Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

Running cloud infrastructure without forecasting is a lot like operating a delivery company without checking the weather. You might plan for smooth traffic and sunny skies, only to be hit with a sudden storm, delays, and unexpected costs. The same happens when your cloud usage spikes and your AWS bill catches you off guard. For engineers, CTOs, and CFOs alike, AWS forecasting isn’t just about estimating future costs.

Knowing only how much you spent on your AWS bill each month isn’t enough to provide the cost visibility you need to make cost-aware engineering and business decisions. It’s why AWS introduced tags. Tags enable AWS users to label their resources to track cost and usage in the vast AWS infrastructure. Tagging helps you understand who, what, and why your cloud spend is changing.

Can you believe one-third of 2025 is already behind us? Just in case the Easter Bunny didn’t leave anything good in your basket this year, we’ll treat you to a little Easter egg — if you’re willing to follow the clues — along with the scoop from this past month. Here’s what you might have missed in April: Read on for the details!

Over the next few years, the cloud computing market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3%. Cloud-based services are becoming increasingly popular among businesses of all sizes, contributing to the market’s growth. When you consider the other benefits involved, that makes a lot of sense for business.

You’re probably familiar with finding surprise, hidden charges if you’ve been using the cloud for a while. Data transfer fees are the most common source of unanticipated Amazon Web Services (AWS) charges. They can be so costly that some companies, like Netflix and Pinterest, have spent fortunes on data transfer fees — up to $30 million a year. In this post, we’ll share tips for navigating AWS data transfer pricing and how you can optimize costs.

One tracks what happened, who did it, and when it happened. The other monitors how your systems are performing so you can see why and do something about it. Knowing the difference between CloudTrail vs. CloudWatch isn’t just helpful for engineers. It’s essential for finance and leadership teams, too. That’s because the two services can quietly rack up costs in the background.

Microsoft Azure offers over 150 cloud services across IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. But for many teams, it can be expensive, complex, and hard to tailor to specific needs. If the platform feels like overkill or just isn’t the right fit, this guide covers the best Azure alternatives — and what makes each one worth considering.

If you are fine using a conventional cloud cost management tool, Apptio’s Cloudability can be a helpful tool. It promises to enable DevOps, IT, and finance to optimize cloud resources for quality, speed, and cost. A large business with a high cloud spend, a team of 5-10 engineers, and a budget for expert guidance is an ideal match for Cloudability.

Managing AWS costs just a whole lot more convenient. CloudZero now integrates with Amazon Q Developer, AWS’s AI-powered engineering assistant. A natural language processor, Amazon Q Developer helps engineers write, analyze, and debug code, accelerate workload transformations, and adopt AWS best practices, enhancing developer productivity by as much as 80%.

Logging and auditing activity across your AWS environment is a must for security, governance, and compliance. Yet, between management events, data events, and optional insights, it’s easy to overspend on tracking activity without realizing it. In this guide, we’ll break down CloudTrail pricing in plain terms and see what impacts your final bill. We’ll also share immediately actionable ways to keep your CloudTrail costs in check without sacrificing full observability.