What are cloud-based services that are left over when a service terminates and are no longer needed or used called?

The term "orphaned resources" refers to cloud-based services or resources that remain provisioned even after they are no longer actively managed or needed by the user or organization. These resources typically continue to exist in the cloud infrastructure but lack any associated ownership or management, often leading to unnecessary costs.

When a service terminates, whether it's due to project completion, decommissioning an application, or any other reason, the associated resources should ideally be cleaned up to optimize spending and resource management. However, if these resources are neglected, they become orphaned, consuming storage, compute power, or other resources without providing any value.

This concept is essential to cloud management practices, where efficient resource allocation and cost management are critical for maintaining optimal cloud operations. Identifying and decommissioning orphaned resources is a vital part of cost control and efficient cloud architecture strategy.