AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)Cloud Technology and ServicesMedium
A software company runs a mix of EC2, Fargate, and Lambda workloads across multiple instance families and Regions. It wants to commit to a consistent hourly spend for one year to receive a discount, while retaining the flexibility to change instance types, sizes, and compute services without losing the discount. Which pricing option should the company choose?
- AEC2 Savings Plans
- BStandard Reserved Instances
- CConvertible Reserved Instances
- DSpot Instances
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. EC2 Savings Plans
Savings Plans provide discounts in exchange for a commitment to a consistent amount of compute usage (measured in $/hour) for 1 or 3 years, and the discount automatically applies across EC2 instance families, sizes, Regions, and even Fargate/Lambda usage.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Standard Reserved Instances lock in a specific instance family/Region and don't extend to Fargate or Lambda.
- C. Convertible Reserved Instances allow instance type changes but still don't cover Fargate or Lambda usage.
- D. Spot Instances offer no guaranteed discount structure and can be interrupted at any time.
EC2 Savings Plans
A pricing model offering lower prices in exchange for a commitment to a consistent amount of compute usage ($/hour) for a 1- or 3-year term, flexible across instance families and compute services.
- Covers EC2, Fargate, and Lambda usage
- More flexible than Reserved Instances
- Discount based on committed hourly spend, not specific instance type
Memory trick: Savings Plans = commit to spend, not to a specific server.