# Overview Cloud Comparisons made simple. ### Introduction Larger cloud customers (with millions in monthly cloud spend, like Coca-Cola, Netflix) work with Cloud providers' strategic accounts teams or technical account teams for pricing estimates that smaller firms do not have access to. They also have access to expensive Cloud consulting firms with extensive experience to help them with their technical evaluations and pricing estimates. Welcome to CloudRunr, your comprehensive Cloud Intelligence platform and pricing calculator. This guide will help you get started with using our tool to make transparent and objective evaluations of AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. ### What is CloudRunr? CloudRunr is a powerful Cloud Intelligence platform that: 1. Automatically fetches monthly usage data from your cloud accounts or ingests an excel with your intended compute usage 2. Supports comparisons between AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud 3. Maps usage to equivalent SKUs across clouds 4. Calculates 'closest-match' cost estimates across all the three Clouds 5. Highlights service gaps and caveats between clouds ### Quick Start Guide 1. Sign up at 2. Connect your AWS account (we use a read-only IAM role) or download the excel template for on-premises usage 3. Review your current usage and costs 4. Explore comparisons with other cloud providers # Our Features ### Cross Cloud Expertise CloudRunr is built and managed by a team of solutions architects have decades of experience working on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud for Fortune 100 customers. Thus CloudRunr provides intelligent mapping of VMs and other services across Clouds, examining their features and technical specifications. This is automated and curated to keep track of new feature and service launches by Cloud providers. Thus, our pricing estimates and technical caveats help customers make the right purchasing decisions. Meant to take the complexity away from cross cloud comparisons, CloudRunr is built for anyone at the company to understand cloud comparisons and pricing estimates. ### And we offer a \*FREE\* 30 day trial CloudRunr offers a FREE trial (fully-featured) for 30 days. To avail this, use coupon code "TRYCLOUDRUNR". # Money back guarantee ### CloudRunr's Money-Back Guarantee At CloudRunr, we stand behind our commitment to delivering accurate and reliable cloud cost optimization reports. If you are ever unsatisfied with the reports generated by our platform, we offer a full refund of the invoiced amount, less any transaction costs. ### Our Refund Policy * If you are unhappy with the reports generated by CloudRunr, you are eligible for a refund of the entire amount paid, excluding transaction costs. * We will waive our service fees in full, regardless of the reason for your refund request. * There are no hidden conditions or fine print associated with this refund policy. ### Why We Offer This Guarantee We believe it is only fair that our customers should not be held responsible for any attempt to optimize their cloud costs through comparisons if CloudRunr fails to deliver on its promise. By offering a money-back guarantee, we demonstrate our confidence in our ability to provide valuable insights and cost savings, while also prioritizing customer satisfaction. ### No-Risk Trial With CloudRunr's refund policy, you can try our platform with confidence, knowing that you have the option to receive a full refund if you are not satisfied with the results. This allows you to explore the benefits of our cloud cost optimization services without any financial risk.
If you have any questions or concerns about our refund policy, please don't hesitate to contact our support team. We are committed to ensuring that our customers receive the best possible experience with CloudRunr. # Getting Started #### Creating an account To create an account, go to app.cloudrunr.co and click on 'sign up'. You will need to sign up with your email. Once you've verified your email, you should be able to explore our product, link your AWS account, and view cloud comparisons, pricing estimates and caveats. Integration with Auth0 is in our roadmap for handling login and changing passwords/email, which will be fully secure. #### Inviting your team In the roadmap (Q4, 2024) #### Deleting your account In the roadmap (Q4, 2024). To delete your account head over to Setting tab on the CloudRunr app > Billing and press the button 'Delete your account' # Step 1 - Connect to AWS In case you are an AWS customer and want to compare with other Azure and Google Cloud. To get started with CloudRunr, you can quickly compare pricing estimates for your workloads across different cloud providers without any engineering effort or financial analysis on your part. Our tool handles the heavy lifting by examining your workloads and comparing services, such as VM types and technical specifications, in real-time as your AWS workload changes. ### Connecting Your AWS Account As the first step, you will need to connect your AWS account to CloudRunr. We adhere to the least privilege principle, which is an AWS security best practice. This means we only request minimal scoped permissions necessary for each action you take. ### Creating the CloudRunr ReadOnly IAM Role The CloudRunr ReadOnly IAM role policy is a pre-defined policy that grants read-only access to your billing information. This policy allows us to perform the following actions on all billing resources: * View billing reports * Access cost and usage reports * Retrieve other billing-related information To connect your AWS account, click the 'Connect AWS' button. This action will direct you to the AWS CloudFormation stack creation page. 1. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. 