TemplateFREE⏱️ 45-60 minutes
Infrastructure Cost Tracking Template
A structured template for tracking cloud infrastructure costs, identifying optimization opportunities, and forecasting spend.
Updated 2026-03-04
Infrastructure Cost Tracking
| # | Metric | Target | Current | Progress % | Owner | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 140 | ||||||
| 2 | 98 | ||||||
| 3 | 84 | ||||||
| 4 | 75 | ||||||
| 5 | 75 |
#1
140
#2
98
#3
84
#4
75
#5
75
Edit the values above to try it with your own data. Your changes are saved locally.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a healthy infrastructure cost as a percentage of revenue?+
For SaaS companies, infrastructure costs typically range from 10-25% of revenue in the early stages and decrease to 5-15% at scale. If your infrastructure costs exceed 25% of revenue, optimization should be a priority. Track this metric monthly alongside your other [product metrics](/glossary/prioritization) to spot trends early.
How do I get engineering teams to care about cost?+
Make costs visible and attributable. Tag every resource by team, publish monthly cost-by-team reports, and include infrastructure cost as a metric in quarterly planning. When engineers can see that their service costs $4,200/month and compare it to peer teams, they self-optimize. Some organizations include a "cost per user" target in engineering OKRs.
Should we use reserved instances or spot instances?+
Reserved instances (or savings plans) for predictable, always-on workloads like databases and core application servers. Spot instances for fault-tolerant batch processing, CI/CD pipelines, and development environments. The savings are significant: 30-60% for reserved, 60-90% for spot. The [Technical PM Handbook](/technical-pm-guide) covers how to evaluate these trade-offs.
How often should we review infrastructure costs?+
Monthly at minimum. Weekly reviews are better for teams that are actively optimizing or experiencing rapid growth. Set up automated alerts for anomalies (cost spike > 20% day-over-day) so you catch runaway spend before the monthly bill arrives.
How do I forecast costs for a feature that does not exist yet?+
Estimate the infrastructure components the feature requires (compute, storage, database, network), size them based on projected usage, and price them using your cloud provider's calculator. Add a 30% buffer for unknowns. Compare this estimate against the feature's expected revenue impact using the [RICE calculator](/tools/rice-calculator) to determine whether the investment is justified. ---
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