{
  "id": 88627,
  "title": "How to reduce AWS NAT Gateway costs: 7 ways, ranked by savings",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/03/how-to-reduce-aws-nat-gateway-costs-7-ways-ranked-by-savings",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-03T14:49:39.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/enforza/how-to-reduce-aws-nat-gateway-costs-7-ways-ranked-by-savings-ll4"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "To reduce AWS NAT Gateway costs, consider these seven strategies ranked by their potential savings:\n\n1. Utilize free gateway endpoints for S3 and DynamoDB, which remove 30-60% of the per-GB line with no additional cost. This is often the largest saving available, as it stops the charge by changing route-table entries to send traffic over the endpoint instead of through NAT. Container image pulls from ECR stored in S3 can also benefit from this.\n\n2. Implement interface endpoints, or PrivateLink, for the most frequently accessed AWS services like ECR's API, CloudWatch Logs, STS, and Secrets Manager. These endpoints have a standing cost of $7.30 a month per AZ and cost about $0.01 per hour per endpoint per AZ. They save roughly $0.035/GB compared to NAT processing, becoming cost-effective at around 200 GB per month per service.\n\n3. Use VPC Flow Logs to identify your top traffic \"talkers.\" This step is crucial, as you can't cut traffic you can't see. It usually reveals image pulls, log and telemetry shipping, package registries in CI, and chatty third-party APIs. Addressing these can result in savings ranging from 10-40%.\n\n4. Avoid the cross-AZ surcharge by consolidating your gateway. If you have gateways in multiple Availability Zones, traffic passing between them incurs extra data transfer charges. Consolidating to a single gateway or zonal routing can eliminate these surcharges, but the trade-off may increase failure dependencies. Find the balance based on your specific needs.\n\n5. Consolidate non-production environments. Dev environments often mirror production structures, including multiple NAT gateways in each Availability Zone. This wastes hourly fees for unused connectivity. Consolidate non-production egress where possible, and let IaC tear down unnecessary gateways during the teardown process. This can lead to significant savings, sometimes up to $330 a month.",
  "summary": "The AWS NAT Gateway bill has two lines. The hourly fee is $0.045 per gateway-hour, about $33 a month, and it is the least interesting number on your invoice. The other line is the data-processing charge : $0.045 for every gigabyte the gateway touches, in either direction. That one compounds. It grows with traffic you didn't know was internet-bound, it multiplies across Availability Zones, and it…",
  "key_points": [
    "Utilize free gateway endpoints for S3 and DynamoDB to save 30-60% on per-GB costs.",
    "Implement interface endpoints or PrivateLink for frequently accessed AWS services to save $0.035/GB.",
    "Use VPC Flow Logs to identify top traffic \"talkers\" and optimize NAT Gateway usage."
  ],
  "editors_take": "Companies can significantly cut AWS NAT Gateway costs by strategically using free gateway endpoints, interface endpoints, and traffic consolidation, potentially saving tens to hundreds of dollars monthly.",
  "illustration": "https://urgent.news/ill/88627.png",
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}