# OpenCost: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 11 judge labels across 2 categories by 8 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/opencost

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Cloud cost management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/cloud/cloud-cost-management/index.md) | 4% | 7 | 0% | 10 |
| [IT financial management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/operations/it-financial-management/index.md) | 0% | 85 | 0% | 1 |

## What the models said for it

- "Only Kubernetes: OpenCost / Kubecost is the lowest cost, completely free, and gives real-time cost allocation" (Muse Glimmer 30B, FinOps)
- "1. OpenCost ⭐ *Highly Recommended* - Cost: Completely free" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, FinOps)
- "OpenCost (free) or Kubecost's free tier — purpose-built for container cost monitoring" (Kimi K2, FinOps)
- "Free, open-source tool for real-time cost monitoring and allocation in K8s environments." (Grok 4.20, FinOps)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named OpenCost, from 25 of the 29 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- spendark.com: 13
- finout.io: 11
- drdroid.io: 10
- g2.com: 9
- cloudaware.com: 8
- community.nasscom.in: 7
- github.com: 7
- qovery.com: 7
- spotsaas.com: 7
- cloudzero.com: 6

### Pages cited

- https://finout.io/blog/best-cloud-cost-management-tools-for-continuous-improvement: 11
- https://drdroid.io/engineering-tools/list-of-top-11-cloud-cost-management-platforms: 10
- https://spendark.com/blog/cloud-cost-tools-small-business: 8
- https://community.nasscom.in/communities/cloud-computing/cloud-cost-management-tools-5-options-control-cloud-spending: 7
- https://spendark.com/blog/cloud-cost-management-alternatives: 7
- https://spotsaas.com/list/cloud-cost-management-software/for-small-business: 7
- https://cloudaware.com/blog/cloud-cost-management-tools: 6
- https://controlplane.com/blog/post/best-cloud-cost-optimization-tools: 6

## In its own words

What OpenCost's own pages state, read 2026-09-28. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.

- Positioning: open source cost monitoring for cloud native environments (https://opencost.io/)
- For: Kubernetes practitioners (https://opencost.io/)
- Price stated: Forever free and open source, supported and maintained by experts (https://opencost.io/)
- Free plan or trial: Forever free and open source (https://opencost.io/)

## What it publishes

Every page opencost.io exposes, read 2026-09-29: 137 addresses. By kind, pages and the last 90 days:

- blog: 33 pages, 1 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-07-21
- report or ebook: 1 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- Recent: 2026-07-21 blog: Opencost llmd inference cost https://opencost.io/blog/opencost-llmd-inference-cost
- Recent: 2026-02-23 blog: Opencost community meeting schedule https://opencost.io/blog/opencost-community-meeting-schedule
- Recent: 2025-12-17 blog: Opencost 2025 year in review https://opencost.io/blog/opencost-2025-year-in-review
- Recent: 2025-12-09 blog: Introducing kubemodel https://opencost.io/blog/introducing-kubemodel
- Recent: 2025-10-30 blog: Kubecon na 2025 https://opencost.io/blog/kubecon-na-2025
- Recent: 2025-10-23 blog: Opencost mcp server https://opencost.io/blog/opencost-mcp-server

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.