Technology · Ebook

OpenCost: Kubernetes Cost Monitoring and FinOps

by Shriira Press

OpenCost is the CNCF open-source tool for measuring and allocating Kubernetes and cloud costs — it monitors resource usage (CPU, memory, storage, network, GPU) and prices it with real cloud billing rates to compute accurate, real-time cost, allocated to namespaces, workloads, pods, and labels. This free book teaches it from the ground up: the Kubernetes cost visibility problem and what OpenCost is, Kubernetes cost and FinOps concepts, OpenCost's architecture (the cost engine combining inventory, usage metrics, and pricing), the cost model (usage vs requests, accounting for all resources, accuracy and the open spec), cloud pricing integration (real rates across clouds and on-prem, reconciliation), cost allocation (to any dimension, shared and idle costs), the API, metrics, and UI, chargeback, showback, and FinOps (turning visibility into accountability), cost optimization (finding waste, right-sizing, safe optimization), and using OpenCost in practice. Ten focused chapters with clear diagrams that turn the opaque cloud bill into clear, allocated, optimizable cost — so you can see what everything costs, hold teams accountable, and eliminate waste, all openly with a vendor-neutral spec.

Contents

1. 1Preface
2. 2Chapter 1 — What OpenCost Is
3. 3Chapter 2 — Kubernetes Cost and FinOps
4. 4Chapter 3 — OpenCost Architecture
5. 5Chapter 4 — The Cost Model
6. 6Chapter 5 — Cloud Pricing Integration
7. 7Chapter 6 — Cost Allocation
8. 8Chapter 7 — The API, Metrics, and UI
9. 9Chapter 8 — Chargeback, Showback, and FinOps
10. 10Chapter 9 — Cost Optimization
11. 11Chapter 10 — OpenCost in Practice