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--- title: Delete an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster description: Learn about deleting a cluster in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). ms.topic: overview ms.author: schaffererin author: schaffererin ms.date: 04/16/2024 ms.custom: --- # Delete an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster This article outlines cluster deletion in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), including what happens when you delete a cluster, alternatives to deleting a cluster, and how to delete a cluster. ## What happens when you delete a cluster? When you delete a cluster, the following resources are deleted: * The [node resource group][node-resource-group] and its resources, including: * The virtual machine scale sets and virtual machines (VMs) for each node in the cluster * The virtual network and its subnets for the cluster * The storage for the cluster * The control plane and its resources * Any node instances in the cluster along with any pods running on those nodes ## Alternatives to deleting a cluster Before you delete a cluster, consider **stopping the cluster**. Stopping an AKS cluster stops the control plane and agent nodes, allowing you to save on compute costs while maintaining all objects except standalone pods. When you stop a cluster, its state is saved and you can restart the cluster at any time. For more information, see [Stop an AKS cluster][stop-cluster]. If you want to delete a cluster to change its configuration, you can instead use the [AKS cluster upgrade][upgrade-cluster] feature to upgrade the cluster to a different Kubernetes version or change the node pool configuration. For more information, see [Upgrade an AKS cluster][upgrade-cluster]. ## Delete a cluster > [!IMPORTANT] > **You can't recover a cluster after it's deleted**. If you need to recover a cluster, you need to create a new cluster and redeploy your applications. ### [Azure CLI](#tab/azure-cli) Delete a cluster using the [`az aks delete`][az-aks-delete] command. The following example deletes the `myAKSCluster` cluster in the `myResourceGroup` resource group. Declare environment variables with generic names and a random suffix to ensure uniqueness. This avoids conflicts and enables the commands to be re-used in different sessions or by different users. ```azurecli-interactive export RANDOM_SUFFIX=$(openssl rand -hex 3) export AKS_CLUSTER_NAME="myAKSCluster$RANDOM_SUFFIX" export RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME="myResourceGroup$RANDOM_SUFFIX" az aks delete --name $AKS_CLUSTER_NAME --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME --yes --no-wait ``` ### [Azure PowerShell](#tab/azure-powershell) Delete a cluster using the [`Remove-AzAks`][remove-azaks] command. The following example deletes the `myAKSCluster` cluster in the `myResourceGroup` resource group: ```azurepowershell-interactive Remove-AzAksCluster -Name myAKSCluster -ResourceGroupName myResourceGroup ``` ### [Azure portal](#tab/azure-portal) You can delete a cluster using the Azure portal. To delete a cluster, navigate to the **Overview** page for the cluster and select **Delete**. You can also delete a cluster from the **Resource group** page by selecting the cluster and then selecting **Delete**. --- ## Next steps For more information about AKS, see [Core Kubernetes concepts for AKS][core-concepts]. <!-- LINKS --> [node-resource-group]: ./concepts-clusters-workloads.md#node-resource-group [stop-cluster]: ./start-stop-cluster.md [upgrade-cluster]: ./upgrade-cluster.md [az-aks-delete]: /cli/azure/aks#az-aks-delete [remove-azaks]: /powershell/module/az.aks/remove-azakscluster [core-concepts]: ./concepts-clusters-workloads.md