Configure on-demand billing for Spark in Microsoft Fabric

On-demand billing for Spark provides serverless, pay-as-you-go compute for Spark workloads in Microsoft Fabric. When you enable it, Spark jobs no longer consume shared Fabric capacity.

This article explains how to enable on-demand billing for a Fabric capacity and configure the maximum Capacity Unit (CU) limit.

Requirements

  • Capacity: Supported only for Fabric F-SKUs (F2 and above). Not supported on P-SKUs or Fabric trial capacities.
  • Role: You must be a Fabric Capacity Administrator.

Important

Enabling, disabling, or reducing the Maximum Capacity Units setting cancels active Spark jobs that are currently running under on-demand billing.

Configure on-demand billing

  1. Open the Fabric Admin portal.

  2. Under Governance and insights, select Admin portal.

  3. Select Capacity settings, then open the Fabric Capacity tab.

  4. Select the capacity you want to configure.

  5. In Capacity settings, scroll to On-demand Billing for Fabric Spark.

  6. Turn on On-demand Billing.

  7. Use the slider to set Maximum Capacity Units (CU) for Spark jobs.

    Screenshot showing the On-demand billing toggle and CU slider in capacity settings.

  8. Select Apply.

The maximum CU value available on the slider depends on your approved Azure quota and subscription type.

Note

After you save the setting, Spark pools can use the CU quota defined by on-demand billing.

Resize and reset capacity for cost optimization

After you enable on-demand billing, consider downsizing your Fabric capacity if Spark workloads no longer use reserved capacity.

  1. Go to the Azure portal.
  2. Search for and select your Fabric capacity.
  3. Select Pause.
  4. Wait about 5 minutes, then select Resume.
  5. Resize to a lower SKU that fits remaining workloads (for example, Power BI, Data Warehouse, Real-Time Intelligence, and Databases).

Note

Only Azure administrators can resize SKUs, and that change is done in Azure portal.

Monitor billing and usage

After you enable on-demand billing, monitor your spend in Azure Cost Analysis:

  1. Go to the Azure portal.

  2. Select the Subscription linked to your Fabric capacity.

  3. Open Cost Analysis.

  4. Filter by the Fabric capacity resource.

  5. Select meter On-demand for Spark Capacity Usage CU.

  6. Review Spark compute spend.

    Screenshot showing Spark usage tracking in Azure Cost Analysis.

Request additional quotas

If your workloads need a higher CU limit, submit a quota increase request:

  1. Go to the Azure portal and sign in.

  2. Search for Azure Quotas.

  3. Select Microsoft Fabric.

  4. Choose the subscription associated with your Fabric capacity.

  5. Enter the new CU limit.

  6. Submit the request.

    Graphic showing how to request a higher Fabric quota in Azure Quotas.

After approval, the updated CU limit is applied to your capacity.