The 12 best FinOps tools - ranked and reviewed | 2024

We get it — scaling financial operations to match your growing business needs can often feel like walking a tightrope without a safety net. 

That’s where FinOps comes into the mix.

Ok, but what exactly is FinOps?

FinOps is a collaborative, cross-functional discipline aimed at maximizing the efficiency of cloud computing, allowing technology, business management, and finance professionals to join forces and solve one key issue:  ‍‍

How to manage cloud costs effectively.

In other words, FinOps isn't just about saving money; it's about making every dollar work smarter for your business. 

To do so, companies are deploying a suite of FinOps tools.

That’s why we’ve tested, ranked, and reviewed the 12 best FinOps tools of 2024 so you don’t have to.

Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:

• What can FinOps tools do?
• What should you look for in a FinOps tool?
• An in-depth look at the top 12 FinOps tools of 2024

Let's dive in.

The best FinOps tools of 2024

In the interest of saving you precious time, here’s a quick rundown of the best FinOps tools we think are truly making life easier for finance and DevOps teams in 2024: 

• Harness embeds financial smarts right into your CI/CD pipeline for preemptive spending cuts and automated resource scaling. 
• Orb is your go-to solution for complex billing landscapes. It offers both drag-and-drop simplicity and SQL depth, making complex, usage-based pricing models a breeze.
• CloudZero redefines FinOps intelligence by turning your cloud spending into a crystal-clear narrative, highlighting exactly where and why you're overspending.
• AWS Cost Explorer is your zero-cost navigator through AWS spending, bringing you trend insights and budget alerts directly from Amazon.  
• Anodot uses the power of AI to scout out savings and optimize your cloud spending with the foresight of a crystal-ball-wielding financial advisor.
• Apptio rolls three powerful tools into one, giving you a full suite of tools to show you where you are now and help you plan for where you want to be next. 
• CloudCheckr combines cost savings with security checks, guarding your cloud finances. Check this one out if enhanced safety measures are what you need.
• ProsperOps automates AWS optimizations, tuning your spending with algorithmic precision. This is a clear example of AI that truly delivers.
• CloudHealth offers an enterprise-level tool that helps you cut costs with surgical precision. 
• DoIT CMP blends ML-driven insights with comprehensive cost management, serving as a Swiss Army knife for your cloud finances.
• Kubecost zooms in on Kubernetes spending, offering a microscope to see every penny flow within containerized environments.
• Densify pairs multi-cloud support with AI-powered optimization, ensuring resources are smartly allocated across any environment.

What can FinOps tools do?

FinOps tools are vastly different from traditional finance tools in the sense that they are created with the specific objective of managing the dynamic consumption-based nature of cloud spending and offering real-time data for their users. 

This is a field in which traditional finance tools just can’t compete, as they provide a broad (often too broad) overview of an organization's financial health.

Similarly, traditional DevOps tooling isn’t much use either - it’s often focused on productivity or infrastructure performance, with little thought or nuance paid to the financial details.

Thankfully, FinOps tools bring the best of both worlds together. 

Here are some of the most common categories of FinOps tools out there and what they do: 

• Cost management: These tools facilitate the meticulous tracking of costs, the strategic setting of budgets, and the timely reception of alerts for any cost overruns. No surprise bills, no overspending. 
• Cost optimization: Think of these tools as the equivalent of having an expert next to you telling you the hard truths of your day-to-day cloud expenses.
• Billing and invoice management: These tools help you import billing data, check for errors, and automate payments so users rest easy knowing they pay for what they see. 
• Cloud cost analysis: These tools provide insights into how costs are changing over time and what exactly is driving increases.

What to look for in a FinOps tool

Before you even think of paying for a FinOps tool, make sure it ticks these boxes: 

• Early cost guardrails: CI/CD integration allows FinOps tools to identify and address potential cost inefficiencies (like overprovisioning) from the development outset — preventing costly issues later and streamlining cost management for DevOps teams.
• Easy as 1, 2, 3: Scout for user-friendly interfaces, easy-to-understand onboarding documentation, and customization options that match your existing workflows — especially if tools will be shared by your uber-techie DevOps teams and less technical finance teams. 
• Safety first: We're dealing with the lifeblood of your business here. Think of impenetrable encryption and verifiable compliance with regulatory standards like SOC 2, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS. 
• Scale or fail: Your FinOps tool should be your growth partner, ready to take you from startup to scale-up. Make sure it can handle your current realm of operations while giving you options for when your business reaches enterprise scale.
• The price is right: Always ask yourself “Am I getting enough bang for my buck?”. Most importantly, make sure your non-negotiables don't come with a hidden premium price tag. 
• Data is king: FinOps tools that don’t provide you with data-driven insights are a no-go. Look for options to create customized reports, dashboards, and visualizations. Bonus points if they offer predictive analytics, scenario modeling, and forecasting features.

#1 Harness

What is it?

Harness is a software delivery platform that offers a bespoke cloud cost management solution capable of integrating with your DevOps workflow harmoniously. 

This means you’re getting features to automate cost optimization and infrastructure efficiency throughout a software’s entire delivery lifecycle.  

Why does it stand out?

• Shift-left approach: Harness integrates advanced financial intelligence directly within your CI/CD pipeline. In other words, you’ll be cutting on excessive resource spending before it occurs.
• Automated optimization: Spot unutilized resources in seconds. Harness lets you automate tasks like right-sizing instances, and scaling resources based on usage patterns.
• Cost governance: Cost accountability can be a tricky-to-solve issue. Harness enforces budget controls and spending limits directly within DevOps workflows.

Pricing tiers:

• Free plan: Just to get the ball rolling. 
• Startup plan: $69 per developer/month for extra features.
• Enterprise plan: Custom quote required.

#2 Orb

What is it?

Orb is a billing and invoicing platform designed for businesses with complex, usage-based pricing models. It makes it easy to bill your end-users for their exact usage of your platform, allowing you to pass on your cloud costs like compute, bandwidth, or storage to your highest-consumption users. 

Why does it stand out?

• Developer-first approach:
  • Drag-and-drop interface: Simplifies configuration of usage-based billing metrics without extensive coding.
  • Custom SQL editor: Grants developers granular control over data manipulation for intricate billing scenarios.
• Advanced financial tooling:
  • Streamlined revenue recognition: Automates handling of complex revenue streams based on usage and subscriptions.
  • Fine-grained invoicing: Provides detailed usage insights and analytics directly on end-customer invoices for easy reporting. 
• Flexibility and scalability:
  • Out-of-the-box integrations: Supports major cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) for seamless billing of cloud resources.
  • Future-proof architecture: Designed to handle high volumes of transactions and adapt to evolving business needs.

Pricing tiers:

• Core plan: Basic functionalities for a fast setup of usage-based pricing models.
• Advanced plan: For scaled companies with complex billing requirements, high-velocity sales & exacting finance workflows.
• Enterprise plan: For companies that need to maximize scale and support.

#3 CloudZero

What is it?

CloudZero is a cloud cost intelligence platform that turns reports into easy-to-digest data for various stakeholders. Finance, development, and product management teams all get actionable insights regardless of their technical knowledge. 

Why does it stand out?

• Unit cost metrics: No AWS tagging? No problem! CloudZero automatically assigns costs to relevant business dimensions like features, customers, or teams.
• Wastage identification & optimization: CloudZero pinpoints areas of overspending and suggests cost-saving measures. It breaks down bills into granular unit costs, giving you a 360 view of your cloud environment’s resource utilization.
• Proactive cost anomaly detection: CloudZero spots potential cost spikes in advance, allowing FinOps teams to take preventive actions fast. 
• Event-driven cost attribution: It joins the dots that connect costs to specific events (like deployments) to help you understand what exactly is driving up your costs.
• FinOps coaching: Get an expert on board who can assist you in optimizing your cloud spending. 

Pricing:

Custom quote required.

#4 AWS Cost Explorer

What is it?

AWS Cost Explorer is a built-in FinOps tool offered freely to AWS users to help users visualize and analyze their cloud costs.

Why does it stand out?

• Track costs over time: Dissect historical data (up to 13 months) to identify trends and monitor overall cloud spending.
• Generate custom reports: Get insights on specific departments, projects, and individual resources. 
• Set budget alerts: If you exceed predefined thresholds, you’ll get instant notifications.
• Zero upfront cost: Being a free service (for paying AWS users, mind you), Cost Explorer offers a convenient entry point for basic cloud cost analysis.

Pricing:

Free: Only for users with an AWS account.

#5 Anodot

What is it?

Anodot is an AI-powered FinOps platform designed to use the power of AI/ML to enable companies to protect revenue, manage costs, and get augmented analytics.

Why does it stand out?

• 360° cloud view: Anodot gathers data from multiple cloud platforms, providing a centralized view of your overall cloud spending.
• Personalized savings recommendations: Leveraging a library of over 60 recommendations (constantly updated), You’ll always get specific cost-saving opportunities based on your specific cloud usage patterns.
• Impact visualization: Anodot helps mitigate risks, allowing you to visualize the impact of implementing recommended actions before and after execution. 
• Granular Kubernetes cost analysis: Unlike most FinOps tools, Anodot lets you analyze resource utilization down to the node and pod level.
• Business-centric cost mapping: Anodot facilitates mapping cloud costs to specific business dimensions (e.g. departments, products, features). 

Pricing:

Custom quote required.

#6 Apptio

What is it?

Apptio is a full suite of FinOps tools in one tidy package. The tools included are:

• Cloudability: Analyzes cloud spend, bridging the gap between teams with clear cost insights.
• Apptio One: Calculates Total Costs of Ownership (TCO) for informed decisions on cloud investments and optimization.
• TargetProcess: Manages work & resources, aligning with business goals to optimize cloud resource allocation.

Why does it stand out?

