How to Resize Azure Virtual Machines

calendar Jun 23, 2025 · 1 min read · azure vm resize cloud beginner-guide  ·
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Resizing an Azure Virtual Machine (VM) allows you to adjust the size (CPU, Memory, Disk) of the VM as your application needs change — for cost optimization, performance scaling, or seasonal traffic.

In this guide, we’ll walk through how to resize an Azure VM in 2025 using both the Azure Portal and CLI.

Why Resize VMs?

  • Scale Up: Handle more traffic or workload
  • Scale Down: Reduce costs for low-traffic periods
  • Change Type: Move to different series (ex: from DSv2 to B series for dev/test)

Pre-requisites

  • Azure Subscription
  • Owner / Contributor permissions on the VM
  • VM must be in a Stopped (Deallocated) state to resize

Resize via Azure Portal

1️ Navigate to Virtual Machines
2️ Select your VM
3️ Click Size under the “Settings” section
4️ Select a new size (you will see estimated cost/month)
5️ Click Resize

If the current hardware cluster doesn’t support the target size, you must stop (deallocate) the VM first.

Resize via Azure CLI

# Stop and deallocate the VM
az vm deallocate --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM

# Resize the VM (example: Standard_DS3_v2)
az vm resize --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM --size Standard_DS3_v2

# Start the VM
az vm start --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM