AWS EC2 is one of the core AWS computing services that provide reliable and scalable computing capacity in AWS Cloud and is being used so vastly over the globe. Although EC2 service itself provides its users with the benefit of spending low cost by eliminating the need for hardware upfront and by replacing the traditional networking with the low-cost AWS cloud services, there are many ways one can reduce the cost of AWS EC2 service also.

In this article, we will discuss 5 major and most useful ways to reduce the AWS EC2 service costs.

The major ways or the best practices to reduce the AWS EC2 cost can possibly be:

• Changing the AWS Region
• Changing the Operating System
• Changing the Instance Type
• Using the Upgraded Instances
• Using Auto Scaling Feature

Changing the AWS Region

Some regions actually cost less money than other regions. The major and core AWS services like AWS EC2 are available in all regions. So, the users can access them from any region, and a good strategy for saving costs is to select the region for the EC2 that is most suitable with respect to the cost. Pricing calculators can be used to estimate the charges in each region, and users can select the region that costs the least.

Changing the Operating System

AWS EC2 service is connected to the operating system being used. For instance, using the windows operating system costs higher than some other operating systems like Linux. A better way to reduce EC2 costs is to take notice of which operating system is being used with the instances. If the operating system used is windows, then it is better to switch to a better option like Linux to avoid extra charges.

Changing the Instance Type

The instance type of the EC2 instances defines the CPU and memory allocated for the instances. Most of the time, the instance type declared at the time of launching the instances possesses larger storage than that required. It is recommended to use AWS CloudWatch to monitor the storage used for the instances. The users can change the instance type and set the type that does not exceed the required storage.

Using Upgraded Instances

AWS frequently releases new instances and the latest instances mostly cost less than the previous instances. Using the upgraded instances is much better than staying on the same instances over the years. For instance, shifting from a t2.micro instance to a t3.micro instance can lead to discounts on the costs of instances.

Moreover, using the AWS EC2 saving plan for the instances also reduces the cost of the instances. When the users commit to using the instance for a longer period of time, they are offered some discounts.

Using Auto Scaling Feature

The auto-scaling feature is very useful for applications that are connected to multiple instances. Auto-scaling adjusts the number of active instances according to the current website traffic. For instance, if, at a particular interval of time, the traffic of the application is low, the auto-scaling feature reduces the number of currently active instances according to only what is required.

There are also many other ways and suggestions for reducing the cost of the EC2 service of AWS but the major ways are described above.

Conclusion

Most of the AWS services like EC2 are not free of cost but there are different ways to reduce the cost of AWS EC2 services like changing the AWS region, changing the operating system, changing the instance type, using the reserved instances, and using the auto-scaling feature and many others. The most useful ways that help reduce EC2 costs have been explained in the article.