Cost Optimization
Practical Cost Optimization guides on PacketSensei: code-first articles on configuration, cost, and the AWS failure modes that show up in production.
12 articles in Cost Optimization, newest first.
CloudWatch log groups that never expire: How to Find Them and What They Cost
Log groups default to Never Expire, so ingestion and storage charges accumulate indefinitely. What that costs, how to list them, and the retention fix.
Cross-AZ data transfer: How to Find Them and What They Cost
Cross-AZ traffic is charged per gigabyte in both directions, invisible on the bill until you know where to look. What it costs, and how to cut it.
gp2 volumes not migrated to gp3: How to Find Them and What They Cost
gp2 volumes cost about 20% more than gp3 for the same or worse performance. What the difference is worth, how to list yours, and how to migrate safely.
Idle load balancers: How to Find Them and What They Cost
Idle ALBs and NLBs bill hourly with no healthy targets and no requests. What they cost, the command that lists yours, and what to check before deleting.
Idle NAT gateways: How to Find Them and What They Cost
Idle NAT gateways bill by the hour for a path nothing uses. What they cost, the command that lists yours, and what to check before deleting one.
Idle RDS instances: How to Find Them and What They Cost
Idle RDS instances bill compute and storage around the clock with no connections. What they cost, how to list them, and what to check before stopping one.
Old EBS snapshots: How to Find Them and What They Cost
Old EBS snapshots accumulate forever, including ones behind deregistered AMIs. What they cost, the command that lists yours, and what to check first.
Orphaned network interfaces: How to Find Them and What They Cost
Orphaned network interfaces hold IP addresses and block security group and subnet deletion. What they cost, how to list them, and what to check first.
S3 incomplete multipart uploads: How to Find Them and What They Cost
S3 incomplete multipart uploads are billed as storage and invisible in the console and the bucket listing. What they cost, how to find them, and the fix.
S3 noncurrent versions with no lifecycle rule: How to Find Them and What They Cost
Versioning with no expiry policy keeps every previous version of every object forever. What that costs, how to measure it, and the lifecycle rule to add.
Unassociated Elastic IPs: How to Find Them and What They Cost
Unassociated Elastic IPs bill hourly and eat a quota of five per region. What they cost, the command that lists yours, and what to check before releasing.
Unattached EBS volumes: How to Find Them and What They Cost
Unattached EBS volumes bill at full price for storage nobody reads. What they cost, the CLI command that lists yours, and what to check before deleting.