Duckbill: The Cloud Cost Whisperer Helping Enterprises Take Back Control
Published: 2026 | Author: VisionariesNetwork Team
In a world where cloud infrastructure budgets have become one of the largest line items on enterprise financial statements, Duckbill — formally known as The Duckbill Group — has positioned itself at the forefront of cloud cost management. Founded in 2019 as a boutique consultancy with a singular mission, Duckbill helps organizations bring clarity and control to the complex economics of modern cloud usage.
Origins and Vision
Duckbill emerged from a fundamental observation: traditional tools and consulting firms weren’t built to solve the chaotic and opaque nature of enterprise cloud spend. Cloud billing systems generate vast volumes of usage and pricing data across dozens of services, complicated further by evolving contract structures, consumption patterns, and multi-team ownership. For many organizations, this translates into guesswork, inefficiencies, and costly surprises.
The company’s founders recognized that understanding and optimizing cloud costs isn’t just about analyzing invoices — it requires a blend of deep technical fluency, financial acumen, and business context. Their solution was to build a specialized practice that sits squarely at the intersection of engineering, finance, procurement, and FinOps (cloud financial operations).
Mission and Core Competency
Duckbill’s core mission is simple yet ambitious: to tame cloud cost chaos by giving organizations the confidence to understand, negotiate, and optimize their cloud infrastructure spending. They do this by combining rigorous financial planning and analysis with domain expertise drawn from tens of billions of dollars in cloud contracts they’ve reviewed and negotiated.
What distinguishes Duckbill from general consultancies or off-the-shelf cost management tools is their singular focus on cloud economics. Their practitioners — often referred to as cloud economists — bring both engineering chops and financial strategy to every engagement, allowing teams to act with both precision and foresight.
Problem Space: Complexity of Cloud Spend
Modern cloud pricing and billing present several inherent challenges:
Duckbill argues that because these challenges are systemic rather than superficial, they require a depth of expertise beyond traditional cost dashboards. Their approach emphasizes contextual insights and decision-ready analytics rather than simple reporting.
Services and Capabilities
Duckbill’s offerings span both strategic consulting and technological solutions designed specifically for enterprise cloud environments:
1. Financial Planning & Analysis for Cloud Infrastructure
The company helps leadership teams — from CFOs to CTOs — understand what’s driving cloud spend, how usage maps to business outcomes, and where inefficiencies lie. They provide reporting that stands up to board-level scrutiny and models future scenarios for planning and budgeting.
2. Contract Negotiation and Procurement Support
Cloud contracts can carry hidden opportunities or risks. Duckbill brings detailed market benchmarking and expert negotiation support to procurement teams entering multi-million-dollar commitments. Their unique insight into contract terms and usage behavior gives enterprises a stronger position in negotiations.
3. FinOps Assessments and Practice Development
Duckbill helps organizations mature their FinOps practices by assessing current capabilities, aligning cross-functional teams, and embedding processes that balance cost, performance, and innovation. Their assessments often reveal structural misalignments that, once fixed, yield both financial and operational benefits.
4. Cloud Cost Tools and Data Platforms (Skyway)
Recognizing that raw cloud billing data is messy and inconsistent, Duckbill has built Skyway — a unified cloud financial data platform that standardizes, normalizes, and interprets data from all major cloud providers. Skyway gives customers a centralized foundation for forecasting, reporting, and contract modeling at scale.
Client Impact and Testimonials
Duckbill’s work spans a diverse set of enterprise clients, including tech companies, large household brands, and specialized industry players. Customer testimonials frequently highlight:
One enterprise engineering leader cited that Duckbill’s findings “more than paid for the cost of the engagement,” while another noted the clarity they gained enabled more accurate budgeting and forecasting.
Company Culture and Growth
Founded in 2019 as a small boutique firm focused on AWS cost challenges, Duckbill has since grown into a trusted partner for enterprise cloud economics, attracting talent comfortable with both deep technical analysis and strategic business thinking. Their recruitment emphasizes autonomy, expertise, and a collaborative culture that avoids corporate bureaucracy.
With the cloud computing market projected to continue growing — with estimates placing the total addressable market in the tens of billions by 2030 — Duckbill’s domain remains both relevant and essential.
Mike Julian, CEO & Cofounder at Duckbill
“We help companies lower their AWS bills through deep-dive analyses of costs and negotiating AWS contracts.”
