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Cost Estimator

The Cost Estimator at /finops/cost-estimator answers "how much would it cost to clone this catalog?" before you actually run the clone. It's the FinOps version of Validation & Preflight.

Inputs​

Pick a source catalog and the estimator returns:

  • Total GB — sum of all table sizes (uncompressed)
  • Table count
  • Estimated monthly storage cost — at the destination tier
  • Estimated yearly storage cost
  • Estimated clone compute cost — DBUs × duration × rate (based on parallelism and warehouse size)

Top tables​

A table of top-N tables by size, each row showing:

  • Table FQN
  • Size GB
  • % of total
  • Estimated monthly storage cost

This is where you spot whales before you commit to cloning them. Pair with Selective clone to skip them.

Configuration​

The estimator uses pricing rates from clxs.yaml:

finops:
  cost_estimator:
    storage_rate_gb_month: 0.023   # USD, override per region
    dbu_rate: 0.55
    storage_tier: standard         # or "hot" / "cool"

If rates aren't configured, the estimator falls back to Databricks list pricing for the workspace region.

What's not covered​

  • Egress costs — only relevant if cloning across regions
  • Time-travel cost — added separately based on retention setting
  • Photon multiplier — if Photon is enabled on the warehouse

For full pricing nuances, cross-check with Billing after the first clone.

API​

POST /estimate
{
  "source_catalog": "prod_warehouse",
  "destination_storage_tier": "standard"
}

Returns:

{
  "total_gb": 1240.5,
  "table_count": 187,
  "monthly_cost": 28.53,
  "yearly_cost": 342.36,
  "top_tables": [
    { "fqn": "...", "size_gb": 240.1, "percent": 19.4, "monthly_cost": 5.52 }
  ]
}