If you’re part of the tech world, you’ll know how important DevOps is to efficient software development and delivery. Without these teams, companies would struggle to deploy and maintain software solutions at the pace, quality, and scale that’s demanded of them today.
But as an IT leader steering the DevOps ship, you’ll also know that as operations grow, costs can spiral. And with more companies adopting cloud-based services to maintain a competitive edge, those costs are becoming sky-high.
If you’re struggling to get a handle on your expenditures, you’re not alone. We’re here to walk you through creating a DevOps cost optimization strategy so you can build a leaner, more cost-effective operation without sacrificing quality or speed.
In this guide, we’ll explore practical ways to streamline processes, get the most from your resources, and amp up team productivity.
Understanding DevOps Cost Drivers
You might think your IT or accounting team has a solid grasp of DevOps costs, so why bother breaking them down. The truth is, DevOps cost drivers can fluctuate dramatically, as they involve tools, processes, and personnel, which can be internal or proprietary.
Before you start optimizing anything, you need to know exactly what you’re spending and where. Let’s look at a few common cost drivers and some you may not have considered:
Cloud infrastructure costs: It may not rely on hardware, but cloud-based services still require an infrastructure, from servers and storage to networks. These bills can quickly add up, so it’s worth considering if you’re using what you're paying for or if there's a more cost-effective alternative. For example, if you're currently using AWS, it might be costing you more than necessary.
On-site servers: If you’re not currently using cloud services, you’ll likely be paying for legacy systems and physical infrastructure, such as hardware and maintenance.
Personnel and training: Your team is your biggest asset. They’re also potentially your biggest expense as salaries for DevOps professionals with a specialized skillset is often higher than average. Hiring experienced engineers and developers is one expense, but keeping their skills sharp is an ongoing investment, particularly as new tools and technologies continue to emerge.
Tools and software licensing: From version control to monitoring, CI/CD, and configuration tools, your tech stack has a price tag. Many of these come with licensing fees, support fees, and potential hidden costs that you may not be aware of.
Hidden costs: As with many operational expenses, there are several hidden costs that are harder to categorize and vary company by company. These might include technical debt that slows down development, inefficient processes eating up valuable time, and over provisioned resources sitting idle.
Understanding these cost drivers is your first step toward optimization. It's about seeing the big picture—where every dollar goes and why. This holistic view of your operations is similar to CPM corporate performance management, which helps organizations align their financial and operational goals.
So start by taking a close look at your operations and asking yourself which of these areas is hitting your budget the hardest. Identifying your main cost culprits will help you focus your optimization efforts where they'll have the biggest impact.
Key Steps for Building a DevOps Cost Optimization Strategy
Let’s go through the steps required for creating and implementing a cost optimization strategy in DevOps.
Assess your current devops spend
The first port of call in cost optimization is to conduct a thorough audit of your DevOps environment and costs.
Put together an inventory of all infrastructure components, whether that’s on-premise or cloud-based, as well as tools and platforms.
List all associated costs against these, keeping in mind that some costs can change on a regular basis. This is particularly true for expenses associated with third-party vendors, such as integrations and APIs, so make sure you’re looking at the most up-to-date figures.
Then break down expenses by category, such as cloud services, software licenses, personnel costs, and training and development.
Don't just look at bills, though—you also need to look at usage patterns to evaluate whether you’re actually using what you're paying for. If your cloud resources are sitting idle most of the time, that's money down the drain.
As the ones working hands-on with these tools, your DevOps team will have valuable insights on usage, ask them:
Which tools do they use most?
Where do they see inefficiencies?
What slows them down?
Their answers might surprise you and point to unexpected savings opportunities. For example, it could help you spot:
Duplicate tools with overlapping functions
Unused or underused software licenses
Over-provisioned infrastructure
Manual processes that could be automated
Finally, it’s beneficial to map relevant workflows so you can visualize your DevOps processes and, more importantly, identify bottlenecks. Each delay isn't just a productivity issue—it's a cost issue, too.
Thoroughly assessing your current spend means you can uncover opportunities to trim fat without cutting muscle. It's about spending smarter, not just less. Remember, this audit is your roadmap to optimization, so use it to guide your next steps.
Optimize cloud resources
Cloud costs can make or break your DevOps budget, so by fine-tuning your cloud resource use, you're cutting costs and building a more efficient, scalable DevOps operation.
Let's look at a few ways to squeeze more value out of every cloud dollar:
Right-size your instances: Are you running heavyweight instances for lightweight tasks? Review your instance types and sizes. Match them to your actual workload needs. You might be surprised how much you can save by downsizing where appropriate.
Embrace the spot market: Spot instances can slash your computing costs—sometimes by up to 90%. Use them for non-critical, fault-tolerant workloads like testing or batch processing. Just be ready for potential interruptions.
Reserve for the long haul: If you have predictable, steady workloads, then reserved instances are your friend. By committing to usage over time, you can lock in significant discounts. It's like buying in bulk for your cloud needs.
