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How It Works
Cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and GCP take responsibility for the physical infrastructure, hardware, networking, and the underlying managed services they operate. The customer is responsible for everything built on top of that infrastructure, including the configuration of resources, access controls, data classification, and cost governance. The exact boundary shifts depending on the service type. With infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offerings, customers manage more. With platform-as-a-service (PaaS) or software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings, the provider manages more. Cost management sits firmly on the customer side of this boundary regardless of service type. Providers deliver billing data and basic dashboards, but decisions about rightsizing, commitment purchases, tagging policies, and waste reduction belong to the customer’s team.
Why It Matters for Cloud Cost
Many engineering and finance teams underestimate how much of cloud cost governance falls on their side of the line. Providers do not automatically optimize your spend, alert you to wasted resources, or purchase discounted commitments on your behalf. That responsibility belongs to the customer. Without a clear internal owner and operating model, cost accountability becomes diffuse across engineering, finance, and operations teams. This is a common root cause of cloud waste. Establishing shared responsibility for cost, not just security, is a foundational step in any FinOps practice.
Usage AI: ClearCost provides a visibility and showback reporting layer that supports the customer’s cost governance responsibilities on their side of the shared model.