Explanation
Why the waste happens and who it affects.
When no incoming requests are processed through the ALB, it continues to generate the hourly charge (plus public IPv4 address charges if it is internet-facing, and reserved LCU charges if LCU reservation is configured), while usage-based LCU charges fall to near zero. Identifying and decommissioning unused ALBs helps reduce networking expenses without impacting operational environments.
Billing model
The pricing dimensions that drive this cost.
Application Load Balancers are billed for each hour or partial hour they run and for the Load Balancer Capacity Units (LCU) used per minute. The hourly charge, and any public IPv4 address charges for internet-facing load balancers, continue to accrue even if the load balancer is not actively handling requests. Maintaining idle ALBs results in unnecessary ongoing costs without delivering operational value.
How to detect
5 checks to find it in your estate.
- Identify Application Load Balancers with no active HTTP/HTTPS requests or minimal LCU consumption over a representative time period
- Confirm there are no listener rules, target groups, or backend services depending on the load balancer
- Review application dependencies, DNS records, and security group configurations to validate safe removal
- Check tagging and metadata to determine whether the ALB was associated with a temporary, testing, or deprecated environment
- Validate findings with application owners or infrastructure teams before deletion
How to fix
How to remove the waste.
If confirmed to be inactive, delete the load balancer through the AWS Console, CLI, or API to stop further billing. Where possible, document the reason for decommissioning and update tagging or inventory systems to prevent reaccumulation of unused resources.
Documentation
Vendor references for pricing and configuration.