# Stale completed or failed Fargate pods causing direct billing and capacity waste Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/stale-completed-or-failed-fargate-pods-causing-direct-billing-and-capacity-waste Kubernetes Jobs or CronJobs running on EKS Fargate leave completed or failed pod objects in the cluster indefinitely. By: Tai Nguyen [Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) # Stale Completed or Failed Fargate Pods Causing Direct Billing and Capacity Waste The short version Kubernetes Jobs or CronJobs running on EKS Fargate leave completed or failed pod objects in the cluster indefinitely. [Tai Nguyen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/taind772/) Senior Site Reliability Engineer @ Spartan AWS service [AWS EKS](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/cloud-services/aws-eks) Category [Compute](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/compute) Reference CER-0298 Type Idle or Unused Resource ## Explanation Why the waste happens and who it affects. Although the workload execution has finished, AWS keeps the underlying Fargate microVM running to allow log inspection and final status checks. As a result, vCPU, memory, and networking resources remain allocated and billable until the pod object is explicitly deleted. Over time, large numbers of stale Job pods can generate direct compute charges as well as consume ENIs and IP addresses, leading to both unnecessary spend and capacity pressure. This pattern is common in batch-processing and scheduled workloads that lack automated cleanup. ## Billing model The pricing dimensions that drive this cost. On EKS Fargate, billing for vCPU and memory continues as long as the pod object exists , even after a Job pod reaches a Completed (Succeeded or Failed) state. Fargate infrastructure is only released - and billing stops - when the pod object is deleted from the Kubernetes API server. ## How to detect How to find it in your estate. - Review whether completed or failed Fargate pods persist long after Jobs finish - Assess whether batch or CronJob workloads accumulate large numbers of historical pods - Identify environments where Job execution completes but pod cleanup is not automated ## How to fix 3 ways to remove the waste. - Enable automatic cleanup of finished Jobs using TTL-after-finished policies - Configure CronJobs to retain minimal successful and failed job history - Treat pod lifecycle cleanup as a required design consideration for Fargate-based batch workloads ## Documentation Vendor references for pricing and configuration. [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/fargate.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/fargate.html) [https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/ttlafterfinished/](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/ttlafterfinished/) ## Related inefficiencies [Browse the library](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) - AWS EKS CER-0120 ### [Orphaned and Overprovisioned Resources in EKS Clusters](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/orphaned-and-overprovisioned-resources-in-eks-clusters) In EKS environments, cluster sprawl can occur when workloads are removed but underlying resources remain. Common issues include persistent volumes no longer mounted by pods, services still backed by ELBs despite being unused, and... Compute - AWS EKS CER-0192 ### [Orphaned Kubernetes Resources in EKS](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/orphaned-kubernetes-resources-e7e68) In Kubernetes environments, resources such as ConfigMaps, Secrets, Services, and Persistent Volume Claims (PVCs) are often created dynamically by applications or deployment pipelines. When applications are removed or reconfigured, these... Compute - AWS EKS CER-0004 ### [Inactive Kubernetes Workload](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/inactive-kubernetes-workload) Workloads with consistently low CPU and memory usage may no longer serve active traffic or scheduled tasks, but continue reserving resources within the cluster. These idle deployments often remain after project migrations, feature... Compute --- Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.