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 #10 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 10.5% 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

261 Views
243 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Turbonomic

Read 205 IBM Turbonomic reviews

5,671 Views
2,325 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: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Cost Management

August 2025

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Helped 866,324 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

10th

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 (6th), Cloud Management (5th), Virtualization Management Tools (4th), IT Financial Management (1st), IT Operations Analytics (4th), Cloud Analytics (1st), AIOps (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Cloud Cost Management category, the mindshare of AWS Cost Explorer is 2.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Turbonomic is 10.5%, down from 15.7% 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	10.5%
AWS Cost Explorer	2.6%
Other	86.9%

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."

"The ability to monitor and automate both the right-sizing of VMs as well as to automate the vMotion of VMs across ESXi hosts."

"I only deal with the infrastructure side, so I really couldn't speak to more than load balancing as the most valuable feature for me. It provides specific actions that prevent resource starvation. It always keeps things in perfect balance."

"Rightsizing is valuable. Its recommendations are pretty good."

"Before implementing Turbonomic, we had difficulty reaching a consensus about VM placement and sizing. Everybody's opinion was wrong, including mine. The application developers, implementers, and infrastructure team could never decide the appropriate size of a virtual machine. I always made the machines small, and they always made them too big. We were both probably wrong."

"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."

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

"We like that Turbonomic shows application metrics and estimates the impact of taking a suggested action. It provides us a map of resource utilization as part of its recommendation. We evaluate and compare that to what we think would be appropriate from a human perspective to that what Turbonomic is doing, then take the best action going forward."

"I like the analytics that help us optimize compatibility. Whereas Azure Advisor tells us what we have to do, Turbonomic has automation which actually does those things. That means we don't have to be present to get them done and simplifies our IT engineers' jobs."

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."

"They have a long road map when we ask for certain things that will make the product better. It takes time, but that's understandable because there are other things that are higher on the priority list."

"Enhanced executive reporting standard with the tool beyond the reports that can be created today. Something that can easily be used with upper management on a monthly or quarterly basis to show the impact to our environment."

"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."

"The GUI and policy creation have room for improvement. There should be a better view of some of the numbers that are provided and easier to access. And policy creation should have it easier to identify groups."

"The management interface seems to be designed for high-resolution screens. Somebody with a smaller-resolution screen might not like the web interface. I run a 4K monitor on it, so everything fits on the screen. With a lower resolution like 1080, you need to scroll a lot. Everything is in smaller windows. It doesn't seem to be designed for smaller screens."

"They could add a few more reports. They could also be a bit more granular. While they have reports, sometimes it is hard to figure out what you are looking for just by looking at the date."

"The reporting needs to be improved. It's important for us to know and be able to look back on what happened and why certain decisions were made, and we want to use a custom report for this."

More IBM Turbonomic cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

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

"In the last year, Turbonomic has reduced our cloud costs by $94,000."

"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."

"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."

"The product is fairly priced right now. Given its capabilities, it is excellently priced. We think that the product will become self-funding because we will be able to maximize our resources, which will help us from a capacity perspective. That should save us money in the long run."

"If you're a super-small business, it may be a little bit pricey for you... But in large, enterprise companies where money is, maybe, less of an issue, Turbonomic is not that expensive. I can't imagine why any big company would not buy it, for what it does."

"What I can advise is to trial the product, taking advantage of the Turbonomic pre-sales implemention support and kickstart training."

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

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

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Compared 27% of the time

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Compared 27% of the time

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Compared 23% of the time

Pump.co vs AWS Cost Explorer

Compared 23% of the time

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VMware Aria Operations vs IBM Turbonomic

Compared 15% of the time

Azure Cost Management vs IBM Turbonomic

Compared 11% of the time

VMware vSphere vs IBM Turbonomic

Compared 6% of the time

Cloudability vs IBM Turbonomic

Compared 6% of the time

VMware Aria Automation vs IBM Turbonomic

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM Turbonomic Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Cost Management

August 2025

Download AWS Cost Explorer product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Turbonomic

August 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

August 2025

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