Pricing

Overview

CloudLabs pricing is transparent, pay-as-you-go (PAYG), and you only pay for what you use, with no minimum commitments. The pricing primarily consists of two components:

• Azure Cloud Fee: The cost of Azure cloud resources used to provision and run your lab virtual machines (VMs).

• CloudLabs Platform Fee: The cost of using the CloudLabs platform features, services, and standard support contract.

CloudLabs utilizes Microsoft Azure as its backend infrastructure provider. With a CloudLabs-managed Azure subscription, you can benefit from integrated billing and purchase options using CloudLabs-owned Azure accounts for resource provisioning. Alternatively, you have the option to Bring Your Own Subscription (BYOS) to the CloudLabs platform, allowing you to pay for cloud expenses directly to Microsoft.

CloudLabs Platform Fee

The platform fee is the cost of using the CloudLabs platform features and services. CloudLabs charges you a platform fee based on the number of lab users per month. The platform fee gives you unlimited access to the following CloudLabs platform features and services:

• CloudLabs Platform: You can create and manage an unlimited number of labs, templates, and instructors with no variable cost or hidden charges for any features. You pay for lab users per month.

• Standard Support Plan: Includes the standard tier of 24/7 support for all stakeholders (admins, instructors, etc.), accessible via email.

Please visit the Bring Your Own Subscription page to learn about the difference between using your own Azure subscription and a CloudLabs-managed Azure subscription.

Understanding the Azure Cloud Fee (Azure Resources Expenses)

The cloud fee is the cost of Azure cloud resources that are used to provision and run your lab virtual machines (VMs). You can refer to the Azure pricing calculator to estimate the cloud fee for your lab scenarios.

The cloud fee may include the following Azure costs, depending on your lab configuration and usage:

• Azure VM Per Hour Cost: This is the cost of running the VMs for your lab. The price depends on the VM size, region, and operating system. You can choose from a variety of VM sizes and regions to suit your lab's needs and budget.

• Azure Storage Cost: This is the cost of storing the VM disks and template VM images for your lab. The cost depends on the storage type, size, and redundancy. You can choose from different storage options to optimize the performance and durability of your lab data.

• Azure Container Cost: This is the cost of running a container instance for your virtual machine to access RDP/SSH over HTTPS within the browser itself. It is billed per second and starts and stops along with your VMs automatically.

• Azure Public IP Cost: This is the cost of assigning a public IP address to your lab VMs.

• Azure Bandwidth Cost: This is the cost of transferring data in and out of your lab VMs. The cost depends on the region and the amount of data transferred. You can monitor and control the data usage of your lab VMs to avoid unexpected charges.

Please visit the Microsoft documentation to learn more about Windows VMs and Linux VMs pricing.

Optimizing Cloud Fee with CloudLabs Tools

CloudLabs gives you a lot of tools to keep your cloud fee low, such as:

• On-Demand Provisioning: The CloudLabs platform will provision VMs automatically and on-demand, eliminating any cloud cost associated with preparing VM resources in advance.

• Auto-Delete VMs: You can set a schedule to automatically delete your lab VMs after a certain period of time to avoid paying for unused resources.

• Auto-Stop VMs: You can set a schedule to automatically stop your lab VMs when they are not being used, reducing the VM per hour cost.

• Detect and Stop Idle VMs: You can configure CloudLabs to auto-detect if your lab VMs are not being actively accessed for a defined time period, and CloudLabs will stop idle virtual machines.

• Storage Cost Optimization: You can select the storage size and type of your lab VM disks and images to reduce the storage cost.

CloudLabs also provides you with direct and specialized reporting access to view your cloud fee in Azure cost management or CloudLabs reports. You can track and analyze your cloud fee by lab, template, instructor, student, or any other dimension. You can also set budgets and alerts to manage your cloud fee effectively.

CloudLabs Cost Calculator

Please use the CloudLabs Cost Calculator to estimate your overall expenses for hosting hands-on labs. Our calculator offers simplified cost estimation for standard lab options. Download the latest version of the Excel calculator here.

Add-ons

Add-ons are optional services that CloudLabs offers as part of our professional services, chargeable based on scope. The following services are included as add-ons:

• Support Plans:

  • Standard Support Plan: It is available for all organizations without any additional cost. Please visit Support for more information.

  • Premium Support Plan: This is a service that offers enhanced SLAs at a higher cost for customers who need faster and more dedicated support. The Premium Support SLA costs $12,000 per year and includes email and live support. Please visit the support page to learn more about the support SLA tier and processes.

