Move the sliders, customize to your organization,
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and see savings update live
Select a preset scenario or dial in your own numbers.
Your current MAU-based platform rate (affects all calculations below)
Monthly active users (MAU) MAU-based platforms bill on this
Every user who logs in at least once during the month
Peak concurrent users Hydra bills on this
Highest number of users online at the exact same moment
6.0:1
Your concurrency ratio — MAU-based pricing bills for 6× more users than Hydra sees at peak.
Built for MSPs: Peak concurrent pricing protects your margins across every client. One product, one version, unlimited tenants at no extra cost. No separate MSP edition lagging behind enterprise. Accelerate AVD modernization across your entire customer base from a single control plane.
Hydra Burst Protection included: Short-term usage spikes (up to 2× your concurrent baseline) are covered free for 1 month. With MAU-based pricing, a spike month permanently resets your expected bill — there's no ceiling on how much a busy month can cost you going forward.
MAU pricing monthly
—
—
Hydra monthly
—
$5 × peak concurrent
How billing compares
MAU Pricing
Hydra
Bills on
—
—
Monthly cost
—
—
Extra users MAU pricing bills for (logged in but not all online at once)
—
0
Onboarding fee
Varies; typically $1,000+
No onboarding needed; $0
Monthly minimum
$1,000/mo floor
None
Burst / spike protection
None; spikes raise future bills
1 month free (up to 2×)
Monthly difference
—
What This Means
—
This calculator models AVD peak-concurrent pricing. Hydra also manages Windows 365 Cloud PCs, billed per user. See Hydra for Windows 365 →
What customers say
★★★★★
"Hydra is the best AVD and W365 management tool. It focuses on what matters most: simplicity and clarity, but it's powerful. The portal provides exactly the information you need without unnecessary complexity."
Benjamin G. · Workplace and Azure Expert, Experts Inside
★★★★★
"A must-have control plane. Been using Hydra for 3 years. So many things are much easier via Hydra than natively, and the support has always been excellent and fast!"
Workspace Lead · MSP with 40+ customers on AVD
★★★★★
"Before Hydra, managing AVD involved a lot of manual steps and workarounds. With Hydra, we reduced operational effort by 35% and manage our environment far more efficiently day to day."
Klaus-Peter S. · System Administrator, Donner & Reuschel
How Hydra Reduces Your Total Cost of AVD and Windows 365 Management
Most AVD management platforms charge per monthly active user and require onboarding fees, minimums, and premium tiers for core capabilities. Hydra takes a different approach on every front.
✓ Consumption-based pricing
✓ Up and running in minutes
✓ Operational simplicity
✓ Real-time visibility with the Hydra Agent
✓ Same platform for MSPs and enterprises
✓ Also manages Windows 365 Cloud PCs
| Hydra by Login VSI | MAU-Based Pricing | |
|---|---|---|
| 💰 Pricing model | ||
| How you are billed | ✓ Peak concurrent users Highest simultaneous logins only |
⚠ Monthly active users (MAU) Every login during the month counts |
| Your monthly cost | — | — |
| Your annual cost | — | — |
| Annual savings with Hydra | — | — |
| Onboarding fee | ✓ No onboarding needed; $0 | ✗ Typically required; adds upfront cost |
| Monthly minimum | ✓ None | ✗ Common across MAU platforms |
| Burst / spike protection | ✓ Up to 2× peak concurrent free for 1 month | ✗ Spike months raise your MAU baseline permanently |
| ☁️ Azure and Windows 365 cost optimisation | ||
| Autoscaling | ✓ All trigger types included — session, load, schedule | ⚠ Often requires premium tier |
| Power management | ✓ Built-in start/stop schedules, idle detection | ✓ Supported |
| Disk optimisation | ✓ Disk type switching, ephemeral OS disks | ✓ Supported |
| VM hibernation | ✓ Supported — reduces idle compute cost | ⚠ Often enterprise tier only |
| ⚡ Speed to value | ||
| Time to operational | ✓ Under 30 minutes — no migration project | ⚠ Typically 60+ minutes; migration often required |
| Assumes existing workspaces | ✓ Wraps your existing AVD and Windows 365 — no rebuild | ⚠ Resources often need to be recreated in-platform |
| Onboarding services required | ✓ None — deploy from Azure Marketplace in minutes | ✗ Typically required |
| 🔒 Trust and provenance | ||
| Security certification | ✓ ISO 27001 certified | ✓ Varies by platform |
| GDPR compliance | ✓ GDPR compliant — EU data handling | ⚠ Varies by platform and HQ jurisdiction |
| Microsoft partnership | ✓ Microsoft Partner, Azure Marketplace, MACC Eligible | ✓ Varies by platform |
Hydra saves you on two fronts, not just licensing
Front 1
Management licensing
Peak concurrent vs MAU means you only pay for real usage. Plus no onboarding costs, no minimums, and burst protection built in. That's what the calculator above shows.
