Flexera's 2026 Cloud Report Finds Wasted Cloud Spend Rising to 29%

Flexera's 2026 State of the Cloud Report, based on a survey of 753 cloud decision-makers, found that 64% of organizations now track value delivered to business units, up 12 points year over year. Estimated wasted IaaS and PaaS spend ticked up to 29%, reversing a five-year decline, while 58% now use generative AI as a public cloud service. The article argues that self-reported vendor surveys like this one should not be treated as market reality or proof of maturity.

Why it matters: IT operations and governance leaders benchmarking cloud cost controls should note that wasted spend is climbing again despite widespread FinOps and cloud center of excellence adoption.