A FinOps professional’s guide to updated spend-based CUDs

Optimizing cloud spend is one of the most rewarding aspects of FinOps — and committed use discounts (CUDs) remain one of the most effective levers to pull.

In July 2025, we began rolling out updates to the spend-based CUD model to make it easier to understand your costs and savings, expand coverage to new SKUs (including Cloud Run and H3/M-series VMs), and offer increased flexibility. These changes are now available to all customers. Let’s dive into how this new model simplifies your FinOps practice.

1. What is the spend-based CUD data change all about? 

The most important shift is the move from a credit-based system to a direct discounted price model using consumption models.

Under the old credits model, you committed to an hourly on-demand amount. To find your savings (the actual cost reduction realized), you had to use three different numbers: the full on-demand cost, the commitment fee, and the offsetting credit.

1. The old math: 

1. $10.00 (On-demand) + $5.50 (Commitment fee) – $10.00 (Credit) = $5.50 (Net Cost)

2. Savings = $10.00 (On-demand) – $5.50 (Net costs) = $4.50

With the new direct discount model, you don’t need to do that math to calculate your net costs. You commit directly to the net, discounted spend amount. Your usage is simply billed at that discounted rate.

2. The new math: 

1. $5.50 (Discounted costs)
2. Savings = $10.00 (On-demand) – $5.50 (Discounted costs) = $4.50  

You can now see your net cost at a glance, and calculating the savings only requires comparing the on-demand price ($10.00) to your new discounted cost ($5.50), which equals $4.50/hr.

2. How do I validate my savings before and after the changes?  

The unified CUD Analysis tool is your best resource for auditing the migration or performing deep-dives on your spend. CUD Analysis for the new spend-based CUD model allows you to quickly verify the savings you are getting with the new model, and you can use this tool to compare that the savings didn’t change between the old and the new model. 

You can validate your savings by following these steps:

1. Identify the date when the migration took place; you can see the migration date in the billing overview page.