The Numbers Don’t Lie
AI is scaling faster than companies’ ability to measure it, creating a visibility crisis that’s undermining forecasts, margins, and profitability itself.
What the data reveals:
1
Forecasting is fundamentally broken – 80% of enterprises missing AI infrastructure forecasts by 25%.
2
Margins are under siege – 84% of companies see 6%+ gross margin erosion due to AI infrastructure costs.
3
The repatriation wave is here – 67% of companies are actively planning to repatriate AI workloads from cloud to on-premise.
4
Hidden cost surprises are real – Data platforms are the top source of unexpected AI spend.
This isn’t just an IT problem, it’s a business-critical challenge that’s hitting profit margins and exposing dangerous financial blind spots across enterprises.
Hear about the findings from industry experts
Lindsey Tishgart
Moderator
Mavvrik
Ray Rike
CEO
Benchmarkit
Eric Mulartrick
FinOps Lead Boomi
Leaders in finance and AI talk through what’s working (and what’s not) when it comes to AI cost forecasting, margin management, and repatriation.
About the Report
The State of AI Cost Governance Report analyzes survey data conducted in 2025 from 372 companies across diverse industries and revenue tiers, measuring cost governance spanning forecast accuracy, infrastructure misattribution capability, and gross margin impact. This report was created in partnership by Mavvrik and Benchmarkit.
Mavvrik is the financial control center for modern IT, providing enterprises with complete visibility, automation, and governance across cloud, AI, SaaS, and on-prem infrastructure. Built for CFOs, FinOps, and IT leaders, Mavvrik eliminates financial blind spots, enforces accountability, and transforms IT costs into strategic investments. With real-time cost tracking, automated chargebacks, and predictive budget controls, Mavvrik helps enterprises reduce waste, optimize AI and hybrid cloud spend, and maintain financial precision at scale.
Benchmarkit uses metrics and benchmarks to align B2B SaaS executives across the entire customer journey including customer acquisition, retention, and expansion, leading to better metrics-informed and benchmark-validated decisions. Benchmarkit’s vision is to enable every B2B SaaS company to increase revenue growth efficiency and enterprise value by having free access to the most timely and contextual benchmarks available in the industry.
Mavvrik is the financial control center for modern IT, providing enterprises with complete visibility, automation, and governance across cloud, AI, SaaS, and on-prem infrastructure. Built for CFOs, FinOps, and IT leaders, Mavvrik eliminates financial blind spots, enforces accountability, and transforms IT costs into strategic investments. With real-time cost tracking, automated chargebacks, and predictive budget controls, Mavvrik helps enterprises reduce waste, optimize AI and hybrid cloud spend, and maintain financial precision at scale.
Benchmarkit uses metrics and benchmarks to align B2B SaaS executives across the entire customer journey including customer acquisition, retention, and expansion, leading to better metrics-informed and benchmark-validated decisions. Benchmarkit’s vision is to enable every B2B SaaS company to increase revenue growth efficiency and enterprise value by having free access to the most timely and contextual benchmarks available in the industry.