# Unnecessary Costs from Unused Lambda Versions with SnapStart

Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/unnecessary-costs-from-unused-lambda-versions-with-snapstart

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

# Unnecessary Costs from Unused Lambda Versions with SnapStart

## Explanation

Many teams publish new Lambda versions frequently (e.g., through CI/CD pipelines) but do not clean up old ones. When SnapStart is enabled, each of these versions retains an active snapshot in the cache, generating ongoing charges. Over time, accumulated unused versions can significantly increase spend without delivering any business value. This problem compounds in environments with high deployment velocity or many functions.

## Relevant Billing Model

Lambda SnapStart incurs charges for caching snapshots associated with each published function version. Even if a version is no longer invoked, the snapshot cache continues to accrue cost until explicitly removed.

## Detection

- Review the number of published Lambda versions with SnapStart enabled across accounts

- Assess whether older versions are still being invoked or if they remain idle but cached

- Correlate Lambda costs with the number of SnapStart-enabled versions retained in each environment

- Check for environments with frequent deployments where unused versions may accumulate

## Remediation

- Delete unused Lambda function versions with SnapStart enabled to eliminate unnecessary cache charges

- Implement version lifecycle management practices in CI/CD pipelines to automatically clean up old versions

- Retain only the most recent versions required for rollback or audit purposes

- Monitor the number of SnapStart-enabled versions per function and enforce limits to prevent sprawl

## Relevant Documentation

[Submit Feedback](https://hub.pointfive.co/inefficiencies/unnecessary-costs-from-unused-lambda-versions-with-snapstart)

## At a glance

Reference

CER-0209

Cloud provider

AWS

Service

AWS Lambda

Category

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

Inefficiency type

Version Sprawl

## Contributed by

- Jake McCracken 

### Jake McCracken

Cloud FinOps Senior Manager @ Wood Mackenzie

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-mccracken-144a92a4/)

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