KUBERNETES COST ALLOCATION

Bill-accurate Kubernetes costs, finally

Trace your cloud bills directly to containers, pods, namespaces, and labels—with the only allocation solution that combines universal Kubernetes support, FOCUS compliance, and ML-powered optimization insights.

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The Kubernetes cost visibility gap is real

Your Kubernetes estate is growing—but it still shows up as an opaque line item on your cloud bill. Finance can’t allocate costs to business units. Engineering can’t identify waste. And nobody can incentivize efficient resource usage.

44% of organizations cannot allocate Kubernetes costs at the workload level

28% report Kubernetes consuming 25-50% of their total cloud spend

91% of leaders say container complexity outpaces their finance team’s ability to manage costs

CONTAINER-LEVEL PRECISION

Real metrics, not approximations

Other tools estimate costs using API queries and assumptions. We deploy an agent that captures actual in-cluster utilization every 15 seconds—the same agent powering our ML optimization—so your allocation reflects what’s really happening, not what the control plane thinks is happening.

Screenshot of CloudBolt showing granular breakdown of Kubernetes costs

IDLE & OVERHEAD ALLOCATION

Account for every dollar—including the waste

Kubernetes clusters have significant costs that can’t be directly attributed: idle capacity, kube-system overhead, monitoring agents, networking components. We intelligently distribute these shared costs based on proportional usage or your custom rules—so nothing falls through the cracks.

Screenshot showing distribution of idle and overhead costs

UNIVERSAL KUBERNETES SUPPORT

Any distribution. Unified methodology.

EKS, AKS, GKE, OpenShift, Rancher, Tanzu, self-managed—we don’t care where you run Kubernetes. Our agent works identically across all distributions, providing consistent FOCUS-compliant allocation regardless of how or where your clusters are deployed.

Diagram showing the numerous Kubernetes tools that CloudBolt integrates with

INTEGRATED OPTIMIZATION

Connect costs to savings opportunities

We’re the only solution where cost allocation and ML-powered optimization share the same data pipeline. See not just what you’re spending, but exactly how much each rightsizing recommendation will save—based on your actual negotiated rates, not list prices.

Diagram showing how cost allocation and ML-powered optimization share the same data pipeline

Feature highlights

Container-level tracking

Real costs, not list prices

Idle capacity attribution

Overhead distribution

Universal distribution support

FOCUS-compliant output

Optimization scoring

Label-based allocation

Multi-cloud normalization

Why choose CloudBolt?

99.9% bill accuracy

compared to actual cloud invoices.

<1 hour

from agent deployment to full cost reporting.

Under 5%

unallocated Kubernetes spend

100%

of Kubernetes costs attributed to teams, applications, or business units

NEXT STEPS

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Kubernetes Cost Allocation is currently in private preview. Early access customers help shape the product while getting ahead of their cost visibility challenges.

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Bill-Accurate Kubernetes Cost Allocation, Now Built Into CloudBolt

CloudBolt is introducing granular Kubernetes cost allocation directly within the platform, now available in private preview. This new capability delivers bill-level accuracy down to the container, intelligently allocates shared costs, and integrates natively with enterprise chargeback. If you’d rather see it than read about it, start with a quick walkthrough of the experience: Here’s what […]

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Kubernetes Observability: A Comprehensive Guide to Monitoring Your Cloud-Native Applications

As Kubernetes has become the leading platform for container orchestration, maintaining visibility and control over these dynamic environments is more critical than ever. Kubernetes observability provides the insights needed to monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize your applications effectively. This guide explores the essentials of Kubernetes observability, including its importance, the challenges you may face, best practices […]

Solution Guides

Kubernetes rightsizing solution guide

Cut costs, eliminate performance risks, and scale optimization across clusters with a platform purpose-built for complex Kubernetes environments.

FAQs

How is this different from what Kubecost provides?

Kubecost provides directional cost estimates based on billing prices. CloudBolt traces actual cloud bills—including your negotiated rates, committed use discounts, and credits—down to the container level. We also provide FOCUS-compliant output for integration with broader FinOps workflows and connect cost data directly to ML-powered optimization recommendations.
Does this work with our existing Kubernetes setup?

Yes. Our agent deploys via Helm and works across any Kubernetes distribution—EKS, AKS, GKE, OpenShift, Rancher, Tanzu, or self-managed clusters. If you’re already using StormForge for optimization, it’s the same agent.
How do you handle shared costs like monitoring and networking?

Idle capacity and overhead costs (kube-system, monitoring agents, networking) can be distributed proportionally based on actual resource consumption, or you can define custom allocation rules that match your business logic.
What’s the difference between this and native cloud provider Kubernetes cost tools?

Native tools only work within their own ecosystem and typically provide namespace-level granularity at best. CloudBolt provides container-level allocation across all clouds with a unified methodology—plus support for on-premises and self-managed clusters that native tools can’t touch.
How long does it take to see results?

Most organizations see full cost visibility within one hour of agent deployment. ML optimization recommendations are available shortly after installation and continually learn to ensure accurate models of your workload patterns.