Cloudshot: Identify, Analyze, and Save on AWS, Azure, and GCP Expenses Effortlessly

Steps:

1. Navigate to the 'Cloudshot' Menu.
2. Select the 'Cost Optimization' option.

Let's get Started:

Step 1: Connect your cloud accounts

Before optimizing costs, you will need to connect your cloud provider accounts to Cloudshot:

• Navigate to the 'Cost Optimization' dashboard.
• Under 'Cloud Accounts' select the dropdown menu to view your accounts.
• If any accounts show connection issues (expired credentials, permission changes, etc.), use the 'Reconnect Account' button shown in the Action column. 
• The 'Reconnect Account' button provides a quick way to re-establish these connections without needing to set up the integration from scratch.
• After addressing connection issues, click on 'Recheck Status' to verify all connections are now active.
• Once connected, verify that all your accounts show as 'Connected' on the Account Status table.

Step 2: Set up tag filters

Tags are essential for cost allocation and management:

• Locate the 'Tag Filters' section.
• In this case, we've selected 'env: prod' from the tag filters, which means we are specifically focusing on production environment resources.
• This helps us target our cost optimization efforts on business-critical workloads first.
• You can add more filters using the 'Add Tag Filter' button if you need to narrow down your analysis further.

Step 3: Generate Cost Optimization Report

After setting up your accounts and filters:

• Click the 'Generate Report' button in the bottom right
• Wait for the system to analyze your cloud infrastructure
• Review identified cost-saving opportunities

Step 4: Review Analysis Logs

• After generating your report, you can check the logs by clicking on the chat bubble icon in the top right corner to see what happened during the analysis. 
• The logs will show you if the analysis completed successfully for each account. 
• If there are any errors, you will need to fix before getting recommendations for those platforms.
• You can also download the PDF report of cost optimization and share it with your team for collaborative review and planning.

Step 5: Review Cost Optimization Summary

After generating your report, you will see a comprehensive cost optimization summary that shows your potential savings. In this case, the system has identified an estimated annual savings of $5,743.20 based on 12 recommendations across 9 resources. The savings are broken down into three categories:

• Delete Resources: $1,003.20/year by removing idle or unused resources

• Resize Resources: $2,040.00/year by rightsizing underutilized instances

• Optimize Resources: $2,700.00/year through various efficiency improvements

Step 6: Apply Recommendations

When you are ready to implement these savings, you can click the 'Apply All Recommendations' button. This will prompt a confirmation dialog that summarizes the actions to be taken:

• Deleting 4 idle resources

• Resizing 3 underutilized resources

• Optimizing 5 resources for better efficiency

• The system provides important warnings to review all recommendations carefully before confirming, as these changes cannot be reverted once applied. You will need to click 'Confirm Optimizations' to proceed with implementing the cost-saving measures.

Step 7: Detailed Cost Analysis Dashboard

The dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of your cloud resources and optimization opportunities. Here's what you can see:

• Total Current Cost: $613.60 for your cloud resources

• Potential Savings: $358.60 that can be realized through optimization

• Resource Status:

  • 6 Idle Resources that aren't being utilized

  • 7 Underutilized Resources that could be downsized

  • 9 Total Resources being analyzed

  • 0% Resource Efficiency indicating significant room for improvement

• The bottom section shows 'Recommendations by Type' with a bar chart breaking down the specific actions needed.
• You can filter these recommendations using the tabs at the top (All, Delete, Resize, Optimize) to focus on specific types of cost-saving measures. 
• This visualization helps you understand where your cloud spending inefficiencies are and prioritize which optimizations to implement first.

• Now you can filter your recommendations by resource type using the dropdown menu (currently set to 'All'). 
• This view shows you which cloud resources—like NAT Gateways, Load Balancers, Elastic IPs, and EBS Volumes—could be optimized. 
• You will see each resource’s current monthly cost and potential savings, making it easy to decide where you can trim costs without sacrificing performance.

• Here, you can see Cloudshot’s specific recommendations for each resource based on its usage. Take this idle EC2 instance, for example—it’s flagged as Underutilized due to low CPU usage. 
• Cloudshot suggests either downgrading the instance type to save on costs or terminating it entirely if you no longer need it.
• The panel also shows you exactly how much you could save each month by taking these actions. This way, you can make an informed decision about whether to keep, resize, or remove underused resources.

💡 Pro Tip:

Keep an eye on your cloud resources across AWS, Azure, GCP, and more. Regularly reviewing your allocations—from VMs and Elastic IPs to NAT Gateways and other components—helps you identify unused assets and reduce costs.

Take Control Today:

With Cloudshot’s unified dashboard, you can effortlessly monitor and optimize your cloud spending across all platforms. Track resource usage, spot idle assets, and turn potential waste into real savings—all in one place.

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