IT · Power BI template
Cloud Cost (FinOps) Power BI template
Dark Power BI cloud cost (FinOps) dashboard template: spend vs budget by team, spend by service, unit cost per 1,000 requests, commitment coverage and savings.
By Nawaf Sharaf · Founder & Reliability Engineer · Updated
Free for commercial useLight version: same layout, colours re-solved and checked for WCAG AA contrast.
BetaOpens in Power BI Desktop with 6 tables of sample data and every visual bound. See what’s inside
Free, no sign-up. The PBIP with sample data includes the background, theme and a README. 1920×1080 fits a new page in a Fluent 2 report; 1280×720 and 2× fit Classic pages. Downloads carry a small “Made with VizForge” mark (sign in to the studio to remove it).
- Layout
- Glass header card, 5 KPIs, stacked service area + team bars, unit-cost lines + savings table
- Page size
- 1280×720 px (16:9, Power BI default)
- Theme
- Forest Night
Open the sample-data PBIP in Power BI Desktop
Checked against Microsoft Learn's Power BI Desktop projects documentation (as of Nov 2026).
- 1
Unzip to a short path and open the .pbip
Extract the zip to a short local folder such as C:\PBI (Windows limits project paths to 260 characters, and Desktop can't save a project straight to OneDrive or SharePoint), then double-click the .pbip file or use File → Open in Power BI Desktop. Microsoft still lists projects and TMDL as preview features (as of Nov 2026): if Desktop won't open the project, go to File → Options and settings → Options → Preview features, tick “Power BI Project (.pbip) save option” and “Store semantic model using TMDL format”, then restart Desktop.
- 2
Select Refresh once
The project ships without the local data cache (.pbi/cache.abf), so Desktop opens the full model definition without data. Select Home → Refresh: every table is built from values written into its Power Query step, so there is no data source to sign in to.
- 3
Save as .pbix or connect your data
Use File → Save as to keep a single .pbix file, or open Transform data and replace each table's Source step with your own query, keeping the column names so the measures and visuals keep working.
What’s inside the Cloud Cost sample model
Rendered from the same definition the download writes as TMDL, so this list always matches the file.
Thirteen weeks of cloud spend for a fictional e-commerce engineering organisation (Aug to Oct 2026): cost by team and service with the share covered by savings commitments and the share on untagged resources, weekly budget and request volume per team, and 30 open savings recommendations. Units: US dollars; requests.
Tables and columns
Calendar
Date table · 2026, one row per dayDate table generated in Power Query (List.Dates), marked as the model's date table.
- Date (date)
- Year (whole number)
- Quarter (text)
- Month (text)
- Month Name (text)
- Week Start (date)
- Weekday (text)
- Fiscal Year (text)
Team
Dimension · 5 rowsEngineering teams that own cloud accounts.
- Team (text)
Service
Dimension · 6 rowsCloud service categories.
- Service (text)
Cloud Cost
Fact · 390 rowsWeekly amortised cost per team and service, with committed and untagged portions.
- Week (date)
- Team (text)
- Service (text)
- Cost (decimal)
- Committed Cost (decimal)
- Untagged Cost (decimal)
Team Week
Fact · 65 rowsWeekly budget and requests served per team.
- Week (date)
- Team (text)
- Budget (decimal)
- Requests (whole number)
Recommendations
Fact · 30 rowsOpen savings recommendations (fictional resource IDs).
- Resource ID (text)
- Team (text)
- Service (text)
- Recommendation (text)
- Monthly Saving (decimal)
Relationships
Many-to-one, single direction. Inactive relationships are switched on inside a measure with USERELATIONSHIP.
- 'Cloud Cost'[Week] → 'Calendar'[Date]
- 'Cloud Cost'[Team] → Team[Team]
- 'Cloud Cost'[Service] → Service[Service]
- 'Team Week'[Week] → 'Calendar'[Date]
- 'Team Week'[Team] → Team[Team]
- Recommendations[Team] → Team[Team]
- Recommendations[Service] → Service[Service]
DAX measures
All measures live in a dedicated Key Measures table. Copy any of them into your own model; rename the table and column references to match.
Cloud SpendAmortised cloud cost.
Cloud Spend =
SUM ( 'Cloud Cost'[Cost] )Format string: $#,0
Cloud BudgetBudgeted cloud cost.
Cloud Budget =
SUM ( 'Team Week'[Budget] )Format string: $#,0
Spend vs Budget %Over (+) or under (−) budget.
Spend vs Budget % =
DIVIDE ( [Cloud Spend] - [Cloud Budget], [Cloud Budget] )Format string: +0.0%;-0.0%
Commitment Coverage %Compute and database spend covered by savings commitments.
Commitment Coverage % =
DIVIDE ( SUM ( 'Cloud Cost'[Committed Cost] ), CALCULATE ( [Cloud Spend], Service[Service] IN { "Compute", "Databases" } ) )Format string: 0%
Untagged SpendSpend on resources without an owner tag.
