VM-based Committed Use Discounts in GCP offer cost savings for predictable workloads, but they are rigid: they apply only to specified VM types, quantities, and regions. When organizations evolve their architecture — such as moving to GKE (Kubernetes), Cloud Run, or autoscaling — usage patterns often shift away from the original commitments. Because GCP lacks flexible reallocation options like AWS Convertible RIs or Savings Plans, underutilized commitments lead to sustained, silent waste. This is especially common when workload changes go uncoordinated with finance or centralized planning.

Development and test environments on Compute Engine are commonly provisioned and left running around the clock, even if only used during business hours. This results in wasteful spend on compute time that could be eliminated by scheduling shutdowns during idle periods. GCP enables scheduling via native tools such as Cloud Scheduler, Cloud Functions, or Terraform automation. Stopping VMs during off-hours preserves boot disks and instance metadata while halting compute billing.

GCP VM instances are often provisioned with more CPU or memory than needed, especially when using custom machine types or legacy templates. If an instance consistently consumes only a small portion of its allocated resources, it likely represents an opportunity to reduce costs through rightsizing. Without proactive reviews, these oversized instances can remain unnoticed and continue to incur unnecessary charges.