Whitepaper 'FinOps and cost management for Kubernetes'

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Ebook 'From FinOps to proven cloud cost management & optimization strategies'

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OptScale — FinOps

FinOps overview

Cost optimization:

AWS

MS Azure

Google Cloud

Alibaba Cloud

Kubernetes

OptScale — MLOps

ML/AI Profiling

ML/AI Optimization

Big Data Profiling

OPTSCALE PRICING

Acura — Cloud migration

Overview

Database replatforming

Migration to:

AWS

MS Azure

Google Cloud

Alibaba Cloud

VMWare

OpenStack

KVM

Public Cloud

Migration from:

On-premise

Acura — DR & cloud backup

Overview

Migration to:

AWS

MS Azure

Google Cloud

Alibaba Cloud

VMWare

OpenStack

KVM

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Open-source FinOps platform — OptScale features & benefits

OptScale is available as open source and as a SaaS solution, providing complete visibility into your company’s multi-cloud and Kubernetes infrastructure. It identifies cost-optimization opportunities and builds an ongoing FinOps process to keep spend predictable.

Table of contents

OptScale features for FinOps and multi-cloud cost management: visibility, allocation, optimization, and guardrails

These features implement OptScale’s core capabilities: unified visibility & allocation, cost governance & guardrails, optimization & automation, environment management, and regional/network cost intelligence.

Recommendations

Get personalized, card-based advice that explains each cost issue in plain language and links to the OptScale feature or script to fix it. Typical quick wins include cleaning up unused volumes and obsolete snapshots across clouds, turning routine hygiene into FinOps savings.

How to use recommendation cards in OptScale →

How to get rid of unused volumes and snapshots using OptScale →

Duplicate Object Finder

Identify and eliminate duplicate objects across one or multiple AWS S3 buckets: OptScale scans every object, compares content to detect true duplicates quickly, and shows live progress with estimated savings based on your region’s standard S3 pricing. Finish with a guided cleanup to safely remove redundant copies without disrupting apps—cutting storage costs and keeping buckets lean.

How to optimize AWS S3 storage with Duplicate Object Finder →

Resources

See a single view of spend for every resource across connected clouds, with filters by account, project, team, tag, or service. Use it to spot and rightsize—or remove—underused VMs, disks, and snapshots so budgets stay accurate and multi-cloud cost management stays efficient.

Pools

Use the Pools page to track budgets, limits, and projected expenses for teams, projects, or environments—so you can quickly spot anything trending over the line across clouds and Kubernetes. From one place, review usage, adjust allocations, and rebalance resources to keep each pool within budget and cost-efficient.

How to categorize expenses using OptScale →

Shared Environments

Book and share test or R&D infrastructure for set time windows, see who’s using what, and release it when you’re done—no spreadsheets or chat threads. OptScale tracks usage and availability to prevent overconsumption, reduce idle spend, and keep multi-cloud costs predictable.

Cost Explorer

Use Cost Explorer to visualize day-by-day spend trends across clouds and Kubernetes in an interactive chart—click any bar to drill into that day’s costs by account, service, or tag. Turn these insights into action with budgets and alerts to catch spikes early, then right-size or scale down under-utilized resources to keep multi-cloud cost management predictable.

Cost Map

Use Cost Map to visualize regional cloud spend and network traffic at a glance—highlighting high-cost areas, cross-region egress, and hotspots by service. Compare regions, plan budget allocation, and optimize workload placement or routing to reduce transfer fees and maintain predictable multi-cloud costs.

FinOps Portal

Learn FinOps fundamentals and best practices tailored to your maturity level—start in the Overview to choose the right path, then dive into step-by-step How-Tos and real-world examples. Use the built-in checklists to structure cloud financial operations, track usage, and roll out a sustainable multi-cloud cost management process across teams.

Anomaly Detection

Use Anomaly Detection to automatically flag unusual spend or resource spikes before they turn into bill shocks. Define clear policies and thresholds, receive timely alerts, and refine the rules as your environment evolves to minimize false positives and ensure budget alignment.

Quotas & Budgets

Set project- or team-level budgets and resource quotas to keep cloud spend and storage growth under control. OptScale tracks usage against these limits, alerts you before thresholds are hit, and helps teams rebalance or clean up resources so availability stays high and costs stay predictable.

How to set budgets and quotas using OptScale →

Tagging

Implement consistent tags across cloud resources to make them easy to organize, automate, and report. OptScale’s Tagging Policies page monitors tag coverage and validity, alerts on gaps, and helps teams fix issues quickly so governance and cost allocation (showback/chargeback) stay accurate across multi-cloud environments.

Resource Lifecycle

Standardize how resources are created, used, and retired across your clouds to keep performance high and costs under control. Use lifecycle policies (e.g., audits, auto-cleanup, decommissioning) to remove idle or underutilized assets on time, aligning multi-cloud cost management with your FinOps goals.

Power Schedules

Automate start/stop times for VMs, clusters, and other resources to prevent non-prod from running during nights and weekends. Define schedules per team, project, or timezone and adjust on demand—cutting idle runtime and keeping multi-cloud costs predictable.

