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Tips for Cutting AWS Cloud Costs Without Sacrificing Performance

Due to the growing demands for data processing, storage, and computing power among organizations, startups, and small-to-midsize businesses, reliance on cloud infrastructure has significantly increased. However, this shift has brought its own set of challenges. Cloud costs, driven by the very flexibility and scalability that make the cloud attractive, can be unpredictable and challenging to control. This unpredictability is especially problematic for businesses with fluctuating workloads. In addition to significant expenses like employee salaries and office rentals, cloud-native enterprises are now grappling with rising cloud costs.

Failure to effectively plan and manage cloud expenditures can quickly deplete a company’s budget. Fortunately, cloud cost optimization offers a solution. By employing effective techniques and technologies, companies can better manage their cloud resources, reduce waste, and align their cloud spending with their business objectives. This article aims to provide guidance on achieving optimal cloud cost management without compromising performance or security.

7 tips for Cutting AWS Cloud Cost Without Compromising Performance

  1. Spot Instances:

Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers substantial discounts, often up to 90%, by allowing users to access surplus compute capacity through spot instances. These are compute resources that are not currently in use, and AWS offers them at a reduced cost to ensure efficient utilization.

While spot instances offer significant cost savings, they come with a caveat. AWS may terminate spot instances with just two minutes’ notice if they are needed by on-demand or reserved customers.

  1. Choose the Right Storage Options

AWS offers various storage tiers, each priced differently based on data access frequency. Many businesses make the mistake of using S3 storage for all their data, resulting in higher costs.

To save money, consider moving rarely accessed data to lower-cost storage tiers. This is particularly useful for long-term data storage and backup. AWS offers options like Infrequent Access Storage and S3 Glacier for archival purposes, allowing you to reduce AWS costs while maintaining efficiency.

Available S3 storage tiers include:

  • S3 Standard: Suitable for regularly accessed general-purpose data.
  • S3 Intelligent-Tiering: Ideal for data with unpredictable or fluctuating access patterns.
  • S3 Standard-Infrequent Access and S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access: Designed for long-lived but infrequently accessed data.
  • Amazon S3 Glacier and Amazon s3 Glacier Deep Archive: Offer long-term archival and digital preservation services.

To lower your monthly AWS bill, carefully assess your data and shift it to the appropriate storage tier based on access frequency.

  1. Implement Scheduled On/Off Times

Schedule on/off times for instances that are not in production, such as during development and testing phases. Turning off instances during working hours and even during lunch breaks can result in significant cost savings. For projects with variable development hours, thoughtful planning can yield even greater savings.

  1. Consider Reserved Instances (RIs)

Reserved Instances (RIs) offer substantial discounts when customers commit to using AWS resources for one or three years. RIs allow you to pre-reserve instances and other services, paying upfront or in installments.

Various types of RIs are available on AWS, including standard RIs that can be sold on the AWS RI Marketplace and convertible RIs that provide flexibility in instance family selection but cannot be sold before the term ends. Assess your needs and financial preferences when choosing RIs.

  1. Utilize AWS Auto Scaling

AWS Auto Scaling enables automatic resource allocation based on demand, resulting in cost savings and enhanced efficiency. This feature is especially valuable for infrastructures with fluctuating traffic patterns. AWS Auto Scaling is user-friendly and applicable to both resources and services.

  1. Delete Unattached EBS Volumes

Elastic Block Storage (EBS) volumes associated with EC2 instances can accumulate over time if not deleted after instance termination. AWS charges for these unattached volumes, potentially increasing your bill substantially.

To prevent unnecessary expenses, enable automatic deletion of EBS volumes when terminating instances in the AWS console.

  1. Consider Architecture Upgrades

Modern architecture design, such as multi-cloud computing with multiple service providers or hybrid cloud computing combining on-premise and cloud infrastructure, can help optimize cloud spending. Collaboration with multiple cloud vendors, like Azure or Google Cloud, can provide cost advantages. Additionally, upgrading existing infrastructure elements such as networks, servers, cooling, power, and supply can reduce the cost of transitioning applications to the cloud.

In Conclusion

 Managing cloud infrastructure efficiently is undoubtedly challenging, but the benefits it offers are well worth the effort. At Blazeclan, we understand that cost savings are a top priority for our clients. Our experts can assist you in optimizing costs through various pricing options, right-sizing instances, implementing automation and management tools, and more. By choosing Blazeclan as your AWS provider, you can expect to see positive impacts on staff productivity, business agility, and operational resilience in no time.