Introduction

Cloud adoption continues to soar—but so do cloud bills. Organizations frequently overspend on cloud services, from idle virtual machines to oversized compute instances. In 2025, rightsizing virtual machines (VMs) has become one of the most effective strategies for lowering costs and improving resource utilization.

This guide features the Top 10 Cloud Cost Management Tools that help IT, DevOps, and FinOps teams optimize cloud bills through VM rightsizing, resource scheduling, and usage analytics across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI.

Cloud cost management tools enable organizations to analyze, control, and optimize their cloud spending. They provide visibility into cloud usage patterns, identify areas for cost reduction, and offer features like budgeting, forecasting, and resource optimization.  

Here's a breakdown of some prominent cloud cost management tools and their key features:

1. Cloud Cost Management Platforms:

CloudZero:

A comprehensive platform that provides visibility across multiple cloud providers, identifies cost-saving opportunities, and integrates them with various tools.  

Economize:

Offers a range of cost management and optimization tools, including dashboards for cloud spending, reports on resource utilization, and recommendations for savings.  

FinOut:

A FinOps platform that simplifies cloud cost management for enterprises, offering visibility across cloud providers and Kubernetes.  

CloudCheckr:

Focuses on reporting, making cost optimization recommendations, and creating policy-based automation for cloud environments.  

PointFive:

A cloud cost management tool that helps organizations optimize cloud costs through various features like budget setting and cost allocation.  

ProsperOps:

A platform that provides cloud cost management, automation, and FinOps best practices.  

2. Cost Management Features:

Cost Visibility and Reporting:

Tools offer detailed reports on cloud spending, including granular tracking of expenses across different services and resources.  

Resource Tagging:

It helps organizations track costs and usage, allocate costs effectively, and implement chargebacks or showbacks.  

Budgeting and Forecasting:

Tools allow users to set budgets, forecast future costs based on historical usage, and create alerts for budget overruns.  

Resource Optimization:

Tools identify and recommend opportunities to optimize cloud resources, such as rightsizing virtual machines, utilizing reserved instances, and optimizing storage.  

Alerting and Anomaly Detection:

Tools can be configured to send alerts for unexpected spending spikes or anomalies in cost trends.  

Integration with Other Tools:

Many tools integrate with DevOps and IT management tools, enabling seamless workflows and data sharing.  

3. Examples of Cloud Service Providers' Native Tools:  

AWS Cost Explorer:

A user-friendly interface to visualize costs and usage trends, forecast future costs, and analyze Reserved Instance (RI) usage.  

AWS Budgets:

Allows users to set and monitor spending limits, track actual costs against budgeted amounts, and receive alerts when budgets are exceeded.  

Azure Cost Management:

Provides tools to analyze, manage, and optimize cloud costs, including cost reports, budgets, and cost analysis.  

4. Important Considerations:

Multi-cloud Support:

Many tools support multiple cloud providers, enabling organizations to manage their cloud spend across different platforms.  

FinOps Integration:

Cloud cost management tools often integrate with FinOps practices, enabling organizations to manage and optimize their cloud finances effectively.  

Automation:

Tools often offer automation features, such as automated resource optimization, policy enforcement, and cost anomaly detection.  

Customization:

Many tools offer customization options, allowing organizations to tailor their cost management solutions to their specific needs.

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What is VM Rightsizing?

VM rightsizing involves adjusting a virtual machine's size (vCPU, memory, storage) based on actual usage metrics. The goal is to reduce waste from over-provisioned instances or increase performance for under-provisioned workloads.

Rightsizing benefits:

• Lower cloud bill
• Higher performance efficiency
• Improved capacity planning
• Reduced carbon footprint

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Top 10 Cloud Cost Management Tools with VM Rightsizing (2025)

1. CloudHealth by VMware

Overview:
CloudHealth delivers comprehensive cost optimization across multi-cloud environments with VM rightsizing, reserved instance management, and policy-driven automation.

Pricing & Licensing:
Custom enterprise pricing is licensed by cloud spend volume.

Best For:
Large enterprises, MSPs, and FinOps teams.

Pros:

• Smart rightsizing with cost/savings impact
• RI/SP planning for AWS and Azure

Cons:

• The learning curve for custom policies

G2 Rating: 4.5/5
Gartner Rating: 4.3/5

Screenshot:

2. Spot by NetApp (Spot Eco)

Overview:
Spot leverages AI to optimize cloud infrastructure in real-time, focusing on predictive scaling, spot instance automation, and VM rightsizing through Spot Eco.

Pricing & Licensing:
Performance-based pricing or a monthly subscription.

Best For:
Cloud-native DevOps teams and auto-scaling environments.

Pros:

• Continuous optimization engine
• Integrates with Kubernetes and Terraform

Cons:

• Limited visibility for some hybrid workloads

G2 Rating: 4.7/5
Gartner Rating: 4.5/5

Screenshot:

3. Apptio Cloudability

Overview:
Cloudability helps finance and engineering teams collaborate through real-time cost data, anomaly detection, and VM rightsizing based on granular cloud usage.

Pricing & Licensing:
Tiered pricing based on cloud spend and features.

Best For:
FinOps, budgeting, and forecasting teams.

Pros:

• Detailed rightsizing with performance metrics
• Executive-ready financial reports

Cons:

• UI can feel dated

G2 Rating: 4.4/5
Gartner Rating: 4.3/5

Screenshot:

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4. CAST AI

Overview:
CAST AI automates cloud cost reduction, emphasizing Kubernetes workload optimization and real-time VM rightsizing.

