Split shared API costs across teams with usage data
Allocate untagged or shared API costs, like a single LLM key or a shared data platform account, to teams based on actual usage.
Runs in
Claude · Slack
First optimization recommendation
The next day
ROI
Pays for itself with the first recommendation you act on
Playbook
What the agent does
From what Costory notices to what you decide. Costory suggests the next step in conversation, and you decide whether to go ahead.
Costory notices
A shared API or platform bill lands without an owner.
Costory investigates
01
Collect usage per team
Push requests per team as custom metrics, or read them from Datadog, Tsuga, BigQuery, Snowflake or a Google Sheet.
02
Create the split rule
Reallocate the shared bill in proportion to that usage.
03
Check allocation coverage
Review allocation coverage and add a usage metric for any service that is missing one.
04
Share
Each team sees its share in reports and budgets.
Where you see it
Claude
You decide
FinOps confirms the usage source; teams accept or challenge their share.
Why it matters
Some bills can't be tagged: one API key used by five services, one plan for the whole company. Without a usage-based split, the cost stays orphaned.
Who it’s for
FinOps leads, platform teams
Where it runs
Claude · Slack
What you get
What lands in front of your team
No orphaned bills
Every shared API and platform line gets an owner.
Simple inputs
A metric push or a spreadsheet is enough to start.
A split that keeps up
The split follows request counts as usage moves, month after month.
Sources and assistants
What it connects
Example prompts
Or drive it yourself
Split
Our OpenAI bill uses one shared key. Split it across teams using the request counts we push per service.
Audit
How much of last month's API spend is still unallocated, and which services are missing usage data?
FAQ
Questions about this playbook
What if our tagging is incomplete?
Costory's Virtual Dimensions allocate with rules on accounts, projects, names and partial tags, so you don't need perfect tagging to start. Shared and untagged cost is reallocated dynamically using the metrics you already have (Datadog, Tsuga, BigQuery, Snowflake and more), and the allocation stays consistent as usage moves.
How long does this playbook take to set up?
Connecting your billing data and the Costory MCP takes under 30 minutes with Terraform or CloudFormation. The playbook itself takes minutes: pick the scope, the trigger and the Slack channel. The first billing data lands the next day, and the agent starts from there.
Can we adjust what the agent does?
Yes. You choose the trigger, the scope (team, service, environment), the channel and the format, and you can pause or change it at any time.
Does Costory change anything in our cloud accounts?
No. Costory reads billing exports and the metrics you connect, and has no write access to your cloud. Actions it takes create Costory objects only: alerts, reports, dashboards and events. Your team stays in control of every change.
Step-by-step guide in the Costory docs
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Put this playbook on call
Included in every plan, from €250/month. 30-day free trial: connect in under 30 minutes, get your first optimization recommendation the next day.
First optimization recommendation
The next day
ROI
Pays for itself with the first recommendation you act on
Setup
About 30 minutes
Data residency
EU
Access
Read-only on your cloud