35 ways to reduce your AWS bill
Tags: aws, awscostoptimization, cloudcostmanagement, awsbestpractices
Published: 2023-04-19 14:53:34

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a powerful cloud computing platform that can deliver significant benefits to businesses, but it can also lead to unexpected expenses. As companies scale their cloud usage, AWS costs can quickly spiral out of control, resulting in a higher than anticipated bill. Reducing AWS costs is essential for any company that uses AWS to manage and monitor their cloud usage to keep costs under control. However, reducing AWS costs can be challenging, as it requires a comprehensive understanding of the complex pricing models, multiple service offerings, and monitoring and optimization tools that AWS provides, making it difficult to know where to begin

Discover 35 smart ways to reduce your AWS bill without sacrificing performance or functionality, and take control of your cloud costs with our expert guide.

**Compute:**

1. Use reserved instances for EC2 instances that have stable usage patterns.
2. Optimize instance sizes based on workload requirements to avoid overprovisioning.
3. Use EC2 Spot instances for non-critical workloads with flexible timelines.
4. Use EC2 auto-scaling to automatically scale instances based on demand.
5. Use AWS Lambda to replace long-running EC2 instances for certain workloads.
6. Use Elastic Beanstalk or AWS Fargate to manage and scale containers, avoiding the need to manage infrastructure directly.
7. Use AWS Batch to manage and scale batch computing workloads.

**Storage:**

8. Use S3 lifecycle policies to automatically transition infrequently accessed data to cheaper storage classes such as S3-IA or S3 Glacier.
9. Use EBS snapshots to create backups of EBS volumes instead of maintaining continuous backups.
10. Use EBS volumes with provisioned IOPS only when required for high-performance workloads.
11. Use EFS only for workloads that require shared storage across multiple EC2 instances.
12. Use Amazon S3 transfer acceleration to optimize data transfers to and from S3.

**Networking:**

13. Use AWS Direct Connect or VPN connections to connect on-premises infrastructure to the cloud to reduce data transfer costs.
14. Use VPC peering to connect VPCs within the same region to avoid data transfer costs.
15. Use AWS Global Accelerator to improve the availability and performance of applications deployed on EC2 instances and ALBs.
16. Use Elastic Load Balancing to distribute traffic across multiple instances, reducing the need for larger instances with higher costs.
17. Use Route 53 for DNS resolution, which offers competitive pricing compared to other DNS services.
18. Use Amazon CloudFront to cache frequently accessed content closer to users, reducing data transfer costs.

**Database:**

19. Use reserved instances for Amazon RDS instances that have stable usage patterns.
20. Use RDS Aurora Serverless to automatically scale database instances based on demand.
21. Use Amazon DynamoDB on-demand to only pay for the read and write capacity you need at any given time.
23. Use Amazon Aurora to reduce the costs of managing multiple databases across multiple regions.
24. Use RDS Multi-AZ for high availability, which can help reduce the costs of downtime and recovery time.

**Key services:**

25. Use AWS Lambda to run code without the need for servers, reducing infrastructure costs.
26. Use Amazon API Gateway to create APIs that integrate with other AWS services and reduce the need for custom-built infrastructure.
27. Use AWS Step Functions to orchestrate serverless workflows, reducing the need for complex custom-built systems.
28. Use AWS CloudFormation to manage AWS infrastructure as code, reducing the need for manual infrastructure management.
29. Use AWS Budgets to monitor and control costs, setting custom cost and usage budgets for services and resources.
30. Use AWS Trusted Advisor to get personalized recommendations for cost optimization based on your usage and performance data.
31. Use AWS Cost Explorer to visualize, understand, and manage your AWS costs over time.
32. Use AWS Savings Plans to commit to a consistent amount of usage in exchange for lower prices.
33. Use AWS Marketplace to find and purchase third-party software and services, often at lower costs than building in-house.
34. Use AWS Free Tier to try out and test services for free before committing to paid usage.
35. Use AWS Well-Architected Tool to review and optimize your workloads, identifying areas where you can save costs.

Finally, Use AWS Training and Certification to train your team on AWS best practices, enabling them to optimize costs effectively.