Cloud platforms regularly leave behind zombie resources (key vaults, storage accounts, etc.) that can't be deleted through normal means, wasting money and cluttering infrastructure.
A tool that scans cloud accounts for orphaned, stuck, or undeletable resources, identifies dependency locks preventing deletion, and automates the multi-step workarounds needed to actually remove them.
freemium
Zombie resources are a universal pain point for any team running cloud at scale. The Reddit post got 1,711 upvotes showing strong resonance. Key Vault and Storage Account deletion issues in Azure are notoriously frustrating (soft-delete, purge protection, dependency locks). Engineers waste hours on multi-step manual workarounds. This is a hair-on-fire problem for platform teams, but it's episodic rather than constant.
TAM for broader cloud cost optimization is $7-10B, but the specific 'zombie cleanup' niche is narrower. Estimated 500K+ cloud platform engineers and FinOps practitioners globally. At $50-200/month, the addressable niche is perhaps $200-500M. Every company running multi-cloud infrastructure is a potential customer, but the tool solves a point problem, not an always-on need.
Mixed signals. Engineers are accustomed to free CLI tools (aws-nuke, cloud-nuke are OSS). FinOps teams have budget but expect full platforms. The zombie cleanup problem is painful enough to justify $50-200/month but convincing teams to pay for a cleanup tool vs. a full FinOps platform is a positioning challenge. Best angle: 'this tool saves you X hours/month and $Y in zombie resource costs' with clear ROI.
This is deceptively hard. Each cloud provider has different APIs, different deletion semantics, and different edge cases for stuck resources. Azure Key Vault soft-delete/purge protection alone requires multi-step workarounds. Handling dependency graphs (resource locks, network dependencies, IAM bindings) across 3 clouds is significant scope. A solo dev could build an MVP for ONE cloud provider in 4-8 weeks, but true multi-cloud with force-removal logic is more like 3-6 months. Also requires deep cloud API expertise across all three providers.
Clear whitespace. No existing tool combines: (1) intelligent orphan detection, (2) force-removal of stuck/undeletable resources, (3) multi-cloud support, and (4) affordable CLI-first experience. The nuke tools are blunt instruments. The FinOps platforms are passive and expensive. The specific 'dependency lock resolution + force removal' capability is completely unserved by any product.
Moderate. Zombie resources accumulate over time, creating ongoing need. However, the usage pattern is more episodic (run it monthly or quarterly) than daily. Continuous monitoring/alerting ('notify me when new zombies appear') could drive subscription stickiness. Risk: once cleaned up, customers may churn unless new zombies keep appearing. Best subscription angle is continuous monitoring + automated scheduled cleanup.
- +Clear market gap — no tool handles force-removal of stuck cloud resources across multiple providers
- +Strong pain signal validated by community engagement (1,711 upvotes) and universal cloud engineer frustration
- +Large adjacent FinOps market ($7-10B) provides tailwinds and potential acquisition interest
- +CLI-first approach aligns with platform engineer workflow and enables PLG distribution
- +ROI is directly quantifiable — wasted cloud spend on zombie resources is measurable in dollars
- !Technical complexity is high — each cloud provider's deletion edge cases require deep, specialized API knowledge
- !Multi-cloud scope is ambitious for a solo founder; risk of building broad but shallow across 3 providers
- !Free OSS alternatives (cloud-nuke, aws-nuke) set price anchoring at $0 for the CLI use case
- !Cloud providers may eventually fix their own zombie resource problems, eroding the need
- !Willingness to pay for a point solution vs. a full FinOps platform is unproven at scale
Open-source CLI tool that deletes all cloud resources in an AWS account. Designed for cleaning up sandbox/test environments with time-based filtering and dry-run mode.
CLI tool to remove all resources from an AWS account. Highly configurable via YAML filters with account alias safety checks. Covers 200+ AWS resource types.
Full FinOps platform providing multi-cloud cost visibility, optimization recommendations, policy-based governance, and resource rightsizing across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Rules engine for cloud resource management. Define policies in YAML to filter, tag, notify, or delete cloud resources on schedules. Supports AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Open-source cloud environment inspector that analyzes cost, usage, and security across multiple cloud providers. Provides visibility into orphaned resources like unattached volumes and unused IPs.
Start with Azure-only CLI (Azure has the worst zombie resource problems — Key Vault, Storage Accounts, resource locks). Scan a subscription, identify orphaned resources with dependency graph analysis, show estimated wasted cost, and automate the multi-step force-removal workarounds. Ship as a pip/brew installable CLI with a free tier (scan + report) and paid tier (automated removal + scheduled monitoring). Add AWS second, GCP third.
Free CLI (scan + report zombie resources with cost estimate) -> Paid CLI ($29-99/month for automated removal + scheduling) -> Team/SaaS tier ($199-499/month for multi-account dashboard, alerting, compliance reports) -> Enterprise (custom pricing for org-wide deployment, SSO, audit logs, Terraform/Pulumi integration)
8-12 weeks to first dollar. ~4 weeks to build Azure-only MVP CLI, ~2 weeks for polish and documentation, ~2-4 weeks for initial distribution (Product Hunt, r/azure, r/devops, HackerNews) and converting early users to paid tier. First meaningful MRR ($1K+) likely at 4-6 months.
- “zombie resources that can not be deleted. Regularly happens with key vault and storage accounts”