GCP Cost Optimizer
Quick Start
Analyze GCP costs and implement optimization strategies to reduce spending.
Instructions
Step 1: Analyze current costs
View billing data
gcloud billing accounts list
Export billing data to BigQuery
gcloud billing accounts projects link PROJECT_ID
--billing-account=BILLING_ACCOUNT_ID
Query costs
bq query --use_legacy_sql=false
'SELECT service.description, SUM(cost) as total_cost
FROM project.dataset.gcp_billing_export
WHERE DATE(_PARTITIONTIME) >= DATE_SUB(CURRENT_DATE(), INTERVAL 30 DAY)
GROUP BY service.description
ORDER BY total_cost DESC'
Step 2: Identify optimization opportunities
Committed Use Discounts:
-
1-year or 3-year commitments
-
Up to 57% savings for Compute Engine
-
Up to 70% savings for Cloud SQL
Sustained Use Discounts:
-
Automatic discounts for running instances
-
Up to 30% for instances running >25% of month
Preemptible VMs:
-
Up to 80% savings
-
Suitable for fault-tolerant workloads
Rightsizing:
-
Use Recommender API for suggestions
-
Downsize overprovisioned instances
-
Adjust machine types
Step 3: Implement cost-saving measures
Get rightsizing recommendations
gcloud recommender recommendations list
--project=PROJECT_ID
--location=us-central1
--recommender=google.compute.instance.MachineTypeRecommender
Apply recommendation
gcloud recommender recommendations mark-claimed
RECOMMENDATION_ID
--project=PROJECT_ID
--location=us-central1
--recommender=google.compute.instance.MachineTypeRecommender
Best Practices
-
Enable billing export to BigQuery
-
Set up budget alerts
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Use labels for cost allocation
-
Review Recommender suggestions monthly
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Implement committed use discounts for stable workloads
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Use preemptible VMs for batch processing
-
Clean up unused resources regularly
-
Optimize storage classes