AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03)Design Cost-Optimized ArchitecturesMedium
A media company uses Amazon EC2 instances to transcode video files. These jobs are stateless and can be stopped and restarted without data loss. They run continuously for long periods (weeks) but do not have strict availability requirements. The company wants to achieve the lowest possible compute cost. Which EC2 purchasing option provides the maximum cost savings for this workload?
- ADedicated Instances
- BOn-Demand Instances
- CReserved Instances
- DSpot Instances
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Spot Instances
Spot Instances offer up to 90% savings compared to On-Demand pricing. Since the workload is stateless, can be stopped and restarted, and runs continuously for long periods without strict availability, it is perfectly suited for Spot Instances, providing the absolute lowest compute cost.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Dedicated Instances are for specific licensing or compliance and are generally more expensive.
- B. On-Demand is the most expensive and least cost-optimized option.
- C. Reserved Instances offer discounts for consistent, long-term usage, but Spot Instances can provide even deeper savings for interruptible workloads.
EC2 Spot Instances (Max Savings)
Amazon EC2 Spot Instances allow you to bid on unused EC2 capacity, providing the largest potential cost savings (up to 90% off On-Demand prices). They are ideal for flexible, fault-tolerant workloads that can withstand interruptions, such as batch processing, big data analytics, and continuous integration/delivery (CI/CD).
- Up to 90% cost savings compared to On-Demand.
- Can be interrupted with a two-minute warning.
- Best for fault-tolerant, flexible, and stateless workloads.
Memory trick: Spot: The deepest discount, if you don't mind a little bounce.