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Cost Reports

Step-by-step guides for generating and analyzing Redis Cloud billing data.

Prerequisites

  • Redis Cloud account with API credentials configured
  • redisctl installed and authenticated
# Verify your setup
redisctl cloud subscription list

Quick Start: Export a Cost Report

The export command is the easiest way to get a cost report - it handles everything in one step:

redisctl cloud cost-report export \
  --start-date 2025-01-01 \
  --end-date 2025-01-31 \
  --file january-costs.csv

That's it! The command will: 1. Generate the report 2. Wait for it to complete 3. Download it to your file

For JSON format:

redisctl cloud cost-report export \
  --start-date 2025-01-01 \
  --end-date 2025-01-31 \
  --format json \
  --file january-costs.json

Manual Workflow (Generate + Download)

If you need more control, you can use the separate generate and download commands.

Step 1: Generate the Report

redisctl cloud cost-report generate \
  --start-date 2025-01-01 \
  --end-date 2025-01-31 \
  --wait

The --wait flag tells redisctl to poll until the report is ready.

Step 2: Get the Cost Report ID

Extract the costReportId from the task response:

redisctl cloud cost-report generate \
  --start-date 2025-01-01 \
  --end-date 2025-01-31 \
  --wait \
  -o json -q 'response.resource.costReportId'

This outputs just the ID:

0f99c2fd-0d8a-4345-8543-8adb4e02f4dd.csv

Step 3: Download the Report

redisctl cloud cost-report download 0f99c2fd-0d8a-4345-8543-8adb4e02f4dd.csv \
  --file january-costs.csv

Analyze Costs with JMESPath

Using JSON format with JMESPath queries lets you analyze costs directly without external tools.

Get Total Cost

redisctl cloud cost-report download $REPORT_ID \
  --format json \
  -q 'sum([].BilledCost)'

List All Resources and Costs

redisctl cloud cost-report download $REPORT_ID \
  --format json \
  -q '[].{name: ResourceName, type: ResourceType, cost: BilledCost}'

Find Top 5 Most Expensive Resources

redisctl cloud cost-report download $REPORT_ID \
  --format json \
  -q 'sort_by(@, &BilledCost) | reverse(@) | [:5].{name: ResourceName, cost: BilledCost}'

Filter by Region

redisctl cloud cost-report download $REPORT_ID \
  --format json \
  -q '[?Region == `us-east-1`].{name: ResourceName, cost: BilledCost}'

Aggregate Costs by Resource Name

Using extended JMESPath functions to group and sum:

redisctl cloud cost-report download $REPORT_ID \
  -q 'group_by(@, `ResourceName`) | items(@) | [*].{name: [0], total: sum([1][*].BilledCost)} | sort_by(@, &total) | reverse(@) | [:10]'

Output: 

[
  {"name": "database-ck", "total": 159.98},
  {"name": "jsd-aa-demo", "total": 32.69},
  {"name": "Autoscaling Subscription", "total": 10.96}
]

Sum Costs by Region

redisctl cloud cost-report download $REPORT_ID \
  -q 'group_by(@, `RegionName`) | items(@) | [*].{region: [0], total: sum([1][*].BilledCost)} | sort_by(@, &total) | reverse(@)'

Sum Costs by Charge Category

redisctl cloud cost-report download $REPORT_ID \
  -q 'group_by(@, `ChargeCategory`) | items(@) | [*].{category: [0], total: sum([1][*].BilledCost)}'

Filter by Resource Type

# Only database costs
redisctl cloud cost-report download $REPORT_ID \
  --format json \
  -q '[?ResourceType == `Database`]'

# Only subscription-level costs  
redisctl cloud cost-report download $REPORT_ID \
  --format json \
  -q '[?ResourceType == `Subscription`]'

Extract Costs for a Specific Tag

redisctl cloud cost-report download $REPORT_ID \
  --format json \
  -q '[?Tags.team == `platform`].{name: ResourceName, cost: BilledCost}'

Monthly Cost Report Script

Automate monthly cost reporting with this script:

