Definition
Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC): A Microsoft cloud spend commitment program where the buyer prepays an Azure consumption target over a 1 to 5 year term in exchange for tiered discounts of 9 to 18 percent below pay as you go pricing. Eligible spend includes Azure first party services, select Microsoft online services, and a defined catalog of Azure Marketplace third party offerings under the Azure Consumption Revenue, or ACR, framework.
MACC is the workhorse cloud commitment vehicle for enterprises running material Azure workloads. It exists because Microsoft cloud sales teams need committed cloud revenue and enterprises need discount certainty across multi year cloud roadmaps. The commit replaces pay as you go pricing with tiered prepaid pricing, with discount tier growing as commit size grows. Standard commit sizes start at $1 million annually and scale to $50 million or more annually for the largest commits.
The ACR mechanic is the most consequential and least understood MACC structural detail. Spend on Azure Marketplace offerings from eligible third party software vendors counts as 100 percent toward MACC consumption. That means a buyer with a $5 million annual MACC who purchases $2 million of third party SaaS through Azure Marketplace burns $2 million of the MACC even though no Azure first party services were consumed. The mechanic effectively converts MACC into a broader software procurement budget when buyers select Marketplace eligible vendors.
Benchmark your MACC structure
The MACC discount benchmark covers 156 commits between $1M and $50M annual. Tier thresholds, ACR utilization, and the renewal renegotiation playbook.
How MACC tiers work
MACC discount escalates with commit size in tiered steps. The benchmark cohort shows modal tiers at approximately $1 million, $5 million, $15 million, and $50 million annual commit thresholds, with discount steps of roughly 3 to 5 percentage points at each threshold. Total discount ceiling sits at 18 percent for the largest commits in the benchmark cohort. Tier boundaries shift over time and are not published, so commit sizing requires running quotes against both sides of likely thresholds.
For applied MACC negotiation see the Microsoft Azure pricing guide, the Microsoft pricing and negotiation hub, and the EA definition for the broader Microsoft commercial program that MACC stacks under. The AWS EDP definition covers the comparable AWS mechanic, and the Google Cloud CUD definition covers the Google equivalent. The glossary hub carries the broader procurement vocabulary.
For category benchmarks, the cloud infrastructure pricing benchmark covers the three hyperscalers head to head, and the cloud infrastructure benchmark hub carries the broader discount data.
MACC vs Reserved Instances vs Savings Plans
Azure offers three commitment models that buyers often conflate. MACC is the umbrella spend commit applied at the account level. Azure Reserved Instances commit to specific compute SKUs for 1 or 3 years with discounts up to 72 percent off pay as you go but require workload predictability. Azure Savings Plans commit to hourly spend on compute for 1 or 3 years with discount up to 65 percent and more workload flexibility than Reserved Instances. The three models stack: a buyer with a MACC can apply Reserved Instances and Savings Plans against the commit to reduce per workload cost while burning the commit at the same dollar pace.
Frequently asked questions
What does MACC stand for?
MACC stands for Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment. It is a prepaid Azure spend commitment with tiered discounts of 9 to 18 percent below pay as you go, available in 1 to 5 year terms for enterprise customers.
How does MACC discount work?
MACC discount tiers escalate with commit size. Modal tier thresholds sit at approximately $1 million, $5 million, $15 million, and $50 million annual commit, with discount tier steps of 3 to 5 percentage points at each threshold. Total discount ceiling reaches 18 percent for the largest commits.
What is Azure Consumption Revenue (ACR)?
Azure Consumption Revenue, or ACR, is the framework that lets eligible Azure Marketplace third party software purchases count 100 percent toward MACC consumption. ACR effectively converts MACC into a broader software procurement budget when buyers source from Marketplace eligible vendors.
Can MACC and Reserved Instances stack?
Yes. Azure Reserved Instances, Azure Savings Plans, and MACC stack. Reserved Instances and Savings Plans reduce per workload unit cost; MACC reduces the rate the buyer pays across the broader Azure consumption envelope. The combination is the standard pattern for large Azure workloads.
What happens if MACC is underconsumed?
Unused MACC commitment at term end is forfeit unless renegotiated. Microsoft does not refund unconsumed MACC dollars. Buyers facing underconsumption risk should renegotiate the commit size at the next anniversary or use ACR eligible Marketplace purchases to burn the commit on planned third party software spend.
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