In this post, I will talk about a free and open-source Google Workspace addon that you can use to analyze AWS pricing in Google Sheets. AWS Pricing by Strake is the name of this addon and after installing it in Google Sheets, you can pull the latest pricing of various AWS services in any cell of any sheet.
It can show you the hourly pricing of a certain AWS service and discounted pricing in case you are planning to use some AWS services for X number of years.
With this, you can Use custom functions to collaborate and understand the AWS pricing. It can also help you allow make AWS reservations. The pricing data that it fetches is almost real-time, so you can quickly and easily see infrastructure costs in a few seconds.
Using this Google Workspace Addon to Get Updated Pricing in Google Sheets:
Start by installing this Google Workspace addon from here. During the installation, it will ask for some permissions, so authorize it using your Google account and then follow along. Once the addon has been installed successfully, you can simply start using it.
Open Google Sheets now with the same account that you used to install this addon. Now, in the Extensions tab, you will see this newly installed addon. You can launch it from here and it will open in the side bar where it will show you a simple guide to use it.
Alternatively, you can use the ready-made Google Sheet template that uses the same extension underneath to see and analyze the EC2 pricing. This sheet is for EC2 and for other AWS services, there other templates provided on the main website. So, open this template sheet and then make its copy in your Google Drive.
Now, in the templates, you just copied, you can change the parameters such as instance type, region, and platform and it will show you the latest updated price. Here it will show you the hourly pricing for the 1 year, 2 year, and 3 years. It also includes discounted price here as well. You can see this in the screenshot below.
Another way to use this addon is via using a GSheet formula. Just type “=AWS” in any cell of the Google Sheet and you will see some suggestions. It will also show you hints to fill out the respective places with the appropriate values to get the pricing estimate.
In this way, you can use this simple and useful Google Workspace plugin to get the always update pricing inside Google Sheets. All you have to is type a simple formula and then it will take care of the rest. If you are stuck somewhere then do not worry as it already comes with a handy guide.
Closing thoughts:
If you are a regular user of AWS, then this Google Sheet addon can be of great help. Anytime you need to know pricing in of a certain AWS service, you just enter the details in the formula and get the latest updated pricing data. I also liked the fact that it comes with a simple guide. So, in case you don’t understand some parameters in the custom formula, you can always looks that up.