#!/bin/bash
# monthly-cost-report.sh
# Generate and download the previous month's cost report

set -e

# Calculate previous month's date range
if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "darwin"* ]]; then
  # macOS
  START_DATE=$(date -v-1m -v1d +%Y-%m-%d)
  END_DATE=$(date -v1d -v-1d +%Y-%m-%d)
else
  # Linux
  START_DATE=$(date -d "last month" +%Y-%m-01)
  END_DATE=$(date -d "$(date +%Y-%m-01) - 1 day" +%Y-%m-%d)
fi

MONTH_NAME=$(date -d "$START_DATE" +%B-%Y 2>/dev/null || date -j -f "%Y-%m-%d" "$START_DATE" +%B-%Y)
OUTPUT_FILE="redis-cloud-costs-${MONTH_NAME}.csv"

echo "Generating cost report for $START_DATE to $END_DATE..."

# Export the report (generate + wait + download in one step)
redisctl cloud cost-report export \
  --start-date "$START_DATE" \
  --end-date "$END_DATE" \
  --file "$OUTPUT_FILE"

# Print summary
echo ""
echo "=== Cost Summary ==="
if command -v csvstat &> /dev/null; then
  csvstat "$OUTPUT_FILE" --columns BilledCost
else
  echo "Install csvkit for automatic summary: pip install csvkit"
fi

Make it executable and run:

chmod +x monthly-cost-report.sh
./monthly-cost-report.sh

Team Cost Allocation (Chargeback)

Generate separate reports for each team using tags:

#!/bin/bash
# team-cost-reports.sh

START_DATE="2025-01-01"
END_DATE="2025-01-31"
TEAMS=("platform" "backend" "frontend" "data")

for team in "${TEAMS[@]}"; do
  echo "Generating report for team: $team"

  OUTPUT_FILE="costs-${team}-$(date +%Y-%m).csv"

  redisctl cloud cost-report export \
    --start-date "$START_DATE" \
    --end-date "$END_DATE" \
    --tag "team:$team" \
    --file "$OUTPUT_FILE"
done

Export to Google Sheets

Option 1: Direct CSV Upload

  1. Generate and download the CSV report
  2. Open Google Sheets
  3. File → Import → Upload → Select your CSV file
  4. Choose "Replace spreadsheet" or "Insert new sheet"

Option 2: Automated with gcloud

# Export report and upload to Cloud Storage
redisctl cloud cost-report export \
  --start-date 2025-01-01 \
  --end-date 2025-01-31 \
  --file /tmp/costs.csv

gsutil cp /tmp/costs.csv gs://your-bucket/cost-reports/

# Then use Google Sheets IMPORTDATA or Apps Script to pull from GCS

Cron-Based Automation

Add to crontab for automated monthly reports:

# Edit crontab
crontab -e

# Add this line to run on the 2nd of each month at 6 AM
0 6 2 * * /path/to/monthly-cost-report.sh >> /var/log/cost-reports.log 2>&1

Integration with FinOps Tools

CloudHealth / VMware Aria

Export CSV and configure CloudHealth to ingest from your storage location.

Kubecost

If running Redis alongside Kubernetes workloads, export FOCUS-format data to your Kubecost data pipeline.

Custom Dashboards

Use JSON format for direct integration with visualization tools:

# Export as JSON for Grafana/Superset/etc.
redisctl cloud cost-report download "$REPORT_ID" \
  --format json \
  --file costs.json

Troubleshooting

"Date range exceeds 40 days"

Split into multiple reports:

# January 1-31 (31 days) - OK
redisctl cloud cost-report generate \
  --start-date 2025-01-01 \
  --end-date 2025-01-31 \
  --wait

# For longer periods, generate multiple reports
for month in 01 02 03; do
  redisctl cloud cost-report generate \
    --start-date "2025-${month}-01" \
    --end-date "2025-${month}-28" \
    --wait
done

Report takes too long to generate

Large accounts may need more time:

# Increase timeout to 10 minutes
redisctl cloud cost-report generate \
  --start-date 2025-01-01 \
  --end-date 2025-01-31 \
  --wait \
  --wait-timeout 600

Empty report

  • Verify the date range has actual usage
  • Check that tag filters match existing resources
  • Try without filters to confirm data exists
# Generate without filters first
redisctl cloud cost-report generate \
  --start-date 2025-01-01 \
  --end-date 2025-01-31 \
  --wait