Committed use discount recommender

The committed use discount (CUD) recommender helps you optimize the resource costs of the projects in your Cloud Billing account. CUD recommendations are generated automatically using a formula that analyzes historical and recent usage metrics gathered by Cloud Billing, and includes usage covered by existing commitments. You can apply these recommendations to purchase additional commitments and further optimize your Google Cloud costs.

Recommendations are available for resource-based commitments for Compute Engine, and spend-based commitments for eligible products, including Compute Engine flexible commitments.

Refer to the guides on this page to learn about the following tasks:

For more information about the Recommender service, see the Recommender overview.

Warning:

Before applying and purchasing the recommended commitments, ensure that the commitments are assessed by a reviewer. The reviewer should have the knowledge to assess usage patterns identified in recommendations, as well as impacts specific to your infrastructure and business.

The reviewer should understand the following about commitments:

Committed use discounts apply only to the specific resources in scope for the commitment you are purchasing.
When you purchase a commitment, you agree to pay the applicable monthly fees for the term of the commitment. These monthly fees cannot be cancelled, and apply regardless of actual usage. Learn more
Before purchasing the recommeded commitments, review the Google Cloud Service Specific Terms for Pricing and Billing, regarding Committed Units.

Understand commitment recommendations

Committed use discount recommendations let you identify spending and usage patterns in your Google Cloud projects. Your spending patterns generate recommendations for spend-based commitments, including Compute Engine flexible commitments, and your usage patterns on Compute Engine generate recommendations for resource-based commitments. The recommendations for resource-based commitments also account for your use of custom machine types on Compute Engine. Purchasing the recommended commitments helps you optimize your Google Cloud costs.

Permissions

Admin roles and viewer roles include the permissions that are required to view and update recommendations. If you are using custom roles, you must update the custom role to include the following individual permissions.

Permissions that are required to view recommendations

To view spend-based committed use discount recommendations:

recommender.spendBasedCommitmentRecommendations.get
recommender.spendBasedCommitmentRecommendations.list
recommender.spendBasedCommitmentInsights.get
recommender.spendBasedCommitmentInsights.list
recommender.spendBasedCommitmentRecommenderConfig.get

To view resource-based committed use discount recommendations:

recommender.usageCommitmentRecommendations.get
recommender.commitmentUtilizationInsights.get
recommender.usageCommitmentRecommendations.list
recommender.commitmentUtilizationInsights.list

Permissions that are required to modify recommendations

To modify spend-based committed use discount recommendations:

recommender.spendBasedCommitmentRecommendations.update
recommender.spendBasedCommitmentInsights.update
recommender.spendBasedCommitmentRecommenderConfig.update

To modify resource-based committed use discount recommendations:

recommender.usageCommitmentRecommendations.update
recommender.commitmentUtilizationInsights.update

Grant permissions

Assign the following roles for spend-based commitments and resource-based commitments where your Cloud Billing account is opted in for discount sharing:

To view recommendations only, assign the Billing Account Viewer (roles/billing.viewer) role.
To view and modify recommendations, assign the Billing Account Administrator (roles/billing.admin) role.

Learn how to assign these roles to manage access to a Cloud Billing account

If you have not opted in for discount sharing for resource-based commitments, you need to assign different IAM roles. They must be assigned for each project in your Cloud Billing account that has purchased committed use discounts:

To view recommendations only, assign the Viewer (roles/viewer) role to the projects.
To view and modify recommendations, assign the Owner (roles/owner) or Editor (roles/editor) role to the projects.

Learn how to assign these roles to manage access to projects

View recommendations

There are different ways to view your committed use discount recommendations.

You can view all of your commitment recommendations in the Cost Recommendations dashboard, located in the Recommendations Hub in the Google Cloud console. These recommendations include new commitments for regions in which you don't currently have any, as well as additional commitments for regions where you have already purchased some.

To view only the additional recommendations in regions with existing commitments, navigate to the Billing section of the Google Cloud console and view the Committed use discounts page or the CUD analysis report.

To view the details of an individual commitment recommendation, access its recommendation summary card. The summary card is available in the Cost Recommendations dashboard located in the Commitments Recommendations Hub, and in the Committed use discounts page or the CUD analysis report located in the Billing section of the Google Cloud console.

