In this article, we'll explore the challenges of monitoring costs when using more than one cloud provider, comparing the traditional method (checking each cloud service provider individually) with the streamlined approach offered by Tailwarden. Managing expenses across multiple cloud service providers (CSPs) can be complex and time-consuming, but it's essential for keeping your overall cloud costs under control.
CSPs: A complex and fragmented process
Monitoring costs across multiple cloud providers involves significant effort and lacks a unified solution. Here’s how you typically have to do it:
Check Costs on Each CSP Individually
Log in to each cloud service provider's management console (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
Navigate to the billing or cost management section for each provider.
Use Each Provider's Cost Explorer
For AWS, go to Cost Explorer.
For Azure, use Cost Management + Billing.
For Google Cloud, check out the Billing Reports.
Download Cost Reports
Export cost reports from each provider’s cost management tool.
Typically, you’ll download these reports in CSV or Excel format.
Consolidate Data Manually
Open each downloaded report in Excel or a similar spreadsheet application.
Manually consolidate the data from different CSPs into a single sheet to get an overview of your total costs.
Analyze the Consolidated Data
Perform your analysis on the combined data set to understand your total cloud spend.
This process is time-consuming and prone to errors, especially as your cloud environment grows. And forget about tags.
Note: This method is cumbersome and does not provide a real-time overview of your cloud costs across different providers.
Tailwarden: making your life easy
Video Tutorial
For a step-by-step guide, watch our video tutorial where we demonstrate how easy it is to monitor costs across multiple cloud providers using Tailwarden.
Conclusion
Monitoring costs across multiple cloud providers without a unified tool is complex and inefficient. You need to manually check each CSP’s cost explorer, download reports, and consolidate the data yourself. This process is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors. Tailwarden, on the other hand, offers a straightforward solution that simplifies monitoring costs across multiple cloud providers, saving you time and effort. Stay tuned for more articles comparing AWS and Tailwarden to help you manage your DevOps tasks more efficiently!