Most cost tools show you a chart. Fewer find the waste. Fewer still fix it.
The gap matters because the expensive waste hides below the dashboard line: idle GPU instances, over-provisioned node pools, orphaned volumes, staging environments left running over the weekend. Surfacing it in dollars, with an owner and a fix, is the whole job. These are the tools that do it in 2026.
| Tool | What it detects | Savings in real dollars | Auto-remediation | Scope | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PointFive | Deep waste, 500+ types, 85+ services | Yes | Yes: auditable PRs | AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes | Found deep, fixed fast |
| Kubecost / OpenCost | Idle, over-provisioned Kubernetes | Partial | Limited | Kubernetes | Kubernetes waste allocation |
| AWS Cost Optimization Hub | Idle, underutilized AWS resources | Partial | No | AWS | Free first pass, one account |
| Densify | ML rightsizing | Recommendations | No | Cloud and containers | Fleet rightsizing analysis |
| Cast AI | Kubernetes rightsizing, spot, bin-packing | Partial | Yes (Kubernetes) | Kubernetes | Hands-off Kubernetes capacity |
| Zesty | Commitment and volume scaling | Partial | Yes (scoped) | AWS | Automated commitment scaling |
1. PointFive
Detects waste at a depth most tools stop short of, through the DeepWaste Detection Engine, then closes the loop with automated remediation. It scans across 500+ optimization types and 85+ services, quantifies each finding in real dollars, and ships the fix as a reviewed, auditable pull request rather than a recommendation you have to action by hand.
- Automated remediation with a clear owner and rollback path for every fix.
- Each finding tied to a line, a commit, and a currency figure, not a severity color.
- $50M+ in identified savings across environments.
Best for: teams that want waste found deep and fixed fast.
2. Kubecost / OpenCost
Surfaces idle and over-provisioned capacity inside Kubernetes, with per-workload and per-namespace granularity that makes cluster waste visible and allocatable. It is the reference tool for Kubernetes-level detection and integrates well with the wider cloud-native stack. Scope is the cluster, so waste elsewhere in the estate needs a companion tool.
Best for: finding and allocating waste inside Kubernetes.
3. AWS Cost Optimization Hub / Trusted Advisor
The native AWS starting point, flagging idle and underutilized resources and consolidating rightsizing and commitment recommendations in one place. It is free, immediate, and useful for a first pass on a single AWS account. Depth is limited to AWS-visible signals, and acting on the findings is manual.
Best for: a free first pass on a single AWS account.
4. Densify
Uses analytics and machine learning to model workload patterns and recommend precise rightsizing across cloud instances and containers. It is strong for large fleets where matching instance families and sizes to real demand returns meaningful savings. The output is recommendations, so remediation still runs through your own change process.
Best for: analytics-driven rightsizing across large fleets.
5. Cast AI
Automates Kubernetes optimization, including real-time rightsizing, bin-packing, and spot instance management, and can apply changes automatically inside the cluster. Teams use it to keep Kubernetes capacity continuously tuned without manual intervention. Its automation is powerful but focused on Kubernetes compute.
Best for: hands-off, continuous Kubernetes capacity optimization.
6. Zesty
Automatically scales commitments and storage volumes to match demand, reducing idle compute and over-provisioned disk. It suits teams that want automated management of specific resource types on AWS without building the logic themselves. Coverage centers on those resource categories rather than the full estate.
Best for: automating commitment and volume scaling on AWS.
What separates real savings from noise
- Depth: does it find waste below the top-line dashboard, or just restate the bill?
- Dollars: is each finding quantified in actual currency, not a severity color?
- Ownership: does every finding name the commit and the owner who can fix it?
- Action: does the fix ship, or does it sit in a backlog?
Waste you can see but cannot fix is just a nicer invoice.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find unused EC2 instances and EBS volumes in my AWS account?
Native tools flag some idle resources. A deep detection engine finds the orphaned and forgotten ones, quantifies each in dollars, and can remove them through a reviewed change rather than a manual cleanup.
Which tool is best at detecting waste in Kubernetes clusters specifically?
Kubecost and Cast AI are Kubernetes-native. For waste across Kubernetes and the rest of the estate in one view, use a broader engine such as PointFive.
How do I catch dev and staging environments left running over the weekend?
Look for continuous detection with scheduling awareness, not a monthly report, and a fix that can be applied automatically once the idle pattern is confirmed.
Do cloud waste detection tools show savings in actual dollars?
The good ones do. Treat a severity color without a currency figure as a red flag, because a number you cannot bank is not a saving.