CloudAct.ai is an AI-native FinOps platform that gives engineering and finance teams unified visibility into GenAI, cloud, and SaaS costs. It connects to AWS, Azure, GCP, OpenAI, Anthropic, and 50+ other providers to track spending in real-time. Plans start at $19/month with a 14-day free trial.

How does CloudAct track GenAI and LLM costs?

CloudAct tracks token-level usage and costs across all major GenAI providers: OpenAI (GPT-4, GPT-4o, o1, o3), Anthropic (Claude 4, Claude 3.5), Google Gemini, AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, and DeepSeek. It shows input/output token costs, per-model breakdowns, prompt vs completion cost splits, and usage trends by team or project.

How much does OpenAI cost and how can I track it?

OpenAI pricing varies by model — GPT-4o costs $2.50-$10 per million tokens, o1 costs $15-$60 per million tokens. CloudAct.ai connects to the OpenAI API to track every token, showing per-model costs, daily trends, and team-level breakdowns. It helps teams typically save 20-35% by optimizing model selection and reducing unnecessary API calls.

What cloud providers does CloudAct support for cost tracking?

CloudAct supports all major cloud providers: AWS (Amazon Web Services) via Cost & Usage Reports, Microsoft Azure via Cost Management API, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) via BigQuery billing export, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) via Cost Analysis API. All billing data is converted to the FOCUS 1.3 standard for unified cross-provider analysis.

Can CloudAct track SaaS subscription costs?

Yes. CloudAct tracks recurring SaaS subscription costs including Slack, Canva, Figma, ChatGPT Plus, and any custom SaaS tool. It provides per-seat cost analysis, renewal tracking, license utilization monitoring, and vendor consolidation recommendations to eliminate waste.

How does CloudAct help reduce cloud and AI costs?

CloudAct uses ELSA, an AI-powered FinOps copilot, to detect anomalies, recommend optimizations, and forecast spending. For GenAI, it helps optimize model selection (e.g., switching from GPT-4 to GPT-4o-mini for simple tasks). For cloud, it tracks Reserved Instance utilization and identifies idle resources. Teams typically save 20-35% within 90 days.

What is ELSA, the AI FinOps Copilot?

ELSA (Enterprise Logical Spending Analyst) is CloudAct's built-in AI assistant. You can ask ELSA cost questions in natural language like 'What did we spend on OpenAI last month?' and it generates dashboards, detects spending anomalies, and recommends optimizations — all using your real organizational data with full audit trails.

How much does CloudAct cost?

CloudAct offers three plans: Starter at $19/month (2 seats, 3 providers), Professional at $69/month (6 seats, 6 providers), and Scale at $199/month (11 seats, 10 providers). All plans include a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Visit cloudact.ai/pricing for full details.

How long does it take to set up CloudAct?

Most teams connect their first integration in under 5 minutes. The full onboarding process — connecting all cloud, GenAI, and SaaS accounts — typically takes less than 30 minutes with the guided setup wizard. No engineering resources required.

Does CloudAct support multi-currency for international teams?

Yes. CloudAct supports 20 currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, INR, JPY, and more) with automatic daily exchange rate updates and 16 timezones. Each organization can set their preferred display currency, and all cost data is automatically converted for consistent reporting across global teams.

Cloud Costs

Track and analyze your organization's cloud infrastructure costs across all major cloud providers with detailed breakdowns by service, region, and resource.

Supported Providers

Provider	Data Source	Services Tracked	Data Delay
AWS	Cost and Usage Reports (CUR)	200+ services	24-48 hours
Google Cloud	BigQuery Billing Export	100+ services	24 hours
Microsoft Azure	Cost Management API	150+ services	24-48 hours
Oracle Cloud	Usage API	50+ services	24 hours

Cost Metrics

Spending Overview

Metric	Description
Total Cloud Spend	Combined spending across all cloud providers
By Provider	Breakdown by AWS, GCP, Azure, OCI
By Service	Top services by cost (EC2, BigQuery, etc.)
By Region	Costs grouped by cloud region
By Resource	Individual resource costs (when available)

Cost Types

Cost Type	Description
On-Demand	Pay-as-you-go usage
Reserved	Pre-purchased capacity (RI, Savings Plans)
Spot/Preemptible	Discounted interruptible capacity
Committed Use	Contracted committed usage discounts
Credits	Applied credits and promotions
Tax	Tax charges by region

Trend Metrics

Metric	Description
Daily Average	Average spend per day
Week-over-Week	Change vs same period last week
Month-over-Month	Change vs same period last month
Forecasted	Projected spend based on trends
Budget Status	Progress toward budget (if set)

Dimension	Breakdown
Services	EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, EKS, etc.
Accounts	Linked accounts (Organizations)
Regions	us-east-1, eu-west-1, etc.
Tags	Cost allocation tags
Usage Types	Instance types, storage classes

Google Cloud

Dimension	Breakdown
Services	Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, BigQuery
Projects	GCP projects
Regions	us-central1, europe-west1, etc.
Labels	Resource labels
SKUs	Specific usage SKUs

Azure

Dimension	Breakdown
Services	Virtual Machines, Storage, SQL
Subscriptions	Azure subscriptions
Resource Groups	Logical groupings
Regions	eastus, westeurope, etc.
Tags	Resource tags

Oracle Cloud

Dimension	Breakdown
Services	Compute, Storage, Database
Compartments	OCI compartments
Regions	us-phoenix-1, eu-frankfurt-1
Resources	Individual resources

By Service Category

Category	Services Included
Compute	EC2, Compute Engine, Virtual Machines, OCI Compute
Storage	S3, Cloud Storage, Blob Storage, Object Storage
Database	RDS, Cloud SQL, Azure SQL, Autonomous Database
Networking	VPC, Cloud CDN, Load Balancers, FastConnect
Analytics	BigQuery, Redshift, Synapse, Analytics Cloud
Containers	EKS, GKE, AKS, Container Engine
Serverless	Lambda, Cloud Functions, Azure Functions
AI/ML	SageMaker, Vertex AI, Azure ML

By Cost Allocation Tags

If you use consistent tagging in your cloud accounts:

Tag Category	Example Values
Environment	production, staging, development
Team	platform, data, frontend
Project	website, api, mobile-app
Cost Center	CC-1001, CC-2002
Owner	john@company.com
Application	web-frontend, api-gateway

Apply consistent tags across all cloud providers for unified cost allocation reporting.

