Stay organized with collections
Save and categorize content based on your preferences.
Understanding how cost savings are calculated in recommendations
Overview
Active Assist cost optimization recommendations
help Google Cloud users optimize their cloud deployment cost such as by
identifying waste (idle resources), highlighting over-provisioned resources, and
optimizing pricing models. In each of those cost optimization recommendations,
you can typically find an estimated cost saving amount, if you were to decide
and take the suggested action. This document provides information on how those
cost saving estimates are calculated, based on the contract type you may have
with Google Cloud and your specific role and permissions.
If your Cloud Billing Account is associated with a custom pricing contract
and if you have the
required permissions to view costs and usage,
the cost optimization recommendations that are visible to you will reflect your
custom contract pricing (based on your historical costs) in the cost saving
calculation. Without permissions to see costs and usage, the cost savings
presented in those recommendations will be calculated by using the
list pricing.
Based on your permissions, you will see different values in the PricingType
field.
List
Cost savings calculation is based on list pricing
Custom
Cost savings calculation is based on your custom contract pricing (based on your historical costs)
Pricing in Recommendation Hub
On the Recommendation Hub, when you are scoped to a project and have appropriate permissions, you will see cost savings based on based on your custom contract pricing.
However, if you are scoped to an organization, you won't see custom pricing even if you have appropriate permissions unless you click into the recommendation to view its details.
Permissions required to see cost recommendations with custom contractual pricing
To view your cost recommendations reflecting custom contract pricing (based on
your historical costs), you need a role that includes the following permissions,
depending on the scope of the recommendation.
billing.resourceCosts.get to view costs and usage for a project. This is applicable to recommendations that are scoped at the project level - the vast majority of cost recommendations fall into this category. To gain this permission, ask your administrator to grant you the above permission for the projects you need.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-29 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Understanding how cost savings are calculated in recommendations\n================================================================\n\nOverview\n--------\n\nActive Assist [cost optimization recommendations](/recommender/docs/recommenders)\nhelp Google Cloud users optimize their cloud deployment cost such as by\nidentifying waste (idle resources), highlighting over-provisioned resources, and\noptimizing pricing models. In each of those cost optimization recommendations,\nyou can typically find an estimated cost saving amount, if you were to decide\nand take the suggested action. This document provides information on how those\ncost saving estimates are calculated, based on the contract type you may have\nwith Google Cloud and your specific role and permissions.\n\nIf your Cloud Billing Account is associated with a custom pricing contract\nand if you have the\n[required permissions to view costs and usage](/billing/docs/how-to/pricing-table#full-permissions),\nthe cost optimization recommendations that are visible to you will reflect your\ncustom contract pricing (based on your historical costs) in the cost saving\ncalculation. Without permissions to see costs and usage, the cost savings\npresented in those recommendations will be calculated by using the\n[list pricing](/pricing/list).\n\nThis cost saving calculation methodology applies to all Active Assist\nrecommendations surfaces, [Cloud Console](/cloud-console),\n[BigQuery Export](/recommender/docs/bq-export/export-recommendations-to-bq),\nand [Recommender](/recommender/docs/overview).\n| **Note:** The cost savings calculations in the recommendations, whether based on your historical costs or list pricing, are estimates based on past usage and don't take into consideration credits or any additional discounts. The cost saving estimates are intended to help customers compare and prioritize cost saving recommendations.\n\nFields in the UI, API, BigQuery Export\n--------------------------------------\n\nBased on your permissions, you will see different values in the PricingType\nfield.\n\nPricing in Recommendation Hub\n-----------------------------\n\nOn the Recommendation Hub, when you are scoped to a project and have appropriate permissions, you will see cost savings based on based on your custom contract pricing.\n\nHowever, if you are scoped to an organization, you won't see custom pricing even if you have appropriate permissions unless you click into the recommendation to view its details.\n\nAlternatively, to view custom pricing at an organization view, you can also [export your recommendations to BigQuery](/recommender/docs/bq-export/export-recommendations-to-bq).\n\nPermissions required to see cost recommendations with custom contractual pricing\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nTo view your cost recommendations reflecting custom contract pricing (based on\nyour historical costs), you need a role that includes the following permissions,\ndepending on the scope of the recommendation.\n\n- ` `[billing.resourceCosts.get](/billing/docs/how-to/custom-roles#payment_information) to view costs and usage for a project. This is applicable to recommendations that are scoped at the project level - the vast majority of cost recommendations fall into this category. To gain this permission, ask your administrator to grant you the above permission for the projects you need.\n\n- ` `[billing.accounts.getSpendingInformation](/billing/docs/how-to/custom-roles#payment_information) to view costs and usage for a billing account. This is applicable to recommendations that are scoped at the Billing Account level, for example [Committed use discount recommender](/docs/cuds-recommender). To gain this permission, ask your administrator to grant you one of the following [Cloud Billing IAM](/billing/docs/how-to/billing-access) roles on your Cloud Billing account:\n\n - Billing Account Administrator\n - Billing Account Costs Manager\n - Billing Account Viewer\n\nWhat's next\n-----------\n\n- [Active Assist recommenders](/recommender/docs/recommenders)\n- [Cloud Billing access control \\& permissions](/billing/docs/how-to/billing-access)\n- [Create Custom Roles for Billing](/billing/docs/how-to/custom-roles)"]]
