# Archera Overview

Archera is an AWS, Azure and GCP cloud cost optimization platform focused on commitment & rate management. The core platform is free for multi-cloud cost observability, modeling/forecasting, management of native commitment options and AWS Well-Architected reviews.

## What Makes Archera Unique

The unique selling proposition is that through the free platform, Archera offers (and automatically underwrites) its unique **"Guaranteed Commitments"** with an insurance-backed guarantee, specifically:

* **Guaranteed Reserved Instances (GRIs)** — for AWS and Azure
* **Guaranteed Savings Plans (GSPs)** — for AWS and Azure
* **Guaranteed Committed Use Discounts (GCUDs)** — for GCP only

These are shorter-term, flexible-term commitments for customers of AWS, Azure, and GCP to utilize and avoid paying list pricing for their cloud usage or entering into the standard 1- and 3-year, fixed-term commitments offered by the three cloud providers.

## How Guaranteed Commitments Work

Mechanically, these Guaranteed or Insured Commitments are created by Archera purchasing one or three year commitments (RIs, SPs or CUDs), typically with no-upfront payment in the customer account, and then overlaying an insurance-backed "moneyback guarantee" on these commitments. This guarantees to the customer that Archera will bear the cost of any unused committed spend, via a rebate or buy-back of the commitment (depending on the commitment type), after a specified term that is less than the term of the underlying commitment (typically 30 days or 1 year).

Customers typically get insured commitment term lengths of **30 days and 1-year** of locked-in spend with 35 and 24 months of flexible coverage after that respectively, while charging a "risk premium" based on the term (and consequently risk that Archera takes on).

**Archera does not impact any infrastructure by design** and only operates at the rate/commitment/contract "layer."

## When to Use Archera

Archera is an excellent tool that customers use typically in one of two scenarios:

1. **When they are unsure that workloads will be up long enough to justify a 1-year commitment.** Archera's 30-day Insured Commitments are a perfect fit because they only need to be locked in for 30 days.
2. **When they are unsure that workloads will be up long enough to justify a 3-year commitment.** Archera's 1-year commitments are a perfect fit because they offer more savings than standard 1-year commitments offered by cloud providers.

Archera offers a **"moneyback guarantee"** so if, after the Archera Insured Commitment term length (30 days or one year), the commitment goes underutilized and results in no savings for the customer, Archera will guarantee to buy that commitment back from the customer or rebate them the cost of that commitment.