Pricing & Licensing:
A free tier is available; enterprise plans are based on cluster size.

Best For:
Kubernetes-heavy environments (AWS, GCP, Azure).

Pros:

• Auto-scaling and real-time cost cuts
• Free savings report before signup

Cons:

• Focused only on containerized workloads

G2 Rating: 4.6/5
Gartner Peer Insights: 4.4/5

Screenshot:

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5. Flexera Cloud Cost Optimization

Overview:
Flexera delivers strong governance, compliance, and cost visibility through integrated VM rightsizing, Cloud Cost Explorer, and hybrid environment support.

Pricing & Licensing:
Enterprise license with modular components.

Best For:
Large IT portfolios and hybrid environments.

Pros:

• VM lifecycle recommendations
• Policy enforcement and alerts

Cons:

• Implementation can be complex

G2 Rating: 4.3/5
Gartner Rating: 4.2/5

Screenshot:

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6. CloudCheckr

Overview:
CloudCheckr combines cloud security, spend optimization, and compliance with VM rightsizing recommendations and billing insights.

Pricing & Licensing:
Licensed per cloud spend or via Spot by NetApp bundle.

Best For:
Public sector, compliance-driven environments.

Pros:

• Detailed cost breakdown by tag/account
• VM savings insights

Cons:

• The reporting UI is somewhat dated

G2 Rating: 4.4/5
Gartner Rating: 4.1/5

Screenshot:

7. Densify

Overview:
Densify uses machine learning to continuously optimize cloud resources, focusing on workload patterns and recommending exact instance types for VMs.

Pricing & Licensing:
SaaS-based; pricing based on VM quantity or cloud spend.

Best For:
Cloud architects and DevOps teams.

Pros:

• Deep analytics-driven rightsizing
• Container and VM support

Cons:

• Steep learning curve

G2 Rating: 4.5/5
Gartner Peer Score: 4.2/5

Screenshot:

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8. Harness Cloud Cost Management

Overview:
Harness offers a developer-centric approach to cloud cost governance, with auto-suggestions for VM rightsizing and anomaly detection for real-time action.

Pricing & Licensing:
Freemium model, with pricing based on managed resources.

Best For:
DevOps teams, engineering-led organizations.

Pros:

• Cost-aware alerts and auto-kill switches
• GitOps-integrated

Cons:

• Less effective for non-cloud-native teams

G2 Rating: 4.6/5
Gartner Peer Review: 4.3/5

Screenshot:

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9. CloudZero

Overview:
CloudZero provides unit economics-focused cloud spend analysis with recommendations for VM rightsizing by product, team, or feature.

Pricing & Licensing:
Custom quote: value-based pricing.

Best For:
Engineering and finance teams are collaborating on unit costs.

Pros:

• Engineering-centric cost breakdown
• Contextual savings insights

Cons:

• Lacks direct resource automation

G2 Rating: 4.5/5
Gartner Rating: 4.2/5

Screenshot:

10. Kubecost

Overview:
Kubecost offers real-time monitoring and cost optimization for Kubernetes workloads, with VM-level visibility and rightsizing guidance.

Pricing & Licensing:
A free tier is available; enterprise plans are priced per node.

Best For:
Kubernetes clusters running across clouds.

Pros:

• Real-time pod/VM recommendations
• Open source with commercial support

Cons:

• Limited support for non-K8s VMs

G2 Rating: 4.6/5
Gartner Rating: 4.3/5

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Comparison Table – 2025 Cloud Cost Optimization Tools

Conclusion

If you’re asking, "How much does cloud cost?"—you’re probably paying too much.

By integrating a cloud cost management tool with robust VM rightsizing capabilities, you can optimize your cloud bills, reduce cloud pricing, and lower your cloud bill by up to 30%—without sacrificing performance.

FAQ:

What is the cloud cost management tool?

Datadog's Cloud Cost Management (CCM) tool is a comprehensive solution for cloud cost analysis and observability. It consolidates cost and observability information across your cloud infrastructure. It helps you understand the total cost of ownership for various services and applications.

What is cloud expense management?

Cloud cost management is the practice of understanding and evaluating the expenses involved in cloud operations to control costs and optimize spending for the best possible value. Cloud cost management involves regulating, optimizing, and monitoring cloud computing costs.

What is a cost management tool?

Cost Management is a set of FinOps tools that enable you to analyze, manage, and optimize your costs. Billing provides all the tools you need to manage your billing account and pay invoices.

What is the Azure cost tool?

Azure cloud users can use Azure Cost Management for free through the Azure portal. It details your overall spending and usage for all Azure services and Azure Marketplace goods. The solution provides analysis and reporting, and can also explain how your company utilizes other cloud service providers.

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CloudNuro.ai – Smart SaaS & Cloud License Optimization

While these tools help right-size VMs, CloudNuro.ai provides visibility into SaaS licenses, cloud subscriptions, and software usage across Microsoft 365, AWS, GCP, Azure, and other platforms.

✅ Identify idle or underutilized resources
✅ Align licensing to actual usage
✅ Prepare for renewals with accurate cost data

👉 Book a Free Demo with CloudNuro.ai
Optimize both your VMs and SaaS licenses for complete spend control.

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