April 2025 Summaries

Amazon EKS Extended Support provides a costly option for teams that are unable or do not prioritize upgrading their Kubernetes versions on time. When Kubernetes versions exceed the 14-month standard support window offered by Amazon, which includes regular updates and security fixes, they require extended support from AWS. This extended support includes security patches for the control plane, updates for EKS components, and maintenance for optimized Amazon AMIs, among other services, and incurs a significant fee of $0.60 per cluster per hour, compared to the $0.10 fee for standard support. Extended support lasts for 12 months, after which AWS will automatically upgrade the cluster to a supported version, making it advisable for users to upgrade within the standard support period to avoid extra charges. Users can check their Kubernetes versions using the AWS CLI and identify charges on their bill, with extended support being six times more expensive than standard support.

Vantage has introduced a new Data Export API, enabling users to programmatically retrieve CSV exports of Cost Report data, a feature that was previously only accessible via the Vantage user interface. This development allows developers and finance teams to integrate cost data exports into internal tools or use them for AI model training, addressing the previous limitation of being unable to obtain a complete data dump for large datasets. The API supports both predefined datasets and custom exports through direct API calls with filter criteria, facilitating efficient processing of extensive cost information. The service is available at no cost to all Vantage users, including those on the free tier, and requires authentication via a Vantage API token. The exported data can be accessed and downloaded from a public S3 bucket using a shareable URL, which remains valid until a specified expiration date, with no limit on download frequency before expiration.

Vantage has launched support for Datadog Query Syntax in its Business Metrics, enabling customers to directly use their Datadog queries within Vantage to import metrics and perform Unit Cost calculations in Cost Reports. Previously, users had to deconstruct their Datadog queries to fit Vantage's format, a process that was often cumbersome and time-consuming. With this new integration, customers can use their existing Datadog queries without manual modifications, significantly reducing setup time and ensuring accuracy with the metrics viewed in Datadog. The feature is available at no additional cost, and it supports all standard Datadog metric queries, including those with aggregations and label filters. This enhancement streamlines the process of aligning Datadog metrics with cloud cost data, offering a seamless experience for Vantage users who utilize Datadog for monitoring.

Vantage has introduced API support and CSV export capabilities for Unit Costs, enabling customers to access calculated Unit Costs of Business Metrics from Cost Reports for use outside the Vantage console. Previously, users could view these costs within the console but exporting was not possible, requiring manual calculations using raw business metrics and cost data. The new /unit_costs API endpoint and CSV export allow customers to programmatically retrieve Unit Costs for default or custom date ranges without console interaction, or include them in exported Cost Reports. This feature is available to all users, including those on the free tier, without additional cost, and can be accessed via API tokens for authentication. Comprehensive documentation and resources are provided to assist users in leveraging these new functionalities.

In the complex landscape of multi-cloud management, FinOps tools have become essential for organizations aiming to effectively manage and normalize billing across major cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP. These tools address the challenges posed by disparate billing formats and pricing models by providing a unified view of cloud expenses, thereby serving as a single source of truth for financial accountability. Vantage emerges as a leading platform due to its extensive integration capabilities and comprehensive features that include automated cost allocation, budgeting, and anomaly detection, making it particularly effective for organizations seeking a holistic financial management solution. Other notable platforms include Datadog, which integrates cost management with infrastructure metrics for observability; Harness, which embeds cost management into developer workflows; Kubecost, which specializes in Kubernetes cost allocation; Anodot, which uses machine learning for anomaly detection and forecasting; CoreStack, which combines cost management with governance; and Spot by NetApp, which focuses on infrastructure optimization. Ultimately, selecting the right tool depends on how well it aligns with an organization’s specific needs for normalization, integration, and actionable insights.

