# Idle Cloud Memorystore Redis instance | Cloud Efficiency Hub

Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/idle-cloud-memorystore-redis-instance

Cloud Memorystore instances that remain idle-i.e., not receiving read or write requests-continue to incur full costs based on provisioned size.

By: Taylor Houck

[Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) 

# Idle Cloud Memorystore Redis Instance

The short version

Cloud Memorystore instances that remain idle-i.e., not receiving read or write requests-continue to incur full costs based on provisioned size.

[Taylor Houck](https://www.linkedin.com/in/twhouck/)

Cloud FinOps Specialist @ PointFive

GCP service

[GCP Cloud Memorystore](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/cloud-services/gcp-cloud-memorystore)

Category

[Databases](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/databases)

Reference

CER-0214

Type

Idle or Unused Resource

## Explanation

Why the waste happens and who it affects.

In test environments, migration scenarios, or deprecated application components, Redis instances are often left running unintentionally. Since Redis does not autoscale or suspend, unused capacity results in 100% waste until explicitly deleted.

## Billing model

The pricing dimensions that drive this cost.

Billed based on:

- Provisioned instance size (memory capacity)

- Instance tier (Standard or Basic)

- Uptime (per second billing). Costs accrue regardless of actual data stored or traffic served.

## How to detect

5 checks to find it in your estate.

- Review memory usage and operation count metrics over a recent period

- Identify instances with zero or near-zero read/write commands

- Check for stale endpoints not referenced in active application code or configuration

- Validate whether the instance serves any production dependencies

- Confirm environment tags (e.g., dev, staging) that may indicate non-critical usage

## How to fix

4 ways to remove the waste.

- Decommission idle Redis instances no longer in use

- Consider scaling down instance size if usage is expected to remain minimal

- Use labels to track instance ownership and business purpose for easier future audits

- Establish a periodic review process to catch long-idle memory store resources

## Documentation

Vendor references for pricing and configuration.

https://cloud.google.com/memorystore/docs/redis/pricing https://cloud.google.com/memorystore/docs/redis/monitoring-metrics https://cloud.google.com/memorystore/docs/redis/creating-managing-instances

## Related inefficiencies

[Browse the library](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub)

- GCP Cloud Memorystore  CER-0483

### [Overprovisioned Memorystore Instance Capacity](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/overprovisioned-memorystore-instance-capacity)

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- GCP Cloud SQL  CER-0475

### [Idle Cloud SQL Instance](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/idle-cloud-sql-instance)

An idle Cloud SQL instance is one that is still running but no longer serves any workload: no meaningful connections, queries or data changes. Common sources are databases left behind after a migration, instances created for a test or...

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- GCP BigQuery  CER-0295

### [Overselecting Data and Misusing LIMIT for Cost Control in BigQuery](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/overselecting-data-and-misusing-limit-for-cost-control-in-bigquery)

Analysts use SELECT \* (reading more columns than needed) and/or rely on LIMIT as a cost-control mechanism. In BigQuery, projecting excess columns increases the amount of data read and can materially raise query cost, particularly on wide...

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Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.