Cloud cost management isn’t just about cutting waste: What 5 years of Flexera’s State of the Cloud data reveals

Key takeaways Cloud spending has skyrocketed over the past five years, with 76% of large enterprises spend more than $5 million monthly on the cloud. This makes financial accountability and governance more important than ever Cloud waste remains stubbornly high (29% estimated wasted spend), driven by growing complexity across hybrid cloud, SaaS and AI environments Leading organizations are shifting from cloud cost management to cloud value management, focusing on business outcomes alongside optimization From 2021 to 2026, cloud spending scaled dramatically—but waste remained, complexity intens