Optimizing Cloud Costs
Overview
Analyze cloud spending across AWS, GCP, and Azure to identify waste, recommend rightsizing, and generate cost-saving configurations. Covers reserved instances, spot/preemptible workloads, storage tiering, idle resource cleanup, and budget alerting using cloud-native cost management APIs.
Prerequisites
- Cloud provider CLI authenticated with billing/cost-explorer read access
- AWS:
ce:GetCostAndUsage, ec2:DescribeInstances, cloudwatch:GetMetricData permissions
- GCP: Billing Account Viewer and Compute Viewer roles
- Azure: Cost Management Reader role
- Access to current infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation) for rightsizing changes
- At least 30 days of billing data for meaningful analysis
Instructions
- Pull current cost data using cloud cost APIs (
aws ce get-cost-and-usage, gcloud billing budgets list)
- Identify the top 10 cost drivers by service, region, and resource tag
- Detect idle resources: instances with < 5% average CPU over 14 days, unattached EBS volumes, unused Elastic IPs, orphaned snapshots
- Recommend rightsizing: compare instance utilization against available instance types and suggest downsizing
- Evaluate reserved instance or savings plan coverage against on-demand spend; recommend commitments for steady-state workloads
- Identify spot/preemptible candidates: stateless, fault-tolerant workloads (batch jobs, CI runners, dev environments)
- Review storage costs: recommend S3 Intelligent-Tiering, lifecycle policies for infrequent access, or Glacier for archives
- Generate Terraform/IaC changes to implement approved optimizations
- Set up budget alerts with thresholds at 50%, 80%, and 100% of monthly budget
- Create a cost optimization report summarizing findings, savings estimates, and implementation priority
Output
- Cost analysis report with per-service breakdown and savings recommendations
- Terraform/CloudFormation changes for rightsizing and reserved instance purchases
- S3 lifecycle policy configurations for storage tiering
- Budget alert configurations (CloudWatch, GCP Budget, Azure Cost Alerts)
- Cleanup scripts for idle resources (with dry-run mode for safety)
Error Handling
| Error |
Cause |
Solution |
Access Denied on Cost Explorer API |
Missing ce:* IAM permissions |
Attach the AWSBillingReadOnlyAccess managed policy to the IAM user/role |
No billing data available |
Account is too new or cost export not enabled |
Enable Cost Explorer (takes 24h to populate) or set up CUR (Cost and Usage Report) |
Rightsizing recommendation breaks workload |
Instance too small for peak load |
Base sizing on P95 utilization, not average; keep a 20% headroom buffer |
Spot instance terminated mid-job |
Spot capacity reclaimed by provider |
Use spot fleet with diversified instance types and implement checkpointing |
Budget alert not firing |
SNS topic or notification channel misconfigured |
Verify SNS subscription is confirmed and test with a low threshold |
Examples
- "Analyze AWS costs for the last 3 months, identify the top waste areas, and generate a cleanup script for unattached EBS volumes and unused Elastic IPs."
- "Compare on-demand EC2 spend against Savings Plans pricing and recommend 1-year commitments for steady-state workloads."
- "Create S3 lifecycle policies to move objects older than 90 days to Glacier and delete after 365 days across all buckets tagged
env:production."
Resources
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1---2name: jeremylongshore-claude-code-plugins-plus-skills-optimizing-c3description: Optimizing Cloud Costs4---5# Optimizing Cloud Costs67## Overview89Analyze cloud spending across AWS, GCP, and Azure to identify waste, recommend rightsizing, and generate cost-saving configurations. Covers reserved instances, spot/preemptible workloads, storage tiering, idle resource cleanup, and budget alerting using cloud-native cost management APIs.1011## Prerequisites1213- Cloud provider CLI authenticated with billing/cost-explorer read access14- AWS: `ce:GetCostAndUsage`, `ec2:DescribeInstances`, `cloudwatch:GetMetricData` permissions15- GCP: Billing Account Viewer and Compute Viewer roles16- Azure: Cost Management Reader role17- Access to current infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation) for rightsizing changes18- At least 30 days of billing data for meaningful analysis1920## Instructions21221. Pull current cost data using cloud cost APIs (`aws ce get-cost-and-usage`, `gcloud billing budgets list`)232. Identify the top 10 cost drivers by service, region, and resource tag243. Detect idle resources: instances with < 5% average CPU over 14 days, unattached EBS volumes, unused Elastic IPs, orphaned snapshots254. Recommend rightsizing: compare instance utilization against available instance types and suggest downsizing265. Evaluate reserved instance or savings plan coverage against on-demand spend; recommend commitments for steady-state workloads276. Identify spot/preemptible candidates: stateless, fault-tolerant workloads (batch jobs, CI runners, dev environments)287. Review storage costs: recommend S3 Intelligent-Tiering, lifecycle policies for infrequent access, or Glacier for archives298. Generate Terraform/IaC changes to implement approved optimizations309. Set up budget alerts with thresholds at 50%, 80%, and 100% of monthly budget3110. Create a cost optimization report summarizing findings, savings estimates, and implementation priority3233## Output3435- Cost analysis report with per-service breakdown and savings recommendations36- Terraform/CloudFormation changes for rightsizing and reserved instance purchases37- S3 lifecycle policy configurations for storage tiering38- Budget alert configurations (CloudWatch, GCP Budget, Azure Cost Alerts)39- Cleanup scripts for idle resources (with dry-run mode for safety)4041## Error Handling4243| Error | Cause | Solution |44|-------|-------|---------|45| `Access Denied on Cost Explorer API` | Missing `ce:*` IAM permissions | Attach the `AWSBillingReadOnlyAccess` managed policy to the IAM user/role |46| `No billing data available` | Account is too new or cost export not enabled | Enable Cost Explorer (takes 24h to populate) or set up CUR (Cost and Usage Report) |47| `Rightsizing recommendation breaks workload` | Instance too small for peak load | Base sizing on P95 utilization, not average; keep a 20% headroom buffer |48| `Spot instance terminated mid-job` | Spot capacity reclaimed by provider | Use spot fleet with diversified instance types and implement checkpointing |49| `Budget alert not firing` | SNS topic or notification channel misconfigured | Verify SNS subscription is confirmed and test with a low threshold |5051## Examples5253- "Analyze AWS costs for the last 3 months, identify the top waste areas, and generate a cleanup script for unattached EBS volumes and unused Elastic IPs."54- "Compare on-demand EC2 spend against Savings Plans pricing and recommend 1-year commitments for steady-state workloads."55- "Create S3 lifecycle policies to move objects older than 90 days to Glacier and delete after 365 days across all buckets tagged `env:production`."5657## Resources5859- AWS Cost Explorer: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cost-management/latest/userguide/ce-what-is.html60- GCP Cost Management: https://cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets61- Azure Cost Management: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/62- FinOps Foundation: https://www.finops.org/framework/6364---65> Converted and distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io/claim/jeremylongshore) — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.66<!-- tomevault:4.0:skill_md:2026-04-11 -->
