Cloud cost analytics (FinOps) · Cloud Native Computing Foundation (originated by Kubecost)
OpenCost
CNCF open-source specification and engine for real-time Kubernetes cost allocation, the free foundation Kubecost is built on.
OpenCost is the open-source Kubernetes cost-allocation engine that Kubecost co-created and donated to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, giving the ecosystem a vendor-neutral, standard way to measure cost per namespace, deployment, pod or label without depending on any single vendor's product. It computes real-time cost allocation by combining cluster resource usage with cloud provider billing rates, and is embeddable in other tools (it underlies Kubecost's own free tier) or runnable standalone with its own lightweight UI and Prometheus-compatible metrics endpoint. As a CNCF project it is free to run indefinitely with no paid tier of its own — organizations needing dashboards, multi-cluster rollups, or enterprise support typically graduate to Kubecost or another vendor built on the same specification.
At a glance
| Vendor | Cloud Native Computing Foundation (originated by Kubecost) |
|---|---|
| Pricing model | Open source + paid options |
| Free tier | Yes |
| Deployment | Self-hosted |
| Open source | Yes (Apache-2.0) |
| Best for | Teams wanting a free, vendor-neutral standard for Kubernetes cost allocation without a commercial product. |
Pricing
Fully free, self-hosted CNCF project; no paid tier of its own.
Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site.
Features
- Real-time Kubernetes cost allocation by namespace/pod/label
- Combines resource usage with actual cloud billing rates
- Prometheus-compatible metrics endpoint
- Lightweight standalone UI
- Embeddable engine used by other cost tools (including Kubecost)
- Vendor-neutral CNCF governance
Integrations
Profile last reviewed September 21, 2026