GuideCloud · 6 min
We need to lower our AWS, Google or Azure bill. How do we get better terms?
Negotiate private pricing and reserved instances from your real workload, inside a far larger spend than yours alone. You don't need to wait for a renewal.
The Clectiv team ·
Negotiating alone with AWS, Azure or Google, you're one customer. Through Clectiv and our partner network, your spend sits inside a much larger one, and your negotiating power goes up. The conversation can start now.
How do we get better terms from AWS, Azure or Google?#
By negotiating as part of something bigger than your own account. Go to AWS, Azure or Google directly and you're one customer. Through Clectiv and our partner network, you buy into a much larger spend, across thousands of customers, and your negotiating power goes up.
Clectiv helps negotiate three things, at no cost to you:
- Private pricing agreements. A discount on what you use, in return for committing to spend a set amount over a term. AWS calls it a Private Pricing Agreement, and Microsoft calls its version an Azure consumption commitment.
- Price-support agreements. The pricing terms negotiated alongside that commitment.
- Cost optimization. Run by providers whose whole business is managing and maintaining an optimized cloud footprint.
Here are some of our providers that do it. Rackspace runs AWS, Azure and Google Cloud for customers and sells cloud cost optimization, RapidScale runs all three, and Thrive runs AWS and Azure. Clectiv AI runs the process for you and helps evaluate which ones fit: start a project.
Before you call anyone#
Your bill goes into Clectiv AI before your cloud rep hears you want a better price. Then Clectiv AI runs the process, the providers that fit compete with bids of their own, and you choose. Call your rep first and you're back to being one customer, negotiating alone.
How big should our commitment be?#
Big enough for what you really run, and no bigger. Clectiv helps you understand your workload first: what's active, what's spiking, and what's sitting idle. Then the negotiation starts from that, not from a forecast.
| Leak | What it is |
|---|---|
| Idle resources | Servers and storage nobody uses anymore |
| Oversized servers | Machines bigger than the work needs |
| Steady work at the flexible rate | Always-on workloads paid at the pay-as-you-go price |
| Data leaving | Fees for moving data out of the cloud |
Two kinds of commitment get sized from that picture. Reserved instances are a discount for promising to run specific servers for a term, and a private pricing agreement covers what you spend across the account.
Map both with Clectiv AI, so the same capacity isn't paid for twice.
Spend less than you promised and you typically pay the difference anyway. That's the trap. Undercommit and you leave discount on the table, and overcommit and you write a check for nothing.
Tools show you the leak, and a contract changes the rate. FinOps tools find waste. They don't change what each unit costs, so the plan sizes the purchase to what's left after the cleanup.
When should we start?#
Now. These conversations don't have to wait for a renewal or a milestone.
Most of the companies we see aren't on reserved instances or a private pricing agreement at all. With no commitment in place, there's nothing to wait for. We can help find savings in as little as 30 days.
That's a road we've traveled. Clectiv AI runs the process we've run for other customers, so you start where they finished. It takes the plan straight to these providers for the best pricing, terms and contract we can get.
Already on a commit? Then the end date sets the deadline, and the earlier the work starts, the more room you have to move. The plan asks the rest, from what counts toward the commit to what happens if you miss.
Common questions#
Can we lower our cloud bill without moving off AWS, Azure or Google?#
What is a private pricing agreement?#
What happens if we spend less than our commit?#
Do we have to wait for our renewal to negotiate?#
Is this a FinOps service?#
How does Clectiv AI get this done?#
Begin in Clectiv AI. Tell it which clouds you're on and what you spend. It scopes your workload with you and writes your plan: what's active, what's spiking, what the spend is doing, and what has to change.
Then the Clectiv team takes your plan to the cloud and managed-service providers that fit, all at once, through our partner network of 620+ providers. The bids come back side by side as the providers compete, the team pushes on terms, and you choose.
Others have been here before you. Clectiv AI runs the process we've run for them, so you start where they finished. Clectiv assists with private pricing agreements, reserved instances and overall optimization, so your workload is optimized now and stays that way.
It's free to you, and you have answers in days, not months. The rest of what we source in cloud is on the cloud page.
If some of what you run is on VMware, read how to get VMware licensing under control without replatforming.
Sources and method. No prices or discount levels appear in this guide; they're set account by account. Program names are the cloud providers' own. The 30-day timing and the partner network's reach are Clectiv's own experience. Provider names are examples of who does this work, from Clectiv's provider directory.
- AWS, Private Pricing Agreement (the program formerly called the Enterprise Discount Program, EDP)
- Microsoft, Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC)