# The Best Cloud Cost Optimization Tools in 2026

> Ten tools that cut the cloud bill, from commitment managers to Kubernetes autopilots: what each one optimizes, how it applies changes, and who it suits.

Source: https://levelfour.ai/blog/best-cloud-cost-optimization-tools

Updated: 2026-10-21

September 30, 2026. By Ana Julia.

Most cloud bills carry waste you can name: idle volumes, oversized instances, clusters that request twice the memory they use, and on-demand rates on workloads that run all year. You want a tool that takes that waste off the bill, so this guide looks at what each tool changes for you and how each change reaches production.

We read each vendor's own documentation and pricing pages to see what the tool optimizes, how it applies a change, how it fits infrastructure as code, and how it charges. We make LevelFour, so it comes first. Each section links to that vendor's own page.

## The ten tools at a glance

| Tool | Primary focus | What it optimizes | Standout capability | Best fit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LevelFour | One system of record for Cloud, SaaS, and AI spend, with each saving shipped | Compute, storage, databases, data warehouses, network egress, Kubernetes, and commitments on AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure | Each saving [applied for you or as an infrastructure-as-code pull request](https://docs.levelfour.ai/savings-recommendations/implementation-methods), then confirmed on the bill | Teams that want savings shipped and paid for out of what they save |
| Vantage | Cost reports with automated AWS commitments | AWS Savings Plans, plus AWS fixes through its FinOps Agent | Autopilot buys AWS Savings Plans for 5% of the savings | AWS teams that want self-serve reports and Savings Plans bought for them |
| ProsperOps | Autonomous rate optimization, a Flexera company | Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, and committed use discounts on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud | Commitments bought in small, frequent increments within your guardrails | Teams that want commitment coverage run for them |
| Flexera Autonomous Workload Optimization | Container and VM automation, the former Spot Ocean and Elastigroup | Kubernetes and container compute on EKS, ECS, AKS, and GKE | Spot capacity, autoscaling, and bin-packing applied in the cluster | Teams running large container fleets on Spot |
| nOps | Automated commitments and AWS compute | Commitments on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud; EKS, Spot, scheduling, and storage on AWS | Commitment purchases and adjustments run for a share of the savings | AWS-heavy teams with large commitment portfolios |
| Cast AI | Kubernetes automation | Kubernetes clusters on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and Oracle Cloud, plus databases | Autoscaling, Spot, rightsizing, and GPU sharing applied within your policies | Platform teams that want cluster capacity tuned for them |
| Harness Cloud & AI Cost Management | Cost module of a software delivery platform | Idle resources on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, and EC2, ElastiCache, and RDS commitments on AWS | AutoStopping turns idle non-production resources off and back on | Teams that build and deploy with Harness |
| Zesty | Autonomous Kubernetes optimization | Kubernetes CPU, memory, replicas, GPUs, and storage, and AWS and Azure commitments | Pod sizes and replica counts tuned together, alongside native HPA and VPA | Teams that want Kubernetes and commitments tuned by one vendor |
| AWS Cost Optimization Hub and Compute Optimizer | AWS's own optimization recommendations | Rightsizing, idle resources, Savings Plans, and Reserved Instances across AWS services | Recommendations from every AWS account in one console, at no additional charge | AWS teams that want a free starting point |
| Sedai | Autonomous optimization for cloud and AI workloads | Kubernetes, VMs, serverless, storage, and data clusters on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud | A dial from recommendations to autopilot, with changes written back as Terraform pull requests | Teams that want to set, resource by resource, how much the tool does on its own |

Sources: each vendor's own documentation and pricing pages.

## 1. LevelFour

LevelFour finds the waste in your cloud, ships each saving, and proves it on the bill, inside one system of record for Cloud, SaaS, and AI spend.

- Savings across AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and Kubernetes, from slow queries in your data warehouse to network egress, each one priced against what the resources cost you today.
- Three routes per saving, picked by your team: LevelFour applies it in your cloud with [write access scoped to that one change](https://docs.levelfour.ai/connectors/aws/automated-savings), which then expires; it opens an infrastructure-as-code pull request in Terraform, CloudFormation, Pulumi, CDK, or Kubernetes manifests on GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps; or it hands over manual steps.
- The first two routes together: LevelFour applies the change in your cloud, then opens a pull request with the matching code, so the next plan of your infrastructure code does not undo it.
- Guardrails your team sets, which decide the savings that go live on their own and the ones that [wait for an owner](https://docs.levelfour.ai/savings-recommendations/approvals-and-rollout). Every step lands in the [activity log](https://docs.levelfour.ai/savings-recommendations).
- [Savings Plans and Reserved Instances](https://docs.levelfour.ai/commitments) bought and [renewed](https://docs.levelfour.ai/commitments/renewals) as your usage moves.
- [Savings Audit](https://docs.levelfour.ai/savings-audit), which compares what each resource cost before and after the change, so each saving on your bill comes with a figure you can audit.
- A [cost check on every pull request](https://docs.levelfour.ai/integrations/pull-request-bot), which catches new waste before it ships.

Pricing: Cloud Savings costs 30% of realized savings, and nothing if nothing is saved. Governance & Visibility plans start at $30 a month. [See pricing](https://levelfour.ai/pricing.md).

Best for: teams that want each saving shipped and confirmed on the bill, paid for out of what they save.

## 2. Vantage

Vantage reports cost across 40+ cloud, Kubernetes, SaaS, and AI integrations, and automates part of the AWS bill.

- Autopilot, which buys AWS Compute and Database Savings Plans for 5% of the savings it realizes.
- A FinOps Agent, listed on Vantage's Enterprise plan, that runs AWS commitment purchases and rightsizing from Slack, on its own or after an account Owner approves.
- Rightsizing recommendations for Kubernetes workloads.
- Published prices: free up to $2,500 of tracked spend, then $30 and $200 a month. [Vantage Autopilot](https://docs.vantage.sh/autopilot).

Best for: AWS teams that want self-serve cost reports and Savings Plans bought for them.

## 3. ProsperOps

ProsperOps automates rate optimization on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Flexera acquired it in January 2026, and it runs under its own brand.

- Autonomous Discount Management, which buys Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, and committed use discounts in small, high-frequency increments.
- Guardrails you set for term, budget, payment preference, and risk tolerance.
- A Scheduler for Amazon EC2 and Amazon RDS, in early access, at a flat fee per managed resource.
- Pricing as a share of realized savings, after a free savings analysis. [ProsperOps pricing](https://www.prosperops.com/pricing/).

Best for: teams that want commitment coverage managed across three clouds by a specialist.

## 4. Flexera Autonomous Workload Optimization

Flexera Autonomous Workload Optimization automates containers and virtual machines. It carries on Spot Ocean and Elastigroup, which Flexera bought from NetApp in 2025.

- Spot capacity, autoscaling, bin-packing, and pod rightsizing on Amazon EKS and ECS, Azure AKS, and Google GKE.
- A recommendations mode you can run first, then switch to automation.
- Unified Autonomous Optimization, generally available since June 2026, which runs rate and workload optimization together.
- Listings on the AWS and Azure marketplaces. [Flexera container optimization](https://www.flexera.com/products/flexera-one/container-optimization).

Best for: teams that run large container fleets and want Spot capacity managed for them.

## 5. nOps

nOps automates commitment management and AWS compute optimization.

- Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, and committed use discounts bought and adjusted across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, priced as a share of the savings.
- EKS container rightsizing applied in one click, with Karpenter and Cluster Autoscaler support and control over Spot usage.
- One-click resource scheduling and storage optimization on AWS.
- A flat fee by cloud spend for its visibility product, with a 14-day free trial. [nOps pricing](https://www.nops.io/pricing/).

Best for: AWS-heavy teams with large commitment portfolios.

## 6. Cast AI

Cast AI optimizes Kubernetes and the nodes beneath it on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and Oracle Cloud, and optimizes workloads on Tanzu, bare metal, and other clusters through Cast AI Anywhere.

- Autoscaling, Spot, and workload rightsizing, applied to live clusters within your policies once you switch them on.
- GPU sharing and rightsizing for AI workloads.
- A Database Optimizer that finds slow queries, caches reads, and pools connections.
- Imports of the Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, and committed use discounts you already hold on AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. [Cast AI](https://cast.ai/).

Best for: platform teams that want Kubernetes capacity and requests tuned for them.

## 7. Harness Cloud & AI Cost Management

Harness Cloud & AI Cost Management is the cost module of the Harness software delivery platform, for AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, and AI providers.

- AutoStopping, which stops idle non-production VMs and Kubernetes workloads on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, plus ECS services and RDS databases on AWS, and restarts them when traffic returns.
- A Commitment Orchestrator that buys Compute Savings Plans and Convertible Reserved Instances for EC2, and Reserved Instances for ElastiCache and, behind a feature flag, RDS, with a 24-hour window to approve each purchase.
- Asset Governance rules that remediate policy violations on their own.
- Part of Harness's Enterprise plan, priced by quote. [Harness Cloud & AI Cost Management](https://www.harness.io/products/cloud-ai-cost-management).

Best for: engineering teams that already build and deploy with Harness.

## 8. Zesty

Zesty runs autonomous optimization for Kubernetes and for cloud commitments.

- Multi-Dimensional Autoscaling, which sets CPU, memory, and replica counts for Deployments, StatefulSets, and CronJobs alongside native HPA and VPA.
- Fractional GPUs and persistent volume autoscaling.
- AWS Savings Plans bought in small pieces with staggered expiry dates, and Azure savings plans bought and expired daily.
- Pricing based on usage and realized savings. [Zesty pricing](https://zesty.co/pricing/).

Best for: teams that want Kubernetes resources and commitments tuned by one vendor.

## 9. AWS Cost Optimization Hub and Compute Optimizer

AWS Cost Optimization Hub gathers the cost recommendations from all your AWS accounts and Regions in one console, fed by AWS Compute Optimizer.

- Rightsizing, idle resource, Savings Plans, and Reserved Instance recommendations across EC2, EBS, Lambda, RDS, ECS on Fargate, and other AWS services.
- Automation rules in Compute Optimizer that snapshot and delete unattached EBS volumes and upgrade EBS volume types on a schedule you set.
- No additional charge, with paid enhanced infrastructure metrics. [AWS Cost Optimization Hub](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cost-management/latest/userguide/cost-optimization-hub.html).

Best for: AWS teams that want a free starting point inside the console they already use.

## 10. Sedai

Sedai optimizes Kubernetes, virtual machines, serverless functions, storage, and data clusters on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud, and on self-managed Kubernetes.

- Three modes per resource: Datapilot recommends, Copilot applies a change after one click, and Autopilot acts on the resources you select.
- Pull requests in your Git repository that reflect each change, in Terraform, on GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket.
- Rollback, maintenance windows, and a pause control.
- Pricing per vCPU under management, on a yearly commitment. [Sedai](https://www.sedai.io/).

Best for: teams that want to set, resource by resource, how much the tool does on its own.

## How to choose

Start with where your waste sits. If on-demand rates on steady workloads drive your bill, a commitment manager covers most of it. Oversized Kubernetes requests and half-empty nodes need a cluster tool, and waste spread across services and clouds needs a tool with that reach.

Then decide how a change should reach production at your company: applied by the tool, merged as a pull request, or done by an engineer from a ticket. Teams that manage infrastructure as code want the pull request, so the repository and the cloud stay in step. Last, compare how each tool charges. A share of realized savings ties the fee to what leaves the bill.

LevelFour finds the savings in your cloud and ships them. [See what LevelFour can save you](https://levelfour.ai/sign-up) in 5 minutes, with read-only access.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the best cloud cost optimization tool?

It depends on where your waste sits. Commitment managers such as ProsperOps and nOps cut the rate on steady workloads, and Kubernetes tools such as Cast AI and Zesty tune clusters. LevelFour works across AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and Kubernetes, and ships each saving, applied for you or as a pull request, then confirmed on your bill. [Every provider LevelFour connects](https://docs.levelfour.ai/connectors).

### Which cloud cost optimization tools open infrastructure-as-code pull requests?

Of the tools in this guide, LevelFour opens a pull request for each saving your team ships that way, in Terraform, CloudFormation, Pulumi, CDK, or Kubernetes manifests. Sedai opens Terraform pull requests, and Cast AI's agents, in private preview, open pull requests that update Helm charts and Kubernetes manifests. [What is an IaC pull request?](https://levelfour.ai/glossary/iac-pull-request.md).

### How do cloud cost optimization tools charge?

Many charge a share of the savings: LevelFour takes 30% of realized savings, Vantage's Autopilot 5% of the Savings Plan savings, and ProsperOps, Flexera (through its ProsperOps+ suite), nOps, and Zesty a share they quote. AWS Cost Optimization Hub carries no additional charge, Sedai prices per managed vCPU, and Cast AI and Harness price by quote. [See LevelFour pricing](https://levelfour.ai/pricing.md).

### Is cloud cost optimization different from cloud cost management?

Cost management tells you where the money goes: allocation, reports, budgets, and alerts. Cost optimization lowers the bill: rightsizing, idle cleanup, commitments, and Kubernetes tuning. LevelFour does both: it manages Cloud, SaaS, and AI spend in one system of record and ships the savings it finds. [What is cloud cost optimization?](https://levelfour.ai/glossary/cloud-cost-optimization.md).

## See what LevelFour can save you

[Start free trial](https://levelfour.ai/sign-up) · [Get in touch](https://levelfour.cal.com/)

## About LevelFour

The FinOps platform that actually cuts costs. One system of record for Cloud, SaaS, and AI spend. LevelFour applies each saving, or your engineers merge it as code.

- **Cloud Savings**: 30% success fee on savings found and applied. No hidden charges, only pay on what you actually save.
- **Pro**: $30 per month · Up to $2,500 spend/mo
- **Scale**: $200 per month · Up to $7,500 spend/mo
- **Enterprise**: Custom · Unlimited spend

[Pricing](https://levelfour.ai/pricing.md) · [Guide for agents (llms.txt)](https://levelfour.ai/llms.txt) · [Documentation](https://docs.levelfour.ai) · MCP server: `https://mcp.levelfour.ai/mcp`