Cost Cutting AWS strategies
Tags: aws, awscostsavings, cloudcostoptimization, awsadvice
Published: 2023-01-13 16:07:48

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a popular cloud computing platform that offers a wide range of services to businesses of all sizes. However, as with any cloud-based platform, costs can quickly add up if not properly managed. In this article, we will discuss several strategies and steps that businesses can take to reduce their AWS costs and maximize their savings.

### 1. Utilize the Graviton processor:

The Graviton processor is a custom-designed processor created by AWS that is optimized for running cloud-native workloads. Utilizing this processor can lead to significant cost savings, as it is often cheaper than using other processors. To take advantage of this cost-saving opportunity, businesses should consider migrating their existing workloads to instances that use the Graviton processor, it’s highly recommend to migrate all your manged DB services to Graviton machines so if you have RDS, Elasticache, RedShift, .. etc migrate these managed serivces to Graviton machines.

[Read More about Graviton Processors](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/graviton/)

### 2. Use Reserved Instances:

Standard Reserved instances allow businesses to commit to a certain machine family for a period of time, in exchange for a lower hourly rate. This can lead to significant savings, especially for businesses that have a consistent usage pattern. You can change machine size but not the family with Standard Reserved Instances, if you have any concern that you might want to change the family within your commitment you can go with Convertible Reserved Instances opion. 
`Tip: For RDS go with graviton machine first and then go with Reserved Instance option combine both options will cut your cost significantly.`

[Read more about Reserved Instance](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/cost-optimization-reservation-models/reserved-instances-payment-options.html)

### 3. Use Compute saving plans:

Saving Plans is the new pricing model from AWS it came with 3 options:-
* EC2 Saving Plans
* Compute Saving Plans
* Amazon SageMaker Saving Plans
  
I am interested here to write about Compute saving plans allow businesses to commit a consistent amount of usage (measured in $/hour) for a 1 or 3 year term, in exchange for a lower hourly rate. The compute saving plan is ideal for businesses that have want to try this payment option with fewer constraints, as they can lead to significant savings. 

[Read more about Saving Plans](https://www.cloudzero.com/blog/aws-savings-plans)

### 4. Use GP3 for storage volumes instead of GP2:

GP3 is a newer generation of storage that offers higher performance and lower costs than GP2. GP3 also offers several features such as higher IOPS, lower latency, and more storage. To take advantage of this cost-saving opportunity, businesses should consider migrating their existing GP2 storage to GP3.

[Read More About GP3 vs GP2](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/storage/migrate-your-amazon-ebs-volumes-from-gp2-to-gp3-and-save-up-to-20-on-costs/)

### 5. Workload Rightsizing

Use AWS Compute Optimizer to analyze your Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) usage and provide recommendations to help you optimize your compute resources.  

The service analyzes your usage data and provides recommendations to help you:

* Right-size your EC2 and ECS instances based on your usage patterns
* Identify and terminate underutilized instances
* Schedule instances to turn off when they are not needed
* Identify and move workloads to lower-cost instances
* Identify opportunities to use reserved instances and savings plans

### 6. Shut down Non Prod workload in the Non business hours 

AWS has service called AWS Instance Scheduler can be used to automatically stop instances and tasks outside of business hours, such as in the evening or on weekends, when they are not being used. This can help customers to reduce their costs by only running instances and tasks when they are needed.

### 7. Monitor and Optimize:

Continuously monitoring and optimizing your usage can help you identify areas where you can reduce costs. Use the Cost Explorer to identify the most expensive services and resources, and then take action to optimize or eliminate them.

In conclusion, These modifications can help you reduce and cut-down your AWS costs without any engineering overhead.