AWS Cost Explorer vs IBM Turbonomic comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and IBM are both solutions in the Cloud Cost Management category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #12 with an average rating of 10.0, while IBM is ranked #1 with an average rating of 9.0. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 2.6% mindshare in CCM, compared to IBM’s 9.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of IBM users who would recommend it.

AWS Cost Explorer

Read 1 AWS Cost Explorer review

269 Views
253 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Turbonomic

Read 205 IBM Turbonomic reviews

5,574 Views
2,230 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

AWS Cost Explorer

IBM Turbonomic

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 13, 2025

IBM Turbonomic and AWS Cost Explorer compete in cloud cost management and optimization. IBM Turbonomic has an advantage due to its automation capabilities, while AWS Cost Explorer excels in integration with AWS environments and cost tracking.

Features: IBM Turbonomic actively optimizes application performance, enhances resource utilization, and supports various cloud and on-prem environments. AWS Cost Explorer provides detailed billing data, effective forecasting, and useful visualizations for tracking spending within AWS services.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Turbonomic supports multiple environments and offers highly responsive customer support for troubleshooting and customization. AWS Cost Explorer integrates seamlessly with the AWS ecosystem, ensuring smooth deployment. Its documentation aids in effective customer support, although integration outside AWS may pose challenges.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Turbonomic involves higher initial setup costs but delivers significant ROI through its automation and optimization across platforms. AWS Cost Explorer is integrated for free with AWS accounts, proving valuable for monitoring AWS spending without additional costs. However, it may lack cost-saving potential outside AWS expenditures, affecting overall ROI for non-AWS assets.

To learn more, read our detailed Cloud Cost Management Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Cost Management

September 2025

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Helped 868,787 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

AWS Cost Explorer

Ranking in Cloud Cost Management

12th

Average Rating

10.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Financial Data Analysis Platforms (3rd)

IBM Turbonomic

Ranking in Cloud Cost Management

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

205

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Migration (7th), Cloud Management (5th), Virtualization Management Tools (4th), IT Financial Management (1st), IT Operations Analytics (4th), Cloud Analytics (1st), AIOps (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Cloud Cost Management category, the mindshare of AWS Cost Explorer is 2.6%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Turbonomic is 9.8%, down from 15.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Cost Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Turbonomic	9.8%
AWS Cost Explorer	2.6%
Other	87.6%

Cloud Cost Management

Featured Reviews

Clint Mitchell

Mgr Cloud Operations at freelancer

Maximized budget efficiency with accurate cost forecasting and responsive support

Primarily, I use AWS Cost Explorer to maintain cost and current budget constraints. Our FinOps team provides us with a budget for the month, and we track our spending to identify where funds are allocated. We have billing alerts set up to notify us when our infrastructure exceeds a certain amount…

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Dan Ambrose

Infrastructure Engineer 4 at Hyland

Helps visibility, bridges the data gap, and frees up time

We use IBM Turbonomic in a hybrid cloud environment. Although it supports multi-cloud capabilities, we currently operate in a single-cloud setting. Turbonomic offers visibility into our environment's performance, spanning across applications, underlying infrastructure, and protection resources. The visibility and analytics help to bridge the data gap between disparate IT teams such as applications and infrastructure. This is important for awareness collaboration, cost saving, and helping to design and improve our application. Enhanced visibility and data analytics have contributed to a significant reduction in our mean time to resolve. Tools like Turbonomic provide crucial visualization and insights, empowering us to make data-driven decisions instead of relying on assumptions as we did before. This newfound transparency translates to a massive improvement, going from complete darkness to having a clear 100 percent view of the situation. Although our applications are not optimized for the cloud we have seen some improvement in response time. IBM Turbonomic empowers us to achieve more with fewer people thanks to automation. Previously, customers frequently contacted us requesting resource increases to resolve issues. Now, we have a tool that allows us to objectively assess their needs, leading to a deeper understanding of our applications. This solution also generates significant cost savings in the cloud and optimizes hardware utilization within our data centers. Its AI algorithm intelligently allocates servers on hosts, maximizing efficiency without compromising performance. By fine-tuning resource allocation without causing performance bottlenecks, Turbonomic extends the lifespan of existing hardware, postponing the need for new purchases. This effectively stretches our capital expenditure budget. We started to see the benefits of IBM Turbonomic within the first 60 days. IBM is a fantastic partner. Their tech support has been outstanding, and the product itself is excellent - a very solid offering. By automating resource management with Turbonomic, our engineers are freed up to focus on more strategic initiatives like innovation and ongoing organizational projects. Previously, manually adding resources was a time-consuming process that interrupted workflows. Now, automation handles scaling efficiently, saving us thousands of man-hours and significant costs. It has illuminated the need for SetOps. It has highlighted areas of overspending, and the actions we've taken have demonstrated significant cost savings. IBM Turbonomic has positively impacted our overall application performance. IBM Turbonomic has helped reduce both CAPEX and OPEX. It has also significantly reduced cloud build times.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"I find the forecasting feature particularly valuable as it helps predict future expenses."

