM size, Number of cores, OS type, and Location. This view helps you identify cost optimization opportunities and address licensing gaps proactively. The complete dataset can be downloaded for offline analysis, reporting, and governance activities. Each row also has the ✦ **Explain with AI** icon in the **Resource name** cell, so you can check whether applying a license to the resource is worthwhile before you act. While a resource is marked as ignored, it's excluded from the **Potential resources** tab. It remains available under the **Ignored hybrid benefits potential resources** list and can be accessed from **Actions > View ignored**, so you retain visibility and can reassess it at any time. ### Cost intelligence view The Cost intelligence view structures resource data into distinct categories and visual sections, giving you a detailed overview of cost distribution and utilization, and highlighting key optimization opportunities by identifying areas of high or low resource efficiency. Through these categorized insights, you can monitor spending patterns, evaluate cost performance, and take data-driven action to optimize resource usage and reduce overall expenses. Click this [link](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/cost-analysis#cost-intelligence-view) to know more about its capabilities. To access this view, navigate to **Optimization > Hybrid benefits > Resources with benefits applied / Potential resources** within a cost management group, then click the **View resource details** icon next to a resource to open its Cost intelligence view. ## Steps Use the following steps to ignore a potential resource, review ignored resources, or run Explain with AI on a resource. Navigate to **Optimization > Hybrid benefits** within a cost management group to get started. ### Ignore a potential resource Ignoring a potential resource lets you defer a licensing decision, either indefinitely or until a specified date, when immediate action isn't required. 1. In the **Potential resources** tab, select the resource to exclude, then click **Actions > Ignore**. 2. Choose one of the following options: - **Ignore always** to exclude the resource indefinitely. - **Ignore until** to exclude the resource until a specified date. 3. (**Optional**) Enter a justification to document the reason for ignoring the resource. This is visible to other team members for transparency and tracking. 4. Click **Continue** to confirm the selection. ### View ignored resources To review resources that have been ignored: 1. Click **Actions**. 2. Select **View ignored**. Ignored resources are listed under **Ignored hybrid benefits potential resources** and can be reassessed or restored at any time. ### Run Explain with AI on a resource Explain with AI generates an AI-written Hybrid Benefit analysis for a single VM or VMSS directly from the grid. 1. Open the **Resources with benefits applied** or **Potential resources** tab and wait for the grid to load. 2. In the **Resource name** cell of a row, click the ✦ **Explain with AI** icon. 3. Wait for the analysis to stream into the modal. 4. Review the analysis. It covers Eligibility, Cost Comparison, Licensing Requirements, and Operational Impact, and ends with a Recommendation of Not Applicable, Currently Optimised, High Opportunity, or Not Recommended. For what each section contains, see [Analyze hybrid benefit](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/analyze-hybrid-benefit). 5. (**Optional**) Click **Save as PDF** to download the analysis. 6. Click **Close** to close the modal. ## Example scenario An administrator reviews the **Potential resources** tab and finds a VM eligible for Azure Hybrid Benefit that isn't yet using it. Since the license renewal decision is scheduled for next quarter, the administrator selects **Ignore until** and sets the date to the renewal review, adding a justification note for the team. The resource is suppressed from **Potential resources** until that date, while remaining visible under **Ignored hybrid benefits potential resources** for ongoing tracking. ## Troubleshooting 1. **The Hybrid benefits tab isn't visible** Cause: The **Optimization** feature permission is disabled for your role, or the **Hybrid benefits** permission isn't set. Fix: Ask your administrator to enable **Optimization** and grant at least Read on **Hybrid benefits** in Roles. 2. **Can't ignore a potential resource** Cause: Your role only has **Read** permission on **Hybrid benefits**. Fix: Request **Manage** permission on **Hybrid benefits** from your administrator. 3. **A resource doesn't appear in either tab** Cause: The resource may not be a VM or VMSS, or the subscription data hasn't refreshed since the resource was provisioned. Fix: Confirm the resource type is a virtual machine or VMSS. If the resource was recently provisioned, wait for the next data refresh cycle before rechecking. 4. **Actions dropdown is not visible on the Potential resources tab** Cause: The signed-in user's role has Hybrid benefits: Read permission only. The Actions dropdown requires Manage permission to access ignore-related operations. Fix: Ask an Account owner to grant Hybrid benefits: Manage under Specify optimization tab permissions. 5. **An ignored resource isn't appearing under View ignored** Cause: The resource may have been ignored under a different cost management group scope, or the session data may not have refreshed. Fix: Confirm you are viewing the correct cost management group. Navigate away and return to trigger a fresh load, then check **Actions > View ignored** again. ## FAQs 1. **What's the difference between "Ignore always" and "Ignore until"?** Ignore always excludes the resource from Potential resources indefinitely. It only reappears if you manually restore it from **Actions > View ignored**. Ignore until excludes it up to a specified date, after which it automatically returns to the Potential resources list. 2. **Who can ignore a potential resource?** A role with Manage permission on Hybrid benefits (with Optimization enabled). 3. **Can I see a resource after I've ignored it?** Yes. Ignored resources remain visible under **Ignored hybrid benefits potential resources**, accessible from **Actions > View ignored**. 4. **Why don't I see the Explain with AI icon on a row?** The icon is hidden when your role doesn't have the **AI Agents** permission enabled, or when an Account owner has turned off AI agents for the account. It also isn't shown in the **Ignored hybrid benefits potential resources** list. 5. **Can I regenerate an Explain with AI analysis?** No. To run a new analysis, reload the page or leave Hybrid benefits and return. 6. **Does Explain with AI work on Dev/Test subscriptions?** Yes, but it shows a fixed report instead of an AI-generated analysis, because Hybrid Benefit saves nothing on Dev/Test subscriptions. ## Related articles - [Analyze hybrid benefit](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/analyze-hybrid-benefit) - [AI Agents in Cost Analyzer](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/ai-agents-cost-analyzer) - [Basic recommendations for Rightsizing](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/basic-recommendations-for-rightsizing) - [Basic recommendations for Reservations](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/basic-recommendations-for-reservations)