Untagged Spend =
SUM ( 'Cloud Cost'[Untagged Cost] )Format string: $#,0
Cost per 1,000 RequestsUnit cost: spend per thousand requests served.
Cost per 1,000 Requests =
DIVIDE ( [Cloud Spend], SUM ( 'Team Week'[Requests] ) ) * 1000Format string: $0.000
Potential Monthly SavingsEstimated monthly saving from open recommendations.
Potential Monthly Savings =
SUM ( Recommendations[Monthly Saving] )Format string: $#,0
What each visual is bound to
The PBIP opens with these fields already on each visual.
| Visual | Type | Fields |
|---|---|---|
| TeamSlicer | Slicer | Team[Team] |
| ServiceSlicer | Slicer | Service[Service] |
| Cloud spendCard | Card | [Cloud Spend] |
| vs budgetCard | Card | [Spend vs Budget %] |
| Commitment coverageCard | Card | [Commitment Coverage %] |
| Cost per 1,000 requestsCard | Card | [Cost per 1,000 Requests] |
| Untagged spendCard | Card | [Untagged Spend] |
| Weekly spend by serviceArea chart | Area chart | Calendar[Week Start], [Cloud Spend], Service[Service] |
| Spend vs budget by teamBar chart | Bar chart | Team[Team], [Cloud Spend], [Cloud Budget] |
| Unit cost by weekLine chart | Line chart | Calendar[Week Start], [Cost per 1,000 Requests], Team[Team] |
| Savings opportunitiesTable | Table | Recommendations[Resource ID], Team[Team], Recommendations[Recommendation], [Potential Monthly Savings] |
Questions this dashboard answers
Each one is answered by a visual on the page, from the sample model's own tables and measures.
- Which teams are over their cloud budget, and is it growing?
- What does each team pay per 1,000 requests it serves (unit cost)?
- How much compute and database spend is covered by commitments?
- How much spend can't be allocated because resources are untagged?
- Which savings recommendations are worth doing first?
About this dashboard layout
FinOps reporting has to work for engineers and finance at once. Finance wants spend against budget; engineers want to know what drives it. The cards cover both: cloud spend, variance to budget, the share of compute and database spend covered by savings commitments, cost per 1,000 requests and spend that can't be allocated because resources are untagged.
Weekly spend is stacked by service (compute, databases, storage, networking, analytics, AI/ML), and spend against budget is compared team by team. The sample's data platform team grows analytics and AI/ML spend every week, the pattern this pair of charts is built to catch.
Unit cost (spend per 1,000 requests served) is plotted for each team. Total spend rising while unit cost falls is healthy growth; unit cost rising is waste or an architecture problem. The savings table lists open recommendations (rightsizing, idle resources, commitments, storage tiers and scheduling non-production off at night) by estimated monthly saving.
Costs are amortised, so a one-off commitment purchase is spread over its term rather than spiking one week. The sample is 13 weeks of cost for a fictional e-commerce engineering organisation with five teams.
Visuals on the page
Positions are Power BI page pixels. Enter them in Format → General → Properties → Size and position, or use the PBIP download where they are already set.
| Visual | Type | X | Y | Width | Height |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Slicer | 904 | 32 | 160 | 40 |
| Service | Slicer | 1080 | 32 | 160 | 40 |
| Cloud spend | Card | 40 | 120 | 168 | 64 |
| vs budget | Card | 296 | 120 | 160 | 64 |
| Commitment coverage | Card | 544 | 120 | 160 | 64 |
| Cost per 1,000 requests | Card | 792 | 120 | 160 | 64 |
| Untagged spend | Card | 1040 | 120 | 160 | 64 |
| Weekly spend by service | Area chart | 40 | 232 | 704 | 200 |
| Spend vs budget by team | Bar chart | 792 | 232 | 448 | 200 |
| Unit cost by week | Line chart | 40 | 480 | 576 | 200 |
| Savings opportunities | Table | 664 | 480 | 576 | 200 |
Custom visuals for this layout
Built-in Power BI visuals cover most slots above. These slots also suit a custom visual; each page covers the data shape, DAX and a prompt to generate it as a .pbiviz.
Slot: Cloud spend
KPI CardExecutive dashboard KPI row (revenue, customers, NPS, churn)
Slot: vs budget
Bullet ChartExecutive KPI scorecards (5-10 KPIs in a grid)
Already have a report?
Brand Makeover tries Cloud Cost (FinOps) first on every page of your Power BI project (.pbip zip) where it fits: the page's visuals have to go into its 9 data slots without overlaps. Pages it can't seat get another catalog layout or a brand grid. Queries, filters and bookmarks are left as they are. Free, in your browser.
