FME project processing power for less than the price of a laptop
Project work is temporary. Once the project’s done, so is your need for project specific data tools. Yet the old way of licensing FME made you buy perpetual licences, sometimes leaving expensive software underutilised once your project wrapped up.
FME’s latest enhancements break that cycle. Now, you can spin up remote FME engines based on CPU usage. Instead of paying a hefty upfront fee, you’re billed only for the processing hours you use – often coming in at a few hundred pounds instead of thousands.
Example Project: On-Premises to Cloud Migration
Migrating data from in-house servers to the cloud is a common short-term project. Traditionally, you had two choices:
- Buy new perpetual licences: High upfront costs, drawn-out procurement, and unused licences post-project.
- Use your existing FME setup: Risk data bottlenecks, job scheduling headaches, and potential downtime for business as usual.
With the CPU Hour FME model, you just pay for the data processing time your project needs – giving you more control over your budget and infrastructure.
How the CPU-Hour Model Works
Instead of purchasing a perpetual licence for a temporary project, organisations can use Remote Engine Services running on CPU hours. These engines are free to install and only incur costs based on actual usage. This means you can buy a dedicated bundle of CPU time specifically for the project, great for cost allocation, and place that processing engine right next to your data, great for efficiency.
Using a virtual machine (VM), like those on Azure, is particularly beneficial, as you can quickly ramp up both the VM and FME engines and then shut down when finished.
FME and a VM is less than a mid-range laptop
The combined price point of a VM and CPU hours is compelling. Running a CPU-based engine on a 4-core, 16GB RAM VM on Azure at around 20% utilisation can cost you less than £500 per month – less than the price of a mid-range laptop.
And when the project finishes? Power down, and that’s it.
Spend Hundreds, Not Thousands
FME’s CPU-based licensing flips the old model on its head. Rather than investing in perpetual licences you barely use, you can now pay for just the data processing power you actually need. Short-term projects—like an on-premises to cloud migration—can be completed under £500 a month, saving you time, money, and resources.
To discover how FME’s flexible deployment options can benefit your projects connect with our FME Specialists now.