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EPC Group — founded in 1997, headquartered in Houston, a Microsoft Solutions Partner holding all six solutions designations — publishes this guide..

Last updated by Errin O'Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group

EPC Group provides enterprise Microsoft consulting on Azure Devops Pricing Features Plan Smarter Collaborate Better Ship Faster. Senior-architect-led engagements since 1997 for Fortune 500 healthcare, finance, and government clients. Fixed-fee accelerators + compliance-native delivery across HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP, StateRAMP, CJIS.

Key Facts

  • 6,500+ SharePoint implementations delivered by EPC Group
  • 1,500+ Power BI enterprise deployments
  • 11,000+ total enterprise engagements since 1997
  • Microsoft Solutions Partner with all six core designations
  • Founder Errin O'Connor: 4x bestselling author (Microsoft Press / Sams)
  • Regulated-industry experience: HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP, StateRAMP, CJIS, ITAR
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Errin O'Connor
8 min read

Azure DevOps pricing is per user: the Basic plan (the first five users are free), the Basic + Test Plans tier, then parallel jobs and Artifacts storage billed by usage. This guide walks through each line item at enterprise scale, at Microsoft list price.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Azure DevOps pricing tiers?

Azure DevOps offers a free tier for up to 5 users with unlimited private Git repos, 1 free parallel CI/CD pipeline, and 2 GiB of Azure Artifacts storage. The Basic plan is $6/user/month and adds Azure Boards, Azure Test Plans access, and additional features. Basic + Test Plans is $52/user/month. Microsoft also offers Azure DevOps Server for on-premises deployment.

What is the difference between Azure Repos and GitHub?

Both are Git-based repositories owned by Microsoft. Azure Repos is tightly integrated with Azure DevOps services (Boards, Pipelines, Test Plans) and is preferred for enterprises already using Azure DevOps for project management. GitHub offers a larger open-source community, GitHub Actions for CI/CD, and Copilot AI integration. Many enterprises use both: GitHub for code collaboration and Azure DevOps for enterprise project management.

How do Azure Pipelines work for CI/CD?

Azure Pipelines provide cloud-hosted CI/CD that builds, tests, and deploys code automatically. They support YAML-based pipeline definitions, multi-stage deployments, approval gates, and integration with Kubernetes, Azure App Service, VMs, and container registries. Pipelines support any language and platform including .NET, Java, Python, Node.js, and can deploy to Azure, AWS, GCP, or on-premises.

What are Azure Boards and how do they help project management?

Azure Boards provides agile project management tools including Kanban boards, sprint planning, backlog management, and custom work item tracking. It supports Scrum, Kanban, and CMMI process templates. Boards integrate directly with repos and pipelines so work items link to commits, pull requests, and deployments for full traceability.

What are Azure Test Plans?

Azure Test Plans is a test management solution that provides planned manual testing, user acceptance testing, and exploratory testing capabilities. It includes test case management, test suites, shared test steps, and integration with CI/CD pipelines for automated test execution. Test Plans helps teams track quality metrics and ensure comprehensive test coverage before deployment.

Can we migrate from Jenkins to Azure DevOps?

Yes, migrating from Jenkins to Azure Pipelines is a common transition. Azure DevOps provides pipeline import tools and documentation for converting Jenkinsfiles to YAML pipelines. EPC Group assists with migration planning, pipeline conversion, plugin replacement mapping, and parallel running during transition. Most Jenkins workloads can be replicated in Azure Pipelines with improved cloud-native integration.

Why Organizations Choose EPC Group

EPC Group is a Microsoft consulting firm based in Houston. We have experience in enterprise implementation since 1997 and over 10,000 successful deployments. Our expertise includes:

  • Power BI
  • Microsoft Fabric
  • SharePoint
  • Azure
  • Microsoft 365
  • Copilot

We serve a wide range of organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, federal agencies, and sectors such as healthcare, financial services, government, manufacturing, energy, education, retail, technology, and global enterprises.

EPC Group stands out due to our governance-first approach. Each engagement starts with a security and compliance assessment.

Our team of senior architects has practical delivery experience in:

  • HIPAA
  • SOC 2
  • FedRAMP
  • CMMC environments

We focus on outcomes, not hours.

  • Fixed-fee accelerators with predictable pricing and defined deliverables
  • Senior architect engagement on every project, not rotating juniors
  • Compliance-native delivery for regulated industries
  • End-to-end coverage from strategy through 24/7 managed services
  • 11,000+ enterprise engagements refined into repeatable, risk-controlled patterns

Call (888) 381-9725 or email contact@epcgroup.net for a free assessment.

Related EPC Group Services

Azure Architecture: 2026 Considerations for Azure Devops Pricing Features Plan Smarter Collaborate Better Ship Faster

Azure Landing Zones, part of the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework, are essential for every enterprise Azure deployment in 2026. The Enterprise-scale landing zone includes:

This setup can be deployed in a single Bicep or Terraform run. What once took 6-12 weeks of architect time can now be finished in just 4-7 days.

