A method for costing a web service operable for querying one or more data sources, the method including calculating the cost of operating the web service, measuring web service usage data using one or more service metrics, wherein the one or more service metrics include at least one derived service metric, choosing at least one service metric from the one or more service metrics, wherein one or more of the at least one chosen service metrics is a derived service metric, calculating the cost of the web service based on the at least one chosen service metric, and charging for usage of the web service based upon the calculated cost of the web service.