About the retirement of general-purpose v1 (GPv1) storage accounts

Azure storage is retiring the general-purpose v1 (GPv1) storage account type. This article explains why the change is occurring, what it means for your workloads, and how to prepare for the transition to general-purpose v2 (GPv2) accounts.

Reasons for retiring GPv1

GPv1 was introduced to support early Azure storage scenarios across Blobs, Tables, Queues, and Files. However, GPv2 has since become the default standard for storage accounts, offering broader feature support, improved consistency, and better performance.

By retiring GPv1, Azure can simplify the platform, eliminate legacy metering inconsistencies, and ensure all customers benefit from modern capabilities and pricing models.

Differences between GPv1 and GPv2

Feature	GPv1	GPv2
Blob tiering (hot/cool/archive)	❌	✅
Lifecycle management	❌	✅
Immutable blob storage	❌	✅
Event Grid integration	Limited	✅
Regionally consistent pricing meters	❌	✅
ZRS and advanced redundancy	Limited	✅

GPv2 supports all capabilities of GPv1 and adds several enhancements, including cost optimization and richer management tools.

Retirement timeline and key milestones

Warning

If you do not migrate your general-purpose v1 storage account to GPv2 by October 2026, all existing general-purpose v1 accounts will be auto migrated over to a GPv2 account, which may result in higher billing costs. Your decision not to migrate an existing general-purpose v1 account will be construed as consent for Microsoft to migrate the account on your behalf.

Date	Milestone
September 2025	Retirement announced
September 2026	Creation of new GPv1 Storage accounts disabled
October 2026	Full retirement; Any remaining GPv1 Storage accounts will be automigrated to GPv2. Your decision not to migrate an existing GPv1 account will be construed as consent for Microsoft to migrate the account on your behalf.

The retirement takes effect globally across all Azure regions.

Pricing considerations when upgrading to GPv2

Warning

Upgrading from general-purpose v1 (GPv1) to general-purpose v2 (GPv2) introduces a new pricing model that may increase costs for certain workloads especially those with high read, write, or list operations.

However, GPv2 also unlocks modern features such as access tiers and expanded redundancy options, which can reduce per-GB storage costs and improve performance, scalability, and manageability.

Be aware that transaction pricing differs in GPv2. Workloads with frequent operations may incur higher charges unless cost-optimization strategies are applied.

Note

Converting a storage account from GPv1 to GPv2 changes how Blob Storage is billed, but it does not impact pricing for Azure Files or Azure Disks. These services use their own pricing models, which aren’t tied to the storage account type.

Estimate costs before upgrading

Before you upgrade, estimate the billing impact either by using the open-source cost estimator or by modeling your costs manually.

Tip

If your workload is read, write, or list heavy, reduce transaction counts by batching operations, writing larger blocks, and scoping list operations. GPv2 also provides better cost-optimization tools, such as data tiering. Make sure cold data isn't left in the hot tier.

Use the cost estimator

Microsoft provides an open-source GPv1 to GPv2 Cost Estimator that helps you understand the potential billing impact of migrating your storage accounts. Use it to:

• Compare estimated costs between GPv1 and GPv2 based on your current usage.
• Upload billing data (CSV) to model real-world scenarios.
• Understand how capacity, transactions, and access tiers affect pricing.
• Export results to share with stakeholders.

Because the tool is open source, you can review the code, run it locally, or adapt it to your own needs.

Note

The estimator uses publicly available pricing and doesn't include contract-specific discounts, taxes, or reservations. Actual costs might vary.

Estimate costs manually

To model the cost impact yourself:

1. Capture a baseline of monthly operations by type (read, write, list/metadata) and any egress.
2. Use the Azure pricing page to compare per-GB and per-operation rates for your region, redundancy (LRS/ZRS/GRS/GZRS), and intended access tier (hot/cool/cold/archive).
3. Map data to the right tiers and include early-deletion minimums for cool/cold/archive.
4. Plan lifecycle policies (for example, move from hot → cool after 30 days of no access, then archive later) and factor in their transaction effects.
5. Compare your current GPv1 bill to the modeled GPv2 bill (with tiers and lifecycle rules).

Important facts about the upgrade process

• The upgrade is in-place and requires no downtime; it changes the account kind in Azure Resource Manager.
• Upgrading to GPv2 is permanent.
• Set your default access tier (hot or cool) during the upgrade to avoid unintended charges. For details, see upgrade to general purpose v2 (GPv2).
• The upgrade is non-disruptive; your data and endpoints remain the same.

