Hey devs, I've been knee-deep in Kubernetes cost optimization for my team, and CAST AI sounded great at first-heavy automation on spot instances and autoscaling. But that "% of savings" pricing? It's a trap as your infra scales. Fees balloon while the tool's work stays the same.
TL;DR: Switch to Costimizer for strategic AI + transparency, Kubecost for pure visibility, or Spot.io for enterprise spot mastery. Saved us 35% without the black box. Here's the breakdown:
Why Ditch CAST AI?
- Pricing creep: Pay more as you save more? No thanks.
- Startups/mid-size need predictable tiers, not surprises.
- We wanted control + automation, not just "set it and forget it.
Quick Comparison (Real Talk)
Costimizer stole the show for us:
- Agentic AI: Rightsizes pods, grabs spots, cleans storage—shows risk vs. reward (e.g., "40% save, 5% risk? Your call").
- Group buys: Negotiates like a Fortune 500 for your startup.
- Dashboards in Slack: Engineers see costs live, no more "who spent that?
Finally, a tool that asks: Save fast or save safe?" – Me, after demo.
Kubecost if you love Prometheus: Granular by namespace/label. Open-source core = no vendor lock. But manual fixes unless enterprise.
Spot.io: Predictive failover for prod spots. Overkill for <500 nodes.
Pick Your Fighter
- Lean team? Costimizer (multi-cloud bonus).
- Visibility first? Kubecost.
- Enterprise? Spot.io.
Pro tip: Start with Costimizer's free trial. We cut AWS + Azure waste in a week.
What’s your K8s cost horror story? Drop it below, I reply fast.
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