Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is CloudSpend?
CloudSpend is a SaaS-based cloud cost management solution that helps organizations gain a comprehensive understanding of their cloud infrastructure costs.
2. Who should use CloudSpend?
Everyone from developers, IT admins, financial analysts, to CIOs can leverage CloudSpend to dive deep into their cost data and identify trends and cost drivers.
3. Who can access CloudSpend console?
CloudSpend leverages the existing ManageEngine and Zoho organization user roles to manage access. Currently, the apps shortcut icon would only be available to the Super Admin and Admin (both Site24x7 roles). If you're running a Site24x7-MSP account, then you need to be the MSP Admin to gain access to the CloudSpend console.
4. How CloudSpend collects AWS spend data?
CloudSpend leverages the Amazon S3 APIs to download the AWS Cost and Usage Report CSV file(s) from the specified Amazon S3 bucket. Once done, it parses the individual line items-unique combination of AWS service, usage type, and estimated charges to build the various views in the dashboard.
5. How frequently does CloudSpend check for updates in your billing data?
CloudSpend will continuously check for new updates and additions to the billing data every 1 hour. So, you get to view the most up to date information.
6. How long does it take for CloudSpend to collect billing data?
For cloud accounts with a small footprint, it would take anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes for CloudSpend to parse current month and previous months billing data. For larger cloud accounts it could even take up to 24 hrs.
7. How far back can I access historical data for AWS Cost and Usage Reports (CURs) or Data Exports?
In AWS, the CUR file will keep a record of all months since it has been activated. However, if you just recently activated the report (in the last nine days), then it will only have the current month's data in it.
8. Can CloudSpend extract the CUR or Data Export data deleted in AWS?
If the CUR or Data Export data is deleted in AWS, CloudSpend cannot extract that data from AWS. CloudSpend can only fetch data from the active reports in AWS.
9. How CloudSpend pricing works?
CloudSpend pricing is based on tiers. Each tier specifies unit costs for defined amounts of monthly cloud bill. As your bill increases you cross into new pricing tiers that offer lower units costs.
Given below is the updated pricing for CloudSpend. This update will be applicable to new customers. Existing customers will continue to be billed under their current pricing plan.
| Tier (Cloud Bill) | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Upto $3,000/month | Free |
| Above $3,000/month | 1% of cloud bill (billed monthly) |
CloudSpend aggregates charges across all integrated cost accounts thus enabling faster access to lower priced tiers. As each month begins, the estimated charges are reset to zero.
Pricing example
Let's assume you have integrated three individual standalone cloud accounts - Project 1, Project 2 and Project 3 with CloudSpend. We calculate the monthly CloudSpend costs as follows:
| March | April |
|---|---|
| Project 1: $650.42 | Project 1: $1,384.71 |
| Project 2: $726.89 | Project 2: $1,700.11 |
| Project 3: $1,000.21 | Project 3: $2,492.72 |
| Total aggregate charges: $2,377.52 ($650.42 + $726.89 + $1,000.21) | Total aggregate charges: $5,577.54 ( $1,384.71 + $1,700.11 + $2,492.72) |
| CloudSpend costs: Free ($2,377.52 < $3,000) | CloudSpend costs: (5,577.54 - 3000) * 0.01 = $25.77 |