• A full suite of tools: As stated above, you’re getting not just one but three comprehensive FinOps tools in one.
• Business-centric approach: Cloudability translates cost data into plain English so both technical and non-technical stakeholders can interpret crucial spending information.
• Focus on TCO: By calculating the TCO of cloud resources alongside traditional IT expenses, Apptio One provides a clearer picture of the true cost of cloud adoption.

Pricing:

Custom quote required.

#7 CloudCheckr

What is it?

With Cloudcheckr, you’re getting all the benefits of cost optimization bundled up with security management features. The best of both worlds in one single tool. 

Why does it stand out?

• Security-first FinOps: CloudCheckr integrates security posture management directly within its cost optimization functionalities. 
• Continuous vulnerability scanning: CloudCheckr offers ongoing vulnerability assessments, enabling real-time threat detection and mitigation.

Pricing:

Custom quote required.

#8 ProsperOps

What is it?

ProsperOps leveraging AIOps and automation to optimize your cloud spend on the go, with a strong focus on AWS Reserved Instances (RIs) and Savings Plans.

Why does it stand out?

• Automated RI & Savings Plan management: With ProsperOps, you’re always being offered the most cost-effective options based on your real-time cloud usage.
• AI-powered optimization: With ML algorithms working in the background, it analyzes your AWS environment and finds ways to optimize your RI and Savings Plan utilization.
• Performance-based pricing: ProsperOps charges a percentage of the savings you achieve, directly aligning its value with the cost optimization benefits it delivers.

Pricing:

Unique model: $0.05 per dollar saved on compute costs and $0.35 per dollar saved on optimized/purchased RIs.

#9 CloudHealth

What is it?

CloudHealth is an enterprise-level cloud financial management platform designed to provide companies with cloud cost optimization and unique governance capability features.

Why does it stand out?

• Granular cost visibility: With CloudHealth, you can categorize and analyze spending by project, team, and service; enabling data-driven decision-making.
• Showback & chargeback support: CloudHealth allows you to attribute cloud expenses to specific business units. 

Pricing:

Custom quote required.

#10 DoIT CMP

What is it?

DoIT CMP offers a unified platform that rolls cost management, cloud cost visibility & allocation, and expert support into one singular tool. The best part? Machine learning algorithms are under the hood ensuring you always get real-time insights.

Why does it stand out?

DoIT's unique value proposition lies in its all-encompassing approach. Here's a breakdown of the 5 bundled tools:

• Cloud analytics: Provides in-depth cost visibility and facilitates cost allocation across teams and projects.
• Flexsave: Automates commitment-based discount management. Achieve cost savings with little to no manual intervention 
• Anomaly detection: Swiftly identifies abnormal spending spikes so you can prevent cost overruns ASAP.
• BigQuery lens (GCP): Gathers data and offers recommendations for cost reduction specifically for Google Cloud users.
• Spot scaling (AWS): Automates the management of cost-effective Spot Instances within AWS environments.

Pricing:

Custom quote required.

#11 Kubecost

What is it?

Kubecost is a dedicated FinOps tool designed to specifically address the cost management needs of organizations utilizing Kubernetes container orchestration. 

Why does it stand out?

• Kubernetes-centric focus: Kubecost is specifically designed for Kubernetes environments, offering deep insights and granular cost allocation tailored to containerized workloads.
• Multi-cluster management: Consolidate cost data from multiple Kubernetes clusters into a single, unified view for detailed cost analysis.
• External cost integration: Combine Kubernetes costs with other cloud services so you get the full picture of your financials with data from various sources of truth.

Pricing tiers:

Kubecost makes a distinction between users with self-hosted and cloud infrastructures:

• Self-hosted free plan: For that just need a quick snapshot of their current cloud spend and individual cluster usage.
• Self-hosted enterprise plan: A custom quote for larger teams with more complex environments who need enterprise-level features.
• Cloud free plan: Basic features for individual users or small teams. 
• Cloud pro plan: $8/node for medium-sized teams needing to improve short-term cloud spending.
• Cloud advanced plan: A custom quote for teams who need enterprise-level features in a fully managed solution.

#12 Densify

What is it?

Densify uses ML to analyze resource usage while giving users full multi-cloud support. No matter the type of cloud environment, Densify unifies all data in an easy-to-understand single source of truth. 

Why does it stand out?

• Multi-cloud support: Densify supports AWS, Azure, GCP, and IBM Cloud. It also integrates with container orchestration platforms and hybrid cloud deployments.
• AI-driven optimization: Densify's ML algorithms analyze resource usage patterns to find opportunities for rightsizing, cost reduction, and preventing overprovisioning.
• DevOps integration: Densify integrates with DevOps pipelines, enabling easy integration of FinOps best practices into development and deployment workflows.

Pricing:

Custom quote required.

Conclusion

That’s our full list! 

You should have everything you need to commit and choose a FinOps tool that supports your workflows and gives your finance teams a much-needed break. 

A quick tip before you leave: Remember that no two teams' needs are exactly alike, so take some time to reflect on which features are non-negotiable for your specific business model.