At first glance, revenue operations (RevOps) and financial operations (FinOps) may seem like completely different functions–one focused on driving revenue and the other on managing finances.

But in reality, RevOps and FinOps overlap, and they both exist to make businesses run smoother and operate more efficiently.

While RevOps ensures that sales, marketing, and customer success teams are aligned to drive revenue growth, FinOps brings financial accountability and cost efficiency to cloud spending, helping organizations scale sustainably.

So, where do the two concepts differ, and how do they work together? 
In this post, we’ll break down the key differences, how they work together, and why companies that integrate both functions can gain a serious competitive edge.

RevOps vs. FinOps

To understand the difference between revenue and financial operations, let’s first define both terms.

What is RevOps?

Revenue operations is a strategic approach to aligning sales, operations, customer success, and marketing to drive growth.

Instead of working independently, these teams collaborate and use data, processes, and technology to improve efficiency and performance.

RevOps helps organizations streamline operations, improve decision-making, and ultimately increase revenue by breaking down internal barriers and optimizing workflows. It’s not just about making teams work better individually—it’s about making them work better together to create a seamless revenue engine.

What is the purpose of RevOps?

The main purpose of RevOps is to maximize an organization’s revenue potential by aligning teams and using data-driven insights, automation, and optimized processes to drive sustainable growth.

“Revenue operations is very SaaS specific,” Kristin Keefer, Senior Sales Operations Manager at PandaDoc, says. “A lot of organizations may start out with a decentralized operations function. You might see marketing operations reporting to demand gen, and then you might have a sales or business operations function supporting the sales strategy and process. The concept of RevOps is to ensure revenue efficiency and business processes are unified across all your go-to-market functions.”

What is FinOps?

Financial operations (FinOps) is a strategic approach to managing and optimizing an organization’s financial resources to ensure cost efficiency and financial accountability.

FinOps focuses on budget planning, forecasting, managing expenses, and optimizing costs to help businesses maximize their financial investments and control spending.

Financial operations is especially crucial in B2B industries and cloud computing, where managing operational costs can directly impact profitability.

By aligning financial decisions with business goals, FinOps helps organizations balance cost efficiency with performance needs, ensuring sustainable growth.

Where does FinOps fit in the organization?

Like RevOps, FinOps is a cross-functional initiative that brings together engineering, finance, and business teams.

Depending on the organization, the FinOps team generally reports to the Chief Technology Officer or the Chief Financial Officer.

RevOps vs. FinOps: What’s the difference?

RevOps and FinOps focus on aligning teams to drive business success, but their objectives differ.

  • RevOps aligns marketing, customer success, operations, and sales teams to improve processes and maximize revenue growth. 
  • FinOps focuses on financial management, cost optimization, and operational efficiency and helps organizations control spending and allocate resources effectively. 

RevOps vs FinOps: Key metrics

RevOps and FinOps also focus on different KPIs.

Here are some metrics each team might be responsible for:

RevOps metrics

  • Revenue growth rate: Measures the percentage increase in revenue over a specific period
  • Customer acquisition cost (CAC): The cost of acquiring a new customer
  • Customer lifetime value (CLV): The total revenue an organization can expect from a single customer
  • Sales cycle length: The average time required to close a deal
  • Win rate: The percentage of sales opportunities that lead to a closed deal

FinOps metrics

  • Cloud spend: Tracks total cloud expenses and breaks them down by service (e.g., compute, storage).
  • Cost per unit of work: Measures cloud costs in relation to business output (e.g., cost per transaction, cost per user).
  • Cloud cost efficiency: Evaluates whether cloud spending aligns with business value.
  • Cost allocation and chargeback: correctly attribute cloud expenses to teams, projects, or departments.
  • Budget vs actual spend: Compares planned cloud expenses to actual usage to identify overages.

How RevOps and FinOps work together

Now that you understand the differences, how can you combine these initiatives to drive business success and revenue growth?

Alignment is the name of the game; RevOps and FinOps combine teams and strategies to balance revenue generation with financial efficiency. This helps companies drive more revenue while also optimizing costs.

With shared financial data, both teams gain a clearer picture of how costs impact revenue. This enables RevOps to make smarter decisions on pricing, discounts, and bundling—meaning you get profitability without sacrificing growth.

“RevOps drives predictable growth by aligning revenue functions through data, processes, and technology. FinOps ensures that growth is profitable, sustainable, and compliant by optimizing spending, forecasting revenue, and managing financial efficiency. RevOps fuels revenue generation, while FinOps ensures every dollar is optimized. Together, they create a scalable and financially sound business.”


–Ali Spinelli, VP of Revenue Operations, PandaDoc

Why RevOps and FinOps matter

While RevOps and FinOps serve distinct functions, they are both essential for sustainable business growth.
RevOps drives revenue by streamlining sales, marketing, and customer success. FinOps ensures that revenue is managed wisely, optimizing costs and financial efficiency.

When combined, businesses can better balance growth and profitability. By aligning teams, leveraging shared data, and integrating strategic processes, companies can scale smarter, make informed decisions, and gain a competitive edge

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • RevOps breaks down silos and integrates sales, marketing, and customer success to drive revenue growth across the entire customer journey.

     Sales operations (Sales Ops) is dedicated to optimizing the sales process–developing strategies, implementing tools, and refining processes to improve sales performance and efficiency.

    For a more detailed breakdown of the differences, check out this guide: RevOps vs.RevOps vs SalesOps: What’s the Difference? SalesOps

  • Cloud operations (CloudOps) focuses on managing cloud infrastructure, running your applications securely and efficiently. 

    FinOps, while also concerned with cloud applications, focuses primarily on optimizing cloud spending. It helps businesses control costs, improve financial accountability, and maximize the value of their cloud investments.

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