No More Surprises: How the AWS Calculator Can Save You from Budget Overruns and Headaches
Tags: aws, cloud, devops, productivity
Published: 2023-05-04 16:00:00

Are you tired of budget overruns and unexpected AWS bills? Do you want to plan your cloud expenses accurately? Then, it's time to embrace the power of the [AWS Calculator](https://calculator.aws/). This tool can help you estimate your AWS expenses and make informed decisions before you create a new service or add more resources to your existing ones. In this blog post, we'll explore how the AWS Calculator can save you from budget overruns and headaches (trust me).

## The Benefits of Using the AWS Calculator

The [AWS Calculator](https://calculator.aws/) is a powerful tool that can help businesses and individuals estimate the costs of their AWS services before creating them. By using the calculator, you can input your service requirements and receive an estimated cost, allowing you to make informed decisions about resource allocation and budgeting. Furthermore, the calculator provides transparency and accountability for expenses, as well as the ability to optimize costs and compare different service options. This can save you from budget overruns and headaches, ensuring that you can plan and manage your AWS usage effectively.

## Real-World Example

A couple of weeks ago, for a new project, I created a new Amazon RDS instance `db.t4g.small` for a PostgreSQL database. According to the pricing table for this service, the new instance has a cost of $0.035/hour for the Europe(Ireland) region, so it should cost about $0.84/day. After a few days, while checking the costs and the budgets through the "Cost explorer", I discovered that, in reality, the RDS instance is costing me $12.30 each day! Since I had not enabled any particular backup activities or proxy on the instance, I was shocked because I did not understand the reason. Moreover, the "Cost explorer" does not help the user to understand what is going on.

![RDS daily price](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/d1qpvw660t8lcv64ppyo.png)

Playing around with the AWS calculator, I discovered that the excessive cost was caused by the Storage volume. In fact, when creating a new RDS instance, the **Provisioned IOPS SSD** storage is automatically proposed (and I hadn't noticed it - my bad), which significantly increases the instance's costs:

![Pricing with Provisioned IOPS SSD storage](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/1k78xitzft7tzgokhb5r.png)

Selecting **General Purpose SSD**, instead, we see that the price "returns to normal":


![Pricing with General Purpose SSD](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/uutbupyf2wksm52rwsuw.png)

Once I uncovered the mystery, I immediately proceeded to modify the storage volume of my instance.

## Conclusion

In conclusion, using the AWS calculator is an essential tool for any AWS user, from small startups to large corporations. It allows for cost estimation before creating new services, cost optimization and budgeting, transparency and accountability for expenses, informed decision-making, and resource planning. In addition, it facilitates the comparison of different service options, making it easier to choose the most cost-effective solution. By avoiding unexpected budget overruns, AWS users can focus on their core business and achieve their goals without unnecessary headaches. So, take the time to use the AWS calculator before creating new services, and you will be sure to reap the benefits in the long run.