Understanding Kubernetes cloud costs can be a challenge that many teams lack the necessary tools and visibility to solve. In response to this challenge, the CNCF launched the OpenCost project with code provided by Kubecost, which provides an open-source Kubernetes cost monitoring standard for the industry. Microsoft is now giving users of Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) better cost transparency and contributing to the OpenCost project on behalf of their customers. Without proper cost monitoring tools like OpenCost, teams using Kubernetes may struggle to grasp their expenditures and the factors driving their costs, making it difficult to optimize their infrastructure. By leveraging OpenCost, teams can take their first step towards understanding and improving the efficiency of their Kubernetes cloud spend.

We’re excited to announce that Microsoft has joined the OpenCost community as a contributing partner and is bringing new functionality to both AKS and the OpenCost community. Microsoft’s initial contributions improve their cost reporting and make it easier to export OpenCost data to other reporting platforms.

It’s been a busy start to the year. We’re excited to announce that OpenCost is now a FinOps Certified Solution. The FinOps Foundation has certified OpenCost because it delivers Kubernetes cloud cost monitoring, a specific part of cloud cost management. According to Vas Markanastasakis, Principal at the FinOps Foundation: "Our focus at the FinOps Foundation is helping advance the people and the practice of cloud financial management. OpenCost's vendor-neutral open source project shares that focus." We look forward to helping more practitioners in the community and working with the FinOps Foundation to drive open standards.

There's even more news!

Reposted from the Grafana Labs blog: How Grafana Labs uses and contributes to OpenCost

The OpenCost UI is now available as a user-friendly interface for managing Kubernetes cloud costs. It allows users to easily monitor and visualize their cloud spend, making it easier to reduce Kubernetes costs while improving efficiency.

We are excited to share the launch of OpenCost, an open source project that provides real-time cost monitoring for teams running Kubernetes workloads!