Cloud cost optimization is the continuous practice of reducing cloud expenditures while maintaining or improving performance, reliability, and business value across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other cloud platforms. It encompasses strategic approaches ranging from commitment-based discounts and resource rightsizing to automated waste elimination and real-time cost governance. As organizations increasingly adopt multi-cloud and AI workloads in 2026, cost optimization has evolved from periodic reviews to continuous, automated control loops that tie cloud spending directly to unit economics and business outcomes. The most successful strategies combine technical optimization (right-sizing, spot instances, storage tiering) with organizational practices (FinOps culture, showback/chargeback, budget enforcement) and platform-native tools (AWS Compute Optimizer, Azure Cost Management, GCP Active Assist).