Cloud-native platforms like Kubernetes offer unparalleled flexibility and scalability, but they often come with a hidden price tag. Without intentional cost management, organizations risk overspending due to inefficient resource utilization, over-provisioning, and lack of visibility into cloud expenses. As cloud bills rise, optimizing Kubernetes costs is no longer optional—it's a necessity for maintaining financial sustainability while delivering value.

This session will provide a practical guide to minimizing costs in Kubernetes environments while maximizing resource efficiency. We will explore strategies for gaining visibility, rightsizing workloads, leveraging cost-aware scheduling, intelligent auto-scaling, implementing resource quotas and promoting accountability to avoid unnecessary expenses. The discussion will include leveraging tools like OpenCost, Prometheus, and Kubernetes-native features to monitor and control spending in real time to support above mentioned strategies.

By the end of this session, participants will walk away with actionable insights and tools to identify and eliminate cost drains in their Kubernetes clusters, ensuring that every dollar spent contributes to business outcomes. This talk is ideal for SREs, DevOps engineers, and decision-makers looking to optimize cloud expenditures without sacrificing operational needs.

Rajith is an advocate for OpenTelemetry and open source as a member of the Apache Software Foundation. He spends his time experimenting, contributing, and exploring new ways to improve observability. As CTO of Randoli, he’s building an OTel native observability platform to help teams gain deeper insights, troubleshoot faster & manage costs. Previously, he spent 11 years at Red Hat, focusing on Kubernetes and messaging platforms.