Company
Date Published
Author
Hassan Khajeh Hosseini
Word count
557
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

Over the past decade, enterprises have increasingly granted developers and DevOps teams direct access to cloud resources, leading to less predictable cloud expenses due to mismanagement and lack of cost awareness. The shift towards Infrastructure as Code and serverless architectures has compounded this issue, necessitating a solution beyond merely restricting access and analyzing bills post-factum. To address this, the creators of infracost.io have developed an open-source tool that estimates cloud costs for Terraform projects directly within the CLI, aiming to make developers more cost-conscious by providing upfront visibility. Drawing parallels to "The Prius Effect," where drivers adjusted their behavior based on real-time fuel consumption data, the tool is designed to encourage developers to consider cost implications as part of their workflow. By integrating Infracost into CI pipelines, cost changes can be peer-reviewed, potentially fostering a culture of cost efficiency among development teams. The founders are seeking to validate their theory that enhanced cost visibility can lead to improved cloud cost efficiency and are inviting feedback and shared experiences to gauge the tool's impact on development practices.