According to the most simple definition, a cost driver is the unit of an activity that causes a change in the activity's cost:

[A] cost driver is any factor which causes a change in the cost of an activity

A different meaning is assigned to the term by Michael Porter: "cost drivers are the structural determinants of the cost of an activity, reflecting any linkages or interrelationships that affect it". This defines 'cost drivers' not just as a simple variable in a function, but as something that changes the function itself. For example, the driver 'economy of scale' leads to different costs per unit for different scales of operation (a small cargo vessel is more expensive per unit than a large bulk carrier), and the driver 'capacity utilisation' leads to greater costs per unit if the capacity is under-utilised and lower costs per unit is the utilisation is high.

The Activity Based Costing (ABC) approach relates indirect cost to the activities that drive them to be incurred. Activity Based Costing is based on the belief that activities cause costs and therefore a link should be established between activities and product. The cost drivers thus are the link between the activities and the cost of the product.

Generally, the cost driver for short term indirect variable costs may be the volume of output/activity; but for long term indirect variable costs, the cost drivers will not be related to volume of output/activity.

In traditional costing the cost driver to allocate indirect cost to cost objects was volume of output. With the change in business structures, technology and thereby cost structures it was found that the volume of output was not the only cost driver. John Shank and Vijay Govindarajan list cost drivers into two categories: Structural cost drivers that are derived from the business strategic choices about its underlying economic structure such as scale and scope of operations, complexity of products, use of technology, etc., and executional cost drivers that are derived from the execution of the business activities such as capacity utilization, plant layout, work-force involvement, etc. Resource cost Driver is measure of quantity of resources consumed by an activity. It is used to assign cost of a resource to activity or cost pool. Activity Cost Driver is measure of frequency and intensity of demand placed on activities by cost object. It is used to assign activity costs to cost objects.

To carry out a value chain analysis, ABC is a necessary tool. To carry out ABC, it is necessary that cost drivers are established for different cost pools.