Cloud Cost Optimization Checklist

A practical multi-cloud cost reduction checklist covering idle resource cleanup, compute rightsizing, commitment discounts, and storage tier optimization for AWS, GCP, and Azure.

Quick Wins Checklist

AWS — Find Idle Resources

# Find unattached EBS volumes
aws ec2 describe-volumes \
  --filters Name=status,Values=available \
  --query 'Volumes[*].{ID:VolumeId,Size:Size,Region:AvailabilityZone}' \
  --output table

# Find snapshots older than 90 days (your account only)
aws ec2 describe-snapshots \
  --owner-ids self \
  --query "Snapshots[?StartTime<='2025-12-01'].{ID:SnapshotId,Size:VolumeSize,Date:StartTime}" \
  --output table

# Find stopped instances
aws ec2 describe-instances \
  --filters Name=instance-state-name,Values=stopped \
  --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].{ID:InstanceId,Type:InstanceType,Name:Tags[?Key==`Name`]|[0].Value}' \
  --output table

# Find unassociated Elastic IPs
aws ec2 describe-addresses \
  --query 'Addresses[?AssociationId==null].{IP:PublicIp,AllocationId:AllocationId}' \
  --output table

GCP — Find Idle Resources

# List unattached persistent disks
gcloud compute disks list --filter="NOT users:*" \
  --format="table(name, sizeGb, zone, status)"

# List unused static external IPs
gcloud compute addresses list --filter="status=RESERVED" \
  --format="table(name, address, region, status)"

# Get rightsizing recommendations
gcloud recommender recommendations list \
  --recommender=google.compute.instance.MachineTypeRecommender \
  --location=us-central1 \
  --format="table(name, description, primaryImpact.costProjection.cost)"

# Find stopped instances
gcloud compute instances list --filter="status=TERMINATED" \
  --format="table(name, machineType, zone)"

Storage Tier Migration

# AWS S3 — Enable Intelligent-Tiering on a bucket
aws s3api put-bucket-intelligent-tiering-configuration \
  --bucket my-data-bucket \
  --id archive-config \
  --intelligent-tiering-configuration '{
    "Id": "archive-config",
    "Status": "Enabled",
    "Tierings": [
      {"Days": 90, "AccessTier": "ARCHIVE_ACCESS"},
      {"Days": 180, "AccessTier": "DEEP_ARCHIVE_ACCESS"}
    ]
  }'

# Create S3 lifecycle policy for old objects
aws s3api put-bucket-lifecycle-configuration \
  --bucket my-logs-bucket \
  --lifecycle-configuration '{
    "Rules": [{
      "ID": "move-to-glacier",
      "Status": "Enabled",
      "Filter": {"Prefix": "logs/"},
      "Transitions": [
        {"Days": 30, "StorageClass": "STANDARD_IA"},
        {"Days": 90, "StorageClass": "GLACIER"}
      ],
      "Expiration": {"Days": 365}
    }]
  }'

Monthly Review Process

• Week 1: Pull cost report by service — flag >10% MoM increases
• Week 1: Review anomaly alerts from prior 30 days
• Week 2: Run rightsizing recommendations — action top 5
• Week 2: Execute idle resource cleanup script
• Week 3: Review Savings Plan / CUD utilization rate
• Week 3: Check storage tier distribution — move cold data
• Week 4: Update cost forecast for next month
• Week 4: Review cost by team/project tag — share with leads