Executive Summary

This AWS Lambda case study showcases how  CostQ, a FinOps automation tool, leverages AWS Serverless architecture to deliver real-time cost visibility, automated budget enforcement, and proactive cost anomaly detection.
Through an event-driven design powered by AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, and Amazon RDS, CostQ reduced operational overhead by 70% and achieved 99.99% service uptime — ensuring customers control AWS spend efficiently.

Client Overview

CostQ, developed by Cloudlaya, is a next-generation FinOps platform designed to help organizations manage, optimize, and forecast their AWS costs automatically.
It integrates with AWS Billing, Cost Explorer, and CloudWatch to provide actionable insights, alerting, and automated budget controls — empowering engineering and finance teams to make data-driven cloud spending decisions.

Challenges

Cloudlaya aimed to build a scalable, low-cost FinOps solution capable of processing large volumes of AWS cost and usage data with minimal infrastructure management.
Key challenges included:

  • Automating cost anomaly detection and alerting in real time

  • Reducing manual monitoring and reporting overhead

  • Ensuring scalability across multiple AWS accounts and regions

  • Maintaining secure access and data isolation for customers

AWS Lambda-Based Solution

The CostQ platform was architected using a serverless-first approach for elasticity, low maintenance, and cost efficiency.

Architecture Highlights:

  • AWS Lambda: Core compute engine for cost aggregation, analysis, and report generation.

  • Amazon API Gateway: Secure API interface for frontend and integrations.

  • Amazon RDS (Multi-AZ): Persistent storage for customer configurations and cost data.

  • Amazon CloudWatch & SNS: Real-time anomaly alerting and FinOps KPI tracking.

  • AWS CodePipeline & CodeBuild: Continuous integration and deployment for rapid feature delivery.

  • Amazon S3 & CloudFront: Host static dashboards and deliver reports globally.

This event-driven architecture scales automatically during heavy data-processing periods and remains cost-effective during idle times.

Results Achieved

Metric Achievement
Infrastructure Cost Reduction 65% lower than EC2-based implementation
Operational Overhead Reduced by 70% via automation
API Latency < 300ms average response time
Service Uptime 99.99% availability
Cost Anomalies Detected 95% detection accuracy

Business Impact

CostQ’s AWS Lambda implementation enabled Cloudlaya to offer a multi-tenant FinOps platform that scales seamlessly across customers while maintaining operational efficiency.
With serverless automation, Cloudlaya eliminated infrastructure management, reduced idle costs, and improved time-to-market for FinOps insights.

The result: predictable cost optimization, proactive budget governance, and real-time financial visibility for AWS customers.

Conclusion

This AWS Lambda case study highlights how  CostQ leverages serverless computing to simplify cloud financial management at scale.
By combining AWS Lambda, CloudWatch, RDS, and API Gateway, Cloudlaya built a secure, automated, and cost-effective FinOps solution aligned with AWS Well-Architected best practices.

Key Success Factors:

  • Serverless architecture minimizing maintenance overhead

  • Real-time FinOps intelligence powered by Lambda

  • Automated alerting via CloudWatch + SNS

  • CI/CD automation for rapid, reliable delivery

 CostQ proves that FinOps automation and cost visibility can be achieved efficiently using modern AWS-native design patterns.