AWS cost optimization best practices
The biggest AWS savings usually come from a few habits: turning off what is idle, right-sizing, using commitments for steady load, and watching storage and data transfer.
- Tag resources by owner and environment so spend can be traced.
- Stop or delete idle compute and unattached volumes.
- Move older instance generations to current ones.
- Use Savings Plans or Reserved Instances only for steady baseline usage.
- Set lifecycle rules on S3 and review snapshot retention.
- Review data transfer and NAT gateway charges.
- Set budgets and alerts.
Reference: AWS Well-Architected cost optimization pillar, checked 2026-10-27.
Try it on your own bill
CloudCostAI reads a billing export file (AWS Cost and Usage Report, GCP billing export or Azure usage CSV) and returns findings with fix steps. It needs no access to your cloud account. Free: one report a month. Pro $29/month, Team $99/month, or a one-time audit for $179 (current plans, checked 2026-10-27).
Findings are estimates from billing lines, not utilisation metrics. Check each one against usage and service needs before changing anything.