To view the committed use discount recommendations for your Cloud Billing account, do one of the following:

To view	Instructions
To view all cost recommendations, including new commitment and additional commitment recommendations, access the Recommendations Hub.	Sign in to the Google Cloud console. To view the Recommendations Hub, from the Google Cloud console home page, select the Recommendations tab. You can also navigate to the Recommendations Hub from anywhere in the Google Cloud console by opening the Navigation menu , then selecting Cloud overview > Recommendations. To view the Cost Recommendations dashboard, in the Save with Committed Use Discounts section, click View all. To view the summary card for a recommendation, find the row of the recommendation to view, then click the estimated savings link in the Est. savings column. You can change the sort order of the rows by clicking on a column header. Use the Rows per page setting at the bottom of the table to change the number of rows returned per page.
To view a list of existing commitments for a Cloud Billing account, including additional commitment recommendations, access the Committed use discounts (CUDs) dashboard located in the Billing section of the Google Cloud console.	Sign in to your Cloud Billing account in the Google Cloud console. At the prompt, choose the Cloud Billing account for which you'd like to view your existing commitments. The Cloud Billing Overview page opens for the selected billing account. From the Billing navigation menu, select Committed use discounts (CUDs). To view additional commitment recommendations for your existing commitments, look for the Recommendations column (you might need to scroll your dashboard to the right). If there is an additional commitment recommendation for a Commitment type, the potential savings are displayed in the Recommendations column for the commitment type row. For example, SAVE $97.10/MO. To view the summary card for an additional commitment recommendation, in the Recommendations column, click the estimated savings for the commitment row. Alternatively, you can view recommendations for a specific commitment type in the CUD analysis report. To view the analysis report of a commitment, including any recommendations for that commitment, select View analysis on the row of the commitment type you want to view. Learn more about viewing recommendations using the CUD analysis report. You can also navigate to the Recommendations Hub from the Committed use discounts (CUDs) page by clicking Recommendations.
To view an individual analysis of each existing commitment that includes estimated savings in a recommendation banner, access the CUD analysis report located in the Billing section of the Google Cloud console.	Sign in to your Cloud Billing account in the Google Cloud console. At the prompt, choose the Cloud Billing account for which you'd like to view the CUD analysis report. The Cloud Billing Overview page opens for the selected billing account. From the Billing navigation menu, select CUD analysis. To view the detailed analysis for an individual commitment, from the Commitment type list, select the commitment. By default, the commitment type selector is configured to list your different types of existing spend-based commitments. From the list, select a spend-based commitment type to view its Committed use discounts analysis page. To view the CUD analysis page for a resource-based commitment, from the Commitment type list, select Resource-based commitments to switch the list of commitment types and populate the list with your existing resource-based commitments. Then, from the re-populated Commitment type list, select the resource-based commitment to view its Committed use discounts analysis page. On the Committed use discounts analysis page for the selected Commitment type look for a recommendation banner that displays the estimated savings for the commitment type. For example, Save an estimated $247.46/mo. with an additional commitment.. If you don't see any estimated savings for the commitment type, expand the Commitment types list and select a different commitment type to view. To open the summary card for the commitment recommendation, do the following: For spend-based commitment types (and also for resource-based commitment types that have a single recommendation), from the recommendation banner, click View details. The commitment recommendation summary card opens. For resource-based commitment types, the estimated savings displayed in the recommendation banner might represent more than one new and/or additional commitment recommendation. To view a list of the recommendations for the selected resource-based commitment, from the recommendation banner, click View recommendations. The Cost recommendations page opens in the Recommendations Hub, filtered to list all of the commitment recommendations for the selected commitment type. To view the summary card for a recommendation, find the row of the recommendation to view, then click the estimated savings value in the Est. savings column. You can also navigate to the Recommendations Hub from the CUD analysis page by clicking Recommendations.

To view

Instructions

To view all cost recommendations, including new commitment and additional commitment recommendations, access the Recommendations Hub.

Sign in to the Google Cloud console.
To view the Recommendations Hub, from the Google Cloud console home page, select the Recommendations tab.
You can also navigate to the Recommendations Hub from anywhere in the Google Cloud console by opening the Navigation menu , then selecting Cloud overview > Recommendations.
To view the Cost Recommendations dashboard, in the Save with Committed Use Discounts section, click View all.
To view the summary card for a recommendation, find the row of the recommendation to view, then click the estimated savings link in the Est. savings column.
You can change the sort order of the rows by clicking on a column header. Use the Rows per page setting at the bottom of the table to change the number of rows returned per page.

To view a list of existing commitments for a Cloud Billing account, including additional commitment recommendations, access the Committed use discounts (CUDs) dashboard located in the Billing section of the Google Cloud console.

