The pricing for Azure SQL Data Warehouse (SQL DW) consists of a compute charge and a storage charge. For compute, it is not based on hardware configuration but rather by data warehouse units (DWU). DWU can be scaled up or down via a sliding bar in just a couple of minutes with no down time. You pay for DWU blocks, based on up time (you can pause your SQL DW database and not have to pay for compute while paused). When paused, storage is still available and can be used by other resources.
You must pay for storage, even when paused, but there is no limit to the amount of data you can put into storage.
Below is some examples of the compute pricing based in the East US region. This is preview pricing and will increase when SQL DW becomes generally available. The pricing comes from the Azure pricing calculator:
SQL Data Warehouse, 100 DWU, $521/month
SQL Data Warehouse, 500 DWU, $2,604/month
SQL Data Warehouse, 1000 DWU, $5,208/month
SQL Data Warehouse, 1500 DWU, $7,812/month
SQL Data Warehouse, 2000 DWU, $10,416/month
New data warehouses in most regions will use Premium Disk storage. New data warehouses in Brazil South, US North Central, India West, Japan, Australia, and Europe North will continue to use Standard Disk storage. While SQL DW remains in preview, all data warehouses (regardless of whether they use Premium or Standard disk storage) will continue to be charged at Standard Disk RA-GRS rates. Below is some examples of the storage pricing based in the East US region:
SQL Data Warehouse, RA-GRS Page Blob, 1TB = $122/month
SQL Data Warehouse, RA-GRS Page Blob, 10TB = $1,044/month
SQL Data Warehouse, RA-GRS Page Blob, 100TB = $9,748/month
SQL Data Warehouse, RA-GRS Page Blob, 1PB = $87,572/month
Storage transactions are not billed; customers only pay for data stored, not storage transactions. Inbound data transfers are free. Outbound data transfers are charged at regular data transfer rates.
More info:
Understanding Windows Azure Storage Billing – Bandwidth, Transactions, and Capacity
Understand your bill for Microsoft Azure