2. Check the box to proceed with the creation. After a few minutes, while AWS deploys the CloudFormation stack, you will be ready to view your pricing comparisons with other cloud providers using CloudRunr! If you have any questions or need assistance during this process, please reach out to our support team for help at # Step 1a (Alternative) - Upload your On-premises Usage as Excel In case you are on-premises and are evaluating Cloud providers or you are not in a position to connect to your AWS account. To get started with CloudRunr, you can easily compare pricing estimates for your on-premises workloads against various cloud providers without any engineering effort or financial analysis. Our tool will process your input to provide insightful pricing comparisons. ### Download the Server Template Excel file As the first step, navigate to the "On-Premises Usage" section of the CloudRunr platform. Here, you can download the Excel template named **server\_template\_onPrem.xlsx**. This template includes the following fields for you to fill out: * **Server\_Name** * **Region** (e.g., Singapore, Cape Town) * **OS** (e.g., Linux, Windows) * **Count\_CPUs** * **Count\_Mem\_GB** * **SSD\_Storage\_GB** * **ChipsetRequired** (e.g., Intel, AMD, ARM) * **Burstable** * **UsageType** (e.g., On Demand, Spot Instance, Reserved Instance (1 Year), Reserved Instance (3 Years), Compute Savings Plans (1 Year), Compute Savings Plans (3 Years)) * **SpotUsage** (Y/N) * **MonthlyRunningHours** * **NumberOfMachines** * **RegionCity** (e.g., Virginia, London) ### Fill Out the Template Once you have downloaded the template, complete it with the details that reflect your on-premises usage. Make sure to provide accurate information for each field to ensure the best results, especially the block storage (disk storage) required for each server. Please note, you can fill in the NumberOfMachines field to add multiple servers with similar specifications) ### Upload Your Usage Data After filling out the template, return to the CloudRunr platform and browse the completed file, then click the **"Upload On-Premises Usage"** button. This will allow you to upload your completed Excel file. ### Get Your Pricing Comparisons Once your file is uploaded, the CloudRunr tool will process the information and provide you with pricing comparisons against other cloud providers. If you have any questions or need assistance during this process, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team for help. We are here to ensure you have a smooth experience with CloudRunr! # Step 1b (Alternative) - Use VMWare env usage as Excel (RVTools) In case you are using VMWare on-premises and can export the VMWare environment usage using RVTools, you could evaluate Cloud providers using CloudRunr for that usage. To get started with CloudRunr, you can easily compare pricing estimates for your on-premises workloads against various cloud providers without any engineering effort or financial analysis. Our tool will process your input to provide insightful pricing comparisons. ### Download the RVTools Excel Export file As the first step, use RVTools () and run it to export your VMware environment usage details in an excel format. This excel will contain multiple sheets : * **vInfo** * **vCPU** * **vMemory** * **vDisk** * **vPlatform** * **vNetwork** * **vCD etc.** ### Review your RVTools export Once you have downloaded the RVTools export excel with the above sheets, review it to check if the details reflect your VMWare environment's usage. ### Upload Your Usage Data After filling out the template, return to the CloudRunr platform and browse the file, then click the **"Upload"** button after choosing RVTools as the option. This will allow you to upload your completed Excel file. ### Get Your Pricing Comparisons Once your file is uploaded, the CloudRunr tool will process the information and provide you with pricing comparisons against other cloud providers. If you have any questions or need assistance during this process, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team for help. We are here to ensure you have a smooth experience with CloudRunr! # Step 2 - How to read the CloudRunr comparison report The CloudRunr comparison report provides a detailed analysis of cloud service costs across three major providers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This document aims to guide users on how to interpret the various sections of the report effectively. ### Overview of Costs At the top of the report, you will find the total estimated costs for each cloud provider: * **AWS Total Cost**: $X * **Azure Total Cost**: $Y * **GCP Total Cost**: $Z These totals reflect the estimated costs based on the public pricing of each cloud service provider as of the pricing cut-off date (last refreshed by CloudRunr) mentioned in the page. It is important to note that these estimates do not account for any potential discounts or special pricing agreements that may be available. ### Breakdown of Services The report categorizes costs by specific services offered by each provider. Each service is listed with its associated costs, allowing for a direct comparison. For instance: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud - Compute, EC2 - Other etc. This table allows users to quickly identify which provider offers the most competitive pricing for specific services. ### Usage Types The report further distinguishes between different usage types, such as On-Demand, Spot Instances, Reserved Instances, and Savings Plans. Each section outlines the costs associated with various instance types, providing insight into how pricing may vary based on usage patterns. For example, under **On-Demand Usage**, you might see the hourly cost and choice of Virtual Machine across Cloud providers. This breakdown helps users understand the financial implications of different instance types across the providers. ### Storage Costs The report also includes a section on storage costs, detailing both Block Storage (e.g., Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage) and Disk Storage (e.g., AWS EBS, Azure Disk Storage). Each provider's costs are listed, allowing users to evaluate which service offers the best value for storage needs. ### Additional Considerations 1. **Assumptions**: The report mentions several assumptions made during the cost estimations, such as equivalent costs across providers for certain services. Users should consider these assumptions when interpreting the data. 2. **Discounts**: The report notes that additional discounts, special programs, or private pricing agreements are not reflected in the estimates. Users are encouraged to explore these options with their cloud provider for potentially lower costs. 3. **Regional Variations**: Pricing can vary significantly based on the region selected for deployment. Users should consider their geographical requirements when evaluating costs. CloudRunr's choices for regions are listed in the table. Thus the CloudRunr comparison report could be a valuable tool for users looking to assess their cloud service options. By understanding the structure of the report and the various sections, users can make informed decisions that align with their business needs and budget constraints.
