Our main use case for Zesty is that it is a hands-off tool for onboarding our teams, specifically for AWS, helping us to offload day-to-day management and AWS savings, which includes CRIs and EC2. Instead of managing and maintaining a manual spreadsheet, Zesty does it automatically for the organization while functioning as a FinOps autopilot to continuously adjust orders and workloads upon environmental changes. In a dynamic environment, Zesty provides an auto-scaling facility, helping us save costs while maintaining high instance coverage, typically 95 to 99%, allowing our engineering teams to focus on delivery rather than costs. This makes it a very good cost saver for the organization.
Commitment Manager
ZestyExternal reviews
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Managing complex onboarding has been challenging but automated cost optimization delivers strong savings
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Zesty has positively impacted our organization by providing a good return on investment, with a total reported percentage of savings around 40 to 50%. The coverage received was around 89.8%. The key insights focus on EC2 saving plans and RIs, yielding a 55% reduction in plan optimization. It has also helped us increase the coverage rate from 85% to 93.8%, with an ROI timeline of one to three months, demonstrating a significant ROI in our organization.
Zesty's savings and coverage enhancements have helped our team automate processes, focus on maximizing plans, and provide clear dashboards displaying resource utilization percentages. This transparency improves planning and allows us to focus on coverage percentage increases, ultimately helping us pay less. The risk-free model ensures no net loss, only profit, showcasing how we utilize Zesty in our organization.
What is most valuable?
The best features Zesty offers that stand out for us include ML-based discount plan optimization, which helps us with continuous analysis of EC2 usage and automatically rebalances loads and plans. It also saves us in different terms and utilizes micro-commitments, reducing commitment risk. This ML-based discount plan optimization is focused on getting the maximum benefit while spreading the minimum commitment. Another feature I value is dynamic portfolio management, which combines convertible and RIs with saving plans, ensuring high coverage while maintaining flexibility for changing workloads. Additionally, it provides real-time visibility through dashboards showing coverage levels, commitment compositions, and actual savings, which are per environment.
The features of ML-based optimization and dynamic portfolio management are crucial for our organization because ML-based discount plan optimization helps us collect previous data using machine learning, allowing us to understand usage and rebalance loads between saving plans and different RI terms. This approach focuses on reducing unnecessary plans or licensing and maximizing necessary ones based on empirical data and current project usage, thereby optimizing our costs. Moreover, dynamic portfolio management, which combines one and three-year convertible RIs with saving plans, keeps coverage high while remaining flexible for changing workloads.
What needs improvement?
Zesty is a good solution; however, the learning curve can be complex for new users without a solid tech background, posing a challenge in training and the initial setup process. I would deduct one point for this aspect since everything else is fine.
A specific example of where the learning curve caused issues is when we introduced Zesty to our new development team, which struggled to understand the platform while working on a project related to AI and ML. Our system architects explained how Zesty works, but I believe a more proactive approach to training and foundational data could help teams be more self-sufficient and less reliant on internal support.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Zesty in our organization for almost three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Zesty is definitely a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Zesty is really good. We have scaled up and down multiple times without encountering any major challenges, which is a positive aspect.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support of Zesty is really amazing. When we needed help with a new feature three months ago, they resolved our issue within 35 minutes, earning a 10 out of 10 rating from me for their support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use any different solution.
How was the initial setup?
Zesty is quite easy for us to implement in our environment, with the initial deployment executed perfectly by our experienced system architects without any challenges encountered.
What about the implementation team?
The configuration process was very well-handled, and I feel the internal teams and Zesty team collaborated effectively, preventing us from running into any challenges. Their support and technical specialist team were available during the configuration phase.
What was our ROI?
Zesty has positively impacted our organization by providing a good return on investment, with a total reported percentage of savings around 40 to 50%. The coverage received was around 89.8%. The key insights focus on EC2 saving plans and RIs, yielding a 55% reduction in plan optimization. It has also helped us increase the coverage rate from 85% to 93.8%, with an ROI timeline of one to three months, demonstrating a significant ROI in our organization.
I saved around 50 to 80% on costs, and the time saved from reduced manual effort was at least 70 to 80%, while coverage cases increased from 85% to 93% quickly.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing, setup cost, and licensing were very transparent since we got it through the AWS Marketplace, and we faced no upfront problems. It was a transparent, very good solution for us.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated other options, including ProsperOps, nOps, Spot Eco, and CloudZero.
What other advice do I have?
Zesty integrates really well with other AWS services, providing seamless integrations that consistently maintain high uptime and good scalability when we proceed with any integrations in our organization.
The procurement process was easy for us.
Regarding the metering and billing experience, it provides a good solution and offers better value for money compared to market alternatives such as CloudZero or Spot Eco, especially since we acquired the solution through the AWS Marketplace, enabling us to receive additional discounts for commitments.
My advice for others looking into using Zesty is that anyone focused on AWS commitment management who wants to save on costs, time, and reduce manual effort should definitely consider them as they are a prompt and reliable solution in my opinion. I would rate this solution a 4 out of 5.
Easy to use and onboard, and its support team is really good
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for savings plans, reserved instances, and automation. We customize the reserved instances of savings plans depending on the account type.
What is most valuable?
What I like about Zesty is that it's basically being completely hands-off. It does what's expected of it, and you don't have to worry about cost or cost savings. You just automate that part of the cloud, and the buying and selling of all the little businesses and savings plans will be done for you.
One of the things Zesty recently launched was Windows reserved instances because they needed support until recently. One of the reasons we decided to onboard Zesty was that it started supporting Windows instances.
Zesty helped reduce our cloud cost without needing a FinOps team to constantly look at cloud costs. Managing all of that is completely automated now.
