Establishing Cost Transparency and Cost Reduction Across Amazon EKS

Executive Snapshot

A leading data & AI platform company encountered a consistent increase in monthly cloud costs. The spend was driven across a large-scale, single-tenant Amazon EKS environment spanning 100+ clusters, supporting multiple internal and customer-facing platforms. Over-provisioned compute and EKS Extended Support added to the issue.

Transcloud was tasked with auditing, establishing full cost transparency, recommending compute and workload optimizations, identifying  15–20% additional savings without disrupting business operations or efficiency.

Key Findings:

• 10% savings through compute optimization and CPU over-provisioning correction
  
• 3–5% savings by removing EKS Extended Support dependence
  
• 3–5% savings through workload and storage rightsizing
  
• 1–2% savings from eliminating idle and orphaned assets
  
• Total Savings: 15–20% across the AWS account
  

The Challenge

The client was operating a large-scale, single-tenant Kubernetes setup on AWS, and sought additional visibility and controls to govern cost at scale. Though the team was aware of certain areas where the cost could be controlled, they wanted to more accurately determine which tenants, clusters, or workloads were driving usage spikes. This created a risk where cost overruns were frequent, forecasting was unreliable, and technical inefficiencies went unnoticed for extended periods of time.

This lack of transparency directly impacted their operational efficiency, and ability to scale workloads with confidence.

Key Challenges:

• Limited tenant-level or workload-level breakdown of EKS spending
  
• Significant CPU and node over-provisioning across multiple clusters
  
• Ongoing dependence on EKS Extended Support, adding recurring costs
  
• Orphaned and idle resources (EBS volumes, IPs, load balancers) are inflating monthly bills
  
• Primitive governance dashboards or tagging standards for continuous cost control
  
• Engineering and finance teams are unable to track or prevent cost spikes
  

The Solution

Transcloud introduced an enterprise-scale cost visibility and optimization framework across the client’s AWS and Kubernetes environments.

We began by establishing complete cost transparency using Athena queries, AWS Cost Explorer, and Kubernetes-native cost attribution tools. This allowed the client to see spending at the cluster, service, and tenant level — a visibility they really needed.

Next, we performed a deep utilization analysis using Prometheus and Grafana metrics. This revealed heavy CPU and memory over-provisioning across nodes and workloads. We applied structured rightsizing across compute, storage, and workload allocations, ensuring performance stability while reducing waste.

We also recommended upgrading to the latest EKS version to eliminate Extended Support fees and strengthen long-term cluster reliability.
Finally, Transcloud analyzed  the services which are closely associated with the Kubernetes clusters and identified hidden drains including idle EBS volumes, unused public IPs, and inactive load balancers, further reducing the baseline cost footprint.

This combined approach enabled the client to regain financial control and establish a sustainable cost-governance model.

The Impact

Transcloud’s Cost Optimization service  delivered a detailed financial blueprint  and built long-term governance capabilities for the client. Cost inefficiencies were identified at their source, operational visibility was restored, and scaling decisions became more predictable and data-driven. The organization now maintains continuous cost control through structured dashboards and transparent reporting.

Impact Delivered:

• 10% savings from compute optimization and reducing CPU over-provisioning
  
• 3–5% savings by eliminating EKS Extended Support fees
  
• 3–5% savings from workload and storage rightsizing
  
• 1–2% savings from cleaning up idle or unused cloud assets
  
• Overall Savings Delivered: 15–20% across the AWS account
  

Why Transcloud

This client required a partner who could navigate the complexity of multi-tenant Kubernetes environments, deliver cost visibility at enterprise scale, and connect technical actions to tangible business impact. Transcloud’s structured approach, proven methodologies, and multi-cloud optimization expertise aligned directly with the client’s operational and financial priorities.

Why the client chose Transcloud:

• Expertise in AWS, EKS, and Kubernetes cost management at enterprise scale
  
• Proven playbooks for compute optimization, workload rightsizing, and storage cleanup
  
• Strong cost-governance frameworks enabling continuous visibility and accountability
  
• Ability to deliver measurable financial outcomes without operational disruption