# Inviting your team \[Roadmap] \[Roadmap Feature] CloudRunr has a feature in the roadmap that will let you add users to your team as admins or viewers once you've linked your AWS account. Everyone will be added as a 'viewer' by default, i.e., they don't have the permissions to add additional AWS accounts. You can further make them an admin if you need to. If there are any other user-related permissions you need, please email us at [support@c](mailto:support@pump.co)loudrunr.co # Adding additional AWS accounts The ability to add additional AWS accounts is available to you once you have connected to your first AWS account. To add additional accounts, navigate to Dashboard > AWS Usage > Link a new AWS account You'd be required to create another CFN stack, similar to what you had previously created in Step 3 of our onboarding. Once you've done that, you are all set! # Post Linking your AWS account #### ALERT Do NOT delete or modify the CFN stack or IAM role created in the previous onboarding steps to link your AWS account with CloudRunr. The permissions granted here permit CloudRunr to fetch your AWS account usage and RIs and savings plans consumption in real time. Without these permissions, we wouldn't be able to provide you with the comparisons with other cloud providers. # Security & Access [Cross Account Role](https://3501927337-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbrTuT7OrtkEdoDjbVTo5%2Fuploads%2F3gBOzQ2NJA6rLkHt0eVj%2Fcross%20account%20role?alt=media)\ \ [Role Deployment](https://3501927337-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbrTuT7OrtkEdoDjbVTo5%2Fuploads%2FRvMetqLWgVLlfSR5TAzU%2Frole%20deployment?alt=media)\ \ [Ongoing Access](/security-and-access/ongoing-access)\ \ [Access Management](https://3501927337-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbrTuT7OrtkEdoDjbVTo5%2Fuploads%2FtPY36ynv8uCcZ9KP9qLt%2Faccess%20management?alt=media) # Cross Account Role CloudRunr accesses your AWS account via a cross-account role. In line with AWS IAM policy best practices, CloudRunr requests only the least-privilege permissions. This means we limit the actions we can take and the resources to which those actions can be applied. The IAM read only role is used during the initial onboarding step (Step 1). It requires read-only permissions (see the [full list here](https://jemo-speech.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/cloudrunr-readonly.json)) to access historical billing data (via Cost Explorer) and your AWS infrastructure metadata (such as the EC2 instances you are using and whether they are already covered by Compute Savings Plans or Reserved Instances). After ingesting this data, CloudRunr uses them to map them to other Cloud providers and provide estimates. Once a user is fully onboarded, the read-only role is used again to display cost and comparison estimates whenever a new month's usage is requested on the CloudRunr dashboard, helping users compare their current spending with other Cloud providers. ```json [ { "PolicyName": "CloudRunRBillingReadOnly", "PolicyDocument": { "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Action": [ "budgets:Describe*", "budgets:View*", "ce:Get*", "ce:Describe*", "ce:List*", "cur:Describe*", "cur:Get*", "cur:Validate*", "pricing:DescribeServices", "pricing:GetAttributeValues", "pricing:GetProducts", "organizations:Describe*", "organizations:List*", "savingsplans:Describe*", "rds:Describe*", "rds:List*", "elasticache:List*", "elasticache:Describe*", "redshift:Describe*", "es:Describe*", "es:List*", "billing:Get*", "payments:List*", "payments:Get*", "tax:List*", "tax:Get*", "consolidatedbilling:Get*", "consolidatedbilling:List*", "account:GetContactInformation", "invoicing:List*", "invoicing:Get*", "freetier:Get*", "ec2:Describe*", "lambda:Describe*", "ecs:Describe*" ], "Resource": "*", "Effect": "Allow" } ] } } ] ``` Please contact our support team for more information. [support@cloudrunr.co](mailto:support@pump.co) [
](https://help.pump.co/security-and-access) # Role Deployment CloudRunr automates cross-account role deployment using AWS CloudFormation (CFN) and, more specifically, "quick-create links." These links enable CloudRunr to pass a CFN template along with user-specific parameters, such as the cross-account role, external ID, CloudRunr ID etc. Users only need to click the quick-create link and then click "deploy" to have the role deployed to their AWS account. The CFN templates are stored publicly, allowing users to review them before agreeing to the deployment: Read-only role (you can read more about these roles in the previous article, here) During deployment, after role creation, a list of properties is sent to CloudRunr's management account: CloudRunr ID Cross-account role ARN CloudRunr external ID User's account ID These properties are stored in CloudRunr's database. Lastly, we offer manual role deployment for customers who cannot work with CloudFormation. Please contact our support team for more information. # Ongoing Access ### CloudFormation stacks created Do not delete the CloudFormation stacks that were created during the initial onboarding. We use the permissions granted during then that helps us fetch your AWS account usage. If you have any further questions, please contact us at #### # Access Management ### Restricted Access CloudRunr strictly follows AWS security best practices. We limit the cross-account role for use exclusively by CloudRunr's management account with the correct external ID. ### Read-only permissions We also restrict permissions so that CloudRunr can only access your billing data and infrastructure metadata, which excludes any application or user data. Here's an example of the information we extract from your infrastructure metadata: Three m6i.xlarge on-demand instances have been running non-stop over the past month. 