  • Enterprise Support Plan: This offers customized SLAs and support options for your unique needs. Please contact the CloudLabs sales team to discuss your support plan requirements.

• Professional Services:

  • This is a service that includes VM image development, managed lab services, lab courseware development, lab validation scoring systems, and other lab development services. The cost of this service depends on the scope and complexity of the lab development project. You can request a quote for this service by contacting our sales team.

Contacts

• Sales Contact: cloudlabs-sales@spektrasystems.com

• Billing/Invoicing Contact: accounts@spektrasystems.com

Purchase via Azure Marketplace

You can purchase CloudLabs using the Azure Marketplace. You will be able to use your existing Azure subscription and commitments to pay for the CloudLabs platform fee and Azure fee for your CloudLabs deployments. If you wish to sign up via Azure Marketplace, please work with cloudlabs-sales@spektrasystems.com to get a private offer for purchase via Azure Marketplace.

Please visit the Azure Marketplace listing to learn about CloudLabs within Azure Marketplace: https://azuremarketplace.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/apps/spektra-systems.cloudlabs-vmlabs

CloudLabs is an Azure Benefit Eligible product in the Azure Marketplace.

FAQs

Q: How do I pay for CloudLabs?

A: You pay for CloudLabs monthly, based on your cloud fee and platform fee for the previous month. You will receive an invoice from CloudLabs, which will include the details of your cloud fee and platform fee, as well as any add-ons that you have purchased. You can pay for CloudLabs by bank transfer or Azure Marketplace.

Q: How do I estimate my CloudLabs platform cost?

A: You can estimate your CloudLabs cost by calculating the number of active lab users per month, as the CloudLabs platform fee is based on the number of active lab users per month. You can also use the CloudLabs cost estimator tool, which will help you estimate your CloudLabs cost based on your lab scenarios and usage.

Q: How do I reduce my Azure expenses?

A: You can use the CloudLabs tools and features to lower your cloud fee, such as auto-delete VMs, auto-stop VMs, enable idleness detection policies, and cost management. You can also choose the appropriate VM size, region, and storage type for your lab scenarios to avoid paying for unnecessary or expensive resources.

Q: Can I bring my own Azure subscription to CloudLabs?

A: Yes, you can bring your own Azure subscription to CloudLabs. If you want to bring your own Azure subscription, please reach out to the CloudLabs sales team to enable this option for you. Refer to the BYOS documentation for more information.

Q: What is a lab user per month?

A: A lab user per month is defined as any user who has launched a lab within a given calendar month. This includes instructors, students, or any other users interacting with the lab environment.

Q: How are lab users counted for billing purposes?

A: Lab users are counted based on the number of unique individuals who launch a lab in a calendar month. Each user is counted only once per month, regardless of how many times they access or launch labs during that period.

Q: Does the platform fee apply to each lab separately?
A: No, the platform fee applies per lab user per month, not per lab. A lab user can launch multiple labs, and they will only incur a single platform fee for that month.

Q: How do annual billing options affect lab user counts?

A: For annual billing, the number of active lab users is still tracked monthly. You pay an upfront annual fee with a discount equivalent to two months free, based on the estimated number of lab users per month over the year. If the number of lab users exceeds the estimated count in any month, the overage will be billed at the standard monthly rate.

Q: What is the difference between using a CloudLabs-owned Azure subscription and your own Azure subscription?

A: We recommend that you use the Azure subscription that CloudLabs provides to you when you sign up for our platform. This way, you can benefit from our expertise and experience in managing and optimizing the cloud resources for your labs. You don't have to worry about quota limits, support tickets with Microsoft Azure support for any cloud-related issue, or billing issues, as we take care of all that for you. The Azure cost is the same whether you use our Azure PAYG subscription or your own. If you bring your own Azure subscription, you will be responsible for all the aspects of managing and using it, including requesting quota increases, dealing with support requests, and paying Microsoft directly for cloud usage. Therefore, unless you have a specific reason to use your own Azure subscription, we advise you to use the one that CloudLabs offers you.

In addition to cloud expenses, using a CloudLabs-managed Azure subscription helps you reduce your CloudLabs platform cost by 50%, as documented in the CloudLabs Platform Fee section.

Q: How do I get support from CloudLabs?

A: You can get support from CloudLabs by accessing the standard tier of 24/7 support, which is included in your platform fee. You can contact us by email, and we will respond within 4 hours. You can also purchase the Premium Support SLA or the Enterprise plan, which offers faster and more dedicated support options for an additional cost.