AI is pushing cloud costs through the roof. Companies are spinning up GPU clusters, adding data pipelines, and moving workloads between clouds fast. But as spending grows, tracking and managing it gets messy.
Apptio, now part of IBM, is stepping in with a new set of FinOps tools to fix that problem. At KubeCon 2025, they’re rolling out updates to Cloudability and Kubecost built for the AI-heavy world. The goal: give teams clear, real-time visibility into what they spend and help them take control before costs spiral.
This matters because most companies still lack that insight. According to Apptio’s research, over half of business leaders don’t have the right data to understand their tech spending. In a world where AI infrastructure spending is expected to reach $571 billion by 2026, that’s a huge risk.
Cloudability Governance: Bringing FinOps into the Dev Workflow
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) makes it easy to spin up resources fast. But speed can also hide waste. Without cost checks, operation teams may deploy new environments that break budgets before anyone notices.
Apptio’s new Cloudability Governance aims to fix that by putting FinOps right inside the engineer’s workflow. Through its integration with HashiCorp Terraform, it lets teams see and control costs while building infrastructure.
Here’s what it does:
- Shows cost impacts before you deploy. You can see how much your setup will cost and adjust before hitting “apply.”
- Adds policy checks automatically. Teams can enforce tagging, budget limits, and compliance rules without slowing down development.
- Keeps watch after deployment. Real-time monitoring and AI-powered alerts catch waste and cost anomalies before they pile up.
As Armon Dadgar, HashiCorp’s co-founder, put it: engineers now get “visibility into infrastructure costs, governance checks, and optimization opportunities right in their workflows.”
This isn’t about slowing developers down; it’s about giving them instant feedback that helps them build smarter and stay in budget.
Kubecost 3.0: Smarter Cost Control for Kubernetes
Kubernetes is powerful, but it’s easy to lose track of what’s running and what it’s costing. That’s especially true for AI and ML workloads that depend on GPU power.
The new Kubecost 3.0 brings a fresh set of tools to make this easier:
- Unified view of all clusters. Teams get a single dashboard for usage and spend across environments.
- Smarter savings tips. It automatically finds underused containers, oversized nodes, and idle GPUs.
- GPU optimization. With NVIDIA’s DCGM exporter, operations teams can see exactly how GPUs are being used and right-size them for their needs.
- Better security and scale. The update helps large teams grow Kubernetes safely, without losing visibility or control.
This upgrade is a big deal for engineers running AI at scale. GPU costs can explode fast, and Kubecost 3.0 gives infrastructure teams the data they need to act before that happens.
Why This Is a Shift, Not Just a Product Update
Apptio isn’t just adding new features; it’s reframing what FinOps means in the AI era. The focus is shifting from tracking spend after the fact to controlling it in real time.
Here’s what’s changing:
- FinOps is moving left. Cloud cost visibility now starts in the code. Platform engineers see financial impact before they deploy.
- AI is changing the game. Traditional cloud reports can’t handle GPU scaling or LLM training costs. These new tools do.
- Governance is continuous. Instead of monthly reports, teams now get ongoing insights and auto-detection for cost issues.
This shift helps both sides of the business. Platform engineers get freedom with challenges. Finance teams get predictability. And leaders get a clearer picture of ROI for every workload.
IBM’s Bigger FinOps Strategy
Apptio’s updates also show where IBM is heading. With Cloudability, Kubecost, and HashiCorp Terraform now working together, IBM is building a FinOps-first cloud stack, one that connects automation, governance, and cost control.
Few other companies have this combination: visibility, AI-driven recommendations, and embedded policy enforcement. It’s a smart play for IBM as enterprises race to scale AI responsibly.
The Bottom Line
Apptio’s new FinOps suite makes it easier for teams to see, predict, and control cloud costs in the AI era.
- Cloudability Governance helps developers stay compliant and in budget before deployment.
- Kubecost 3.0 helps SREs and platform teams find waste, optimize GPUs, and scale safely.
Together, they move FinOps from a finance function to a real-time engineering discipline.
Apptio’s message is simple: in the AI-first world, every dollar, cluster, and GPU cycle needs to be visible, measurable, and managed. These tools help teams do exactly that without slowing down innovation.
