Just launched AI-Powered Waste Detection for CloudWise (AWS cost optimization tool)
What I Launched
AI-Powered Waste Detection for CloudWise - scans AWS accounts and finds wasted money on orphaned/idle resources.
Link: https://cloudcostwise.io
The Origin Story
I once left a staging environment running on AWS for 6 months.
Cost: $4,200
Traffic: 0
Users: 0
Just... existing. Racking up charges.
When I found it, I felt like I'd been paying rent for an apartment I forgot I had. 🤡
That's when I realized: this is a common problem. Every DevOps engineer has a horror story like this.
What It Does
Scans your AWS account and finds:
- Orphaned resources (RDS, EBS, ELB running alone)
- Idle resources (EC2 with <5% CPU, RDS with zero queries)
- Over-provisioned resources (t3.2xlarge for cron jobs)
- Cost black holes (cross-AZ data transfer, old snapshots)
Then gives step-by-step instructions to fix each one.
The Journey So Far
Timeline:
- Sept 2025: Started building CloudWise (new version)
- Oct 2025: Launched basic cost tracking
- Nov 2025: Added AI-powered recommendations
- Dec 2025: Launched AI-Powered Waste Detection (today!)
Metrics:
- Users: 53 (mostly from LinkedIn and X)
- AWS accounts connected: 55
- Total waste detected: $107K/month across all accounts
Tech stack:
- Frontend: React + TypeScript + TailwindCSS
- Backend: Python + FastAPI
- Database: DynamoDB
- AI: OpenAI GPT-4.1
- Hosting: AppRunner (frontend) + Lambda function (backend)
What I Learned
1. AWS Cost Optimization is a Real Problem
- 95% of AWS accounts have at least $100/month in waste
- Most waste is orphaned or idle resources
- People know they're wasting money, but don't know where
2. The Problem Isn't Technical, It's Behavioral
- AWS Cost Explorer exists (but people don't use it)
- CloudWatch alarms exist (but they're noisy)
- The friction is too high to check regularly
3. Distribution is Harder Than Building
- Built the product in 4 months
- Getting users is taking 10x longer
- LinkedIn is my best channel (but engagement is low)
- Reddit is hard (hates self-promotion)
Challenges
1. Getting Users
- Only 53 users so far (mostly from LinkedIn)
- Low engagement on posts in the beginning (5-10 likes)
- Hard to get people to try it (AWS connection friction)
2. Competition
- CloudHealth, Apptio, Cloudability exist (but expensive)
- AWS Cost Explorer is free (but hard to use)
- Need to differentiate on ease-of-use + AI
What's Next
Short-term:
- Get to 100 users by end of December
- Collect testimonials and case studies
- Launch on Product Hunt (aiming for Jan 2025)
Long-term:
- Add per-namespace cost tracking for Kubernetes/EKS
- Automated remediation (with approval)
- Slack/Teams alerts for cost anomalies
- Monetize (freemium model, $19/month for Starter, $49/month for Pro)
Questions for IH Community
- How do you approach pricing for dev tools? Freemium? Free trial? Usage-based?
- What's worked for distribution? (Besides Product Hunt)
- How do you get users to try your product? (Especially when there's friction like AWS connection)
Would love your feedback and advice! 🙏
Link: https://cloudcostwise.io
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rick-wise-6371721b6
Twitter/X: @CloudwiseTeam
(if you want to follow the journey)
P.S. That $4,200 staging environment? I could've bought a really nice espresso machine instead. Still thinking about it. ☕
