Rateplane operating guide

Use Rateplane to compare normalized cloud pricing, connect billing data, govern budgets, review forecasts, allocate spend, and export cost data for operating reviews.

Know what works before and after setup

Rateplane separates public pricing research from connected-account workflows, integration-required work, configured controls, admin-only operations, and partial or future-facing features. Use the product map when you need buyer-facing boundaries for what works before and after setup.

Up and running in 3 steps

Core workflows

Jump directly to the workflow you need for a pricing, budget, or spend review.

Pricing catalog

The catalog is the core of Rateplane. It normalizes pricing data from AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, Linode, and Vultr into a single table with consistent column names, units, and currency so you can make apples-to-apples comparisons without switching between three different pricing pages.

Browsing and filtering

Columns you'll see

Exporting to CSV

Any filtered view can be exported as a CSV file. Click the Export CSV button in the toolbar. The export respects active filters and endpoint limits.

Instance detail page

Click any instance row to open the detail page. It shows all price variants (on-demand, spot, all reserved terms), specs, architecture, network, storage info, and provider/source context where available. From there you can add the instance to a compare board or create a price alert.

Side-by-side comparison

The compare board lets you pin selected offers and view specs and prices side by side across providers, regions, or price types.

How to compare instances

1. 1Browse the catalog and click the checkbox on any instance row to add it to the compare tray.
2. 2Repeat for the offers you want to evaluate. You can mix AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, Linode, and Vultr freely.
3. 3Click Open compare board or navigate to Dashboard → Compare.
4. 4Use the board to review specs, on-demand, spot, and reserved prices, and choose the best fit.
5. 5Save the board with a name — it persists in your workspace and can be shared with team members.

Pricing calculator

The pricing calculator lets you build a multi-cloud stack — combine multiple instances, regions, and price types to estimate a total monthly and yearly cost.

Building a stack

1. 1Navigate to Dashboard → Calculator.
2. 2Click Add instance and search for the instance type you want.
3. 3Set the quantity, region, price type (on-demand / spot / reserved 1yr / 3yr), and hours per month.
4. 4Repeat for each instance or service tier in your workload.
5. 5The summary panel shows total monthly cost, yearly cost, and a per-line breakdown.
6. 6Export the stack to CSV for sharing with finance or your team.

Price alerts

Price alerts send you an email whenever the on-demand or spot price of any instance crosses a threshold you set. They're evaluated once per hour.

Creating an alert

1. 1Open an instance detail page (click any row in the catalog).
2. 2Click Set price alert in the action bar.
3. 3Choose the price type (on-demand or spot), condition (below / above), and your target price in USD/hr.
4. 4Enter the email address to notify — it doesn't need to be your account email.
5. 5Save. You'll receive a confirmation email immediately.

Managing alerts

All your active and triggered alerts are listed under Dashboard → Alerts. You can toggle alerts on/off without deleting them, or delete alerts you no longer need. Triggered alerts show the event history including the price at the time of trigger.

Monthly budgets

Budgets let you set a monthly spend cap per cloud provider and receive an email when your actual spend approaches that threshold. They require a connected cloud account so actual spend data can be read.

Creating a budget

1. 1Make sure you have at least one cloud account connected (Dashboard → Cloud accounts).
2. 2Navigate to Dashboard → Budgets and click New budget.
3. 3Select the provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and the month.
4. 4Set the budget amount in USD.
5. 5Set the alert threshold — e.g. 80% means you'll be notified when spend reaches 80% of the budget.
6. 6Add a notification email address and save.

Saved filters

Saved filters let you bookmark any catalog view — provider, region, family, vCPU/memory range, price type, and expression — as a named snapshot you can revisit with one click.

Saving a view

1. 1Set up your filters in the catalog (provider, region, sliders, expression bar).
2. 2Click Save filter in the toolbar and give it a name (e.g. "AWS GPU us-east-1 under $2").
3. 3The filter appears in Dashboard → Saved filters.
4. 4Click any saved filter to restore the catalog to that view.
5. 5Use the share icon to generate a permalink — anyone with the link can view the same filtered catalog, no login required.

Expression filter syntax

The expression bar sits below the main filter row and accepts SQL-like tokens to narrow the catalog with precision. Tokens are applied in addition to any active dropdowns.

Syntax reference

Examples

vcpu>=8 memory<=32 price<0.5

provider:AWS gpu>=1

arch:arm vcpu>=4

family:memory region:us-east price<1

Connecting cloud accounts

Connecting a cloud billing account unlocks spend analytics for trends, service breakdowns, budget tracking, forecasts, allocation, and optimization review. Connections are read-only; Rateplane never provisions or modifies cloud resources.

Supported providers

Security model

Spend analytics suite

After successful billing, usage, or resource syncs, the following dashboards have workspace-specific data.

Cost optimization signals

The Optimization dashboard surfaces reviewable cost-reduction opportunities derived from connected spend, resource signals, and catalog benchmarks.

REST API & API keys

The Rateplane REST API lets you query the pricing catalog, export data, and manage alerts programmatically. API keys are available on Team, Business, and Enterprise plans.

Creating an API key

1. 1Navigate to Dashboard → API Keys.
2. 2Click New API key and give it a descriptive name (e.g. "CI pipeline", "Grafana datasource").
3. 3Copy the key immediately — it is shown only once and hashed on save.
4. 4Use the key by adding it as a Bearer token in your requests.

Authenticating requests

curl "https://rateplane.com/api/instances?provider=AWS&minVcpus=8" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rp_live_your_api_key_here"

Team & workspace management

Rateplane is workspace-based. Everything — saved filters, compare boards, cloud accounts, budgets, alerts — belongs to the workspace. Team members share access to workspace resources based on their role.

Inviting team members

1. 1Navigate to Dashboard → Team.
2. 2Click Invite member and enter their email address.
3. 3They receive an invite link. When they accept, they join your workspace.
4. 4Assign roles: Member (read access) or Admin (full access including billing and account connections).

Workspace settings

Under Dashboard → Settings you can change the workspace name, configure notification channels (email, webhook), manage billing, and open the billing portal to view invoices or update payment details.

Plans at a glance

Catalog data & freshness

More resources