Check RDS instance utilization and storage choices
Review Amazon RDS billing usage types separately so compute, storage, IOPS, backup, and deployment-related charges are not mistaken for database load.
BASH5 min read
Cloud cost guides
Find answers to common questions about cloud and AI costs.
22 guides
Measure AI cost per successful business outcome
Connect model, retry, evaluation, and supporting-service costs to a quality-qualified business result instead of reporting cost per token alone.
Steps7 min read
Review low-use SageMaker endpoints and notebook instances
Inventory running SageMaker endpoints and notebook instances, then review CloudWatch workload signals before requesting any capacity change.
Steps6 min read
Compare model quality and cost with a repeatable evaluation
Choose a model with the same task set, quality gates, latency measures, usage records, retry policy, and applicable provider pricing.
Steps7 min read
Budget for AI search and tool-call costs
Separate model, grounding, search, session, and provisioned-capacity assumptions so AI workflow budgets remain traceable to provider billing.
Steps6 min read
Compare GPU reservation cost with actual useful work
Compare commitment cost, provider-reported utilization, GPU activity, and locally defined output before changing reserved GPU capacity.
Steps6 min read
Compare AI token prices without mixing token types
Compare Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock, and Vertex AI pricing without blending input, output, cached, batch, and provisioned capacity.
Steps7 min read
Avoid double-counting cloud network charges
Reconcile transfer, processing, gateway, load balancer, and CDN lines by billing function and traffic path, not matching byte totals.
Steps7 min read
Avoid buying cloud commitments from a single busy week
Review historical demand, benefit scope, recent purchases, workload changes, coverage, and utilization before approving a cloud commitment.
Steps6 min read
Compare EC2 Reserved Instances and Savings Plans
Choose an EC2 commitment by matching workload stability, flexibility and capacity needs to official AWS rules.
Steps6 min read
Inspect CloudFront request and transfer charges
Trace CloudFront request volume, viewer transfer, cache misses and pricing-plan coverage before changing a distribution.
Steps5 min read
Review Transit Gateway and inter-AZ transfer costs
Inventory Transit Gateway attachments, measure directional traffic, and keep attachment, processing, and transfer charges distinct.
BASH7 min read
Reduce Athena scan costs with documented query controls
Measure Athena bytes scanned, require partition filters, set workgroup controls, and reuse eligible results without hiding limitations.
SQL6 min read
Compare DynamoDB on-demand and provisioned capacity
Choose a DynamoDB capacity mode by comparing traffic stability, consumed units, provisioned capacity, throttling, indexes, and request assumptions.
Steps6 min read
Separate AWS Savings Plans utilization from coverage
Use read-only Cost Explorer requests to compare commitment use with eligible usage coverage before investigating workload fit or buying more.
BASH5 min read
Investigate a cloud bill increase systematically
Trace a cloud bill increase through comparable periods, provider-native cost views, SKU pricing, usage, credits, and allocation checks.
Steps7 min read
Find oversized Lambda memory and execution time
Compare Lambda REPORT-log memory use with duration and errors before testing a different memory setting.
Steps5 min read
Handle currency in multi-cloud cost reports
Keep billing, pricing, and reporting currencies explicit so exchange-rate movement is not mistaken for a change in cloud usage.
Steps6 min read
Review Fargate CPU and memory allocations
Review requested Fargate resources, duration, ephemeral storage, and architecture against AWS pricing dimensions before sizing changes.
Steps5 min read
Review EBS volumes in available status
Use a read-only AWS CLI inventory to review EBS volumes in available status, then check ownership and retention before any deletion decision.
BASH5 min read
Read FOCUS billed cost versus effective cost for GPU spend
Compare FOCUS BilledCost and EffectiveCost for GPU-oriented analysis, while checking invoice timing, charge timing, currency, service identity, and commitment treatment.
Steps6 min read
Check tag and label allocation readiness across three clouds
Assess Azure, AWS, and GCP metadata controls separately before deciding whether approved billing exports support a comparable allocation percentage.
Steps5 min read