Preparing for the migration

Tip

Most workloads can migrate from GPv1 to GPv2 without code changes.

To minimize risk and ensure a smooth migration:

1. Inventory your accounts: Use Azure Resource Graph, CLI, Azure Inventory, or the Portal to identify all GPv1 accounts.
2. Evaluate workloads: Review applications using GPv1 and verify compatibility with GPv2.
3. Plan for pricing changes: Understand the new GPv2 pricing model, which includes per-blob tiering and transaction costs. Use the Azure pricing calculator to estimate costs based on your usage patterns.
4. Upgrade accounts: Use the Azure portal, CLI, or automation tools to upgrade from GPv1 to GPv2. Learn more about the upgrade process.
5. Validate behavior: Confirm that workloads continue functioning and that billing reflects expected changes post-upgrade.
6. Monitor usage: After migration, keep an eye on your storage account metrics to identify any unexpected changes in usage patterns or costs.
7. Review automation and deployment artifacts: If you manage storage accounts with infrastructure-as-code tools, deployment pipelines, templates, modules, scripts, or policies, review those artifacts as part of your migration planning. Make sure they reflect the post-migration GPv2 configuration and preserve existing account settings such as networking, security, redundancy, access tier, encryption, identity, data protection, and tags. Stale deployment artifacts might cause validation or deployment failures, or introduce unintended configuration changes. As with any configuration change, validate updates in a non-production environment or through your normal change-review process before applying them to production.

Tip

To migrate general-purpose v1 accounts to general-purpose v2 accounts, use the deployIfDoesNotExist Azure Policy. This policy detects and identifies any general-purpose v1 accounts and enables you to perform a non-disruptive, in-place upgrade of those accounts.

A sample policy is available here: general-purpose v1 Azure policy

Azure Resource Graph - Example Query

Azure Resource Graph is a powerful tool for exploring and querying your Azure resources at scale. You can use it to identify all General Purpose v1 (GPv1) and legacy Blob storage accounts in your environment and assess their configurations. This helps you plan your migration to GPv2 more effectively.

Here’s an example Azure Resource Graph query to identify all General Purpose v1 (GPv1) storage accounts (kind Storage) and legacy Blob storage accounts (kind BlobStorage) within your subscription that are impacted by the retirement:

Resources
| where type == "microsoft.storage/storageaccounts"
| where sku.name in~ ("Standard_LRS", "Standard_GRS", "Standard_ZRS", "Standard_RAGRS", "Standard_RAGZRS")
| where kind != "StorageV2"
| extend Version = tostring(properties.siteProperties.propertiesid)
| project name, type, tenantId, kind, location, resourceGroup, subscriptionId, managedBy, sku, plan, properties, tags, identity, zones, extendedLocation, Version

Note

This query identifies both GPv1 accounts (kind Storage) and legacy blob storage accounts (kind BlobStorage) regardless of redundancy. Since both account types are being retired, be sure to review and include all affected accounts in your migration plan.

What happens if you don’t migrate by the deadline

Warning

If you do not migrate your GPv1 storage account to GPv2 by October, 2026, all existing GPv1 accounts will be auto migrated over to a GPv2 account, which may result in higher billing costs. Your decision not to migrate an existing GPv1 account will be construed as consent for Microsoft to migrate the account on your behalf.

Where to get help and support

If you have questions, get answers from community experts in Microsoft Q&A.

If your organization or company has partnered with Microsoft or works with Microsoft representatives, such as cloud solution architects (CSAs) or customer success account managers (CSAMs), contact them for additional resources for migration.

If you have a support plan and you need technical help, create a support request in the Azure portal:

1. Search for Help + support in the Azure portal.
2. Select Create a support request.
3. For Summary, type a description of your issue.
4. For Issue type, select Technical.
5. For Subscription, select your subscription.
6. For Service, select My services.
7. For Service type, select Storage Account Management.
8. For Resource, select the resource you want to migrate.
9. For Problem type, select Upgrade or change account type, tier or replication.
10. For Problem subtype, select Upgrade to general purpose v2 storage account..
11. Select Next, then follow the instructions to submit your support request.

Need help?

Learn more about related features and how to migrate:

• Upgrade a storage account to GPv2
• Storage account overview
• Azure Storage pricing