aws
356 articles on aws — what drives the cost, how it is priced, and where the savings actually are.
ElastiCache node sizing: paying for the right amount of memory
ElastiCache (Redis and Memcached) is priced per node by instance type, so node sizing and count drive the bill. Oversized memory, too many replicas, and the wrong node family are the common overspends. Here is how to size for cost.
EMR cost optimization: cutting the big-data cluster bill
EMR clusters combine EC2 compute, an EMR service fee, and storage, and they are easy to overspend on with idle clusters, on-demand core nodes, and oversized fleets. Here are the highest-impact levers to cut EMR cost.
GPU instance pricing explained: what accelerated compute really costs
GPU instances are the most expensive compute you can rent, from a few dollars an hour for inference cards to tens of dollars an hour for training clusters. Understanding what drives the price, and how to cut it, keeps GPU bills sane. Here is the breakdown.
Graviton cost savings explained: ARM instances for less money
AWS Graviton (ARM) instances typically cost about 20 percent less than comparable x86 instances while often delivering better performance per dollar. For most workloads the switch is nearly free. Here is what Graviton saves and how to adopt it.
Hidden AWS costs to watch: the line items that surprise you
The AWS charges that blow up bills are rarely the compute you planned for, they are data transfer, NAT gateways, idle resources, cross-AZ traffic, and forgotten snapshots. Here is a field guide to the hidden costs and how to keep them small.
How many NAT gateways do I need? Balancing cost and availability
A NAT gateway costs about 32 to 45 dollars a month plus per-GB processing, and the naive high-availability setup runs one per availability zone. Knowing when you need that redundancy and when one gateway is fine saves real money. Here is the tradeoff.
How much do savings plans save? Commitment discounts on AWS compute
AWS savings plans discount compute up to about 72 percent versus on-demand in exchange for a one or three year hourly-spend commitment. How much you actually save depends on term, payment, and coverage. Here is the real math.
How much does a Postgres database cost on AWS? RDS and Aurora pricing
A managed Postgres database on AWS costs the instance, the storage, the backups, and the data transfer, from around 15 dollars a month for a tiny dev instance to hundreds for production. Here is what drives RDS and Aurora Postgres pricing and how to keep it lean.
How much does a SaaS backend cost on AWS? A component breakdown
A typical SaaS backend on AWS combines compute, a database, load balancing, storage, caching, and networking. An early-stage backend can run a few hundred dollars a month, scaling with users. Here is how the pieces add up and where to save.
How much does a static site cost? Hosting from nearly free to a few dollars
A static website hosted on S3 and CloudFront, or a static host, costs almost nothing at low traffic, often pennies to a few dollars a month, with data transfer and requests the only real meters. Here is the breakdown and where costs can grow.
How much does it cost to host an API? Serverless vs servers
Hosting an API can cost almost nothing at low volume with serverless, or a predictable monthly amount on a small server, and the crossover depends entirely on request volume. Here is how to estimate API hosting cost and pick the cheaper model.
How much does it cost to run a website on AWS? From cents to thousands
Running a website on AWS spans a huge range: a static site costs pennies, a small dynamic site tens of dollars, and a high-traffic app hundreds or thousands a month. The cost depends on whether it is static, dynamic, and how much traffic it serves. Here is the map.
How to read AWS Cost Explorer: turning the bill into insight
AWS Cost Explorer is the built-in tool for understanding your bill, but its default view hides more than it shows. Grouping by service, filtering by tag, and switching to amortized cost turns it from a total into an explanation. Here is how to read it.
Inter-AZ data transfer cost: the charge hiding inside your VPC
Traffic between availability zones inside the same region is not free. At roughly a cent per GB in each direction, cross-AZ transfer quietly adds up for chatty microservices, replicated databases, and Kafka clusters. Here is how it is billed and how to cut it.
Is CloudWatch free? The monitoring bill nobody budgets for
CloudWatch has a free tier, but logs, custom metrics, dashboards, and high-resolution alarms all cost money, and log ingestion in particular can quietly rival compute spend. Here is what is free, what is not, and how to keep monitoring cheap.
Is S3 really free to start? The free tier and what comes after
S3 has a genuine free tier for the first year, but requests, data transfer out, and storage class choices shape the bill the moment you outgrow it. Here is what the free tier covers and what actually drives S3 cost.
Kafka vs Kinesis cost: streaming pricing models compared
Self-managed Kafka, MSK, and Kinesis price streaming very differently: broker instances plus replication transfer versus shards or throughput units. The cheapest choice depends on throughput, retention, and how much operational work you want. Here is the breakdown.
Lambda ARM Graviton savings: cheaper functions by switching architecture
Running Lambda functions on ARM-based Graviton instead of x86 costs about 20 percent less per unit of compute, and many functions run just as fast or faster. Here is how the savings work, what to check before switching, and how to migrate.
Lambda cost explained: a deep dive into serverless pricing
Lambda bills on requests and on compute measured as memory times duration, with memory also determining CPU. Understanding that model reveals why right-sizing memory, cutting duration, and choosing ARM are the levers that control serverless cost. Here is the full picture.
RDS Multi-AZ cost explained: paying for high availability
RDS Multi-AZ roughly doubles instance and storage cost by running a standby in a second Availability Zone for automatic failover. Here is what you actually pay for, and when the availability is worth the premium.
RDS read replica cost: scaling reads and what it adds
Each RDS read replica is a full additional instance with its own compute and storage cost, plus data transfer for cross-region replicas. Here is how read replica pricing works and how to scale reads without overpaying.
RDS vs Aurora cost: which managed database is cheaper
Standard RDS bills for provisioned instances and storage; Aurora bills for compute plus storage and I/O that scale with usage, and offers a serverless option. Which is cheaper depends on your scale, I/O pattern, and how many replicas you run. Here is the comparison.
Reserved instance utilization guide: not wasting what you bought
A reserved instance only saves money if it is used. Low utilization means paying for commitment you are not applying, quietly erasing the discount. Here is how to measure, maintain, and maximize RI utilization.
Right-size EC2 instances guide: matching size to real load
Over-provisioned EC2 instances are the most common cloud waste. Right-sizing matches instance type and size to actual CPU, memory, and network use, cutting cost with no performance loss. Here is a practical right-sizing playbook.