# Mixing Production and Non-Production Applications in the Same App Service Plan

Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/mixing-production-and-non-production-applications-in-the-same-app-service-plan

[Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) 

# Mixing Production and Non-Production Applications in the Same App Service Plan

## Explanation

This inefficiency occurs when production and non-production applications are hosted within the same App Service Plan. Production workloads often require higher availability, performance, or scaling characteristics, driving the plan toward larger or higher-cost SKUs. When non-production workloads share that plan, they inherit the higher cost structure even though their availability and performance requirements are typically much lower, resulting in unnecessary spend.

## Relevant Billing Model

All applications within an App Service Plan share the same SKU and instance cost, regardless of individual workload criticality.

## Detection

- Identify App Service Plans hosting a mix of production and non-production applications

- Review whether non-production workloads are constrained by production-level sizing decisions

- Assess whether environment separation is preventing appropriate right-sizing

## Remediation

- Separate production and non-production applications into different App Service Plans

- Size non-production plans independently using lower-cost SKUs aligned with reduced requirements

- Align App Service Plan design with environment criticality and lifecycle expectations

## Relevant Documentation

[https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/app-service-plan-manage](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/app-service-plan-manage)

[https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/environment/intro](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/environment/intro)

[Submit Feedback](https://hub.pointfive.co/inefficiencies/mixing-production-and-non-production-applications-in-the-same-app-service-plan)

## At a glance

Reference

CER-0283

Cloud provider

Azure

Service

Azure App Service Plans

Category

[Compute](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/compute)

Inefficiency type

Inefficient environment isolation

## Contributed by

- Aaran Bhambra 

### Aaran Bhambra

FinOps Engineer / DevOps Engineer @ WTW

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaran-bhambra/)

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Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.