Sign in to your Cloud Billing account in the Google Cloud console.
At the prompt, choose the Cloud Billing account for which you'd like to view your existing commitments. The Cloud Billing Overview page opens for the selected billing account.
From the Billing navigation menu, select Committed use discounts (CUDs).
To view additional commitment recommendations for your existing commitments, look for the Recommendations column (you might need to scroll your dashboard to the right). If there is an additional commitment recommendation for a Commitment type, the potential savings are displayed in the Recommendations column for the commitment type row. For example, SAVE $97.10/MO.
To view the summary card for an additional commitment recommendation, in the Recommendations column, click the estimated savings for the commitment row.
Alternatively, you can view recommendations for a specific commitment type in the CUD analysis report. To view the analysis report of a commitment, including any recommendations for that commitment, select View analysis on the row of the commitment type you want to view. Learn more about viewing recommendations using the CUD analysis report.

You can also navigate to the Recommendations Hub from the Committed use discounts (CUDs) page by clicking Recommendations.

To view an individual analysis of each existing commitment that includes estimated savings in a recommendation banner, access the CUD analysis report located in the Billing section of the Google Cloud console.

Sign in to your Cloud Billing account in the Google Cloud console.
At the prompt, choose the Cloud Billing account for which you'd like to view the CUD analysis report. The Cloud Billing Overview page opens for the selected billing account.
From the Billing navigation menu, select CUD analysis.
To view the detailed analysis for an individual commitment, from the Commitment type list, select the commitment.
By default, the commitment type selector is configured to list your different types of existing spend-based commitments. From the list, select a spend-based commitment type to view its Committed use discounts analysis page.

To view the CUD analysis page for a resource-based commitment, from the Commitment type list, select Resource-based commitments to switch the list of commitment types and populate the list with your existing resource-based commitments. Then, from the re-populated Commitment type list, select the resource-based commitment to view its Committed use discounts analysis page.
On the Committed use discounts analysis page for the selected Commitment type look for a recommendation banner that displays the estimated savings for the commitment type. For example, Save an estimated $247.46/mo. with an additional commitment..
If you don't see any estimated savings for the commitment type, expand the Commitment types list and select a different commitment type to view.
To open the summary card for the commitment recommendation, do the following:
- For spend-based commitment types (and also for resource-based commitment types that have a single recommendation), from the recommendation banner, click View details. The commitment recommendation summary card opens.
- For resource-based commitment types, the estimated savings displayed in the recommendation banner might represent more than one new and/or additional commitment recommendation.
  1. To view a list of the recommendations for the selected resource-based commitment, from the recommendation banner, click View recommendations.
    The Cost recommendations page opens in the Recommendations Hub, filtered to list all of the commitment recommendations for the selected commitment type.
  2. To view the summary card for a recommendation, find the row of the recommendation to view, then click the estimated savings value in the Est. savings column.

You can also navigate to the Recommendations Hub from the CUD analysis page by clicking Recommendations.

Configure CUD recommendation settings

To customize your CUD recommendations, configure your recommendation settings:

Go to the Committed use discounts (CUDs) page in the Billing section of the Google Cloud console.
Select Configure recommendations
Enter your preferred coverage threshold as a percentage. If the coverage threshold is less than the default 100%, the recommender produces only "optimal" recommendations.
Choose your preferred commitment term duration(s).
View your recommendations by visiting the Recommendations page.

Note: Your configuration settings are applied within one business day.

Understand recommendation summary cards

The following is an example of a recommendation summary card with the associated chart that explains how the recommendation is derived. At a high level, the recommendation is based on your resource utilization, and the chart shows you the level of utilization at which you'll save costs by signing up for a commitment.

To estimate the resource utilization at which you'll break even on your costs, subtract the CUD discount percentage from 100. For example, if you get a recommendation for a 1-year Cloud SQL CUD with a discount of 25%, the resource utilization at which you'll break even is 100% - 25% = 75%.

To understand the estimate, consider Cloud SQL usage of $100 at list price. If your Cloud SQL instances run at 100% uptime, and you sign up for a 1-year spend-based CUD at a 25% discount, you'll pay $100 - (25% of $100) = $75 for your usage.

If the uptime for your Cloud SQL instances reduces to 80%, your list price is $80, but with a commitment, you'd pay $75 for your usage, which still gives you a ($80 - $75) / $80 = 0.0625 or a 6.25% discount on the list price.

Similarly, at 75% uptime, your costs are the same as if you were paying the list price, and at less than 75% uptime, you no longer save money by signing up for a commitment.

