---
title: "Savings plans"
slug: "savings-plans"
updated: 2026-09-04T07:43:43Z
published: 2026-09-04T07:43:43Z
canonical: "docs.turbo360.com/savings-plans"
---

> ## 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.

# Savings plans

## Overview

Savings plans track Azure Savings Plan commitments and recommendations directly within Cost Analyzer, so you don't need to open the Azure portal to review discount opportunities or monitor plan utilization. Azure Savings Plans offer discounted rates on compute services in exchange for a commitment to a consistent usage amount (measured in $/hour) over a one- or three-year term, compared to standard pay-as-you-go pricing.

### Business value

Centralizing savings plan recommendations and monitoring inside Cost Analyzer helps teams catch under-utilized or expiring plans early, reducing wasted commitment spend and avoiding last-minute renewal decisions.

## Prerequisites

Turbo360 needs specific Azure and Cost Analyzer configuration before it can surface savings plan data.

### Required permissions

Grant **Savings Plan Reader** access to the service principal so Turbo360 can view all purchased savings plans linked to a tenant's subscriptions.

#### Azure

To assign Savings Plan Reader access to the service principal:

1. Search for **Savings plan** in the Azure portal search bar and open the **Savings plan** section.
2. Select the **Role assignment** option.
3. Select **Add role assignment > Savings plan reader** from the available job function roles.
4. Click **Next**, then select the required service principal using the **Select members** option.
5. Click **Select**, then complete the process by selecting **Review + assign**.

              
              

Subscription owners at the time of purchase can view, manage, and delegate permissions for the associated savings plan.

#### Turbo360

In addition, the following Turbo360 role permissions control access to Savings plans within Cost Analyzer:

| Role | Permission level | Access |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Account owner, Owner, Contributor | - | Full access to Savings plans |
| Custom role | Optimization feature enabled + Savings plans: Read | View Savings plans |
| Custom role | Optimization feature enabled + Savings plans: Manage | Full access to Savings plans |

To view or manage Savings plans, a role needs:

- Optimization tab permission enabled, and
- Read (view only) or Manage (postpone/dismiss/ignore) on Savings plans feature.

Roles are created under Cost Analyzer > User management > Roles > Add role, and can be scoped to specific cost management groups or subscriptions.

In Cost Analyzer, enable advanced recommendations in the **Recommendation Settings** of each cost management group (excluding the root group) to provide access to all purchased savings plans linked to that cost group.

## How it works

The Savings plans section has two tabs: **Basic recommendations** and **Purchased savings plans**.

**Basic recommendations** displays savings plan purchase opportunities from Azure Advisor. Each recommendation shows its impact level (High, Medium, or Low), description, and potential monthly savings. The **Recommendation Distribution** bar shows the total number of recommendations by impact level, and the **Total impacted resources** figure shows the number of resources affected. Actions taken on recommendations — **Postpone recommendation** and **Dismiss recommendation** — are reflected directly in Azure Advisor. Recommendations are not suppressed locally only; the change propagates to Azure.

**Purchased savings plans** lists all purchased savings plans across your Azure subscriptions. Each plan shows its Name, Display name, Friendly name, Usage status, Subscription, and utilization percentages across three intervals: 1D, 7D, and 30D. Usage status is one of:

- **Unused** — the plan has no utilization in the period.
- **Partially used** — the plan is being used but utilization is below 100%.
- **Used** — the plan is fully utilized.

Use **Refresh savings plans** to manually reload the latest utilization data from Azure.

**Monitoring** is accessible from the Purchased savings plans tab via **Tools > Monitoring**. It has three tabs: **Expiry monitoring**, **Utilization monitoring**, and **Incidents**.

- **Expiry monitoring** alerts you ahead of a plan's expiry date.
- **Utilization monitoring** tracks whether purchased plans are being used efficiently and alerts when utilization drops below a defined threshold.
- **Incidents** lists all monitoring alerts generated for the cost group's savings plans.

## Steps

Navigate to **Cost group > Optimization > Savings plans** to get started.

### Basic recommendations actions

#### Postpone a recommendation

Postpone a recommendation when you want to act on it later. The change is reflected in Azure Advisor.

1. Select the checkbox next to the recommendation you want to postpone.
2. Click **Actions** and select **Postpone recommendation**.

#### Dismiss a recommendation

Dismiss a recommendation when it is not applicable to your environment. The change is reflected in Azure Advisor.

1. Select the checkbox next to the recommendation you want to dismiss.
2. Click **Actions** and select **Dismiss recommendation**.

#### Ignore a recommendation

Ignore a recommendation to remove it from the active list without propagating the change to Azure Advisor.

1. Select the checkbox next to the recommendation you want to ignore.
2. Click **Actions** and select **Ignore**.

#### View suppressed recommendations

1. Click **Actions**.
2. Select **View suppressed recommendations**.

#### Download as Excel

1. Click **Actions**.
2. Select **Download as excel**.

### Configure expiry monitoring

Expiry monitoring alerts you ahead of a plan's expiry date so you have time to renew or replace it.