"In our organization, optimizing application performance is a continuous process that is beyond human scale. We would not be able to do the number of actions that Turbonomic takes on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. It is humanly impossible with the little micro adjustments that it can make. That is a huge differentiator. If you just figure each action could take anywhere very conservatively from five to 10 minutes to act upon, then you multiply that out by thousands of actions every month, it is easily something where you could say, "I am saving a couple of FTEs.""

"The recommendation of the family types is a huge help because it has saved us a lot of money. We use it primarily for that. Another thing that Turbonomic provides us with is a single platform that manages the full application stack and that's something I really like."

"We've saved hundreds of hours. Most of the time those hours would have to be after hours as well, which are more valuable to me as that's my personal time."

"The most valuable features are the cluster utilization reports and the resource capacity planning. We can simulate how much capacity we can add to the current resources. The individual DM reports and VM-facing recommendations report are also helpful."

"It also brings up a list of machines and if something is under-provisioned and needs more compute power it will tell you, 'This server needs more compute power, and we suggest you raise it up to this level.' It will even automatically do it for you. In Azure, you don't have to actually go into the cloud provider to resize. You can just say, 'Apply these resizes,' and Turbonomic uses some back-end APIs to make the changes for you."

"The proactive monitoring of all our open enrollment applications has improved our organization. We have used it to size applications that we are moving to the cloud. Therefore, when we move them out there, we have them appropriately sized. We use it for reporting to current application owners, showing them where they are wasting money. There are easy things to find for an application, e.g., they decommissioned the server, but they never took care of the storage. Without a tool like this, that storage would just sit there forever, with us getting billed for it."

"The system automatically sizes and moves resources based on the needs of the applications."

"We can manage multiple environments using a single pane of glass, which is something that I really like."

More IBM Turbonomic pros

Cons

"While there is always room for improvement, any needs for enhancement depend on specific requirements at the time. Currently, I cannot pinpoint any specific improvements needed."

"Some features are only available via changes to the deployment YAML, and it would be better to have them in the UI."

"The automation area could be improved, and the generic reports are poor. We want more details in the analysis report from the application layer. The reports from the infrastructure layer are satisfactory, but Turbonomic won't provide much information if we dig down further than the application layer."

"Turbonomic doesn't do storage placement how I would prefer. We use multiple shared storage volumes on VMware, so I don't have one big disk. I have lots of disks that I can place VMs on, and that consumes IOPS from the disk subsystem. We were getting recommendations to provision a new volume."

"It sometimes does get false positives. Sometimes, it'll move something when it really wasn't a performance metric. I've seen it do that, but it's pretty much an automated tool for performance. We've only got about 500 virtual machines, so lots of times, I'm able to manage it physically, but it's definitely a nice tool for a larger enterprise that might be managing 2,000 or 3,000 virtual machines."

"I would like Turbonomic to add more services, especially in the cloud area. I have already told them this. They can add Azure NetApp Files. They can add Azure Blob storage. They have already added Azure App service, but they can do more."

"Additional interfaces would be helpful."

"Remove the need for special in-house knowledge and development."

"In Azure, it's not what you're using. You purchase the whole 8 TB disk and you pay for it. It doesn't matter how much you're using. So something that I've asked for from Turbonomic is recommendations based on disk utilization. In the example of the 8 TB disk where only 200 GBs are being used, based on the history, there should be a recommendation like, "You can safely use a 500 GB disk." That would create a lot of savings."

More IBM Turbonomic cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The pricing and licensing are fair. We purchase based on benchmark pricing, which we have been able to get. There are no surprise charges nor hidden fees."

"The pricing is in line with the other solutions that we have. It's not a bargain software, nor is it overly expensive."

"You should understand the cost of your physical servers and how much time and money you are spending year over year on expanding your virtual farm."

"I'm not involved in any of the billing, but my understanding is that is fairly expensive."

"I know there have been some issues with the billing, when the numbers were first proposed, as to how much we would save. There was a huge miscommunication on our part. Turbonomic was led to believe that we could optimize our AWS footprint, because we didn't know we couldn't. So, we were promised savings of $750,000. Then, when we came to implement Turbonomic, the developers in AWS said, "Absolutely not. You're not putting that in our environment. We can't scale down anything because they coded it." Our AWS environment is a legacy environment. It has all these old applications, where all the developers who have made it are no longer with the company. Those applications generate a ton of money for us. So, if one breaks, we are really in trouble and they didn't want to have to deal with an environment that was changing and couldn't be supported. That number went from $750,000 to about $450,000. However, that wasn't Turbonomic's fault."

"Everybody tells me the pricing is high. But the ROIs are great."

"Contact the Turbonomic sales team, explain your needs and what you're looking to monitor. They will get a pre-sales SE on the phone and together work up a very accurate quote."

"We felt the pricing was very fair for the product. It is in no way prohibitive for larger deployments, unlike other similar product on the market."

More IBM Turbonomic pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	41
Midsize Enterprise	57
Large Enterprise	147

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Cost Explorer?

AWS Cost Explorer is part of the AWS package, so the cost is not directly associated with it. If you are using AWS services, you are already included in the cost structure.

See all answers

What needs improvement with AWS Cost Explorer?