FinOps in Azure 2026 is crucial for large-scale operations. Azure Reservations offer 1-year or 3-year commitments that can save you 30-72% on predictable VM workloads. Azure Savings Plans extend these savings to compute portability across instance families.

Moreover, the Azure Hybrid Benefit lets you use your own Windows Server and SQL Server licenses. This can further lower your compute costs by 40-49%.

Typical Azure cost-optimization projects can recover 25-40% of annual Azure spending within just 90 days.

Decision factors EPC Group evaluates

See related EPC Group services at /services or schedule a discovery call at /contact.

Azure Devops Pricing Features Plan Smarter Collaborate Better Ship Faster — the EPC Group practice

The Azure DevOps Pricing Features Plan enhances collaboration and speeds up delivery. It outlines Microsoft pricing tiers and the features included. It also details the criteria EPC Group uses to size Microsoft licensing for Fortune 500 customers.

Pricing data reflects the Microsoft Customer Agreement and Enterprise Agreement public list pricing as of 2026. Actual costs may vary due to:

  • Volume
  • Sector (government, education, non-profit)
  • Microsoft FastTrack incentives

EPC Group's licensing optimization goes beyond a simple spreadsheet exercise. Each license assessment includes:

  • A feature-utilization audit to check if paid features are deployed and adopted.
  • A downgrade analysis to identify users who may benefit from an F-series or a lighter tier.
  • A true-up plan aligned with the renewal cycle.

Most clients save 10 to 25 percent on annual Microsoft spend without losing capability.

Senior-architect-led delivery

Every engagement is managed by experts with 15 to 20 years of experience. We do not have rotating juniors learning on your tenant. Our team consists of hundreds of Microsoft-certified consultants.

These experts have successfully delivered real production environments for Fortune 500 customers across:

  • SharePoint
  • Microsoft 365
  • Power BI
  • Azure
  • Microsoft Copilot

How EPC Group engages

Six-phase methodology applied to every engagement, compressed for fixed-fee accelerators and extended for full programs.

  1. Discovery — two-week assessment of the current estate, gap analysis, risk register, target architecture, costed remediation roadmap.
  2. Design — senior architect produces the target topology, identity framework, Conditional Access, Purview, governance model, and security posture, reviewed by client leads.
  3. Pilot — 25 to 100 user pilot in a real business unit. Migrate, apply baselines, test integrations, capture feedback.
  4. Wave rollout — migrate in waves of 500 to 2,500 users with communications, training, hypercare, and a per-wave retrospective.
  5. Adoption — role-based training, Champions network, executive sponsor enablement, metrics tracked against a measured baseline.
  6. Operate — optional managed-services retainer for license optimization, governance reviews, security monitoring, and quarterly business reviews.

Healthcare and life sciences

EPC Group helps hospitals, payors, and pharmaceutical companies comply with HIPAA, business associate agreements, and Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels for protected health information.

Our regulated-industry library includes:

  • Epic and Cerner integration patterns
  • 21 CFR Part 11 e-signature controls for clinical trials
  • Validated SharePoint document workflows for life-sciences manufacturing

Government and defense contractors

EPC Group provides essential services for federal agencies and CMMC-regulated suppliers. We deliver:

  • FedRAMP Moderate and High posture
  • GCC and GCC High tenants
  • CUI handling
  • ITAR-controlled data segregation

Errin O'Connor, our Founder & Chief AI Architect, contributes to the FedRAMP framework. His direct authorship influences how we design Conditional Access for government endpoints.

Compliance-native, not bolted on

We have achieved no reported governance audit failures across HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP, and CMMC engagements across over 11,000 enterprise engagements. Our approach includes the following:

  • HIPAA compliance
  • SOC 2 standards
  • FINRA regulations
  • FedRAMP requirements
  • CMMC controls

These controls are built into the tenant from day one, providing audit-ready evidence. The regulated-industry posture serves as the baseline, not an upgrade tier.

Engagement models

Three engagement models cover most enterprise needs. Most clients start with a fixed-fee accelerator and grow into a full program or a managed-services retainer.

  • Fixed-fee accelerators — Copilot Readiness, Security Hardening, Tenant Health Check, SharePoint Migration, Teams Governance. Defined scope and a fixed price stated in the proposal; four to twelve weeks.
  • Project engagements — full migration or governance program with milestone-based billing. Discovery through hypercare. Scoped after discovery; three to nine months.
  • Managed services — tiered retainer for ongoing operations. Named senior architect on the account. From $3,500 per month with a twelve-month minimum.

Talk to a senior architect

30-minute discovery call. No pitch deck. Call (888) 381-9725 or schedule a discovery call and a senior architect responds within one business day.

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