Cloud infrastructure costs are one of the DevOps team’s biggest hurdles right now. Kubernetes has revolutionized the flexibility of deployment, but it’s also led to financial blind spots. Enter Kubecost, the premier real-time cost monitoring and optimization solution for Kubernetes.
Developed with native integrations, intuitive dashboards, and deep analysis of resources, Kubecost provides visibility into where your money is being spent in your cluster. It’s engineered to work regardless if you’re running EKS, GKE, AKS, or plain old bare metal Kubernetes — and Kubecost will track spending down to the container level. Teams can benefit from optimal workloads, discover wasted resources, and make intelligent decisions about scaling.
Let’s learn together!
What is Kubecost & Why Is It Important?
Kubecost is an open-source Kubernetes cost monitoring tool that enables teams to monitor, allocate, and optimize their spend on infrastructure within and across clusters. It provides real-time visibility into pod-level spending, idle resources spending, and budget distribution, making DevOps smarter about financials.
Key Features:
- Real-time cost breakdowns
- Alerting for budget limits
- Assign costs by namespace, label, or deployment.
- Idle resource detection
- Multi-cluster reporting
How to Deploy Kubecost Using the Kubecost Helm Chart?
The fastest and most widely adopted method of installing Kubecost is with our Helm chart. It is configurable, upgradable, and supported as a general best practice for all Kubernetes distributions.
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Step-by-Step Helm Installation:
helm repo add kubecost https://kubecost.github.io/cost-analyzer/
helm repo update
kubectl create namespace kubecost
helm install kubecost kubecost/cost-analyzer \
--namespace kubecost \
--set kubecostToken="YOUR_TOKEN"
Output:
NAME: kubecost
NAMESPACE: kubecost
STATUS: deployed
Once deployed, access the dashboard:
kubectl port-forward --namespace kubecost deployment/kubecost-cost-analyzer 9090
Then visit: http://localhost:9090
How Does Kubecost Pricing Work?
Kubecost offers both free and paid plans. The free plan supports basic monitoring for small clusters, while Kubecost Enterprise provides advanced features like multi-cluster support, SSO, and long-term retention.
| Plan | Key Features | Ideal For |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Basic dashboard, alerts, 15-day history | Small teams |
| Business | Multi-user, budget guardrails, integrations | Medium orgs |
| Enterprise | SSO, RBAC, multi-cluster, 1-year retention | Large-scale systems |
Note: Kubecost pricing is usage-based and tailored to cluster size and deployment type.
What is Kubecost IBM / Kubecost on IBM Cloud?
IBM Kubecost is the integration of Kubecost into the IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service. It offers support for tracking resource utilization, billing analytics, and cloud cost optimization in the IBM Cloud.
Benefits of Kubecost on IBM:
- Seamless IBM Cloud billing integration
- Dashboard in the IBM Cloud console
- IBM-specific improvements for reserved instance tracking
- Works with Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud
What Are the Benefits of Using Kubecost for DevOps and Finance?
| Benefit | Description |
|---|---|
| Accurate Budget Tracking | Real-time costs tied to workloads and namespaces |
| Idle Resource Identification | Spot unused CPU/RAM to downscale properly |
| Improved Collaboration | Shared visibility between DevOps and Finance teams |
| Custom Alerts | Budget overspend and inefficiencies are caught early |
| Automated Recommendations | Built-in optimization tips to reduce waste |
Best Practices for Using Kubecost
- Always label resources for easier cost grouping.
- Provide a multi-cluster view for companies with the biggest infrastructure.
- Set up daily budget alerts.
- Integrates with Prometheus and Grafana for more advanced monitoring.
- Automate housekeeping tasks of idle PersistentVolumes and underutilized pods.
Role of CyberPanel in Kubernetes Cost Optimization
Although CyberPanel is a robust web hosting control panel, its capabilities expand into containerized infrastructure:
- Helps deploy resource-optimized apps using Docker/Kubernetes
- Offers site analytics and usage monitoring—key for estimating hosting costs
- Can be integrated with a Kubernetes setup via custom scripts or CI/CD pipelines
- Complements tools like Kubecost by managing frontend resource use efficiently
For teams moving up from shared hosting to Kubernetes, CyberPanel is a welcoming management layer before full automation becomes possible with Kubecost and similar tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Kubecost be used to monitor multiple Kubernetes clusters?
Yes, Kubecost Enterprise has support for multi-cluster and centralised cost management.
Does Kubecost work for every type of cloud provider?
Kubecost is available for AWS, Azure, GCP, IBM Cloud, and also off the cloud with on-prem Kubernetes deployments.
Can Kubecost monitor the cost of persistent volumes?
Yes, it tracks the costs of PVs and provides insights into unused or oversized volumes.
Does Kubecost require Prometheus?
Yes. Kubecost collects resource metrics with Prometheus for analysis and presentation purposes.
Wrapping Up!
Whether you are running a small startup cluster or a production deployment across multiple regions and accounts, Kubecost enables your team to cost-optimize. From Helm deployment to IBM Cloud hyper-integration, it’s the easiest way to understand, manage, and predict Kubernetes costs in real-time.
Ready to take control of your cloud budget? Start using Kubecost today and make every resource count!
