Azure Storage Account Overview
What is a Storage Account?
A storage account provides a unique namespace in Azure for storing your data objects such as blobs, files, queues, and tables. It offers massively scalable cloud storage, high availability, and enterprise-grade security.
Key Features
Durability
99.999999999% (11 9's) durability for stored data across multiple replicas.
Scalability
Scale up to petabytes of data and billions of objects with automatic scaling.
Security
Encryption at rest and in transit, Azure AD authentication, and shared access signatures.
Performance Tiers
Standard (HDD) and Premium (SSD) options to meet diverse performance needs.
Types of Storage Accounts
Supports all storage services (Blob, File, Queue, Table) and offers the latest features, including tiered storage and lifecycle management.
Legacy account type, limited to blob, file, queue, and table services without the newest features or tiering.
Optimized for storing massive amounts of unstructured data. Supports hot, cool, and archive tiers.
Provides fully managed file shares using the SMB protocol, ideal for lift‑and‑shift migrations.
Pricing Overview
Pricing is based on the account type, redundancy option, and performance tier. Use the Azure Pricing Calculator for precise estimates.
- Standard (HDD) – lower cost, suitable for bulk storage.
- Premium (SSD) – high‑performance, low‑latency workloads.
- Redundancy options: LRS, ZRS, GRS, RA‑GRS.