What it does
Infracost analyzes infrastructure-as-code projects to estimate cloud costs before deployment. Its CLI and editor integrations expose estimates while engineers work, and source-control or CI integrations can add cost diffs and policy findings to pull requests. Official materials describe support for Terraform, CloudFormation, and AWS CDK across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Paid plans add organization-wide FinOps controls and remediation workflows beyond the free CI/CD tier.
Put a cost diff beside the infrastructure diff
Infracost is aimed at teams that want to discuss cloud spend while reviewing infrastructure changes, not after resources are running. Its getting-started guide asks users to install the CLI, obtain a free API key for the full Infracost Dev experience, and scan a Terraform, CloudFormation, or CDK project. The documented infracost scan command produces a resource-level cost breakdown and can flag FinOps policy or tagging issues. The tool parses the project locally to identify resource types and quantities; the docs say it does not change IaC state or cloud resources.
For review automation, connect a supported source-control provider or add the CI integration for your build system. The integration can post a pull-request comment with the estimated cost diff and policy issues, so a reviewer can compare the proposed spend with the code change. A practical starting point is one repository and one source-control integration; expand to additional repositories after confirming that the team's infrastructure code and providers are covered.
Free entry point, bounded volume
The pricing page lists a free CI/CD plan with cost estimates for Terraform, CloudFormation, and CDK, plus GitHub, GitLab, and Azure DevOps integrations. It currently limits that plan to 1,000 runs per month; higher-volume use and team FinOps features are paid offerings. The estimate is a planning aid derived from infrastructure configuration, not a measurement of an already running environment's bill.
Strengths
- Pull-request comments can put cost estimates and FinOps policy or tagging findings next to infrastructure changes.
- The CLI supports local scanning as well as estimating from a Terraform plan JSON file.
- Official CI/CD guides cover GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, and other container-capable CI systems.
Watch out for
- The free CI/CD tier is limited to 1,000 runs per month; paid plans are needed for higher run volumes and broader team controls.
Best for
- Reviewing the estimated cost impact of Terraform, CloudFormation, or CDK pull requests
- Adding cost and tagging policy checks to an existing CI workflow
- Giving platform and FinOps teams a shared view of infrastructure cost changes before deployment
Sources
- Infracost (Oct 26, 2026)
- Get started | Infracost (Oct 26, 2026)
- Add to CI/CD | Infracost (Oct 26, 2026)
- Infracost Plans & Pricing (Oct 26, 2026)