Difficulty: Easy
Description
Elastic IPs (EIPs) that are not associated with any running resource are billed at $0.005/hour (~$3.60/month each). We identified Elastic IPs in your account that are either completely unassociated, or attached to an EC2 instance that has been stopped for an extended period. These IPs represent a recurring cost with no active business value and should be released.
Selection Criteria
The Elastic IP is not associated with any running resource (unassociated state)
Expected Saving
Releasing an unused Elastic IP eliminates 100% of its cost. AWS charges $0.005/hour per unassociated EIP, regardless of whether it is attached to a stopped instance or completely free.
Scenario | Monthly cost eliminated |
1 unused EIP | ~$3.60 |
5 unused EIPs | ~$18.00 |
10 unused EIPs | ~$36.00 |
20 unused EIPs | ~$72.00 |
Operational Impact
⚠️ Releasing an Elastic IP is irreversible. Once released, the IP address is returned to the AWS pool and may be immediately reassigned to another AWS customer.
Before releasing, verify that no DNS records, firewall rules, VPN configurations, or client allowlists reference the IP address.
For EIPs attached to stopped instances: confirm the instance does not need to be restarted before the IP is released. If the instance is expected to resume, reassociate it with a dynamic IP or allocate a new EIP at that time.
No service interruption occurs when releasing an unassociated EIP, as it is not actively routing traffic.