Frequently Asked Questions

Podledger is an open-source Kubernetes cost monitoring and optimization platform. It provides real-time, pod-level cost visibility with team-level attribution, helping engineering and platform teams understand exactly where their cloud spend is going. The paid tier adds AI-native autonomous optimization.

Podledger is purpose-built for Kubernetes with a focus on pod-level granularity and team attribution. Unlike generic cloud cost tools, we operate inside your cluster for real-time accuracy rather than relying on billing API delays. Our open-source core means zero vendor lock-in, and our AI engine provides autonomous optimization — not just dashboards and alerts.

Absolutely. The Community Edition is open-source under the Apache 2.0 license. It is always free with no usage limits, hidden fees, or trial expirations. You self-host it in your own cluster. The paid Autonomous tier is entirely optional — designed for teams that want managed hosting, multi-cloud support, and AI-powered automation.

Podledger's AI engine continuously analyzes your workload patterns, resource utilization, and historical cost data. It generates actionable recommendations for right-sizing pod requests/limits, optimizing node pools, and adjusting autoscaling policies. In the Autonomous tier, it can automatically apply these changes using configurable guardrails and rollback mechanisms to ensure safety.

Deployment takes under 5 minutes using our Helm chart. Simply add the Podledger Helm repository, install the chart into your cluster, and access the dashboard via port-forward or ingress. Podledger runs as a lightweight read-only deployment with minimal resource footprint. See our Wiki for step-by-step guides.

The free Community Edition supports a single cloud provider (AWS, GCP, or Azure). The paid Autonomous tier provides unified multi-cloud support across all major providers, giving you a single pane of glass for total cost visibility regardless of where your clusters run.

In the free tier, Podledger is purely read-only — it observes resource usage without making any changes to your workloads. In the Autonomous tier, it can optionally apply optimization changes, but only with explicit permission and configurable guardrails. You always maintain full control.

Podledger is designed to be lightweight. It typically consumes less than 100m CPU and 256Mi memory in most clusters. It uses least-privilege RBAC with only read access to cluster resources, ensuring minimal security surface and zero impact on your workloads.

We welcome contributions. Podledger is hosted on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license. You can contribute code, report issues, request features, or improve documentation. Check our GitHub repository for contribution guidelines and open issues.

The Community Edition includes community support via GitHub Discussions and Issues. The Autonomous tier provides priority support with guaranteed SLAs, a dedicated Slack channel, and optional onboarding assistance from our engineering team.