How to set Power Schedules using OptScale →

K8s Rightsizing

Identify over- and under-provisioned workloads and get clear recommendations to adjust CPU/memory requests and limits, right-size nodes, and scale clusters safely. OptScale shows impact by namespace/workload, so engineers cut waste without risking reliability—keeping Kubernetes costs predictable within your FinOps practice.

How to manage and monitor Kubernetes costs in OptScale →

Cloud Cost Comparison

Filter and compare instance types, specs, and pricing across cloud providers—data is pulled directly from provider APIs and may refresh with a short delay. View estimates in your selected currency when available (otherwise provider currency) and assess total cost by factoring in billing models, discounts, and long-term commitments.

Databricks Cost Management

Connect Databricks to OptScale to surface and allocate Databricks expenses alongside your cloud bill—using metadata like name, tags, and region for accurate attribution, with custom pricing supported so reported costs match your invoice. Use this unified view with budgets and anomaly alerts to catch spend spikes early and keep Databricks costs predictable within your multi-cloud cost management practice

Test Environment Management

OptScale centralizes test and R&D environments so teams can see availability, track usage and deploy history, and book or release clusters, VMs, and other shared resources—without spreadsheets or chat threads. Integrations with Slack and Jira/Calendar enable simple scheduling and real-time notifications, while temporary, revocable access keeps internal workloads secure during shared sessions. The result is a predictable, auditable environment usage with clear cost visibility across environments, reducing booking conflicts and idle spend.

Supported platforms

Benefits that you can get from OptScale

Full visibility that engineers can act on

OptScale ties cloud and Kubernetes spend to owners, services, and projects, then pairs visibility with actions like rightsizing and lifecycle policies. In a published case study, a Hystax customer reduced cloud spending by 35% after adopting OptScale-driven FinOps practices.

Lower waste and safer budgets

Budgets, anomaly detection, TTLs, and power schedules curb runaway costs and keep non-prod under control. Hystax materials report up to 45% cloud cost savings in the first three months for mid-size and enterprise teams adopting OptScale. For commitment-based pricing, OptScale’s RI/Savings Plans planning can deliver up to 72% savings on covered workloads vs. on-demand pricing.

Fewer surprises from data transfer

The geo & network map exposes cross-region and egress charges, so teams can reduce expensive data paths and collocate dependent services. You stop paying for invisible traffic and place workloads where cost and latency make sense.

Standardized environment usage

OptScale turns environment usage into a clean, predictable process with access controls, scheduling, and lifecycle rules. This reduces drift and shadow resources—keeping test and staging efficient and auditable.

FAQs

Is OptScale a FinOps tool or just a cost dashboard?

OptScale is a FinOps platform: budgeting and alerts, anomaly detection, TTL/power policies, optimization insights, and governance that makes engineers accountable for cost. It goes beyond charts to deliver continuous, enforceable practice.

Does OptScale handle Kubernetes costs as well as cloud accounts?

Yes. Kubernetes spend sits alongside cloud accounts in one view, with the same rightsizing, capacity, and lifecycle guardrails, so you can optimize clusters and cloud together.

How fast can we see savings?

Hystax’s product one-pager cites up to 45% savings in the first three months for mid-size and enterprise teams. A published customer case study documents a 35% total cloud spend reduction after adopting OptScale and FinOps practices. And for workloads covered by commitments, OptScale RI/SP planning can yield up to 72% vs. on-demand prices.

How does the geo/network map help cut bills?

It reveals regional spend and paid egress paths, so you can adjust data routes, collocate services, or relocate workloads. These changes reduce transfer fees and avoid hidden cross-region penalties.

Can we prevent bill spikes before the month-end?

Set budgets and anomaly policies to catch abnormalities early, then enforce TTLs and power schedules so temporary or non-prod resources don’t linger. These guardrails keep spending predictable.

Can OptScale help manage shared test/stage environments?

Yes—catalog environments, control access and availability, and standardize power states. Reporting ties every environment to owners and projects for transparent showback/chargeback.

Contacts

Email: [email protected]
Address: 1250 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089

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Open-source FinOps platform — OptScale features & benefits

OptScale features for FinOps and multi-cloud cost management: visibility, allocation, optimization, and guardrails

Recommendations

Duplicate Object Finder

Resources

Pools

Shared Environments

Cost Explorer

Cost Map

FinOps Portal

Anomaly Detection

Quotas & Budgets

Tagging

Resource Lifecycle

Power Schedules

K8s Rightsizing

Archive

Cloud Cost Comparison

Databricks Cost Management

Test Environment Management

Benefits that you can get from OptScale

Full visibility that engineers can act on

Lower waste and safer budgets

Fewer surprises from data transfer

Standardized environment usage

FAQs

Is OptScale a FinOps tool or just a cost dashboard?

Does OptScale handle Kubernetes costs as well as cloud accounts?

How fast can we see savings?

How does the geo/network map help cut bills?

Can we prevent bill spikes before the month-end?

Can OptScale help manage shared test/stage environments?