Cloud consulting · Defined scope and accountable delivery

Cloud consulting pricing and engagement models

Choose the engagement by the decision or delivery you need. Agree the workload boundary, total effort, deliverables, and operating responsibilities before comparing fees.

Commercial cloud consulting prices

Senior cloud advisory

$225 / hourUSD · 10-hour minimum · $2,250 minimum advisory fee

Architecture, Terraform, or SRE advice for a defined technical decision.

See advisory scope and deliverables

Architecture & systems review

$6,750USD for the stated review scope

A planned two-week review with approximately 30 total hours, up to three accounts/subscriptions, and two workloads.

Explore the architecture review

Cloud Improvement Retainer

$8,500 / monthUSD · 3-month initial term · $25,500 in initial-term retainer fees

Up to 40 total hours per month for one platform and a defined workload. Initial onboarding/assessment is separately priced.

Explore the monthly retainer

All prices are in USD for the commercial scope shown. The written proposal confirms scope and fees before work starts. Cloud consumption, software licenses, and separately scoped work are additional. Regulated-cloud engineering is quoted separately.

Compare the starting engagement models

Choose a model for the work you need
Engagement	Starting scope	Commercial structure	Best starting point
Senior cloud advisory	Architecture, Terraform, or SRE advice with a 10-hour minimum.	$225 USD/hour; 10-hour minimum ($2,250 minimum advisory fee).	You have a specific technical decision and can act on the advice.
Architecture & systems review	Planned two-week review; approximately 30 total hours; up to 3 accounts/subscriptions and 2 workloads.	$6,750 USD for the stated review scope.	You need evidence-backed findings and a prioritized improvement plan.
Cloud Improvement Retainer	Up to 40 total hours/month; 1 AWS or Azure platform; up to 3 accounts/subscriptions; 1 production workload plus its associated nonproduction environment.	$8,500 USD/month; 3-month initial term ($25,500 in retainer fees), billed monthly. Onboarding/assessment separately priced.	You have agreed priorities and need continued engineering delivery.
Regulated-cloud engineering	Separately defined hardening/evidence workstream; a monthly starting model of up to 40 total hours.	A separate scope and commercial proposal reflecting access, evidence, and procurement requirements.	You need a specific security implementation and reviewable evidence.

Use the stated prices to compare the defined commercial engagements. Request a scoped proposal to confirm the selected model, deliverables, total capacity, payment terms, schedule, exclusions, and acceptance criteria. Broader work is scoped before it is added.

Senior cloud advisory: $225 USD per hour

Use a scoped advisory engagement when you have a specific architecture, Terraform, or SRE decision and an engineering team that can act on the advice. The ten-hour minimum is $2,250 USD; preparation, technical discussions, analysis, and written recommendations all count toward the agreed hours.

Bring the decision, relevant diagrams or configuration, operating constraints, and the person who will implement the result. Agree the question and expected output before starting: for example, a decision record, review comments, or a prioritized set of next checks. Production implementation, ongoing operations, and formal assessments require their own scope.

Discuss a scoped advisory engagement. If the environment needs broader investigation, consider the architecture review; if you need continued implementation, consider the monthly retainer.

What determines the proposal

Environment and dependencies

The number of platforms, accounts/subscriptions, workloads, interfaces, and receiving teams determines the investigation and coordination required.

Readiness and access

Existing diagrams, reliable IaC, approved access, and available evidence reduce unknowns. Discovery or missing prerequisites can require a separate first phase.

Verification and handover

The change itself, its runtime tests, evidence packaging, documentation, and receiving-team walkthrough all require delivery time.

Operating and procurement constraints

Required change windows, regulated-data handling, review dependencies, and the procurement route affect how the work can be delivered.

A proposal should name the result and the work needed to establish it. It should not rely on a guaranteed percentage of cloud savings, an unlimited backlog, or an assumed authorization outcome.

Understand capacity and total commitment

For the commercial retainer, the initial commitment is $25,500 USD in retainer fees: three monthly fees of $8,500 USD, plus separately priced initial onboarding/assessment and any other agreed charges. Monthly billing does not turn the initial term into a one-month engagement.

The 40-hour monthly allowance covers implementation, analysis, meetings, reporting, and documentation. It is senior engineering capacity for the agreed workload, with work prioritized within that allowance. Unused-capacity treatment and additional work are confirmed in the agreement.

Cloud consumption, software licenses, 24/7 operations, unlimited incidents, and large migrations are outside the commercial retainer’s stated scope. A regulated engagement has its own agreed boundaries and operating arrangement.

What you should receive in a scoped proposal

A defined boundary: platform, accounts/subscriptions, workloads, environments, and included systems.
A delivery description: the review, backlog, or workstream, with meaningful deliverables and acceptance checks.
An effort and timing model: total allowance, term, schedule, client prerequisites, access, and review dependencies.
A complete fee description: recurring/project/hourly basis, minimum commitment, onboarding, additional charges, and change handling.
An ownership record: implementation, decision, operations, and evidence/review responsibilities.

Compare proposals on the same scope and commitment. A quote that covers only an architecture discussion is different from one that includes implementation, tests, documentation, and handover.

Choose a useful first step

Start with advisory if the question is narrow and your team can carry out the answer. Choose the architecture review when the environment or priority order needs investigation. Choose the monthly retainer when a bounded backlog and receiving owners are already established.

If a control implementation, evidence gap, or regulated environment defines the work, discuss regulated-cloud engineering separately. The review-versus-retainer guide includes example decisions to help distinguish diagnosis from ongoing delivery.