While there is always room for improvement, any needs for enhancement depend on specific requirements at the time. Currently, I cannot pinpoint any specific improvements needed.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for AWS Cost Explorer?

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Turbonomic?

It offers different scenarios. It provides more capabilities than many other tools available. Typically, its price is set as a percentage of the consumption of some of our customers' services. The ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Turbonomic?

The implementation could be enhanced.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Turbonomic?

We use IBM Turbonomic to automate our cloud operations, including monitoring, consolidating dashboards, and reporting. This helps us get a consolidated view of all customer spending into a single d...

See all answers

Comparisons

Azure Cost Management vs AWS Cost Explorer

Compared 27% of the time

CloudCheckr vs AWS Cost Explorer

Compared 25% of the time

Pump.co vs AWS Cost Explorer

Compared 25% of the time

VMWare Tanzu CloudHealth vs AWS Cost Explorer

Compared 23% of the time

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VMware Aria Operations vs IBM Turbonomic

Compared 14% of the time

Azure Cost Management vs IBM Turbonomic

Compared 7% of the time

Cloudability vs IBM Turbonomic

Compared 6% of the time

Spot vs IBM Turbonomic

Compared 6% of the time

VMware vSphere vs IBM Turbonomic

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM Turbonomic Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Cost Management

September 2025

Download AWS Cost Explorer product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Turbonomic

September 2025

Download IBM Turbonomic product report

Also Known As

Reserved Instance Reporting

Turbonomic, VMTurbo Operations Manager

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

IBM

Overview

AWS Cost Explorer provides a detailed view of your cloud expenses, helping you manage and optimize costs. Its analytics tools deliver insights vital for financial planning and operational efficiency.

AWS Cost Explorer offers powerful cost management features crucial for modern businesses leveraging cloud resources. Its advanced analytics tools facilitate the identification of spending patterns, contributing significantly to efficient financial management. The intuitive interface ensures easy navigation through detailed reports and forecasts, aiding in comprehensive cost analysis. API capabilities allow seamless integration with internal systems, enhancing overall financial oversight. Subscriptions to AWS Cost Explorer provide robust support for budget planning and cost savings by enabling cost allocation down to the resource level, assisting organizations in maintaining their financial goals while agilely utilizing the cloud.

What are the important features of AWS Cost Explorer?

Cost Forecasting: Predict future cloud expenses to plan budgets effectively.
Granular Reporting: Break down costs by service or resource for detailed analysis.
Usage Analytics: Monitor and analyze cloud usage trends over time.
Budget Alerts: Receive notifications to manage spending within predefined limits.
API Integration: Connect with internal systems for streamlined financial management.

What benefits and ROI should users expect from AWS Cost Explorer?

Enhanced Financial Planning: Improve budget accuracy with detailed insights into cloud expenses.
Cost Efficiency: Identify and reduce unnecessary spending, optimizing resource use.
Operational Agility: Quickly adapt to changes in demand with real-time expense monitoring.
Improved Resource Allocation: Allocate costs effectively across departments or projects.
Scalability: Support growth with scalable cost management capabilities.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, AWS Cost Explorer is instrumental in adhering to budgetary constraints while scaling operations. Financial institutions leverage its predictive analytics for better cost estimates, while healthcare providers use its budget alerts to ensure financial efficiency. By integrating AWS Cost Explorer, these industries achieve a balance between financial prudence and technological advancement, maintaining profitability without sacrificing service quality.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

IBM Turbonomic offers automation, planning, and right-sizing recommendations to streamline resource management, improve efficiencies, and optimize costs across virtualized environments and cloud platforms.

IBM Turbonomic is valued for its capability to optimize resource allocation and monitor virtual environments efficiently. It facilitates automated decision-making in VM sizing, load balancing, and cost optimization for both on-premises and cloud deployments. Users can leverage insights for workload placement, ensure peak performance assurance, and effectively right-size across VMware and Azure. The ongoing transition to HTML5 aims to improve visual and navigational ease, while expanded reporting features are anticipated. Opportunities for improved training, documentation, and integrations enhance platform usability and functionality.

What Are the Key Features?

Automation: Streamlines resource allocation and VM management.
Planning Tools: Supports capacity management and growth projections.
Right-Sizing: Optimizes VM configurations for efficient resource use.
Customizable Dashboards: Provides quick insights into environment health.
Reporting Capabilities: Offers valuable data for informed decision-making.
Cloud Integration: Ensures cost-effective resource utilization.

What Benefits Should Be Looked For?

Performance Enhancement: Improves application performance efficiency.
Cost Reduction: Minimizes operational expenses through optimizations.
Infrastructure Efficiency: Maximizes use of IT infrastructure resources.

In finance, IBM Turbonomic aids in maintaining platform efficiency during market fluctuations. Healthcare organizations leverage its capability for resource optimization during high-demand periods to enhance patient care support. Retailers use it for planning in peak seasons, ensuring resources align with fluctuating demand to maintain performance continuity.

IBM

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

IBM, J.B. Hunt, BBC, The Capita Group, SulAmérica, Rabobank, PROS, ThinkON, O.C. Tanner Co.

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Cost Management

September 2025

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