How to Optimize OCI Load Balancer and Networking Costs

Last updated: June 2026

Written by Fredrik Filipsson and reviewed by Morten Andersen. Method: See, Cut, Lock, Run. We have optimized $420M+ in cloud spend across 500+ environments.

The OCI Load Balancer is Oracle Cloud's managed traffic distributor, offered as a Layer 7 Flexible Load Balancer billed by bandwidth shape and a Layer 4 Network Load Balancer offered at no charge for the instance. Optimizing OCI networking cost is mostly about matching the load balancer type and bandwidth to real traffic, consolidating idle resources, and keeping data movement inside the free egress band. This article is part of our Oracle Cloud cluster; the pillar it links up to is the complete guide to Oracle Cloud cost optimization. Networking cleanup is a Cut step in our See, Cut, Lock, Run method: clear and right-size before you ever consider committing.

How is the OCI Load Balancer billed?

The OCI Flexible Load Balancer is billed by the bandwidth shape you provision, charged hourly for the minimum bandwidth you reserve, with the shape resizable between 10 Mbps and 8,000 Mbps without downtime. As of June 2026, per the Oracle Cloud Flexible Load Balancing pricing page, the smallest 10 Mbps shape starts at roughly $0.0025 per Mbps per hour and scales with the minimum bandwidth you set. Paid accounts, excluding Government tenancies, are not charged for the first load balancer instance and the first 10 Mbps of bandwidth. The key cost trap is that you pay for the minimum shape continuously whether or not traffic uses it, so a minimum set for an annual peak quietly bills all year. Verify the current figures on the linked Oracle page before acting, because networking rates change.

How do you reduce OCI networking costs, step by step?

These five steps match each load balancer to its real traffic and strip out idle networking spend.

1. Right-size flexible bandwidth shapesSet each Load Balancer minimum and maximum bandwidth to match real traffic rather than provisioning for a rare peak. The result is that you stop paying an hourly minimum shape that traffic never approaches.
2. Consolidate idle and duplicate load balancersFind load balancers carrying little or no traffic and merge their backends behind one. The result is fewer hourly instances billing for work that one balancer can absorb.
3. Use the Network Load Balancer where Layer 4 is enoughMove pass-through TCP and UDP workloads to the free Network Load Balancer instead of a Layer 7 Flexible Load Balancer they do not need. The result is the instance charge dropping to zero for those services.
4. Route traffic through the free egress allowanceKeep service-to-service traffic on private networking and plan internet egress against the 10 TB per month free band. The result is that data movement rarely becomes a billed line.
5. Delete unused public IPs, NAT, and idle gatewaysRelease reserved public IPs that are unattached and remove NAT and service gateways with negligible throughput. The result is the elimination of charges you are paying for but cannot see.

What is the difference between the OCI Load Balancer and Network Load Balancer?

The Flexible Load Balancer operates at Layer 7 and the Network Load Balancer operates at Layer 4, and the cost gap between them is large. The Flexible Load Balancer handles HTTP and HTTPS with SSL termination, path-based routing, and header inspection, and is billed by the bandwidth shape you reserve. The Network Load Balancer handles pass-through TCP and UDP traffic at very high throughput with no charge for the load balancer instance, per the Oracle Network Load Balancer documentation. The decision rule is simple: if the workload only needs Layer 4 routing, the Network Load Balancer is both faster and effectively free, so reserve the Flexible Load Balancer for traffic that genuinely needs Layer 7 features. The same match-the-tool-to-the-job logic runs through our Oracle Cloud cost optimization work across every service.

Does OCI charge for data egress on networking?

OCI includes the first 10 TB of outbound data transfer per month free per tenancy, with usage beyond that billed per GB at a low rate, and traffic that stays inside OCI over private networking is generally free. That free allowance is unusually generous compared with several other clouds and means egress is rarely the dominant networking line. The charges to watch instead are the always-on resources: the load balancer bandwidth minimum, NAT gateway hourly and per-GB fees, and reserved public IPs that sit unattached. Keep internal traffic private, plan internet egress against the free band, and the networking program stays cheap. If you want to see how OCI surfaces these savings automatically, our sibling guide on OCI Functions and API Gateway cost optimization covers the same right-size-then-consolidate pattern for serverless, and using OCI Cloud Advisor for cost recommendations shows where the platform flags idle networking for you.

Load balancer shapes, the Network Load Balancer's free instance, the 10 TB free egress allowance, and gateway charges reflect Oracle Cloud as of June 2026. Verify current rates and behavior on the linked Oracle documentation before acting, because networking pricing and policies change.

Frequently asked questions

The short version

OCI networking savings are mechanical once the estate is mapped: right-size flexible bandwidth shapes, consolidate idle load balancers, move Layer 4 traffic to the free Network Load Balancer, keep internal traffic private, and release unused IPs and gateways. When you want the estate mapped and the shapes sized for you, that is exactly what our OCI cost optimization service delivers.