AWS, line by line.
Amazon Web Services is the world's leading cloud platform, providing compute, storage, database, networking, AI/ML, and 200+ other services for businesses of all sizes.
✦ The numbers
What it costs, at a glance.
- Cloud Infrastructure
- Usage-based (pay-as-you-go per service)
- Free Tier available
- $1,000-$500,000/month
✦ Cost breakdown
Where AWS actually shows up on the invoice.
Per-user math, monthly aggregates, annual projections — the figures we plug into models when sizing typical waste.
$200 / month
Based on the typical plan mix we see across organizations of this size.
$24,000 – $240,000
Ideal for organizations of all sizes running cloud workloads, from startups to enterprises. Tier choice swings the total dramatically.
✦ Waste patterns
Where companies overspend on AWS.
The same handful of leaks shows up in almost every audit. Check yours against this list before your next renewal.
- 01
EC2 instances running 24/7 when they are only needed during business hours or for periodic workloads
- 02
Oversized instances — many workloads run on instance types far larger than CPU and memory usage require
- 03
Unattached EBS volumes, unused Elastic IPs, and idle load balancers accumulating charges
- 04
Not utilizing Reserved Instances or Savings Plans despite having predictable baseline workloads
✦ How to fix it
Optimizing AWS without breaking workflow.
Practical, sequenced steps. Start at the top — most companies recover the bulk of their savings in the first two.
- 01
Right-size EC2 instances using AWS Cost Explorer recommendations — most companies can downsize 30-40% of instances
- 02
Purchase Reserved Instances or Savings Plans for predictable workloads to save 30-72% over On-Demand pricing
- 03
Schedule non-production instances (dev, staging, QA) to stop during nights and weekends
- 04
Clean up unused resources: detached EBS volumes, old snapshots, unused Elastic IPs, and idle NAT Gateways
✦ Alternatives
If AWS isn't the right fit, here's what else to look at.
Switching costs are usually higher than people expect. Audit usage first — often the cheaper move is to right-size what you already run.
DigitalOcean
Popular alternative
✦ The complete guide
Optimizing AWS costs, in full.
Where AWS sits in the market
Cloud infrastructure is usage-based, not seat-based, so 'unused license' isn't the right frame. The waste is idle compute: instances, databases, and load balancers left running after development cycles end; volumes detached from terminated instances that still bill; cross-region redundancy configured for an environment that doesn't need it. Reserved capacity that doesn't match actual usage compounds the problem.
Market-leading cloud infrastructure provider; the default for most engineering organizations across startup and enterprise tiers. Idle EC2 and RDS instances and unattached EBS volumes left running long after the development sprint that spun them up concluded.
What AWS costs
AWS is typically priced at Usage-based; spend varies dramatically by service, region, instance family, and reservation strategy.. Pricing varies by tier and contract length; the patterns below describe the waste we see most often regardless of which tier a customer is on.
Common waste patterns
- EC2 instances running 24/7 when they are only needed during business hours or for periodic workloads
- Oversized instances — many workloads run on instance types far larger than CPU and memory usage require
- Unattached EBS volumes, unused Elastic IPs, and idle load balancers accumulating charges
- Not utilizing Reserved Instances or Savings Plans despite having predictable baseline workloads
How Efficyon analyzes AWS spend
Efficyon ingests your accounting data (Fortnox, QuickBooks, Stripe, Xero) and identity data (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace) and matches activity against billing. For AWS, that surfaces idle EC2 and RDS instances and unattached EBS volumes left running long after the development sprint that spun them up concluded. The findings appear in your dashboard with the contract month they applied to and the dollar value at stake.
✦ Vendor site
Visit AWS directly.
✦ More in Cloud Infrastructure
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✦ Get started
Analyze your AWS spend. In ten minutes.
Connect AWS alongside your accounting and we'll surface every overlap, idle seat, and tier mismatch. Read-only OAuth, no credit card.