1. Navigate to the **Purchased savings plans** tab.
2. Click **Monitoring** under **Tools**.
3. Open the **Expiry monitoring** tab and turn on the **Enable expiry monitoring** toggle.
4. Set the **Days before expiry for reminder** — the default is 7 days.
5. Under **Alert configuration**, select an **Escalation policy**.
6. Set a **Recipient email address** and **Email template**, or select notification channels (Teams, ServiceNow, Slack, Azure Monitor, or others).
7. Click **Save**.

### Configure utilization monitoring

Utilization monitoring tracks the consumption of your savings plans so you can verify usage aligns with expectations.

1. Navigate to the **Purchased savings plans** tab.
2. Click **Monitoring** under **Tools**.
3. Open the **Utilization monitoring** tab and turn on the **Enable utilization monitoring** toggle.
4. Set the **Utilization interval** — for example, Last 1 day.
5. Set the **Utilization percentage** threshold — alerts fire when actual utilization drops below this value. The default is 75%.
6. Under **Choose the savings plans to monitor**, select **Monitor all savings plans** to cover all current and future plans, or select specific plans from the list.
7. Under **Alert configuration**, select an **Escalation policy**.
8. Set a **Recipient email address** and **Email template**, or select notification channels.
9. Click **Save**.

## Configuration

| Option | Type | Default | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Days before expiry for reminder | Number (days) | 7 | Yes, when expiry monitoring is enabled | Number of days before expiry that an alert is triggered. |
| Utilization interval | Selection | Last 1 day | Yes, when utilization monitoring is enabled | The period over which utilization is evaluated when checking against the threshold. |
| Utilization percentage | Percentage | 75% | Yes, when utilization monitoring is enabled | Usage percentage below which an alert is triggered. |
| Monitor all savings plans | Checkbox | Off | No | Applies utilization monitoring to all current and future savings plans instead of a specific selection. |

## Example scenario

A cost administrator enables Purchased savings plan recommendations on the Production cost management group, then configures expiry monitoring with a 7-day reminder window and utilization monitoring with a 75% threshold evaluated daily. As plans approach expiry or usage drops below the threshold, Turbo360 sends alerts through the configured escalation policy, giving the team time to renew, replace, or reallocate the plan before the commitment is wasted.

## Troubleshooting

1. **Purchased savings plans aren't visible in Cost Analyzer** Cause: The service principal doesn't have Savings Plan Reader access, or advanced recommendations aren't enabled on the cost management group. Fix: Assign Savings Plan Reader access to the service principal and enable advanced recommendations in the cost management group's Recommendation Settings.
2. **Expiry alerts aren't received** Cause: Expiry monitoring is disabled, or no escalation policy or notification channel is configured. Fix: Turn on the Enable expiry monitoring toggle and confirm an escalation policy with at least one valid notification channel is selected. Check the Incidents tab to confirm alerts are being generated.
3. **Utilization alerts aren't triggering** Cause: Utilization monitoring is disabled, the threshold is set lower than actual usage, or the plan isn't included in the monitored selection. Fix: Turn on Enable utilization monitoring, review the threshold value, and confirm the plan is selected or **Monitor all savings plans** is enabled.
4. **Basic recommendations Actions options are not visible** Cause: The signed-in user's role has Savings plans: Read permission, which allows viewing only. Manage permission is required to take actions on recommendations. Fix: Ask an Account owner to update the role to grant Savings plans: Manage under Specify optimization tab permissions.
5. **A postponed or dismissed recommendation reappeared** Cause: Azure Advisor may have re-evaluated the resource and regenerated the recommendation, particularly if usage patterns changed. Fix: Review whether the resource still meets the conditions for the recommendation. If not applicable, dismiss it again. If actionable, consider acting on it or postponing it for a defined period.

## FAQs

1. **What's the difference between Basic recommendations and Purchased savings plans?** Basic recommendations show Azure Advisor's suggestions for new savings plans you should purchase to reduce on-demand compute costs. Purchased savings plans lists commitments you already own, their current usage status (Unused, Partially used, Used), and utilization across 1D, 7D, and 30D intervals.
2. **Do Postpone and Dismiss in Basic recommendations affect Azure Advisor?** Yes. Both actions propagate to Azure Advisor — the recommendation is not suppressed locally only. Ignore, by contrast, removes the recommendation from the active list in Cost Analyzer only and does not propagate to Azure Advisor.
3. **Can I monitor multiple savings plans with one configuration?** Yes. Select **Monitor all savings plans** in the Utilization monitoring tab to apply monitoring to all current and future plans instead of configuring each one individually.

## Related articles

- [Basic recommendations for Rightsizing](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/basic-recommendations-for-rightsizing)
- [Advanced recommendations for Rightsizing](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/advanced-recommendations-for-rightsizing)
- [Basic recommendations for Reservations](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/basic-recommendations-for-reservations)
- [Advanced recommendations for Reservations](https://docs.turbo360.com/docs/advanced-recommendations-for-reservations)