Reducing EC2 costs without sacrificing performance or functionality.

As businesses increasingly rely on cloud computing, controlling costs on Amazon Web Services (AWS) has become more important than ever. EC2 instances can be a significant expense, but there are ways to reduce costs without sacrificing performance or functionality. In this blog post, we will explore 10 ways to drive EC2 cost savings on AWS.

Choose the right instance type

Choose the right instance type: Choosing the right instance type is critical in optimizing cost and performance on AWS. Selecting an instance type that provides the right balance of compute, memory, and storage for your workload can significantly impact your bill. AWS offers a wide range of instance types, each with different characteristics and pricing. By analyzing your workload's specific needs, you can select the most cost-effective instance type for your use case.

Use auto-scaling:

Use auto-scaling: Auto-scaling is a feature that automatically adjusts the number of EC2 instances in response to changes in demand. This ensures that you have the right amount of compute resources available at any given time, without over-provisioning and incurring unnecessary costs. By implementing auto-scaling, you can also benefit from AWS's pricing model, which offers lower rates for reserved instances and spot instances.

Consider migrating to Graviton-based instances:

Consider migrating to Graviton-based instances: Graviton-based instances are a new type of instance that run on ARM-based processors. These instances offer significant cost savings compared to traditional x86-based instances. While not all applications are compatible with Graviton-based instances, those that are can see up to a 40% cost reduction.

Enable hibernation for unused instances

Enable hibernation for unused instances: Hibernation is a feature that allows you to pause and resume EC2 instances, which can be particularly useful for development and testing environments. By enabling hibernation, you can save money by only paying for the compute resources you need, while also retaining the instance's state between uses.

Change EBS volume types from GP2 to GP3: Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes are used to store persistent data on EC2 instances. AWS offers several different EBS volume types, each with different performance characteristics and pricing. GP3 volumes offer a lower price per GB and higher performance than GP2 volumes. By switching to GP3 volumes, you can reduce your EBS costs while also improving performance.

Utilize spot instances

Utilize spot instances: Spot instances are unused EC2 instances that are available at a significantly lower cost than on-demand or reserved instances. While spot instances may be terminated at any time if demand for the resources increases, they can be a cost-effective way to run non-critical workloads or bursty applications.

Use AWS Cost Explorer

Use AWS Cost Explorer: AWS Cost Explorer is a tool that provides cost analysis and visualization for your AWS account. This tool can help you identify areas where you can reduce costs, such as unused or underutilized resources, and provide recommendations for cost-saving opportunities.

Optimize load balancing

Optimize load balancing: Load balancing can help distribute traffic across multiple EC2 instances to improve availability and performance. By optimizing load balancing, you can reduce costs by ensuring that resources are being used efficiently and minimizing idle instances.

Implement containerization

Implement containerization: Containerization is a technique for running applications in isolated environments that can be easily moved between different computing environments. By containerizing your applications, you can reduce costs by increasing resource utilization and improving application density on your EC2 instances.

Use AWS Trusted Advisor

Use AWS Trusted Advisor: AWS Trusted Advisor is a service that provides recommendations to help optimize your AWS infrastructure. Trusted Advisor can help identify cost-saving opportunities by analyzing your usage patterns and identifying areas where you can improve resource utilization and reduce costs.

There are many ways to drive EC2 cost savings on AWS. By choosing the right instance type, implementing auto-scaling, and using tools like AWS Cost Explorer and Trusted Advisor, you can identify potential savings. Need help? Of course TechNative’s Cloud Financial Management (FinOps) team has been in your shoes and can get you up-2-speed quickly. Email FinOps@technative.nl.