1450 GB-month of data was stored and billed for in S3 during the last month. A total of 780 GB-month of Elastic Block Storage gp3 usage was billed for the previous month. Using this data, we can identify equivalent (closest match) instances on Azure and Google Cloud and provide estimates based on the public pricing for the above usage. ### App authentication and authorization CloudRunr uses Auth0 as our authentication platform, which complies with nearly all security certifications, including GDPR, HIPAA, ISO27018, SOC II, ISO27001, and more. You can find additional information [here](https://auth0.com/security). ### Security auditing CloudRunr partners with third-party companies to perform regular penetration testing, identifying potential security risks. We're also currently working towards obtaining SOC II certification. # Multi-account architecture If your company has a multi-account architecture, we recommend connecting CloudRunr first to your management account. CloudRunr fetches the usage of all linked accounts and will provide a an estimate of comparisons with cloud providers. Your management account is your 'root account' that you created your AWS account with, you can also verify this by visiting this [link](https://us-east-1.console.aws.amazon.com/organizations/v2/home/accounts) and seeing which account is designated as 'management account' In case you face any issues with viewing the usage of all accounts in your AWS organisation by connecting to your root account, please contact support. # General FAQ
How does CloudRunr work? CloudRunr maintains an up-to-date database of cloud providers' services and pricing. After connecting your cloud account or uploading your on-premises usage data, CloudRunr maps your usage to target clouds, calculates pricing, and provides estimates along with technical considerations.
What if there's no equivalent service on the target cloud? In cases where the target cloud doesn't offer an equivalent service, CloudRunr provides a technical note about the missing item and uses the pricing from the source or nearest cloud provider for comparison. ###
How do AWS free credits affect estimates? AWS free credits and promotional credits will be shown in the AWS estimates of CloudRunr. The Azure and Google Cloud estimates will (for the sake of an apples-to-apples comparison) assume similar credits of the same amount.
What permissions am I handing off? Our permissions are at the billing layer only. We ask you to join our AWS organization and use only IAM roles and permissions to perform all the required cost optimizations and AWS APIs to enable these savings.
What permissions does CloudRunr require? CloudRunr needs read-only permissions at the billing level. We require an IAM ReadOnly role to fetch data and provide pricing estimates. For more details, refer [this](/security-and-access/cross-account-role).
Is there any risk to my AWS environment? No. CloudRunr has zero ability to modify your cloud environment. There's no touch to your infrastructure, ensuring no server downtime or interruptions to developer workflows.
Is there a minimum or maximum monthly AWS spend requirement? There's no minimum or maximum spend requirement. The platform is free for use if your monthly usage is under $1,000. We work with companies of all sizes across various segments.
How are pricing estimates handled with Enterprise Discount Programs (EDP) or Private Pricing Agreements (PPA)? CloudRunr's AWS billing data includes any EDP or PPA discounts. Azure and GCP estimates are based on public pricing. We're planning to add editable fields for equivalent discounts on Azure and Google Cloud in H1 2025.
How do you account for partial utilization of Reserved Instances or Compute Savings Plans? CloudRunr fetches utilization data from AWS APIs. For comparison, we apply the actual AWS spend on these plans to equivalent offerings in the target cloud, maintaining the same utilization hours to ensure a fair comparison.
Why do some Azure and Google Cloud services show "Assuming the same cost as AWS"? Currently, CloudRunr fully supports pricing for Compute, Block, and Object Storage. For other AWS services, we use equivalent costs in Azure and Google Cloud to provide a comparison basis. We plan to add more services, in H1 2025.
Do you support clouds other than AWS as the source? Not yet, but support for GCP and Azure as source clouds is on our roadmap for H1 2025.
Where can I find answers to additional questions? We're here to help! Email us at for any additional questions or support.