Example of a committed use discounts recommendation summary card.

The summary card displays the following:

Recommendation Details

Recommended CUD - Describes the type of CUD in scope on this recommendation (resource-based CUD or spend-based CUD). Click Help to see an explanation for your recommendation.
Commitment duration - Lets you choose the length of the commitment term, either 1 year or 3 years. Depending on the duration you choose, you might get a different Recommended CUD, because the discount for 3-year commitments is typically higher than 1-year commitments.
Resource type - Displays the resource applicable to the recommendation.
Usage covered - Shows the usage threshold that the recommendation is targeting based on your configuration settings.
Region - Displays the region hosting the resources.

CUD Cost & savings

Estimated monthly cost - Displays your monthly costs for purchasing the commitment, and the percentage of savings on your usage costs compared to costs calculated at the on-demand rates. This cost is the commitment fee charge that you see in your bill.
Billing duration - Displays the frequency and duration you are billed the Estimated monthly cost for this commitment. For example, Monthly for 3 years.
Estimated monthly savings - Displays your monthly savings.
Savings scoped to - Displays the Cloud Billing account ID or the project, depending on the type of commitment recommended to purchase (resource-based CUD or spend-based CUD).

Recommendation Illustration

The bar chart reflects your usage over the last 30 days and your existing, active commitments. The chart displays the following, depending on your Recommended CUD and Resource Type:

Usage at on-demand price - The eligible usage that is not being targeted by the recommendation.
Usage covered by this recommended CUD purchase - The usage that will be covered and earn a committed use discount if you purchase the recommended commitement.
Usage covered by existing spend-based CUD - The usage that is covered by your current spend-based commitments.
Usage covered by existing flexible CUD - The usage that is covered by your current flexible commitments.
Usage covered by existing resource-based CUD - The usage that is covered by your current resource-based commitments.

Apply and purchase recommendations

Recommendations for spend-based and resource-based commitments are purchased by accepting them from the summary card. To access the recommendations summary cards, see viewing recommendations.

When viewing the recommendations summary card for spend-based or resource-based commitments, select Review and purchase to apply the recommendation and start the purchase process.

Review and purchase recommendations

While viewing your commitment recommendations, access the summary card for the recommendation you'd like to purchase and proceed as follows:

Select your Commitment duration. Toggle between 1-year and 3-years to see your potential savings for each term.
Select the Usage covered. Toggle between Cover optimal usage to maximize savings and Cover lowest usage to see the estimated savings for each option.
To begin the purchase process for the commitment recommendation, click Review and purchase at the bottom of the card.
- For spend-based commitment recommendations, review the pre-populated fields in the Purchase a committed use discount form for accuracy.
  
  If your Cloud Billing account is billed in non-USD currency, your cost and savings estimates are displayed in both USD and your local currency.
  
  Learn more about spend-based commitments, including Compute Engine flexible commitments
- For resource-based commitment recommendations, you complete the purchase in the Compute Engine section of the Google Cloud console, using the Purchase a committed use discount form.
  
  You might be prompted to select a project. This is the project where the commitments are purchased. Ensure that the Compute Engine API is enabled in the selected project, and that you have sufficient permissions on the project to purchase resource-based commitments.
  
  The fields in the Purchase form are pre-populated based on the recommendation. Review the fields for accuracy, and update any values as needed.
  
  Learn more about resource-based commitments for Compute Engine
To complete the purchase process, after reviewing the pre-populated fields in the Purchase Commitment form for accuracy, click Purchase.

Dismiss recommendations

To no longer see a particular recommendation, you can dismiss it. This prevents all users from seeing the recommendation in the Cost Recommendations dashboard, Committed use discounts dashboard, or the CUD analysis report.

To dismiss recommendations in the Cost Recommendations report, select the recommendation in the list and click Dismiss.

To dismiss a recommendation while viewing its summary card, select Dismiss at the bottom of the card.

Restore dismissed recommendations

You can restore dismissed recommendations in your Recommendation Hub History.

View the history of your recommendations.
To view commitment recommendations that have been dismissed, click the Dismissed tab.
Select the commitment recommendation to be restored, then click Restore.

View history of recommendations

To view the history of commitment recommendations applied (purchased) and dismissed, do the following:

From the Google Cloud console Navigation menu , select Cloud overview > Recommendations. Or select the Recommendations tab from the Google Cloud console home page.
Click schedule History.
- To view commitment recommendations that have been applied to your account, click the Applied tab.
- To view commitment recommendations that have been dismissed, click the Dismissed tab.