Cost per API Request Calculator
Express infrastructure cost as cost per request served.
What this calculator does
A ratio of two figures from the same period, both supplied by the user.
Inputs and what they mean
- Currency
- — Amounts are shown in the currency you pick. No exchange rate is applied..
- Total cost for the period
- — number value.
- Requests served
- — number value.
- Price as of (optional)
- — The date you took these prices. It is shown with the result so the figure is never read as a current vendor price..
- Price source (optional)
- — Where the prices came from. Shown with the result..
How to use it
- Enter your own figures — the calculator never fills in a rate, price or benchmark for you.
- Press Calculate to see the result.
- Read the formula, variables, assumptions and source below the result before you rely on it.
Formula
Cost per request = Total cost for the period ÷ Requests served in the same period
Worked example
$24,000 of infrastructure serving 1.2 billion requests
Your own cost and your own request count, over the same period.
Reading the result
The headline figure is the main answer. Any breakdown underneath shows the parts that make it up, so you can check the working and see what changes when you adjust an input.
Limitations and assumptions
Results depend entirely on the figures you enter and are rounded for display. They are for general information and education, not professional advice.
Reference: The Linux Foundation — Unit economics — FinOps Framework
Last reviewed:
Common questions
Formula, source and verification
Total cost divided by the requests served in the same period.
The question it answers: What does one request, or one gigabyte, actually cost us?
The formula
Cost per request = Total cost for the period ÷ Requests served in the same period
- C — Total cost
- (currency). Cost for the period, from the user's own records.
- N — Requests served
- (count). Requests in the same period.
Units: Currency per request.
What kind of calculation this is
Business input model. The answer depends on business figures only you can supply, such as your own costs, rates or volumes. No market or benchmark values are assumed for you.
Method
A ratio of two figures from the same period, both supplied by the user.
Assumptions built into the result
- Mathematical: Cost and requests cover exactly the same period.
Figures this calculator will never guess for you
- No provider price, instance rate, storage rate or transfer rate is built in.
- No typical discount, saving or industry average is suggested.
- No industry cost per request is suggested.
Limitations
- Shows the ratio of the figures entered; it cannot judge the cost allocation behind them.
- The result is only as current as the prices entered; a price taken months ago is not a current vendor price.
- Arithmetic over the figures entered — it cannot tell whether the usage or the rate card behind them is right.
Source and version
- Standard or reference
- FinOps Framework — unit economics — FinOps Foundation (FinOps Framework capability: unit economics — cost per business unit is total cost for a period divided by the units delivered in the same period.)
- Published source
- The Linux Foundation — FinOps Framework
- Formula version
- Version 1
- Verification
- Reviewed against the cited source on
- How much weight the source carries
- Standards or government
- Applies to
- Currency
- Amounts stay in the currency you choose; no exchange rate is applied.
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