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AWS Systems Manager now manages your Azure VMs too, and drops the extra fee!

AWS What's New ★★★★ View Markdown
#aws#infrastructure#devops

Hi everyone, it's me! Today's news is about AWS Systems Manager. If you're running a multicloud setup, this one's for you, so let's dive in!

AWS What's New aws.amazon.com

What was announced?

On the AWS What's New page, AWS announced that Systems Manager now supports managing Azure Virtual Machines! By creating a new "Cloud Connector," you can automatically deploy the SSM Agent to your Azure VMs, no more manual agent installs or worrying about per-instance fees.

Once connected, Azure VMs show up right alongside your EC2 instances in a unified view. And familiar Systems Manager tools like Session Manager, Automation runbooks, Run Command, State Manager, Patch Manager, and Inventory now work across both AWS and Azure from a single workflow!

The story so far

Until now, managing non-AWS servers (hybrid and multicloud nodes) through Systems Manager meant signing up for the "Advanced Instances Tier," which charged a per-node fee. On top of that, bringing an Azure VM under management required manually installing the agent.

What changes

With this release, the Advanced Instances Tier is gone entirely! That means you can connect any number of hybrid and multicloud nodes with no upfront per-node fees. For anyone running both AWS and Azure, this lightens both the operational load and the bill!

Dive Deep

There is one pricing detail worth noting. While the upfront per-node fee is gone, starting September 30, 2026, pay-as-you-go pricing kicks in for Session Manager sessions and Run Command invocations on non-EC2 nodes. Think of it as shifting to a pay-for-what-you-use model.

Getting started is simple too: just create a Cloud Connector, and the SSM Agent is automatically deployed to your Azure VMs. Not having to manage agent versions or installations yourself is a nice touch! The feature is available starting today.

Wrap-up

  • AWS Systems Manager now supports managing Azure Virtual Machines
  • Creating a Cloud Connector automatically deploys the SSM Agent
  • The Advanced Instances Tier is gone, so there's no more upfront per-node fee
  • Starting September 30, 2026, non-EC2 nodes move to pay-as-you-go pricing

This update is a great fit if you're already running AWS and Azure together, or planning to bring your hybrid environment under one roof!

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