# Exploring Kubecost: Variants, Alternatives, and More

Kubecost offers a self-hosted variants which we will install in our cluster. Beyond Self-Hosted Kubecost, KubeCost also offers Cloud version, even in Cloud version we have a free tier and Enterprise Tier. You can see the details by [clicking here](https://www.kubecost.com/pricing/?plans=cloud).

Beyond this there is also a fully OpenSource version of KubeCost which is called OpenCost which is under Apache 2 License and managed by CNCF community. Kubecost is build on this OpenCost. What is the difference then ? Here we go

| Feature/Visibility | Kubecost | OpenCost |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Type** | Paid with Open Source options | Open Source |
| **Cost Visibility** | Comprehensive, including CPU, memory, storage, network costs | Basic for CPU, memory, and storage |
| **Savings Recommendations** | Provides optimization suggestions to reduce costs | None |
| **Budgets and Alerts** | Users can set budgets and receive alerts for overspending | Not available |
| **External Service Cost Allocation** | Integrates with cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure) for cost tracking | Limited to Kubernetes metrics only |
| **Network Cost Allocation** | Granular breakdown of network traffic costs | Lacks detailed network cost monitoring |
| **Historical Cost Analysis** | Detailed historical data for analyzing cost trends | Limited historical data retention |
| **Multi-Cluster Cost Tracking** | Supports cost tracking across multiple clusters | Primarily focused on single cluster |