What needs improvement?
I would like to get RDS-reserved instances that I could buy and sell, but that's a limitation on AWS.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Zesty in my current company for about three months, but I worked with it for a year in a previous company.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We haven’t faced any issues with the solution’s stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Zesty is a scalable solution. Around four people have access to the dashboard in our organization.
How was the initial setup?
The solution’s initial setup is straightforward. To deploy the solution, you need to add an AIM role on the accounts you need to onboard. We enabled SSO on the portal. The SSO is just a question of negotiating the service and sharing the certificates and private keys with them, which was very easy. The initial setup took around five minutes.
What was our ROI?
We got around 48% cost savings with Zesty.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution’s pricing is reasonable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing Zesty, we evaluated other tools like Cloudability. We tried other solutions, but Zesty turned out to be the best because of its insurance plan. If Zesty makes a mistake and over provisions the commitment, we don't pay their bill until the commitment is credited to us.
What other advice do I have?
The way we're using it is completely hands-off. We just trust that they do the automation to buy the reserved instances and the same instance for us. The solution has other features like the storage explorer, which can save you money on new storage. It also has the Zesty disk, but I never use those because I never had the use case for them.
The solution's AI functionality is really easy to use and automatic. Since it's all automated, we don't see what the AI is doing. We just keep the savings at the end of the month and pay the bill. It is not difficult to maintain the solution. I would recommend the solution to other users because it is very easy to use.
The solution is easy to use and onboard, and its support team is really good.
Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Zesty allows us to improve our instance coverage and save costs.
What do you like best about the product?
The Zesty setup was quick, and on the dashboard, we can see the savings provided as well as the resources that are over-provisioned. Zesty handles contracting the CRIs to achieve 99% instance coverage, while we manage the SRIs. With their help, we have been able to reduce our AWS Compute Cost montly bill by an additional 40%
What do you dislike about the product?
Initially, the communication was not very smooth, but after we hada an online meeting, they were able to resolve all our questions, and we were assigned Spanish-speaking staff, which improved communication.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It allows us to see the compute cost and reduce it by an additional 40% on top of the SRIs we already had contracted.
It's free money, don't leave it on the table
What do you like best about the product?
Just like those old rotisserie chicken commercials, Zesty is about as "set it and forget it" as you can get. Onboarding was quick, and has required zero work after the initial configuration.
What do you dislike about the product?
I understand the ramp up period of Zesty is required as it takes time to learn our usage, but it would be nice if we could crank up a manual dial for the aspects of our workload that we know will be fairly consistent.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Easy savings.
We improved our savings thanks to commitment manager tooling
What do you like best about the product?
We used to have AWS Compute Saving Plan until now but thanks to commitment manager we were able to improve our savings. Everything is automated and Zesty is commiting EC2 RIs on our behalf, no risk from our side. This is completing our saving plans and depending of our usage the tool is buying or selling RIs on our behalf. This is a no brainer solution.
What do you dislike about the product?
The console is not perfect and some features are missing but it's nice to have features
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Imroving our savings by reaching a higher level of coverage for reservations
It just works :)
What do you like best about the product?
Zesty has basically been fire and forget for us. It does its thing and we rarely even have to check on it. Averaging about 50% savings from what I can tell, which is great.
What do you dislike about the product?
We're missing functionality for RDS instances, but I know Zesty is currently working on that.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Managing RIs has traditionally been a headache for DevOps teams. We were able to onboard Zesty and now use it to manage our RIs, saving us both time and money.
Simple money saver
What do you like best about the product?
For a very lightweight integration, and minimal upkeep, you can make significant savings on on-demand EC2 instances. It offloads the operational workload of navigating the RI marketplace.
The Customer Success agents - ours is Rommi - are very quick to adapt to your company's needs, be it scaling up/down in existing or new regions.
Put simply, even with the 25% cut, if there was a button in any AWS service that you could click to save 60+%, you would click it instantly. Zesty is effectively that click.
The Customer Success agents - ours is Rommi - are very quick to adapt to your company's needs, be it scaling up/down in existing or new regions.
Put simply, even with the 25% cut, if there was a button in any AWS service that you could click to save 60+%, you would click it instantly. Zesty is effectively that click.
What do you dislike about the product?
There is very little that I have to say here.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Zesty helps us to reduce EC2 costs as we scale as a business.
GREAT FOR FREELANCERS!
What do you like best about the product?
What I like most about Zesty is that their customer service is AMAZING. They are always readily available and responsive.
What do you dislike about the product?
What I dislike most about Zesty is that some engineer steps were not intuitive. In addition to that, I found that there was no way to edit within an IDE of choice.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use Zesty as an informational guide to show me and inform me how my website looks and interacts with my customers.
Zesty Commitment Manager Review
What do you like best about the product?
Once configured and operating, the CM tool is a hands-off tool that manages reserved instances on our behalf. With the coverage guarantee in place, we can safely push our coverage to 100% without concern about overcommitting to a RI that might no longer be used.
What do you dislike about the product?
The CM tool is still a work in progress - specifically in terms of what types of workloads it optimizes. As a large, decentralized (and multi-cloud) user, we would like to expand our use of the CM tool into more areas that match our growth, e.g., RDS or Azure workloads.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The CM tool allows us to be more aggressive in our RI coverage (near 100%) without fear of overcommitment - and spending money - on resources that are no longer in use.
Excellent product, with some room to grow
What do you like best about the product?
The UX is great, feels fresh and easy to use
What do you dislike about the product?
In some areas, its not built out completely
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Managing our cloud disk space
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Takes a bit of time to implement
Easy to use
Easy to use
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