How to design for cloud cost optimization

· Category: Cloud Computing

Short answer

Design architectures that minimize waste by matching resources to actual demand and leveraging cloud-native efficiency.

Steps

  1. Right-size instances and storage types.
  2. Use managed services to reduce operational overhead.
  3. Implement auto-scaling and serverless where possible.
  4. Choose the right purchase model (reserved, spot, savings plans).
  5. Continuously review and refactor based on usage data.

Tips

  • Graviton/ARM-based instances offer better price-performance.
  • Tiered storage moves cold data to cheaper classes automatically.
  • Tag resources at creation for ongoing cost attribution.

Common issues

  • Lift-and-shift without optimization recreates on-premise inefficiencies.
  • Over-provisioning for peak traffic instead of scaling dynamically.