CloudBurn is an open-source AWS cost optimization toolkit. It scans your infrastructure — both IaC templates (Terraform, CloudFormation) and live AWS resources — to find cost savings opportunities using a library of built-in rules. Whether you're reviewing code before deployment or auditing a running AWS account, CloudBurn surfaces actionable findings so you can reduce waste without guesswork.
How CloudBurn is structured
The CLI and its GitHub Action depend on the SDK, and the SDK runs on top of the Rules library. Rules encode the cost optimization checks, the SDK exposes them programmatically, the CLI is the terminal interface on top, and the GitHub Action runs the CLI's IaC scan inside your GitHub workflows. The GitHub App sits alongside them: it prices the AWS cost impact of CDK diffs, CloudFormation templates, and Terraform plans directly on your pull requests.
Find the right starting point
| I want to... | Go here |
|---|---|
| Scan IaC files from the terminal | CLI documentation |
| Scan IaC in GitHub pull requests | GitHub Action documentation |
| Find savings in my live AWS account | CLI documentation |
| Integrate cost checks into my app | SDK documentation |
| Understand what CloudBurn checks | Rules documentation |
| See cost changes on pull requests | GitHub App documentation |
| Have CloudBurn run scans for me | CloudBurn Platform documentation |
| Share AWS accounts and scans with my team | Workspaces and members |
Open source
The free, open-source toolkit — run it yourself, anywhere.
CLI
The CloudBurn CLI is a terminal tool for scanning Terraform and CloudFormation templates and discovering cost issues in live AWS accounts.
To run the IaC scan on pull requests, use the CloudBurn GitHub Action from the GitHub Marketplace. It annotates findings, posts a sticky comment, and can fail the job by severity.
SDK
The CloudBurn SDK lets you run cost optimization rules programmatically — embed scans in CI pipelines, custom tooling, or any Node.js application.
Rules
Rules are the checks CloudBurn runs. Each rule targets a specific resource type and describes a concrete cost savings opportunity.
CloudBurn Platform
The paid, managed layer on top of the open-source toolkit — connect AWS accounts with a read-only role, run unused-resource scans with results in your own S3 bucket, share them with your team in a workspace, and get cost reports on pull requests, all from app.cloudburn.io instead of operating the tooling yourself.
GitHub App
The CloudBurn GitHub App prices AWS cost changes from CDK diffs, CloudFormation templates, and Terraform plans posted on your pull requests, including usage-based costs driven by your own monthly assumptions.