Front 2
Up to 70% Azure savings
Hydra's autoscaling, disk optimisation, and power management cut idle Azure compute spend. The same capabilities at a fraction of what MAU-based licensing typically costs.
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Trusted by enterprise IT teams across healthcare, finance, government, and technology
★★★★★
"Hydra is the best AVD and W365 management tool. Simplicity and clarity, but powerful. Exactly the information you need without unnecessary complexity."
Benjamin G. · Workplace and Azure Expert, Experts Inside
★★★★★
"A must-have control plane for 3 years. So many things are much easier via Hydra than natively. Support has always been excellent and fast!"
Workspace Lead · MSP with 40+ customers on AVD
★★★★★
"With Hydra, we gained much better visibility and control, reduced operational effort by 35%, and manage our environment far more efficiently."
Klaus-Peter S. · System Administrator, Donner & Reuschel
Switching to Hydra Is Easy. Here's How.
No rip-and-replace. No migration projects. No re-architecting your environment. Hydra wraps around the workspace you already have, and you're up and running in minutes, not weeks.
Portability Is Built In
Hydra assumes operational control of your existing AVD and Windows 365 environments without disruption, without rebuilding workspaces, and without additional onboarding costs. Import your host pools, keep your images, and manage from day one — all at once or in phases.
How the Rollover Works Phase-by-phase or all at once
01
Deploy from Azure Marketplace
Find Hydra on the Azure Marketplace and deploy directly into your existing Azure tenant. MACC eligible, can apply toward existing Microsoft commitments. No professional services required.
02
Connect your existing environment
Hydra enumerates your existing AVD host pools, Windows 365 Cloud PCs, images, and sessions immediately. No migration, no re-imaging, no disruption to users. Run Hydra alongside your current platform during the transition, and roll over in phases if you prefer.
03
Operational from day one
Your team is managing AVD and Windows 365 through Hydra in under 30 minutes. Familiar workflows, real-time session visibility, and consumption-based pricing from the first login.
What You Keep (and What You Leave Behind)
✓ You keep
Your existing AVD and Windows 365 infrastructure
Your host pools, images, and Cloud PCs
Your users' sessions (zero downtime)
Your operational workflows
Your team's existing knowledge
Seasonal or short-term usage spikes without the bill hikes
Your host pools, images, and Cloud PCs
Your users' sessions (zero downtime)
Your operational workflows
Your team's existing knowledge
Seasonal or short-term usage spikes without the bill hikes
✕ You leave behind
MAU billing on every login
Onboarding costs and fees
Monthly minimums
Per-tenant fees at scale
No burst protection (spike usage punishes future bills)
A management layer with more features than you will ever use
Onboarding costs and fees
Monthly minimums
Per-tenant fees at scale
No burst protection (spike usage punishes future bills)
A management layer with more features than you will ever use
Why Teams Make the Switch
After a while, paying for every login instead of actual usage, managing feature sprawl the team never asked for, and working inside a tool that requires admins to relearn their job just stops making sense. Hydra wraps around the environment you already have, charges only for peak concurrent usage, and gets your team operational in under 30 minutes. Your bill reflects reality. Your workspace just runs.
Stop Paying for Logins Over Usage
Peak concurrent pricing means the shift worker who logged in once at 6am doesn't inflate your bill the same way as someone online all day.
No Feature Bloat
Hydra is focused on what admin teams use every day: image management, autoscaling, session visibility, helpdesk controls. Nothing more.
No Retraining Required
Hydra mirrors the operational workflows EUC teams already know. No retraining, no new mental model, no day-one disruption.
Operational in Under 30 Minutes
Not after a migration project or paid onboarding engagement. Deploy from the Azure Marketplace and you're managing AVD and Windows 365 within the hour.
Smart on Your Budget
No surprise renewal bumps, no minimums on quiet months, no spike from a busy week permanently resetting your baseline.
What teams say about switching
★★★★★
"Before Hydra, managing AVD involved a lot of manual steps, custom scripting, and workarounds. With Hydra we reduced operational effort by 35% and manage far more efficiently."
Klaus-Peter S. · System Administrator, Donner & Reuschel
★★★★★
"A must-have control plane. Been using Hydra for 3 years and highly recommend it for everyday operations of any size. Deployments, automations, support: all excellent."
Workspace Lead · MSP with 40+ customers on AVD
★★★★★
"Hydra is the best AVD and W365 management tool. Focuses on what matters: simplicity and clarity, but it's powerful. No unnecessary complexity."
Benjamin G. · Workplace and Azure Expert, Experts Inside