Vantage has introduced an open-source, local Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server designed to integrate AI tools with Vantage's cloud cost management capabilities, enabling users to leverage AI for analyzing their cost and usage data. This server facilitates interaction with Large Language Model (LLM) tools and open-source agents, allowing customers to ask natural language questions about their cloud expenses and automate complex analyses. By acting as a standardized interface, the MCP Server connects AI models with isolated data sources, enhancing FinOps workflows without the need for custom code. The Vantage MCP Server version 0.0.1 is currently read-only, offering functionalities such as retrieving cost data, listing cost reports, and identifying cost anomalies. It aims to streamline the process of exposing cloud data to AI agents, improving decision-making and operational efficiency for Vantage users, and is available for free to all Vantage customers, with contributions welcomed via GitHub.

Engineering teams can reduce GPU costs in Kubernetes by implementing strategies such as right-sizing GPU instances, enabling autoscaling, and leveraging sharing methods like time slicing or NVIDIA Multi-instance GPUs (MIGs). Kubernetes simplifies GPU management compared to standalone GPU VMs, offering better cost visibility, workload scaling, and job management. The major cloud providers—AWS, Azure, and GCP—offer different GPU pricing structures, typically based on instance-hour usage, which can lead to over-provisioning and idle capacity without proper cost-saving measures. By selecting appropriately sized instances and utilizing tools like the Vantage Kubernetes agent, teams can better measure GPU memory usage and avoid unnecessary expenses. Additionally, committing to Savings Plans can further decrease costs compared to On-Demand pricing, while sharing strategies allow multiple workloads to efficiently use GPU resources, particularly for smaller models or batch inference jobs.

Vantage has introduced a new feature in its console that allows customers to track Twilio costs and usage alongside other infrastructure providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP, providing a comprehensive overview of application expenses. This integration simplifies the process that previously required manual data retrieval and formatting, by allowing users to connect Twilio accounts using an API key for automated cost ingestion and visualization. With the integration, customers can use expanded filters to create detailed Twilio cost reports by organization, service, or service category, and combine these with other provider costs to receive notifications for anomalies or budget alerts. Available to all Vantage customers, including those on the free tier, the integration does not incur additional costs but may affect existing quota tier limits. Users can manage their Twilio data with ease, and the system updates daily to reflect the most recent usage information.

Vantage has introduced Cost Alerts, a feature that allows users to define custom notifications based on changes in infrastructure costs by using business logic to specify parameters for alerts. This tool lets customers automate alerts for cost changes, determined by either percentage or static value, over various configurable timeframes such as daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Users can apply these alerts to individual or multiple Cost Reports, enabling them to monitor cost variations across dimensions like Service, Region, Account, Resource, or Subcategory. Notifications, which can be sent via email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Jira, also include annotations in the Cost Report for enhanced visibility. The Cost Alerts feature, available at no extra charge to all Vantage users including those on the free tier, supports API and Terraform integration and allows for retroactive alerts if cost data is updated by cloud providers.

Pulumi offers a versatile Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solution that enhances FinOps practices by allowing cloud cost optimization across major providers using familiar programming languages like Python, TypeScript, Java, and more. Unlike Terraform, which uses a domain-specific language, Pulumi supports both declarative and imperative approaches, making it potentially easier for developers to adopt. The tool facilitates the creation and management of cloud infrastructures with features such as state management through Pulumi Cloud and secret encryption. Pulumi's open-source Policy as Code product, CrossGuard, helps enforce best practices in infrastructure creation, and its integration with Vantage supports detailed cloud cost reporting and accountability. The blog illustrates using Pulumi to set up a cost reporting structure for a hypothetical marketing team, demonstrating how to create dashboards that track AWS and Snowflake costs. Pulumi's multi-language support, ease of integration with CI/CD pipelines, and growing community make it a robust option for those looking to automate and optimize their cloud financial operations.

Vantage has introduced Amortization Toggling for Azure Costs, enabling customers to seamlessly switch between actual and amortized cost views within the Vantage console's Cost Reports. This new feature eliminates the previous necessity for dual Azure integrations to view both cost types, allowing users to manage their cost perspectives directly through the Cost Report Settings. Actual costs reflect the direct billing for resource usage, while amortized costs allocate reservation expenses over their usage period. The toggling capability is available at no extra charge to all Vantage customers with an existing Azure integration, simplifying cost management by providing a more streamlined and flexible reporting process.