Running Kubernetes efficiently is as much about good defaults as it is about ongoing optimization. Here are five strategies that have delivered real savings across the platforms I've managed.
- Right-size requests and limits using historical usage data
- Use Cluster Autoscaler with mixed instance types
- Adopt Spot/Preemptible nodes for stateless workloads
- Set up namespace-level cost visibility with Kubecost or OpenCost
- Clean up unused PVCs, load balancers, and idle namespaces
Small, consistent changes compound into significant savings over time.