AWS Compute Optimizer now supports unused NAT Gateway recommendations (aws.amazon.com)

AWS announced that AWS Compute Optimizer now issues “unused NAT Gateway” recommendations, letting customers find NAT Gateways with no observed traffic and potentially eliminate avoidable costs. Compute Optimizer flags NAT Gateways that show no activity over a 32‑day analysis window and surfaces the estimated savings and per-resource utilization metrics so teams can validate recommendations before making changes. This expands Compute Optimizer’s idle-resource coverage into managed networking components, helping finance and cloud-ops teams reduce monthly spend from overlooked networking resources. Technically, Compute Optimizer bases its assessment on CloudWatch metrics — active connection count and incoming packets (from source and destination) — and it cross-checks whether a NAT Gateway is referenced in any Route Tables to avoid recommending critical backup or intentionally idle routing resources. The feature is available in all regions where Compute Optimizer runs except AWS GovCloud (US) and China. Operationally, teams should still verify sporadic usage patterns (bursty or seasonal traffic) before deleting gateways; the tool is best used to prioritize candidates for cleanup, integrate into tagging/policy workflows, and automate cost governance for networking resources.