Let autoscaling do the work: Set up autoscaling to automatically adjust your resources based on demand. You'll handle traffic spikes without overpaying during quiet times. This approach to resource management is a key aspect of ERP system integration, ensuring your systems work efficiently together.
Clean up your act: Orphaned volumes, unused IP addresses, forgotten snapshots—these can silently drain your budget. Regular "cleaning" sessions can help you spot and eliminate these hidden costs.
Optimize data transfer: Moving data between cloud regions or back to on-premises can get expensive fast. Plan your data architecture to minimize costly transfers. Consider using content delivery networks (CDNs) for frequently accessed data.
Monitor and adjust: Cloud optimization isn't a one-and-done deal. It's an ongoing process. Use cloud cost management tools to keep a constant eye on your spending. Be ready to tweak your setup as your needs change.
Streamline CI/CD pipelines
Your CI/CD pipeline is the heartbeat of your DevOps operation, and every minute saved is money in the bank.
Speed up builds: Slow builds waste time and resources. Use build caching to avoid repeating work, parallelize tasks where possible, and optimize test suites to run faster.
Prune your pipelines: Review your pipeline steps and cut out redundant or outdated processes. A streamlined pipeline is a cost-effective pipeline.
Shift left on testing: Catch bugs earlier by moving tests earlier in your pipeline. It's cheaper to fix issues in development than in production but you'll also reduce the load on your later pipeline stages.
Optimize environments: Do you need a full production clone for every test? Use lightweight, containerized environments for testing, as they’re faster to spin up and cheaper to run.
Automate, automate, automate: Manual interventions slow things down and introduce errors. Look for opportunities to automate approvals, deployments, and rollbacks. Your team can focus on high-value tasks instead.
Fine-tune triggers: Does every tiny commitment need to kick off the full pipeline? Set smarter trigger rules to avoid unnecessary builds and tests.
Implement automation
Automation is a powerful tool for cutting costs. Start by using it to identify repetitive tasks, as these are obvious candidates for automation that will save time and money. Such tasks could be provisioning test environments or generating reports—regardless, if it’s repetitive, it can probably be automated.
Script regular maintenance tasks like backups or log rotations, and start describing your infrastructure in code rather than configuring servers manually.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform or Ansible allow you to spin up consistent environments quickly, reduce human errors, and track changes like you do with application code, so you spend less time firefighting and more time innovating.
It’s also worth setting up scaling rules to automatically adjust your resources based on metrics like CPU usage or request rates to handle surges in traffic without overprovisioning. This kind of automation is a prime example of what is digital innovation in the DevOps world.
This innovation expands to self-service, so give developers the means to provision their own resources—within guardrails. Self-service portals can dramatically cut wait times and reduce ops workload, just make sure to set clear usage policies.
No matter what you choose to automate, keep in mind that automation can hide issues if you're not careful, so set up alerts to flag unusual patterns. Regular audits ensure your automation is a help, not a hindrance, because good automation should pay for itself. It might take time to set up, but the long-term savings in time, errors, and resources are worth it.
Boost team efficiency and collaboration
Cutting costs isn’t the sole responsibility of managers. Foster a cost-conscious culture by encouraging your team to think about costs—not to be cheap, but to be smart. Share cost insights and celebrate wins when someone finds a clever way to save.
Make sure all of your teams are working together—Dev, Ops, and Security departments shouldn't be strangers. When teams understand each other's challenges, they make better, more cost-effective decisions.
Invest in knowledge-sharing: Set up internal tech talks or a wiki. The more your team shares knowledge, the less time they'll waste reinventing wheels.
Streamline communication: Too many tools can fragment discussions, especially in remote collaboration environments, so choose a core set of collaboration tools and stick to them. Clear communication channels mean faster problem-solving and fewer costly misunderstandings.
Empower decision-making: Trust your team to make decisions; micromanagement slows things down and demotivates team members. Give your employees guidelines, then let them innovate. You might be surprised by the cost-saving ideas they come up with.
Final Thoughts and Next Steps
You've now got a toolkit for DevOps cost optimization, but knowledge alone isn't enough—it's time to act.
You don’t have to do it all in one day, just pick one area to focus on this week. Maybe it's auditing your cloud resources or automating a repetitive task, but don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Any improvement is a step in the right direction.
Finally, when you cut costs without sacrificing quality, that's a victory worth noting. So celebrate your wins and use them to keep your team moving forward.
Want to learn more about how you can continue to enhance your DevOps strategy? Check out our guide to effective collaboration to help your team go even further.
Bio:
Nicholas Cox - Sr. Director, Product Marketing, OneStream
Nicholas Cox is an accomplished global product marketing leader with over two decades of experience in audit and accounting, finance, and product marketing. He has held senior roles at OneStream Software, Oracle, and SAP SuccessFactors, driving go-to-market strategies, product innovation, and business development across EMEA and globally. Nick has extensive experience working with customers and partners and regularly writes and speaks on finance topics. Follow him on LinkedIn.