FOCUS 1.3 Standard

CloudAct normalizes all cloud costs to the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS) 1.3:

Benefits

Benefit	Description
Unified Schema	Same structure across all providers
Comparable Costs	Apples-to-apples comparison
Consistent Naming	Standardized service categories
Extensible	Custom fields for hierarchy

FOCUS Fields

Field	Description	Example
`BilledCost`	Actual billed amount	$125.50
`EffectiveCost`	Cost after discounts	$100.00
`ListCost`	List/retail pricing	$150.00
`AmortizedCost`	RI/SP spread over term	$95.00
`ProviderName`	Cloud provider	AWS
`ServiceName`	Specific service	Amazon EC2
`ServiceCategory`	Service type	Compute
`ResourceId`	Resource identifier	i-0abc123
`Region`	Geographic region	us-east-1
`AvailabilityZone`	Specific zone	us-east-1a
`UsageDate`	Date of usage	2024-01-15
`ChargeType`	Type of charge	Usage

Reserved Capacity & Savings

Reserved Instance Coverage

Track your RI/Savings Plan utilization:

Metric	Description
Coverage	% of eligible usage covered
Utilization	% of reserved capacity used
Realized Savings	Actual savings from reservations
Potential Savings	Additional savings available
Expiring Soon	Reservations expiring in 30/60/90 days

Savings Analysis

Analysis	Shows
On-Demand vs Reserved	Cost difference if fully on-demand
Spot Savings	Savings from spot/preemptible
Committed Use	Savings from CUDs
Credits Applied	Promotional credits used

Recommendations

CloudAct identifies optimization opportunities:

Recommendation	Description
Purchase RIs	Steady-state workloads suitable for reservation
Modify RIs	RI modifications for better coverage
Increase Spot	Workloads suitable for spot instances
Rightsizing	Oversized instances to downsize
Idle Resources	Resources with zero utilization

Cost Optimization

Optimization Categories

Category	Savings Potential
Rightsizing	10-30% of compute
Reserved Capacity	20-40% of eligible usage
Spot/Preemptible	60-90% for tolerant workloads
Storage Tiering	30-50% of storage
Idle Termination	100% of idle resources
Region Optimization	5-20% for region changes

Identifying Waste

CloudAct highlights:

Idle instances - Running but no CPU/network activity
Unattached storage - Volumes not attached to instances
Old snapshots - Snapshots older than retention policy
Overprovisioned - Resources larger than needed
Unused load balancers - LBs with no traffic
Zombie resources - Orphaned resources

Savings Tracking

Metric	Description
Identified Savings	Total potential savings found
Realized Savings	Actually achieved savings
In Progress	Optimization work underway
Savings Rate	% of identified that's realized

Advanced Analytics

Cost Anomalies

Automatic detection of unusual spending:

Anomaly Type	Detection
Spike	>20% above normal for the period
New Service	Previously unused service appears
Region Change	Significant costs in new region
Usage Surge	Sudden increase in usage

Cost Drivers

Identify what's driving cost changes:

Click on a cost change (e.g., +15%)
View breakdown:
- Which services increased
- Which regions affected
- What time period
- Likely causes

Multi-Cloud Comparison

Compare costs across providers:

Comparison	Shows
Service Map	AWS EC2 vs GCP Compute vs Azure VMs
Region Parity	Same workload, different regions
Trend Alignment	Spending patterns across clouds

Filtering & Export

Available Filters

Filter	Options
Provider	AWS, GCP, Azure, OCI
Service	Any service name
Region	Any region
Account/Project	Specific accounts
Tag/Label	By tag key:value
Cost Type	On-demand, Reserved, Spot
Date Range	Custom or preset

Export Options

Format	Best For
CSV	Detailed analysis in spreadsheets
PDF	Executive summaries

Export includes:

Selected date range
Applied filters
Chosen grouping
All metrics or selected

Troubleshooting

No Data Appearing

Check integration - Verify connection in Integrations
Check billing export - Ensure export is enabled in provider
Wait for delay - Cloud data has 24-48 hour delay
Check date range - Select dates with known spending

Incorrect Amounts

Compare with provider - Check provider's billing console
Check currency - Verify conversion rates
Check filters - Ensure no filters hiding data
Check credits - Credits reduce billed amounts

Missing Services

Check permissions - Ensure billing access for all services
Check regions - Some services are regional
Check accounts - Verify linked account access (AWS Organizations)

Best Practices

1. Tag Everything

Apply consistent tags for cost allocation:

Environment: production
Team: platform
Project: api-gateway
CostCenter: CC-1001
Owner: platform-team@company.com

2. Regular Reviews

Daily: Check for anomalies
Weekly: Review top 10 services
Monthly: Deep dive optimization
Quarterly: RI/Savings Plan review

3. Set Budgets

Define budgets per account/project
Set alerts at 80% and 100%
Review variances monthly

4. Optimize Continuously

Address rightsizing recommendations
Purchase RIs for steady workloads
Use spot for batch/test workloads
Clean up idle resources weekly

Share cost data with teams
Include costs in project planning
Review costs in sprint retrospectives

Cloud Costs

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