2025 State of FinOps Report: What Every Cloud Leader Needs to Know

The 2025 State of FinOps Report, published by the FinOps Foundation, shares key insights on how companies manage their cloud costs. This year’s report is based on responses from organizations responsible for $69 billion in cloud spending, making it one of the most important studies on cloud financial operations.

As FinOps practitioners at Cloudidr, we see the 2025 State of FinOps Report confirming a major shift—FinOps is now about more than just cost-cutting. Companies struggle with AI costs, SaaS spend, and governance, while teams are being asked to do more with fewer resources. 

At Cloudidr, we help businesses optimize cloud spend, improve financial visibility, and implement smarter automation to stay ahead in this evolving landscape.

Key Takeaways from the 2025 State of FinOps Report

• Governance is the new priority – While workload optimization remains important, more companies are shifting focus to policy enforcement and cost governance.

• FinOps is expanding beyond cloud – Companies are now managing SaaS, licensing, and private cloud costs alongside traditional cloud spend.

• AI spending is growing fast – 63% of FinOps teams now track AI/ML costs, but most are focused on visibility and forecasting rather than optimization.

• FinOps teams are stretched thin – As responsibilities increase, teams need better automation, tooling, and training to keep up.

• FOCUS adoption is rising – 57% of practitioners plan to integrate FOCUS, but challenges like vendor support and skill gaps remain.

Workload Optimization is Still a Priority, but Governance is Taking the Lead

For years, workload optimization and waste reduction have been the top priorities in FinOps. While they remain critical, the 2025 report shows a shift—governance and policy enforcement are now taking center stage.

This shift makes sense. Once companies optimize their workloads, the next step is to put governance in place to maintain those savings at scale. Without clear policies and automation, cost reductions don’t last, and cloud expenses creep back up.

By implementing spending policies, automation, and clear accountability, organizations can prevent waste before it happens instead of constantly chasing savings.

The Era of Cloud+: FinOps Expands Beyond Cloud

The 2025 State of FinOps Report highlights a major shift—FinOps is no longer just about managing public cloud costs. More companies are now applying FinOps practices to SaaS, software licensing, private cloud, and data centers, a trend called Cloud+.

As businesses rely on multiple cloud services and SaaS tools, tracking and optimizing costs across all technology spend has become essential. However, before they can optimize, companies need better visibility, budgeting, and forecasting to fully understand their costs.

The shift toward Cloud+ FinOps means companies need stronger governance, automation, and expert guidance—all areas where FinOps plays a key role.

AI Spend is Skyrocketing—But Optimization Isn’t the Focus Yet

The 2025 State of FinOps Report reveals a massive jump in AI cost management—63% of FinOps teams now track AI/ML expenses, up from just 31% last year. With businesses rapidly increasing investments in AI across cloud, SaaS, and private data centers, managing these costs is becoming a priority.

However, the focus right now isn’t on optimizing AI costs—it’s on understanding and forecasting them. Many companies still lack clear visibility into how AI workloads impact cloud budgets, making cost allocation and financial planning difficult.

FinOps Teams Are Managing More, But Risk Being Stretched Too Thin

The 2025 State of FinOps Report makes one thing clear—FinOps teams are being asked to do more than ever. Beyond cloud cost optimization, they’re now responsible for SaaS, AI, software licensing, and even private cloud expenses. While this expansion shows the growing importance of FinOps, it also brings a big challenge: limited resources.

Many teams are struggling to keep up due to a lack of automation, training, and tooling. The report shows a 20% rise in the need for better tools and investment, yet many companies haven’t provided the support FinOps teams need. Without the right resources, teams risk spreading themselves too thin, leading to inefficiencies and missed cost-saving opportunities.

FOCUS Adoption: Challenges and Opportunities

One of the key topics in the 2025 State of FinOps Report is the adoption of FOCUS (FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification), an open-source billing standard aimed at simplifying and standardizing cloud cost data. The report shows that 57% of FinOps practitioners plan to use FOCUS in the next 12 months, while only 18% have no plans to adopt it.

Many companies see the potential of FOCUS to streamline cost data management and improve financial visibility, but adoption isn’t without its challenges. Practitioners cite limited time, lack of skills, and slow vendor adoption as major roadblocks. Some companies are also waiting for billing providers and SaaS vendors to fully support FOCUS before integrating it into their workflows.

At Cloudidr, we believe FOCUS has the potential to transform FinOps practices by making cost tracking more transparent and consistent across providers. However, businesses need the right expertise and tools to successfully integrate it into their existing FinOps processes. 

As adoption grows—especially with the upcoming FOCUS 1.2 release, including SaaS billing support—companies that implement FOCUS early will gain a competitive edge in cost efficiency and financial transparency.

Conclusion: How Cloud Leaders Should Prepare for the Future of FinOps

The 2025 State of FinOps Report highlights a clear evolution: FinOps is expanding beyond the cloud, teams are being asked to do more with less, and governance is now just as important as cost optimization. With AI spending increasing and SaaS management growing, companies need to adapt quickly to stay ahead.

At Cloudidr, we help businesses cut cloud costs, build strong governance frameworks, and scale their FinOps capabilities without overburdening their teams. The key to success in this new era of FinOps? Better automation, smarter policies, and expert support to navigate these changes.

Want to optimize your cloud spend and future-proof your FinOps strategy? Let’s talk.