Opens with the Analyst / Dense preset, because the Executive preset doesn't use this layout (9 data slots; this preset uses templates with at most 7).
Restyle my report into thisSwap a slot for a custom visual
Pick any slot and VizForge AI writes a custom visual (.pbiviz, with TypeScript source) sized to it, in this template's colours and shaped for the fields it is bound to.
Generate one that fits this layout.
Card · 168×64 px · bound to [Cloud Spend]
1, 2 or 5 credits depending on the brief · 5 free on signup. Sign in or create a free account on the next screen; the brief is saved for 30 minutes.
A Power BI card visual titled "Cloud spend". It sits in a 168×64 px slot on a designed report page. Match the report's brand: data colours #7CB88A, #A3E635, #E2B93B, #D98B5F, #6FB7E8, #C39BE0; background #122620; text #ECF3EE; font Segoe UI. Transparent visual background so the page design shows through; no visual border. In the sample model it is bound to [Cloud Spend]; keep the same data roles so the fields drop straight in.
Not sure what to build? Browse the visual catalog or open the template in the design studio and hand off any slot from there. Or start in the AI generator with a blank brief.
Colours and theme
Dark green Power BI theme: deep evergreen page, moss cards and sage, lime, gold and copper data colours for sustainability, ESG and energy dashboards.
Use the background in an existing report
Prefer to keep your own report? Apply the design to it instead of opening the PBIP.
- 1
Download the background
Take the 1920×1080 PNG for a new page in a Fluent 2 report (the default size for new pages), or the 2× PNG (2560×1440) for sharp text on a 1280×720 Classic page. Power BI scales the image to the canvas.
- 2
Set the canvas background
Format page → Canvas background → Browse. Set Image fit to Fill and transparency to 0%.
- 3
Import the theme
Design ribbon → Import theme (in the Power BI service: View → Theme pane), then pick the downloaded JSON. Data colours and fonts now match the design. Older Desktop builds: View → Themes → Browse for themes.
- 4
Place your visuals
Size each visual to the positions above with background and border off, or open the PBIP project where they are already placed.
Questions about this template
Does the Cloud Cost (FinOps) template come with sample data?
Yes. The “PBIP with sample data” download contains a semantic model with 6 tables and 7 DAX measures, and every visual on the page is already bound to it. The sample: Thirteen weeks of cloud spend for a fictional e-commerce engineering organisation (Aug to Oct 2026): cost by team and service with the share covered by savings commitments and the share on untagged resources, weekly budget and request volume per team, and 30 open savings recommendations. The data is written into each table's Power Query step, so there is no data source or sign-in.
Is it a .pbix file?
It is a Power BI project (PBIP): a folder of text files that Power BI Desktop opens like a .pbix. Open the .pbip file, select Refresh once to load the sample rows, then use File → Save as if you want a single .pbix.
What visuals are in the Cloud Cost (FinOps) template?
The page has 11 visual areas: 2 slicers, 5 cards, 1 area chart, 1 bar chart, 1 line chart, 1 table. Their exact positions are listed on this page so you can match them in Power BI's Format → General → Properties panel, or skip that step by downloading the PBIP project.
Which theme does the Cloud Cost (FinOps) template use?
It ships with the Forest Night theme (dark tone). Download the theme JSON here, or open the template in the design studio and switch to any other theme or your own brand colours.
Is there a light version of the Cloud Cost (FinOps) template?
Yes. Switch the preview to Light and every download (background, theme JSON and PBIP) comes in that version. The layout is identical; the page, card and text colours are re-solved for a light page, and the accent, status and data colours keep their hues but are adjusted until text meets WCAG AA (4.5:1) and chart colours reach 3:1 against the cards.
How do I use the background image in Power BI Desktop?
Select the page, open Format page → Canvas background, choose Browse and pick the PNG, then set Image fit to Fill and transparency to 0%. Give your visuals a transparent background and no border so the designed panels show through.
Can I open the PBIP project in Power BI Desktop?
Yes. PBIR is the default report format in Power BI Desktop since September 2026, and the download is a PBIP project: unzip it and open the .pbip file, select Refresh once and the sample data loads into visuals that are already bound (the empty PBIP leaves the containers unbound for your own data). Microsoft still lists projects and TMDL as preview features (as of Nov 2026), so if Desktop won't open it, enable them under File → Options and settings → Options → Preview features.
Build guides for this dashboard
Guides to the same dashboard job: which custom visuals it needs, the DAX behind them and prompts to generate them.
Dashboard job
Best Power BI Visuals for DevOps MonitoringThe best Power BI visuals for DevOps — incident SPC, deploy frequency cadence, MTTR distributions, SLA…
Team
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KPI cards for this layout
Headline numbers drawn by one DAX SVG measure each, for the Card visual or a table row.
Want the headline numbers to look like cards rather than plain values? Browse the KPI card gallery or build your own in the SVG measure builder.
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