# Missed Use of Committed Use Discounts for Compute Engine

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# Missed Use of Committed Use Discounts for Compute Engine

## Explanation

This inefficiency occurs when workloads with predictable, long-running compute usage continue to run entirely on on-demand pricing instead of leveraging Committed Use Discounts. For stable environments, such as production services or continuously running batch workloads, failing to apply CUDs results in materially higher compute spend without any operational benefit. The inefficiency is driven by pricing choice, not resource overuse.

## Relevant Billing Model

Compute Engine instances are billed at on-demand rates by default. Committed Use Discounts (CUDs) provide discounted pricing in exchange for a 1- or 3-year commitment to a consistent level of compute usage. Without CUDs, steady workloads incur higher on-demand costs.

## Detection

- Review whether compute workloads run continuously or have stable baseline usage

- Assess whether current usage patterns indicate long-term commitment suitability

- Identify environments where compute demand is predictable across months

## Remediation

- Purchase appropriate Committed Use Discounts for workloads with steady usage

- Align commitment size and term length with expected baseline demand

- Periodically reassess commitments to ensure they still match workload patterns

## Relevant Documentation

[https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/committed-use-discounts-overview](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/committed-use-discounts-overview)  [https://cloud.google.com/compute/pricing](https://cloud.google.com/compute/pricing)

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## At a glance

Reference

CER-0282

Cloud provider

GCP

Service

GCP Compute Engine

Category

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

Inefficiency type

Suboptimal pricing model selection

## Contributed by

- Jay Kahlon 

### Jay Kahlon

Senior Cloud Consultant @ IBM

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaykahlon)

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