KeepAir vs. Cloud FinOps Tools, AI Gateways and Spreadsheets
How a dedicated FinOps for AI platform compares with cloud FinOps tools, AI gateways, vendor consoles and spreadsheets for managing AI spend.
Most companies already have a way to look at technology costs. The question is whether it can see AI spend at the level where it is committed: the vendor, the model, the team and the person. Here is how the common options compare.
The short answer
Cloud FinOps tools are built for infrastructure bills. AI gateways see the traffic that passes through them. Vendor consoles see one vendor each. Spreadsheets see what someone typed in last month. KeepAir is built for one job: every AI vendor, seats and usage together, allocated to people and teams, with budgets, savings and forecasts.
Side by side
| KeepAir | Cloud FinOps tools | AI gateways / proxies | Vendor consoles | Spreadsheets | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All AI vendors in one view | Yes, 15+ vendors | Partly: cloud-hosted AI (Bedrock, Azure) | Only traffic routed through the gateway | No, one vendor each | Manual |
| Seats (Copilot, ChatGPT, Cursor) and usage together | Yes | Usually not | No, seats are not traffic | Per vendor | Manual |
| Spend per department, team and person | Yes, from Microsoft Entra | Through tags on infrastructure | Through keys and headers | Limited | Manual |
| Budgets with owner alerts at 80% / 100% | Yes | For cloud budgets | Rate limits, not budgets | Basic, per vendor | No |
| Vendor hard stops | On supported enterprise plans | No | By blocking traffic | Per vendor | No |
| Ranked savings with dollar figures | Yes | For cloud resources | Partly (caching, routing) | No | No |
| Per-vendor forecast | Yes | For cloud spend | No | Limited | Manual |
| In the request path | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Sees prompt content | No | No | Often | Yes (the vendor itself) | No |
| Setup | Read-only keys, under an hour | Billing exports | Code changes to route traffic | Built in | Ongoing manual work |
| Price | $0, not a trial | Usually a percentage of spend or a subscription | Varies | Included | Staff time |
Capabilities of other tools vary by product and plan. The table describes the typical approach of each category, not a specific vendor.
When a cloud FinOps tool is enough
If almost all of your AI spend runs through one cloud provider's AI service and you already tag it well, your cloud FinOps tool may cover it. Once seats, direct vendor contracts and several model providers enter the picture, the gaps appear.
When an AI gateway makes sense
Gateways are useful for engineering control: routing, caching and rate limiting for applications you build. They do not see seat licenses, and they sit in the path of production traffic, which widens the security review. Many teams use a gateway for engineering and a FinOps for AI platform for cost ownership.
Questions people ask
Can KeepAir work alongside our cloud FinOps tool?
Yes. KeepAir covers AI vendors and seats; your cloud tool keeps covering infrastructure. Many teams export both into the monthly close.
Does KeepAir replace an AI gateway?
No. KeepAir reads usage and billing data from each vendor and stays out of the request path. A gateway, if you use one, keeps doing its engineering job.
How long does it take to compare in practice?
Connecting vendors takes under an hour with read-only keys, so you can compare the numbers with your current reports in the first week.