AWS FinOps Field Notes (2026-11-02): Eliminating Idle NAT Gateways & Unattached EIPs with Python
While auditing cloud infrastructure costs this week, recurring configuration gaps continue to quietly inflate monthly cloud bills. Field Insight: The Hidden Cost Trap Tim O'Brien: Says fifty abandoned 100 GB unattached EBS volumes cost $500/month ($6k/year), and that clearing a couple hundred forgotten S3 buckets and EBS volumes is a program rather than a script because every terabyte needs an…
On November 2, 2026, AWS shared insights regarding cost inefficiencies in cloud infrastructure. The report highlighted recurring configuration gaps that silently increase monthly cloud expenses. One example provided was fifty abandoned 100 GB unattached EBS volumes costing $500 per month, which adds up to $6,000 per year. The author emphasizes that clearing these forgotten S3 buckets and EBS volumes is more of a program than a script, as each terabyte requires an owner to justify its existence.
To detect idle resources, the report introduced a Python script utilizing Boto3, Amazon's SDK for Python. This script can identify Unassociated Elastic IPs and Idle NAT Gateways.
The first part of the script describes all Elastic IPs in the specified region, and then filters out the ones with no association with an instance or address. On average, each unattached Elastic IP costs around $3.60 per month. The script also identifies Idle NAT Gateways, which, if they have had no traffic over the past seven days, cost approximately $32.40 per month. By running this script across multiple regions, enterprises can efficiently manage their cloud costs and eliminate unnecessary expenses.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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