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Welcome to our comprehensive list of AWS optimization insights. At SavingCosts.cloud, our mission is to showcase clear and impactful cloud optimization tips, primarily focused on AWS, from the customer’s perspective. The items listed here directly impact and reduce your AWS bill. We avoid vague or generic suggestions that might bring indirect cost benefits, like ‘Use this new service or feature to reduce operational costs’. Each item must offer a clear path to reducing your AWS costs; otherwise, it won’t be included here.
For more insights, check out our article “What SavingCosts.cloud Offers: A Comparison with the FinOps Framework.” This article details which elements of the FinOps Foundation framework are addressed on our site and why we selectively cover them.
How This List Began
In April 2024, I shared a LinkedIn post featuring 64 cost-saving recommendations for AWS, which received significant engagement from the community. Motivated by the positive response, I created this page to elaborate on those tips and continuously add new cost-saving strategies. You can find the original post here. If you have any additional cost-saving tips, please comment on the LinkedIn post to help us expand this valuable list. Below, you’ll find the list of items with some of them described in greater depth.
How to Best Use This List
To get the most out of this list, start by checking the AWS services you have implemented or plan to implement. Then, review the tips below that apply to those specific AWS services, noting that some of these tips include links to articles with more detailed explanations.
📊 Athena 1 – Partition your data
💾 Athena 2 – Utilize “Query Result Reuse”
🗃️ Athena 3 – Include only necessary columns
💸 Athena 4 – Use “Order By” and “Group By” clauses
⌛ Backup 1 – Set proper backup retention period
🔄 Backup 2 – Avoid cross-region backup transfers
🛑 CloudWatch 1 – Avoid ingesting unnecessary logs
🕓 CloudWatch 2 – Utilize CloudWatch Infrequent Access
🌐 CloudWatch 3 – Avoid consuming non-prod CW Metrics
📦 CloudWatch-4 Move CW Logs to S3 with a retention policy
💼 Financial 1 – Purchase Savings Plans wisely
🔍 Financial 2 – Drill down on Cost Explorer
📊 Financial 3 – Use AWS Cost & Usage Reports
💡 Financial 4 – Explore AWS Cost Optimization Hub
🏷️ Financial 5 – Use Cost Allocation Tags to organize costs
🔎 Financial 6 – Check for cost savings on Trusted Advisor
📝 Config 1 – Use “Record with exclusions” feature
📐 Config 2 – Limit Config Rules in dev environments
⏲️ Config 3 – Use “Periodic Record” in dev environments
🗑️ Directory 1 – Remove unused Directory Services
🛠️ DynamoDB 1 – Use Gateway VPC Endpoint
🚫 DynamoDB 2 – Avoid Scan Operation
⚙️ DynamoDB 3 – Prefer Provisioned Capacity
📈 DynamoDB 4 – Scale Throughput Properly
💼 DynamoDB 5 – Purchase Reserved Capacity
⏳ DynamoDB 6 – Use TTL if Possible
🚀 DynamoDB 7 – Use DAX for Intensive Readings
💾 DynamoDB 8 – Backups Options
📥 DynamoDB 9 – Import from S3
💰 DynamoDB 10 – See Costs at Table Level
🔍 DynamoDB 11 – Use the Proper Table Class
🗑️ DynamoDB 12 – Delete Idle Resources
📘 DynamoDB 13 – Understand Key Concepts
🔒 DynamoDB 14 – Manage your Backup
🗑️ EBS 1 – Delete old snapshots
🚀 EBS 2 – Migrate from GP2 to GP3
📦 EBS 3 – Consider moving snapshots to S3
🛑 EBS 4 – Avoid “Fast Snapshot” in dev envs
🔄 EBS 5 – Delete or snapshot unused volumes
🔄 EBS 6 – Avoid cross-region snapshot transfers
📊 EBS 7 – Avoid over-provisioned EBS volumes
📊 EC2 1 – Use auto-scaling
🔄 EC2 2 – Remove unused Load Balancers
🔋 EC2 3 – Use burstable instances if needed
💼 EC2 4 – Use RIs for predictable workloads
🏷️ EC2 5 – Use Spot instances for non-critical tasks
🌙 EC2 6 – Turn them off after-hours in non-prod envs
🔄 ECR 1 – Use lifecycle rules to delete old images
📊 ECS 1 – Use auto-scaling
🌙 ECS 2 – Turn them off after-hours in non-prod envs
🗄️ EFS 1 – Utilize storage classes effectively
📈 EFS 2 – Use “Throughput Mode” properly
🔄 EFS 3 – Use lifecycle with Intelligent-Tiering
🧳 Lambda 1 – Remove unused dependencies
📈 Lambda 2 – Send only warn/error logs to CW Logs
🎚️ Lambda 3 – Choose a cost-effective memory setting
💰 Regions 1 – Avoid dev/tests envs in expensive regions
🔒 Regions 2 – Block unused regions in the main account
📏 RDS 1 – Rightsize RDS instances
💸 RDS 2 – Consider RIs for predictable workloads
🌙 RDS 3 – Turn them off after-hours in non-prod envs
🗄️ S3 1 – Choose the right storage class
📊 S3 2 – Create rules to fewer object versions
🚫 S3 3 – Set up “Multipart Abort” to be deleted
🔄 S3 4 – Use lifecycle policies for data transition
⏳Route 53 – 1 Increase TTL for stable domain records
📭 VPC 1 – Delete unused Elastic IPs
🚜 VPC 2 – Delete unused Nat Gateways
🛤️ VPC 3 – Avoid network traffic between AZs
🏞️ VPC 4 – Use Nat Instances in non-critical envs
🚧 VPC 5 – Avoid MultiAZ resources in dev/test envs
🚫 VPC 6 – Delete underused VPC Interface Endpoints
🌉 VPC 7 – Use Gateway Endpoints for S3 an DynamoDB
🚪 VPC 8 – Use Interface Endpoints for high-volume usage
🔄 VPC 9 – Share NAT gateways via TGs in non-prod envs
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